ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the apparent disparate impact of the federal disciplinary process as a vehicle for understanding the extent to which race/ethnicity may continue to affect the relationships between supervisors and subordinates within the bureaucracy. A greater percentage of people of color than Euro-Americans did consider filing an EEO complaint. The chapter examines research on cognition and human behavior that provide additional, plausible explanations for the disparity in discipline rates. Many employees of color who have been disciplined also believe that discrimination was involved. Communication styles are grounded in culture, and different cultures assign different meaning to peoples' actions. The chapter examines plausible explanations for the disparity as a means for understanding the ways race affects prospects for employees of color in the workplace. It suggests that the disparate rates of discipline probably are not caused by widespread discrimination that results in the discipline of minority employees who did not engage in misconduct or perform unsatisfactorily on their jobs.
