Challenging and Changing Discrimination Against Asian-American Cybersecurity and Engineering Employees in Information Technology Workplaces

Abstract

Duvall Systems is a government information technology, and cybersecurity consulting firm focused on providing high-tech consulting support for U.S. federal government agencies. Duvall has experienced a series of discrimination complaints from Asian-American employees related to workplace mistreatment. These complaints relate to a hostile work environment, discrimination in promotions, and employee evaluations. Many of the complaints have been driven by racist attacks against Asian-American employees blaming them for COVID-19. The focus of the study is an exploration of diversity and inclusion in a cybersecurity consulting company. An action research approach used included fact-finding interviews, barrier analysis, company policy assessments, content analysis of the problem in the literature, and recommendations based on the amalgamation of the triangulated data.