Racial Dynamics in Cross-Race Developmental Relationships

I want to thank Robin Ely, Ray Friedman, Herminia Ibarra, Linda Hill, Bill Kahn, and Kathy Kram for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. Special thanks to Robert Sutton and the ASO reviewers for their encouragement and editorial assistance. Data from qualitative field studies of 22 cross-race (African-American and white) supportive work relationships between pairs of junior and senior people are used to examine how people's strategies for dealing with the issue of race affect the kind of relationship that develops between the two and whether the senior person becomes merely a sponsor for the protege, providing him or her with career support such as advocacy for promotions, feedback, and coaching, or whether the senior person becomes a mentor, offering psychosocial support and friendship along with instrumental career support. The study showed that the parties' preferred strategy for dealing with racial difference-either denying and suppressing it or discussing it openly-and whether both parties preferred the same strategy influenced the kind of relationship that developed. Only when the parties preferred the same strategy did the more supportive mentor-protege relationship develop. The paper provides a model of how racial dynamics affect cross-race developmental relationships.'