Blue collar/blue blazer: The career advancement of Mexican-Americans in public administration

This case study examines the career advancement of Mexican American, Anglo/White, and Black administrators in two municipalities. Three managerial levels derived from eight EEOC occupational categories are used: executives, professionals, and supervisors. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire distributed by internal mail to either a simple random sample or all category cases from the total number of available cases. Parallel procedures were used to select cases in each city yielding 277 usable questionnaires. Research questions predicted that Anglo/Whites would have more seniority, education, on-the-job training (OJT), and mentoring. Nativity, English-proficiency and perceptions of Affirmative Action, and workplace discrimination also were examined. Results suggest that differences exist in each of these areas by managerial level and ethnicity.; Data were analyzed using mean scores, one- and two-way analysis of variance, and gamma coefficients. Some data were useful in determining "between minority" differences. Differences in seniority were found to be significant among Anglo/Whites, Mexican Americans, and Blacks in the executive category, but were not significant in the professional and supervisor categories. An unexpected finding is that mid-managers have more seniority than executives. Analysis of the education variable shows that education varied widely and is highly positively related to managerial level across all ethnic groups, however, differences between ethnic groups are not sufficiently large to show statistical significance. An important finding is that Mexican American executives and professionals do not lag behind Anglo/Whites or Blacks in terms of education. OJT differences were found not to be significant. Contrary to expectations, Mexican Americans in the executive category and all managers in the professional category report the greatest OJT experiences. Mentoring experiences were not found to be significantly different. Minorities reported slightly more informal mentoring experiences. Results suggest that minorities believe that a formalized mentoring program would be more helpful than informal mentoring. Analyses of perceptions of Affirmative Action policies show statistically significant main effects by race and managerial level. The two-way interaction of race with managerial level is not statistically significant. Minorities perceive that Affirmative Action policies are "somewhat helpful," while Anglo/Whites perceive it has "no effect" on their careers. An important finding is that Anglo/Whites perceive Affirmative Action as neutral or helpful to their careers. Analysis of workplace discrimination perceptions indicates statistically significant main effects for race, but none for managerial level. Overall low levels of workplace discrimination were reported. Among minority administrators Blacks tended to perceive higher levels of discrimination. Thus, this dissertation advances theory and knowledge of current career models, expands knowledge of Mexican American career advancement within the context of public administration and affirmative action, and enhances understanding of the variables believed to influence career advancement.