European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 1, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The a 1 Falls on Black managers tort Trow Pho the Raakel Blacks in corporations have been decimated in recent year. By Claudia  new York times it seemed like a great idea last october when the subject first came  Agency executives an association of stack directors of social service agencies in new York City would Anvil about 60 Blackcorporaleexecutivesc-1 maroc National companies  the talk would to. Of fund raising of Board memberships of management techniques of All kinds of subjects on which the two groups could offer Mutual assistance. The idea has since been scuttled. The ranks of Blacks in corporations have been so decimated there lust would t be enough people to come says John n Odom bae s director. Across the United slates Black managers have been losing i her jobs at an accelerated Pace. Executive recruiters report that resumes irom discharged Black managers Are hooding their offices while assignments to recruit them or anyone at he Middle management love Are Lew and far Between. So far Black engineers sales managers and others in jobs thai Deal directly with products have been spared. And most experts say that lower level stack workers Many of whom Are to unions have tired no worse than their White counterparts in lha wave of firings sweeping the country. But Blacks in Public affairs Community relations human resources All of the staff support areas int have become havens for Blacks and women trying to make in into the mainstream of corporate America Are finding their jobs and their paychecks gone. For years Blacks and women were steered into jobs that were not Central to the organization said Mary Anne Devanna research director at the Columbia business school s management Institute. Now these Are precisely the jobs that Are being  members of an increasingly angry Black managerial Community feel the dismissals have dealt them a one i to punch. They see themselves and their colleagues tar More than White women Back at Square one in their careers Olton alter decades of employment with the same company. And since Many of the fired managers were responsible or recruiting and guiding entry level Blacks through the corporate Shoals Thoy say the trend bodes extremely it for younger Black would be managers. The whole country has gone backwards in the sense of equal Opportunity said Sheila Clark 38, a Black single Parent who recently Tost her Job As director Page 16 the stars and stripes of career development at lbs inc. It s like a door opened and suddenly it shut in your  although the corporate a is falling on managers of All colors and races Black executives say it has alien disproportionately hard on them As a group. According to David l Vaughn president of tie National Urban affairs Council the number or executive jobs in the new York metropolitan area has shrunk by about 9 percent in the last couple of years. Well Over half of the jobs that were eliminated he says had been held by Blacks a percentage that far exceeds Black representation in managerial jobs. Other Black executives cite similar figures mergers and acquisitions have col the legs out of the Moemon of Blacks in the corporate  says Sullivan Robinson head of associated Black charities a 59-member Ledesra Linof new York social services agencies. Corporate America has made a decision to Whiten up again ii can t be coincidental. The numbers Are just too  although specific numbers Are impossible to unearth most employment experts say Ilis because of weak informs ton Gaine ing methods not because the figures Are wrong. We have Little information about what s happening in specific occupations and Little information about minorities so hard data related to both Are really hard to come by explains Samuel m. Euro Natl regional commissioner of the Bureau of labor satisfies. But Calls to several universities management associations and executive search firms turned up a widespread perception of a vicious Cycle Black executives Are often promoted to head equal employment Opportunity compliance and other minority related areas and because these jobs have Little immediate Impact on corporate Bottom lines they Are the first to go in any cutback. Companies wind up so worried about quarterly profits that they Cut out not Only fat but fundamentally important social commitments says James a of. Stoner professor of management at Fordham University s graduate school of business the pressure seems of be off from Washington. Many companies report that inspections by the office of Federal contract compliance programs a major enforcement Arm for anti discrimination regulations Are far less thorough Shan they were in previous administrations and that the equal employment Opportunity commission is not living up to its rules. Clarence Thomas chairman of the Leoc. Insists thai Tho facts belie any such statements and that his Agency mod a record number of lawsuits and class actions in 1986on sunday february 1, 1987 behalf of individuals who charged discrimination. But blatant discrimination is not the Issue in american business today most Blacks contend and business experts tend to agree More with the perceptions of the Black Community than with tha Leoc. Politically there is no longer a guardian Angel for affirmative action said Paul Hirsch a professor at the University of Chicago. Newly unemployed Blacks Are More Blunt. There s a consensus that Leo was never really a part of the corporation just something 1hat had to Bedo Neunder different administration said Joseph e. Burgess 51. He is a Lormer assistant  human resources at a metropolitan life insurance co. Who was in his words reorganized out of Ajob nearly year ago. In a sense corporations can argue a degree of color blindness m their widespread staff cuts. The hugs number of mergers in recent years has meant wholesale elimination of duplicate jobs of All types along the theory that no company needs two controllers or two Heads of investor relations. A Ino same  Are fad Nyari unprecedented flood of Low priced import Competition and Haseben slashing their payrolls in an attempt to get costs Low enough so that they can compete effectively. Airlines telecommunications companies and other companies operating in newly deregulated environments Are finding unfamiliar Price Competition threatening their existence if hey do nol get cosi Down. The fickleness of management theory has also had a deleterious Impact on Slat jobs including Leo Lype positions. In the last decade management consultants professors and other self styled experts preached the Virtues of formal strategic planning psychologically oriented training programs internal consulting groups and other staff support functions corporations listened and acted accordingly with the result that these staff jobs flourished in number and salary now. Though theories along the lines of those espoused by Thomas j. Peters and Robert h. Waterman or in the Best Selling in search of Excello Tab have glorified companies with super lean Headquarters staffs and with decision making done by the line managers he people who actually run the manufacturing operations or Market the products. The Overall result has been a nationwide downsizing of corporate staffs usually described As trimming the Tat trom management and Black executives charge it is their jobs that Are most often classified As  although corporations will not give specific numbers they Dony this