A Place at the Table? The Organization of a Pre‐Conference Symposium on LGBT Issues in HRD

Exploring the Boundaries of Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resource Development

“…Furthermore, the intent to improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching in HRD undergraduate and graduate programs is reflected by recent initiatives and discussions. Schmidt and Githens (2010) describe the challenge and result of offering an LGBT preconference. Ultimately, concerns about initial resistance and a lukewarm reception were allayed by the support shown through high attendance and the nature of the discussion.…”

Queer Theory Meets HRD Research and Practice

“…Attempts at introducing LGBT issues into HRD academic debates have encountered opposition. For example, Schmidt and Githens (2010) faced resistance after proposing to organise a pre-conference on LGBT workplace issues involving students, scholars and practitioners for the 2008 Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) International Research Conference. Some reviewers of the proposal "wondered if this topic was one that AHRD wanted to promote that particular year", while others "questioned its importance to conference attendees" (Schmidt & Githens, 2010, p. 59).…”

“…LGBT workplace issues, resistance has been encountered within the academic HRD community about its importance and salience (Schmidt & Githens, 2010). Other researchers have highlighted the poor coverage of LGBT issues within HRD curricula (Chapman & Gedro, 2009;Gedro, 2010) and HRD scholarship (McFadden, 2015;Schmidt, Githens, Rocco & Kormanik, 2012), suggesting that HRD is complicit in contributing to the ongoing exclusion and marginalisation of…”

Queering lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities in human resource development and management education contexts

“…This article engages with queer theory and the practice of queering with the aim of enabling researchers within the fields of human resource development (HRD) and management education (ME) to conceptualise lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) identities as performative and unbounded, with potentially subversive effects. One reason for focusing on HRD is that, with some notable exceptions (McDonald, 2013(McDonald, , 2015, it is one of few areas within the management learning domain that has engaged with queer theory (Chapman and Gedro, 2009;Gedro, 2010;Gedro and Mizzi, 2014), primarily to challenge the hetero-/cisnormative bias that has been noted in HRD research and practice (Bierema, 2015;Collins, 2012;Schmidt and Githens, 2010). This emergent literature offers valuable insights into the potential of a theory that has yet to impact profoundly the wider discipline of management and organisation studies (Pullen et al, 2016).…”

“…Other researchers have bemoaned this lacuna in scholarly knowledge (McFadden, 2015) as well as the inadequate coverage of LGBT issues within HRD curricula (Chapman and Gedro, 2009; Gedro, 2010), suggesting that dominant discourses of HRD are complicit in contributing to the ongoing exclusion and marginalisation of LGBT people. To illustrate, Schmidt and Githens (2010) discuss the resistance they encountered organising a preconference symposium on LGBT issues in HRD at the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) International Research Conference. One reviewer questioned the importance of their proposal for an LGBT preconference symposium, while another wondered whether this was an issue the AHRD wanted to ‘promote’.…”