Ms Norma Ncube

(she/her)

BA (Hons) Accountancy and Management MSc International Accounting and Finance

Research

A decision made for you, without you, usually may not benefit you. 

The Civil Service is one of the country’s largest employers. It is a trailblazer for diversity efforts and aims to be the UK’s most inclusive employer, setting the direction for others to follow. Strategic and policy decisions are made at the most senior levels of the Government and the Civil Service Departmental Management Boards. Representation is crucial.

The research is a response to the UK Social Mobility Commission's first ever independent, data-driven investigation of how socio-economic background shapes career progression in the civil service.  Civil Service Navigating the Labyrinth: Socio-economic background and career progression within the Civil Service Report May 2021.

RESEARCH TOPIC:

Career progression of the Black Civil Servant to the Senior Civil Service and Departmental Management Boards. Comparing the capitals of Black African and African Caribbean heritage in the UK senior civil service.

I seek to understand how Black civil servants respond to the cultural challenges (organisational; inter-subgroup, intra-subgroup cultures) that they face in pursuit of promotion into the senior civil service and further progression to departmental management boards.  What acculturation strategies do they use to activate and or acquire the Cultural and Social Capitals that unlock the hidden rules and secret codes to successfully navigate their way into and within the dominant Senior Civil Service culture? More specifically, do individual outcomes vary depending on ethnic heritage?