A recent study led by Merrick Osborne, a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University, suggests that efforts by workplace allies to involve marginalized colleagues in confronting prejudice may have unintended negative effects. The research indicates that when allies ask members of marginalized groups for help addressing incidents such as racially insensitive comments, it can increase the emotional burden on those individuals.
"A marginalized person's willingness to get involved in confronting prejudice is much more complicated than simply just trying to reduce prejudice in the workplace," Osborne said. "Oftentimes it is asking them to do work, and it can put a burden on them. We find that, for marginalized people, being asked by an ally to speak up against a prejudice confrontation is more emotionally burdensome than not being asked. In turn, that shapes how the ally is viewed."
Osborne co-authored the paper titled "A (Costly) Penny for Your Thoughts? Allies Cause Harm by Seeking Marginalized Group Members' Help When Confronting Prejudice." He observed that during movements like Black Lives Matter, individuals from marginalized backgrounds were frequently called upon to comment on sensitive issues solely based on their identity rather than expertise.
"I thought that was really interesting," Osborne said. "We social scientists haven't fully unpacked how marginalized people experience addressing prejudice within the workplace, and there's an assumption that marginalized folks have more knowledge about prejudice and how to reduce it."
The research included three studies with nearly 1,500 participants. In the first study, participants recalled incidents of workplace racism or sexism and evaluated an ally who either did or did not seek their assistance in responding. The second study looked at scenarios where an ally referenced but did not directly seek help from a marginalized person; the third examined women's responses depending on whether the perpetrator was present or absent during the request for help.
Results showed consistently across all studies that direct requests for assistance from allies increased emotional strain among marginalized group members compared to situations where no help was sought.
"We need to think of allyship in terms of how it's helping the people who we're being allies to," Osborne said, "and one of the ways that we have encouraged allyship in the past has been creating space for the marginalized person. But there are times when that might be not necessary."
