Will I Stay or Will I Go?

McGinn, K., & Milkman, K. (2010). Will I stay or will I go? Cooperative and competitive effects of workgroup sex and race composition on turnover. Retrieved March 8, 2010 from: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-066.pdf

This is a working paper published by Harvard Business School and its focus is to study the voluntary and involuntary turnover in knowledge organizations such as consulting firms, law firms, and universities. According to the study, women and minorities are underrepresented at the top levels of such organizations, which contribute to ongoing inequalities in promotion and exit rates because senior executives are the ones that choose who is promoted or cut and they tend to promote those who are similar to themselves, including similarity in gender and race. Additionally, the study shows that demographic similarity with peers, in terms of age and cohort, has been shown to reduce the likelihood of exit. However, the study also concluded that working alongside same sex and same race peers made it more likely that a junior professional would exit so getting the right workgroup composition is a very important task for firms. This is an extensive study they goes into a lot of detail and is worthwhile to read. Although its focus is on knowledge organizations, managers in other organizational types can probably benefit from the study as well.