Nowadays, an open conversation about equal rights and workplace diversity is reaching its peak in the form of viral social media campaigns and public demonstrations. Professional sport is no different from any other industrial sector in corporate America, although the racial gap in the ranks of head coaches and senior staff is more visible. The NFL has adopted the Rooney Rule in 2003 in an effort to diversify the league (Steele, 2020). The Rule required teams to interview at least one person of color for a head-coaching position. It has since expanded to include general management positions (2009) and coordinator-level jobs (2020) in order to create “a league-wide tool to make hiring potentially inclusive” (Reid, 2016). Since the adoption of the Rule in 2003, the amount of non-white head coaches has not substantially increased (Steele, 2020), which is why I believe it is not effective. In my opinion, the Rooney Rule can be a positive initiative if the NFL executives can recognize the fundamental flaws related to the interviewing and hiring process of ‘Rooney’ candidates.
Other professional sports leagues such as NBA could benefit from adopting an inclusive hiring policy. There are currently eight head coaches in the NBA, with the league being considered one of the most progressive and inclusive in the men’s sports industry (Camarillo, 2019). The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida argues that the NBA’s reputation for diversity is well-deserved due to the number of minority senior staff and coaching hires (Camarillo, 2019). The difference between the NFL and the NBA is the culture, which is more progressive in the latter case. Basketball players get support from the NBA to speak out on social issues using their platforms (Camarillo, 2019). In my opinion, there is no need for the NBA to adopt the Rooney Rule in its original form largely due to its ineffectiveness. Based on the racial hiring rates of CEOs and presidents in the NBA (Camarillo, 2019), it is important to acknowledge the existing issue of underrepresentation in top management. Instead of following the NFL’s ‘soft’ affirmative action policies, the NBA and other professional sports leagues have to adapt the Rule and increase the number of required minority candidates. Such changes could also dictate the inclusion of gender and sexuality minorities in the interviewing process.
There is a strong need for a modified inclusivity policy that would have significant effects on the professional sports industry in the United States. According to the New York Times, the NFL amended the Rooney Rule and presented a set of new requirements for interviewing two minority candidates for a head-coaching position, “at least one minority candidate for any vacancy among the three coordinator jobs, and at least one external minority candidate for the senior football operations position” (Belson, 2020). As a result, black coaches are now almost 20 percent more likely to be hired compared to the results of the original 2003 regulation (Steele, 2020). Increasing the number of required interviewees, however, will not resolve a number of other issues, including unconscious bias and homogeneous interview panels.
Even with the changes, the league continues to ignore the unconscious bias in the interviewing process. Stefanie Johnson, an associate professor at the University of Colorado, who specializes in minority hiring and unconscious bias mitigation, explains that people tend to hire candidates who are similar to them (Steele, 2020). She argues that this hiring model is flawed since an executive ends up hiring a person who has similar experiences and makes the same decisions, which ultimately results in similar mistakes (Steele, 2020). In my opinion, there has to be a required preparation course for the interview panel where the members could get anti-bias training and learn how to set basic criteria for the candidates instead of going into interviews blindly. Setting the requirements and professional achievements of a perfect new hire and presenting it before a panel like the Fritz Pollard Alliance (Steele, 2020) could be an effective way to make interviews more objective.
The lack of diversity on the interview panel can be resolved by the integration of key team players into the hiring process. Since 70 percent of the NFL players are non-white (Steele, 2020), giving them a chance to participate in the interviewing process would give them a chance to find a coach that the team can relate to and communicate with more effectively. The players could start their own grassroots initiatives to fight for an opportunity to have representatives during the process of a new head coach’s hiring. However, it would have more immediate results to incorporate such a regulation into my rule.
The rule would also include the involvement of at least two minority candidates in the interviewing process for executive, management, coaching, coordinating, and front office positions. Only individuals who have passed specific anti-bias training would be members of the interview panel. They would also have to present the initial requirements and potential expectations regarding a perfect hire to the Fritz Pollard Alliance. Furthermore, there would be a requirement for at least two key players to be a part of the interviewing process. I believe that the rule that I have created would be beneficial to other industries since the underrepresentation of minorities is present in the majority of commercial sectors of corporate America (Lyles, 2018). Companies like Facebook, Pinterest, and Amazon have been testing the Rooney Rule since 2015, but the representation is still not substantial (Lyles, 2018). In my opinion, the modifications that I have made in the development of a new rule have a good return on investment (ROI) since greater diversity in the leadership team translates to greater economic benefit (Steele, 2020). My rule can minimize the effects of unconscious bias as well.
References
Belson, K. (2020, May 19). N.F.L. team owners enhance Rooney Rule, but stop short of incentives. New York Times. Web.
Camarillo, P. D. (2019). Should the NBA adopt the NFL’s Rooney Rule? Medium. Web.
Lyles, H. (2018). The NFL’s Rooney Rule won’t solve tech’s diversity problem. The Verge. Web.
Reid, J. (2016). Rethinking the NFL’s Rooney Rule for more diversity at the top. Five Thirty Eight. Web.
Steele, M. (2020). Can analytics fix the Rooney Rule? The Undefeated. Web.