Shadows and light: Diversity management as phantasmagoria

Abstract

Within the field of critical diversity studies increasing reference is made to the need for more critically informed research into the practice and implementation of diversity management. This article draws on an action research project that involved diversity practitioners from within the UK voluntary sector. In their accounts of resistance, reluctance and a lack of effective organizational engagement, participants shared a perception of diversity management as something difficult to concretize and envisage; and as something that organizational members associated with fear and anxiety; and with an inability to act. We draw on the metaphor of the phantasmagoria as a means to investigate this representation. We conclude with some tentative suggestions for alternative ways of doing diversity.

Contextualising diversity management in the Middle East and North Africa: a relational perspective

“…Finally, deep understanding of the interplay of the different factors led some managers to opt for a sensitive approach that consisted of raising awareness and adapt the diversity policies designed in the West. Many researchers have called for studies that take into account the role of context (Schwabenland and Tomlinson, ; Zanoni et al, ) and have argued that when context is taken seriously, diversity management may become situated and dynamic (Pringle and Ryan, ), which is also confirmed by our findings.…”

“…This study sheds light on the MENA countries, which forms a strongly under‐researched area (Mellahi et al, ). In line with Schwabenland and Tomlinson () who stressed the need for more critically informed research into the practice of diversity management, we present a realistic account on how HR/diversity managers implement diversity policies in different contexts. Secondly, the study shows how an understanding of the interrelated nature of factors on macro‐level, meso‐level and micro‐level may influence the way in which HR/diversity managers implement diversity policies in the MENA region.…”

Diversity as Polyphony: Reconceptualizing Diversity Management from a Communication-Centered Perspective

“…For this purpose, constructive-critical scholars explore how diversity management practices are shaped by the 'language in use' (e.g., Zanoni, 2005, 2014;Tomlinson and Schwabenland, 2009;Van Laer and Janssens, 2011;Zanoni, 2011). Thus, constructive-critical scholars tend either to be concerned with the role of language in perpetuating or challenging organizational power relations (Zanoni and Janssens, 2004) or highlight the relevant experiences of organizational members-for example, the discrimination that some employees face and the suppression they may suffer as a result of particular practices of diversity management (e.g., Kamenou and Fearfull, 2006;Schwabenland and Tomlinson, 2015).…”

The role of imprinting on the adoption of diversity management in German universities

“…The concept of diversity management developed in the 1980s in the US (Süß and Kleiner ; Nkomo and Hoobler ; Schwabenland and Tomlinson ) and revolutionized the understanding of difference in organizations, which became portrayed as a strategic management asset that could provide a competitive advantage if well managed (Robinson and Dechant ; Kelly and Dobbin ; Zanoni et al ). Diversity management is thus characterized by the ‘inherent focus on the value‐in‐diversity proposition’ (Kelly and Dobbin ; Nkomo and Hoobler , p. 251).…”