Before the EEOC: How Management Integrated the Workplace

Abstract

This article examines how the human-relations managerial techniques of the 1950s prepared large companies for the mandated racial integration required by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) after 1964. Drawing from management's “howto” publications, as well as archival materials from the Lukens Steel Company and the Du Pont Corporation, the article expands on recent work that has emphasized the importance of internal labor markets, training programs, and managerial policies in determining the shape and pace of integration.

A historical perspective on diversity ideologies in the United States: Reflections on human resource management research and practice

“…Consequently, some companies drew upon the research from human relations research centers at universities to devise human resource strategies to successfully employ black workers. Historical records from companies like Du Pont and Lukens Steel Company provide insight into HRM practices used to achieve racial integration at this time (Delton, 2007). Two tools companies relied heavily upon echo many of the present-day prescriptions for managing diversity.…”

“…A second tool was the education and training of under-qualified black workers and management personnel (Delton, 2007). Training programs for black employees were instituted in tandem with elaborate systems of job specifications and the identification of promotion criteria.…”

“…The problem of correcting the presumably strange and poor working habits of immigrants, what to do about black labor, and the workplace conflict arising from racial tensions have an interesting historical research link (Delton, 2007 (Kaufman, 1993). Included in its mapping of the domain of the field of Industrial Relations is a study of -fixed racial traits (if any) affecting work viz.…”

“…Corporate sponsors paid the salaries of the researchers and gave them access to their workplaces to conduct research. Researchers at the University of Chicago identified race and ethnicity as key factors obstructing cooperative working relations (Delton, 2007).…”

An Historical Perspective on Diversity Ideologies in the US: Reflections on HRM Research & Practice

“…During this era, race and ethnic issues were considered in some of the earliest Industrial Relations and HRM research. The problem of correcting the presumably strange and poor working habits of immigrants, what to do about black labor, and the workplace conflict arising from racial tensions have an interesting historical research link (Delton, 2007). The Social Sciences Research Council issued a report entitled Survey of Research in the Field of Industrial Relations in 1928 (Kaufman, 1993).…”