Introduction: Critically interrogating inclusion in organisations

Abstract

This Special Issue seeks to begin to map out the key issues and contours of the emerging stream of literature on critical studies of inclusion in organisations. We aim to generate and develop further debates on critically theorising the concept, rhetoric and practices of inclusion, how inclusion manifests in different organisational contexts, how it works for different social groups, and how it continues to be implicated and interwoven with the logic of exclusion and inequality in contemporary organisations. The term ‘inclusion’ seems to have augmented the term ‘diversity’, resulting in the emergence of ‘diversity and inclusion’ as a standing term, with other terms, such as ‘equality’ and ‘equity’ currently less frequently used. In this Special Issue we treat diversity and inclusion as analytically distinct and question how far the ‘inclusion turn’ is changing practices in organisations. The papers in this Special Issue discuss how organisations ‘do’ inclusion, explore the conditions on which minority groups are included, and seek to develop a more nuanced understanding of the concept of inclusion by situating it into the broader social context and questioning the inclusion-exclusion binary.

Implementing the equality, diversity, and inclusion agenda in multinational companies: A framework for the management of (linguistic) diversity

“…Nevertheless, through proposing the ‘variety’ perspective as a starting point, it highlights the importance of organisational efforts to increase variety as a prerequisite for achieving inclusion. Research has criticised organisational inclusion practices that produce a tokenistic representation of members of minority groups (Adamson et al., 2021) by focussing merely on increasing the number of representatives of minority groups in an organisation without acknowledging the value that a variety of backgrounds and perspectives bring to the organisation. A recent large‐scale review of the consequences of tokenism shows that ‘being a token is for the most part, a negative experience that carries with it a host of adverse consequences’ (Watkins et al, 2019, p. 360).…”

Inclusion and Exclusion in Management Education and Learning: A Deliberative Approach to Conferences

“…This paper began by recognizing that business schools and management educators need to take the issue of inclusion more seriously (Adamson et al, 2020;Stewart et al, 2008), particularly in the light of the #metoo and Black Lives Matter movements (Bell et al, 2019;Bell et al, 2021;Chowdhury, 2021;Dar et al, 2021;Vachhani & Pullen, 2019).…”

From refugee to manager? Organisational socialisation practices, refugees' experiences and polyrhythmic socialisation

“…Whereas organisational socialisation scholarship traditionally seeks to identify factors that facilitate newcomers' progress on their journey of becoming organisational insiders (Bauer et al, 2007; Wanberg & Choi, 2012), we approach this topic from a more critical angle by examining factors that complicate the refugees' socialisation and development. By studying potentially negative consequences of management practices for workers and giving voice to societally marginalised people, we position our study in the pragmatically critical management scholarship in the sense of Fournier and Grey (2000) as well as a recent research stream of critical studies on organisational inclusion (Adamson et al, 2021). Thereby, in keeping with Berger & Luckmann (1966), we understand organisational socialisation as a socially constructed phenomenon.…”