Productive disruptions: Supporting diversity and anti-racism in the workplace through multi-level organisational strategies

Abstract

Racism in the workplace occurs at both the interpersonal and institutional level in terms of prejudiced attitudes and behaviours and avoidable and unfair differences in hiring, retention and opportunities for training and promotion. Many organisations have stated commitments to workforce diversity; however, work-related racism remains the most common forms of reported discrimination. Rather, efforts to increase workforce diversity will fail in the absence of measures to address discriminatory attitudes, behaviours, practices and cultures. Current approaches also lack strategic development, including knowledge of how to implement workforce diversity and anti-racism strategies at multiple organisational levels. Specifically, there is less understanding of measures to support structural level change. This article aims to advance both theoretical and empirical understanding of racism and anti-discrimination in the workplace. We do this by presenting a multi-level framework for understanding and addressing workplace racism. We also study the implementation of a meso-level workplace diversity and anti-discrimination assessment within two local government organisations in Australia. Findings revealed the importance of implementing strategies across multiple organisational levels and establishing accountability for commitments to diversity and anti-racism practice. Despite its structural and universal drives, we argue that racism can be disrupted through the presence of diversity in the workplace and anti-racism intervention.

Anti-racism as an organising principle: Racial inequality in and around organisations

“…Wright et al (2023) and Khatibi et al (2023) highlight the insufficiency of performative anti-racism and how these undemanding strategies avoid the critical exacting work that requires our attention. Trenerry et al (2023) exemplify an anti-racism organising principle of the value of embodied lived experience arguing why diversity strategies are just the map for organising, the activation as always belongs firmly in the hands of individuals and leaders. Finally, Jones et al (2023) demonstrate how racism has sunk its teeth into institutions, creating and replicating spaces and systems and processes that rub off on all that inhabit them causing so much harm.…”

“…The authors conclude by introducing the notion of 'discrimination by avoidance' to the literature. Trenerry et al (2023) advance a multi-level organisational change framework in their study titled 'Productive disruptions: Supporting diversity and anti-racism in the workplace through multi-level organisational strategies'. They acknowledge that racism manifests concurrently at multiple levels; and the multi-level complexity of racism in organisations needs to be tackled holistically for anti-racism interventions to be effective.…”