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Book part
Publication date: 26 November 2021

Frank D. Golom and Mateo Cruz

Scholarship on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is voluminous. Nevertheless, there is relatively little work that examines DEI from an organization development and…

Abstract

Scholarship on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is voluminous. Nevertheless, there is relatively little work that examines DEI from an organization development and change (ODC) or systems perspective. As a result, there is no unified framework ODC practitioners can use for DEI diagnosis and intervention. The purpose of this chapter is to review the ODC literature with respect to DEI and propose a diagnostic Context-Levels-Culture (CLC) framework for understanding and addressing diversity-related challenges in organizations. We also present a case example of how this framework can be used in DEI consulting, including implications for future research and practice.

Details

Research in Organizational Change and Development
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-173-0

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 August 2021

Markus Brauer, Anissa Dumesnil and Mitchell Robert Campbell

Despite more than half a century of academic research, relatively few methods have been shown to reliably improve intergroup relations in the real world. This paper aims to use a…

Abstract

Purpose

Despite more than half a century of academic research, relatively few methods have been shown to reliably improve intergroup relations in the real world. This paper aims to use a social marketing approach to design a pro-diversity intervention in a university setting.

Design/methodology/approach

We conducted extensive qualitative, quantitative and observational background research to identify elements that would increase the effectiveness of the intervention. Focus groups and surveys allowed us to identify a target audience, target behaviors and the relevant barriers and benefits.

Findings

The background research suggested increasing inclusive behavior would have a greater impact than reducing discriminatory behavior. Based on this research, this paper determined an optimal target audience was students who had relatively positive attitudes toward diversity but engaged in few inclusive behaviors. This paper used relevant theories from the behavioral sciences to design an intervention that promoted a small set of inclusive behaviors and that addressed the relevant barriers and benefits. The intervention took the form of a single page of targeted messages that instructors can add to their course syllabi. The page communicates injunctive and descriptive norms, highlights the benefits of behaving inclusively and provides concrete behavioral advice.

Originality/value

The research applies the social marketing approach to a novel domain. This approach represents a new way to advance diversity, equity and inclusion through promoting inclusive and reducing discriminatory behavior.

Details

Journal of Social Marketing, vol. 11 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6763

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Article
Publication date: 25 February 2022

Susan Shortland and Stephen J. Perkins

The purpose of this paper is to report on trends in the deployment of minority expatriates, review organisational interventions to increase expatriate diversity and to consider…

1330

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on trends in the deployment of minority expatriates, review organisational interventions to increase expatriate diversity and to consider the challenges facing employers in widening expatriate diversity through a review of practitioner publications published by relocation management companies/consultancies.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of 109 practitioner publications on organisational international assignment policy and practice was conducted to identify trends across three decades in minority expatriation and employer interventions to widen expatriate diversity.

Findings

Practitioner publications record percentage female expatriate participation and expatriate age profiles. While expatriate diversity challenges are reported, employer interventions focus on supporting women and LGBTQ+ assignees but with little detail on their outcomes. There is little emphasis on ethnicity/race, religion, disability, pregnancy/maternity, intersectionality of diversity characteristics and inclusion.

Research limitations/implications

Practitioner publications consulted were primarily Western-focused, with access to a “complete” publications record precluded. Academic research that compares employer policy on diversity interventions with how it is implemented is needed.

Practical implications

A stronger focus on supporting the full range of expatriate diversity attributes and intersectionality is required, explaining how challenges have been addressed and inclusion achieved.

Social implications

Analysis of employer interventions could assist organisations to widen expatriate diversity and inclusion, and minorities to access international careers.

Originality/value

This review of practitioner data reveals trends in the deployment of minority expatriates, interventions taken by employers and challenges they perceive in widening expatriate diversity, providing a unique perspective and enriching our understanding of academic expatriate diversity research. Path-dependent organisational action may hinder employers' future focus on diversity, inclusion and intersectionality.

Details

Career Development International, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1362-0436

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Article
Publication date: 12 January 2015

Manfred Wondrak and Astrid Segert

The purpose of this paper is to study current problems of implementing Diversity Management (DM) in businesses and presents a concept for measuring and estimating a value for…

1857

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study current problems of implementing Diversity Management (DM) in businesses and presents a concept for measuring and estimating a value for diversity interventions.

Design/methodology/approach

An intellectual capital approach is used to identify a matrix of problems while implementing DM. To address the accounting problem for DM, advantages and disadvantages of the Diversity Scorecard are discussed and issues that require further conceptual development are identified.

Findings

Understanding DM as a part of intellectual capital helps solve accounting problems. The tests of the concept of Diversity Impact Navigator show that measuring DM at this stage requires a simple design, that using key indicators forces diversity interventions and that the process of valuation increases the understanding of DM by all stakeholders and thus its economic legitimation.

Originality/value

A newly developed concept helps solve the problem of measurement and valuation of DM. The paper presents the first test results.

Details

Journal of Intellectual Capital, vol. 16 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1469-1930

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 March 2018

Stephanie C. House, Kimberly C. Spencer and Christine Pfund

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a mentor training intervention affected research scientists’ perceptions of diversity and their subsequent behaviors.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how a mentor training intervention affected research scientists’ perceptions of diversity and their subsequent behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were originally collected as part of a randomized controlled trial measuring the effectiveness of a research mentor training intervention that covered six mentoring competencies, including addressing diversity. Here, the results of a secondary qualitative analysis of interviews with trained mentors, 135 faculty from 16 institutions from across the USA and Puerto Rico, are reported.

Findings

Analyses provide insights into how the diversity content of a mentoring intervention is interpreted, internalized, and acted upon. Mentors reported increased awareness, an expanded understanding of diversity and the implications of human differences, as well as a greater recognition of personal biases. While some were able to act on that increased awareness and make changes to their mentoring practice, most did not report doing so.

Social implications

Well-designed mentor training incorporating culturally aware practices could better prepare mentors to work successfully with mentees from diverse backgrounds. Cultivating a more culturally diverse scientific community is of benefit to science as well as society.

Originality/value

Little is known about how faculty perceive diversity or internalize training content on the topic, either within the context of mentoring or more broadly. This exploratory study provides unique insights into these phenomena and invites further research. Implications for mentoring relationships, mentor training initiatives, and efforts to address diversity are discussed.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 18 October 2017

Mustafa Özbilgin and Natasha Slutskaya

In this chapter, we examine the interrelationship between politics of neo-liberalism and practices of equality and diversity at work. In so doing, we illustrate how macro-national…

Abstract

In this chapter, we examine the interrelationship between politics of neo-liberalism and practices of equality and diversity at work. In so doing, we illustrate how macro-national politics, in particular the contemporary neo-liberal expansion, impact the definitions, activities, beneficiaries and overall impact of diversity management at the organisational level. The chapter focuses on three fundamental assumptions of neo-liberalism, beliefs in the utility of deregulation (voluntarism), individualism and competition in order to organise economic and social life. The chapter goes on to examine the reflection of these neo-liberal beliefs on construction of diversity management in contexts where neo-liberal politics dominate. The chapter concludes by a critical assessment of how diversity can be freed from the clutches of neo-liberalism, which merely serves to limit the repertoire and imagination of interventions for diversity management.

Article
Publication date: 2 July 2020

Vasanthi Suresh and Lata Dyaram

Despite increased attention towards workplace disability in global and local development agenda, mainstream inclusion of persons with disability continues to be a challenge for…

1213

Abstract

Purpose

Despite increased attention towards workplace disability in global and local development agenda, mainstream inclusion of persons with disability continues to be a challenge for most organizations. This paper aims to explore how organizations can be facilitated for adapting to the need and responsibility for change, towards evolving into disability inclusive workplaces.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses an inter-domain approach by linking organization change and development models to Indian indigenous disability management literature.

Findings

This review indicates that in comparison with the other dimensions of diversity, disability brings unique challenges that need a differentiated management approach. Further, it finds a strong base for organizations to approach disability management as a strategic and transformative change initiative, aligning with some of the proven change and organization development (OD) interventions.

Research limitations/implications

This paper draws implications for disability management and highlights the need for a practice perspective towards disability management and OD.

Originality/value

This paper provides an integrated view of critical factors influencing workplace disability management and OD.

Article
Publication date: 10 January 2022

Deni̇z Palalar Alkan, Mustafa Ozbilgin and Rifat Kamasak

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had an adverse impact on workforce diversity internationally. While in the Global North, many countries have sophisticated laws and…

1275

Abstract

Purpose

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had an adverse impact on workforce diversity internationally. While in the Global North, many countries have sophisticated laws and organizational mechanisms and discourses to deal with such adverse impacts on workforce diversity, such structures of diversity management are either ceremonial or poorly developed in the Global South. The global pandemic disproportionately impacted Global North and Global South increases the existing gap due to vaccine rollout inequality and divergence in recoveries. The authors explore social innovation as a possible option for responding to the challenges induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

The study draws on interviews in 26 distinctive organizations operating in various industries in Turkey. The authors have adopted a qualitative design to explore how social innovation helps to respond to diversity concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings

The authors demonstrate that social innovation presents a viable option for a country with a poorly regulated context of diversity management. Social innovation could help overcome the challenge of the absence of supportive legislation, discourses and practices of diversity in poorly regulated contexts.

Originality/value

The field study revealed several distinct forms of social innovation for diversity management, which emerged as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors demonstrate that in the absence of supportive diversity management structures and frameworks, social innovation in diversity management at the organizational level could provide a viable response to the emergent needs in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 41 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 April 2020

Marieke van den Brink

One of the urgent questions in the field of diversity is the knowledge about effective diversity practices. This paper aims to advance our knowledge on organizational change…

4495

Abstract

Purpose

One of the urgent questions in the field of diversity is the knowledge about effective diversity practices. This paper aims to advance our knowledge on organizational change toward diversity by combining concepts from diversity studies and organizational learning.

Design/methodology/approach

By employing a social practice approach to organizational learning, the author will be able to go beyond individual learning experiences of diversity practices but see how members negotiate the diversity knowledge and how they integrate their new knowledge in their day-to-day organizational norms and practices. The analysis draws on data collected during a longitudinal case study in a financial service organization in the Netherlands.

Findings

This study showed how collective learning practices took place but were insufficiently anchored in a collective memory. Change agents have the task to build “new” memory on diversity policies and gender inequality as well as to use organizational memory to enable diversity policies and practices to be implemented. The inability to create a community of practice impeded the change agenda.

Research limitations/implications

Future research could expand our knowledge on collective memory of knowledge on diversity further and focus on the way employees make use of this memory while doing diversity.

Practical implications

The current literature often tends to analyze the effectiveness of diversity practices as linear processes, which is insufficient to capture the complexity of a change process characterized with layers of negotiated and politicized forms of access to resources. The author would argue for more future work on nonlinear and process-based perspectives on organizational change.

Originality/value

The contribution is to the literature on diversity practices by showing how the lack of collective memory to “store” individual learning in the organization has proven to be a major problem in the management of diversity.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 39 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 January 2017

Valentini Kalargyrou and Wanda Costen

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of diversity management research published in hospitality and tourism-specific and business discipline-based journals. The study…

10670

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of diversity management research published in hospitality and tourism-specific and business discipline-based journals. The study objectives include attempting to assess the progress of diversity management research in hospitality and tourism, identifying gaps between the general business diversity management literature and the hospitality and tourism literature and providing hospitality and tourism scholars with suggestions to advance knowledge in diversity management.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is a critical review of the existing diversity management literature in the general business and hospitality and tourism disciplines in an attempt to identify gaps and make suggestions for expanding this knowledge in the hospitality and tourism fields.

Findings

There are significant gaps between the diversity management scholarship conducted in hospitality and tourism disciplines and the general business field. Diversity management research in general business is far more in-depth and uses sociological and social psychological theoretical frameworks.

Research limitations/implications

There are lessons to be learned from the general business literature that uses strong theoretical foundations deeply grounded in sociological, psychological, social-psychological and management theories. The general management literature also explores the conditions under which diversity management adds value or creates challenges for organizations.

Practical implications

The hospitality and tourism industry has employed large numbers of ethnic minorities, women and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community for decades. As such, it is critical that scholars explore the implications of such a diverse workforce not only on organizational outcomes, but also on individual and group performance. The general business diversity management research suggests that workgroup composition can influence individual and group performance, as well as the quality of co-worker relationships. Given the team-oriented, interdependent nature of work in the hospitality and tourism industry, it is imperative that researchers conduct studies that help practitioners understand the most effective perspectives and approaches to diversity management.

Social implications

The critical literature review demonstrated that there is extremely scarce research on diversity management focusing on employees with disabilities. It is imperative to shed more light on best diversity management practices, workplace etiquette of this under-represented group of employees and their interaction with their co-workers.

Originality/value

This study’s results provide insight into areas of exploration that can significantly enhance the scholarship on diversity management in the hospitality and tourism literature.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

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