Is your organisation really a 'meritocracy'?

In the global diversity and inclusion (D & I) work that IDC does, we are often told by clients that their organisation has a meritocratic culture. In other words, each promotion is awarded to the most capable candidate, irrespective of gender, race and ethnicity, age, etc.

Our experience from our global D & I assessments repeatedly informs us that this is not the case and that the interpretation of what is meritocratic varies across geographical regions.

For example, focus group participants in South-East Asia, who work for US or British-owned companies, will tell us that their senior management regularly proclaim that promotions are based solely on merit in their organisation. However, it is their experience that this really means having been educated in Western universities and to have worked in the West for several years. Being a high performer and having been educated in a top Asian university seems not to be enough; because they need to be schooled in Western social customs and speak refined English.

Additionally, in the West we expect promotion candidates to be upfront about speaking about their achievements and their ambitions and, in effect, to sell their merit at interviews. However, not everyone can do this and particularly people who have grown up in non-Caucasian cultures. In a recent overseas focus group we were told by one of the participants: "We were brought up to believe that humility is our duty. It would be seen as bragging for us to talk about how good we are."

The message is that Western organisations which describe themselves as meritocracies need to question whether this principle is being exercised from a Western standpoint and, if so, how to reinterpret it so that it has global relevance.

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