Tackling Unconscious Bias in Hiring Practices - Article Example

Introduction The election of President Barack Obama to the presidency of the United s of America sent important messages to young men and womenof color: that they can be anything they want to be for as long as they remain committed and dedicated in everything that they do. Aside from this, the installment of President Obama as the first African-American Head of State of the USA also showed that in one way or another, discrimination between the blacks and the whites have more or less disappeared. Nevertheless, commentators, scholars and researchers argue that racism still exist, most especially in the manner by which the game of football is managed. As Chad (2009) has claimed, black coaches still have a hard time in securing spots in football clubs as well as in College Teams. Thus, it has often been claimed that while football is a game that has been dominated by black faces, only the white ones are given the chance to call the shots (Chad, 2009). Because of this then, (college) football is considered as the American nation’s most prominent symbol of institutionalized racism (Time to Take Civil Rights Fight to College Football, 2009). It is in this regard that this paper seeks to discover the issue at hand by looking into the different areas of interest in relation to the aforementioned. Furthermore, the discussion shall also include the issue on affirmative action and how this has affected the position of the black coaches in the football game. DISCRIMINATION IN FOOTBALL COACHING As previously mentioned, this paper focuses on the discriminations faced by black coaches with respect to coaching football teams and games. In order to understand this further, this section shall be devoted to the following subsections: (1) a brief background of such discrimination and (2) the current situation with regard to discrimination in football coaching. A Brief Background Apparently, racial discrimination is prevalent in all aspects of the American society. However, various scholars argue that the existence of such inequality is more evident in professional basketball and football wherein participating athletes are predominantly African-Americans (Collins, 2007). Generally, the said discrimination is often visible with respect to the underrepresentation of the members of the said race in management positions, Collins (2007) discussed. Basically, such discrimination is often caused by two forms of racism: first, in its institutionalized form and second, through the maintenance of automatic or implicit stereotypes which generally resulted to the so-called unconscious bias. Discrimination in football coaching, as earlier established is very rampant. Apparently, such situation exists not only amongst the national leagues such as the NFL but in college games as well. Twenty nine years ago, Vacchiano (2007) recounts, when Doug Williams was still an NFL rookie, the latter observed that there were no African-American head coaches in the teams of the said league. Aside from this, Williams also observed that there were also very few African-American assistants. Generally, twenty nine years ago, the front offices of the National Football League (NFL) were filled with white people. Vacchiano (2007) however, recognized the fact that much have changed since that particular instance described by Doug Williams which happened approximately three decades ago. For the said author, changes have been felt especially with the election of Jerry Reese as the Giant’s first African-American General Manager. While these events are relatively minimal, Vacchiano (2007) notes that it remains relatively significant to the members of the league for changes and signs of progress like this show that institutionalized racism is somehow being reduced in the football game. Furthermore, the continuous increase of the African-Americans in the National Football League power positions is also considered a good sign that proves that the diversity plan of the former is indeed very efficient (Vacchiano, 2007). Dr. Madden, however, illustrated how the so-called changes discussed remained of little if not of no significance at all (Maravent, 2006). Apparently, the research of Dr. Madden focused on combined season records for all head coaches, first year records, seasons of termination records and the win-loss records of teams coached by African-Americans. He noticed that African-American head coaches, although surfacing, remain far surpassed by the number of white head coaches (Maravent, 2006). In general, the said situation is often attributed to the fact that while a number of African-American coaches are deemed effective and efficient in terms of handling their teams, the latter fail even in terms of interviewing minority candidates who are highly qualified. From this then, one can infer that discrimination does exist in football coaching even at the earliest stage of selecting head coaches for the teams. Taking the findings of the research conducted by Dr. Madden, the National Football League (NFL) developed and implemented an initiative in 2002 by which they could increase the number of minority head coaches. In general, these initiative or program is often referred to as the affirmative action plan which aims to ensure that the number of African-American coaches in the league is increased in order to positively respond to the numerous threats received by the NFL with regard to discriminatory hiring practices (Collins, 2007). The Affirmative Action Plan, however, was not successfully implemented at first considering the fact that despite the promulgation of such, the number of African-American coaches in the league remained small as compared with their Caucasian counterparts. It is because of this then that researchers, scholars and other commentators believe that it is of paramount importance that other actions be taken in order to improve the situation of the African-American coaches in the National Football League. Discrimination in football coaching, however, is not only prevalent in the National League. According to the article entitled “Time to Take Civil Rights Fight to College Football” (2009), there is a lack of African-American coaches in College football leagues as schools hardly employ a minority head coach. Unlike the National Football Leagues, however, the college football sector has not come up with efficient ways by which they could resolve the issue at hand (Time to Take Civil Rights Movement to College Football, 2009). The Current Situation Without a doubt, football is heavily characterized by racism and is in fact, considered as America’s most evident form of institutionalized racism. As earlier mentioned, this is generally because of the absence of the African-Americans in high management positions such as the head coaches of the teams. Professional leagues such as the NFL, however, began to implement affirmative action plans that were considered to be of paramount importance in terms of eliminating racism in football coaching by giving the members of the African-American race more chances to occupy the said position as researchers claim that they are openly disregarded even during the interview process. The most prominent of the said affirmative action plan is the so-called Rooney Rule which generally requires one minority candidate to be interviewed as a part of the recruitment and selection processes of teams with respect to their head coaches (Maske and Shapiro, 2004; Maravent, 2006; Collins, 2007; Vacchiano, 2007; Maske, 2008). Despite the existence of such rule, however, researchers, scholars and commentators note that discrimination continues to exist due to a small number of African-American head coaches as compared with their Caucasian counterparts. Furthermore, discrimination in football coaching has not also been eliminated considering the fact that other sectors of the industry, most specifically college football, has not incorporated steps by which such issue may be addressed. Underlying Causes of the Problem: An Analysis Having illustrated the background as well as the current situation in terms of the discrimination in football coaching, the researcher now provides an analysis in respect to the underlying causes of the aforementioned problem. Collins (2007) discusses the different factors that result to racial inequity in Sports Head Coaching and Management. According to him, the following are usually the causes of such: first, the unconscious stereotypes of intellectual inferiority, and second, the persistence of the so-called “Old Boy Networks.” These two shall be individually discussed in the succeeding paragraphs. The Unconscious Stereotypes of Intellectual Inferiority. The unconscious stereotypes of intellectual inferiority are perhaps one of the most evident causes of the problem of discrimination in football coaching. According to Collins (2007), there had been explicit assertions of the intellectual inferiority of the African Americans which have eventually influenced the beliefs of many teams with regard to the selection of members of the said race as their head coach. More often than not, African Americans are only recognized for their natural abilities but not with regard to their possession of intelligence or being hardworking. On the other hand, it is their Caucasian counterparts who are more associated with such characteristics. It is then because of this that African Americans are only hired as athletes while the Caucasians are the ones who are placed in high positions such as the head coaches of the teams (Collins, 2007). The abovementioned belief can thus be correlated with the practices of football teams. Apparently, this explains why there are more Caucasian head coaches in the football leagues when in fact the said game is dominated by African American Athletes. Aside from this, as earlier mentioned, there is a tendency for these teams to disregard potential African American counterparts for the position of a head coach beginning with the interview process. In fact, it was only with the promulgation of the Rooney Rule that the teams were compelled to interview a member of the minority for the position of the head coach. The Persistence of the So-Called Old Boys Network. Collins (2007) also recognized the persistence of the so-called Old Boys Network as one of the reasons behind the small number of African American head coaches. The term “old boy” networks are often used in order to describe social networking systems and perceptions that are considered prevalent amongst American communities. Due to the unconscious bias, these networks tend to reinforce traditional power structures by limiting the practices of hiring and other business transactions to the other elites or to their acquaintances within the framework. Hence, the African Americans and the other minorities are usually blocked from the networks that are dominated by Caucasians. Applied in sports, the old boy hiring system tends to exclude the African Americans from authoritative positions (Collins, 2007). Applying the said concept, the tendency of the Caucasians to be elected to high positions is a result of the hesitation of the members of their race from appointing members of the minority due to their perceived exclusivity of their networks. Simply put, this belief has disabled them from considering applicants to the position who are African Americans during the interview process and despite the claims made by different studies that the latter tend to coach better than their white counterparts (Collins, 2007). The Article entitled “Time to Take Civil Rights Fight to College Football” (2009) offers an extensive discussion with regard to the prevalence of discrimination in football coaching in the college level. While it is true that the circumstances that affect the case of the National Football League apply to this, there are other instances that could explain college football’s poor minority hiring. One of the most essential factors is the fact that college football is often a jumble of incumbent interests – conferences, bowl organizations, individual authorities and the like. Thus, there is a complete absence of a powerful controlling authority who could act in the best interest of the entire sport. Unlike the case of the National Football League’s commissioner who is delegated significant powers by the owners of the league, the NCAA has insignificant power to change ingrained practices and prejudices amongst individual colleges, alumni associations and other interest groups, the Article “Time to Take Civil Rights Fight to College Football” (2009) explains. The absence of minority hiring in college football can also be explained from the lack of pressure to force change coming from the outside which is essential to the civil rights movement. Minority coaches, civil rights groups and other concerned organizations have simply been too diplomatic. Over the past years, the Black Coaches and Administrators showed the belief that the problem can be resolved by merely documenting it through the publication of annual reports. (Time to Take Civil Rights Fight to College Football, 2009). Without a doubt, there are many reasons why discrimination exists in football coaching. With respect to college football, the foregoing paragraphs show that while the National Football League has become relatively successful in terms of drafting out affirmative action plans in order to fight discrimination and address the problem of minority hiring, the former tend to get left behind due to the presence of other factors such as the absence of outside pressure and a centralized authority. On the other hand, however, the researcher believes that there are too, problems with regard to the implementation of the Rooney Rule and the Affirmative Action Plans employed by the National Football League. The researcher believes that there must be an efficient manner by which these must be implemented in order to effectively address the issue at hand. Hence, it must not only compel teams to interview a member of the minority for the position of a head coach. Instead, it must provide other guidelines by which discrimination (i.e. absence of minority hiring in authoritative positions) can be eliminated. Given these problems that can be inferred fro the discussion made with regard to the brief background and current situation in football coaching, the researcher now presents recommendations by which affirmative action may be strengthened and at the same time, to address the issue of discrimination in football coaching. Recommendations Several recommendations are deemed necessary in order to address the issue of racial discrimination in football coaching and at the same time, to enforce more affirmative action plans in the same area. With regard to the elimination of discrimination, the researcher believes that it is of paramount importance that attitudes be changed through education with respect to the capacities of African Americans to hold authoritative positions such as head coaching. Aside from this, a centralized authority must also be established to cater to the needs of implementing programs that are related to the aforementioned. Furthermore, it is also of utmost significance that attention be given to proper implementation of their established affirmative action plans. With regard to this, the members of the football sector must not only focus on the interviews per se but should rather bring about more changes that are aimed towards solving the problem of the absence of minority hiring. Through this, the issue would be properly resolved and increase the chances of African Americans from being hired to authoritative positions. References Collins. B.W. (2007). Tackling Unconscious Bias in Hiring Practices: The Plight of the Rooney Rule: 82 N.Y.U.L. Rev. 870. Maravent, B.A. (2006). Is the Rooney Rule Affirmative Action? Analyzing the NFL’s Mandate to its Clubs Regarding Coaching and Front Office Hires. Sports Lawyers Journal: 13 (233). Maske, M. (2008). Diversity Group ‘Happy’ With Coach Hiring Cycle. The Washington Post, February 2, 2008. Maske, M. and Shapiro, L. (2004). Dolphins’ Coaching Search Draws Scrutiny. The Washington Post, December 21, 2004. Time to Take Civil Rights to College Football. (2009). US: Gannette Company, Inc. Vacchiano, R. (2007). The Score. NFL Finally Changing Face of the League. Daily News New York, January 21, 2007. Read More