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Presents an American view of how British corporations have renewed their efforts to improve the development of managers. Examines management development practices at five corporations to identify the kinds of programmes being instituted to enhance managers′ skills. The results reveal some common practices which attempt to link management development to organizational goals. Priorities range from individual change as the principal purpose to corporate pay‐offs as the primary objective. All programmes suffer from a lack of concrete measurement to determine if these objectives are being met.

Companies increasingly concern themselves with the question of diversity. As globalisation continues to speed along and demographics undergo major shifts, organisations may believe that a more diverse work group will increase their effectiveness. This article addresses issues that may impact the success of integrating recent African American business school graduates of an historically black university into the culture of an organisation. African Americans were asked to compare Hispanics, the fastest growing minority, to both themselves and to whites with reference to managerial ability. Results show that they view themselves as distinct and more qualified than Hispanics, but see little difference between Hispanics and whites. The greater the supervisory ability of the respondent (as measured by Ghiselli’s Self Description Inventory (1971)) the greater the disparity perceived between African Americans and Hispanics. Implications for organisations are discussed.

To compare and contrast the experiences, challenges, and career mobility of black women and Latinas in the workplace.

Extant literature and data from the US Census Bureau, the US Department of Labor, the Pew Hispanic Research Center, and other relevant repositories were used to assess the workforce participation, education, and income for women of color. Specifically, their representation in organizational positions was examined, considering historical and social influences that affect this representation. Relevant human capital theory (HCT) was applied to consider its predictive power for outcomes of black women and Latinas in the workplace.

Although women of color are increasing proportions of all women in the US labor force, equal opportunity legislation (now in its fifth decade) has improved their status less than would be expected by their education and workforce participation. HCT does not adequately explain the experiences of Latinas and black women.

Being aware of barriers that black women and Latinas face in the workplace will prevent organizations from devaluing a growing segment of workers and help them compete in an increasingly competitive market.

While black women and Latinas are the most numerous women of color in the US workforce, the relatively small amount of research on women of color, particularly Latinas, remains a gaping hole in the field. Thus, the value of this article is that it adds to the literature on the workplace experiences of an important segment of the US population.