Measuring Microaggression and Organizational Climate Factors in Military Units

This research attempts to develop a reliable instrument to assess microaggression in organizations, specifically in military units. Another goal of the research is to determine the antecedents of leadership cohesion, microaggression, work group cohesion, and work group effectiveness using the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute’s (DEOMI) Organizational Climate Survey (DEOCS). Responses of 6,816 active duty military members were evaluated using multi-group structural equation models. Findings reveal that organizational climate factors are salient predictors of microaggression, leadership cohesion, work group cohesion, and work group effectiveness in military units. I discuss the research contributions, limitations, future research directions, and recommendations to commanders. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and should not be construed to represent the official position of DEOMI, the military services, or the Department of Defense. Measuring Microaggressions and Organizational, 3 America certainly has made significant progress in the way that it interacts and extends dignity and respect to its minority population. Overt racist behavior is illegal, and for the most part, unwelcome in every corridor of American life. However, some diversity scholars (Constantine, 2007; Sue & Constantine, 2007; Sue et al., 2007), in their quest to eradicate all forms of racism, remain increasingly concerned about those subtle but substantial verbal and nonverbal acts of racial aggression known as racial microaggressions. Sue and colleagues define racial microaggressions as those ―brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults to the target person or group‖ (Sue et al., 2007, p. 273). These behaviors are perceived by the target person or group as put downs and/or negative behaviors that question their legitimacy. Despite the deleterious effect that microaggressions can have on organizational members to include loss of self-esteem, mistrust, impairment of workplace productivity, increased levels of anger, and a detrimental impact on the psyche of the target person or group (Pierce, 1995; Sue, 2005; Sue et al., 2007), only one study has attempted to measure this construct. Constantine (2007) developed a 10-item measure to assess microaggressions and their role in the clientpsychologist relationship. Constantine found that clients who experienced microaggressions have a weaker therapeutic alliance with their psychologist and consequently reported lower counseling satisfaction. A review of the literature indicates that a measure to assess microaggression in organizations apparently does not exist. Therefore, one goal of this research is to develop a reliable instrument to assess microaggressions in organizations, specifically in military units. Using the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute’s (DEOMI) Organizational Climate Measuring Microaggressions and Organizational, 4 Survey (DEOCS) and a sample of its respondents, another goal of this research is to examine the relationship between organizational climate factors and microaggression in military units. The research also attempts to determine the antecedents of leadership cohesion, microaggression, unit cohesion, and unit effectiveness in the military.