Studying Organizational Change in Sites of Power: Shifting From White-Centered to Equity-Centered Decision-Making Processes in Postsecondary Philanthropy

• In Event: Studies of Equity-Minded Organizational Learning in Educational Contexts

Abstract

It costs organizations little to make public exhortations in support of racial justice (Berrey, 2015; Warikoo, 2016). The greater struggle comes when actors must make new decisions to match public statements--even decisions that contradict white-centered norms about what is rigorous, meritorious, or high-quality (McCambly & Mulroy, 2022; Posselt et al., 2020; Rodgers et al., 2022; White-Lewis, 2021). Scholars and practitioners alike question under what conditions equity commitments matter to social outcomes and how we make exemplary material consequences “stick.” Our project is concerned with organizational learning as it pertains to shifting decision-making (conceptualized as the combination of criteria and process) in sites of power connected to educational equity.

In this paper we examined the attempts at organizational change at one postsecondary-focused private foundation that grew out of years of interorganizational professional development and engagement with racial equity questions. Specifically, we ask: What types of organizational learning motivated one education-focused foundation to revise its equity decision-making practices? What values, tools, and artifacts did that foundation adopt to mobilize and institutionalize these practices, and did these efforts materially change process? We not only looked at what changes the foundation intended to make under their equity initiative, but also how those changes transcended individual intentions to become embedded, via organizational learning, into norms, routines, and policies.

This study was conducted within a large, postsecondary-focused private foundation, Exegeo (a pseudonym). We conducted an in-depth case study using semi-structured interviews and document analysis collected over a span of four years (2018-2022) (Yin, 2017). Interviews were 60-90 minutes in length with purposively sampled Foundation staff and board (N=56) and grantees (N=4) in spring 2018, summer 2020, and spring 2022. Interviewees were recruited based on their involvement with an organizational change campaign “Aligned4Equity” (A4E) (pseudonym) or prior equity efforts and their ability to triangulate events such that we might reach conclusions based on local conditions rather than based strictly on perceptual patterns of process (Miles et al., 2013; Morrill & Alan Fine, 1997; Weiss, 1995). Documents included both internal materials provided by the Foundation (e.g., early and final draft action plans, staff onboarding documentation, and proprietary data collection tools, N=42 documents) and external documents (e.g., blogs, press releases, N=135 documents).

Our analysis surfaces material changes to this foundation’s decision-making via multiple mechanisms, as well as the persistent struggle involved in changing decision-making processes rooted in whiteness that have guided action in educational sites of power to-date. Since the mid-2010s Exegeo had grappled with adopting, and meaningfully operationalizing, equity as a priority. After years of such efforts, in 2021 Exegeo initiated A4E, a renewed organizational commitment to centering racial equity. In our full paper, we will demonstrate how multiple individuals within Exegeo initiated a level-shift from years’ of equity-talk toward new mechanisms of organizational learning in the form of explicit new criteria for identifying target communities Exegeo would serve, redefining equitable postsecondary outcomes, and centering justice in their partnerships.

Authors

• Heather N. McCambly, University of Pittsburgh

• Krystal R. Villanosa, The Spencer Foundation