Abstract. The idea that management matters in public organizations is commonly expressed throughout the public management literature. Scholars, however, have failed to address the question of whether minority managers manage differently. The extant literature suggests that minority managers face several challenges that their white counterparts do not encounter. Given that previous work has documented potential for varied organizational experiences, we investigate two related research questions. First, are the strategies of minority and non-minority managers similar? In other words, does race translate into specific managerial strategies? Second, how does the potentiality of distinct managerial experiences and behaviors affect organizational performance? Here, we unpack how the characteristics of the manager impact the performance of the organization – that is, whether organizations fare differently based on the race of the manager. By incorporating Moore’s (1995) distinctions among managing upward, downward, and out- ward, we address a gap in the public management literature that neglects the potential effects of race and(pp. 129–157)

JEL: J18, L10, M12

Keywords: management, strategy, performance, minority, public, organization