Editorial: Re-orienting diversity and inclusion: pursuing the political, historical, relational, ethical and technological dimensions of theory and practice

Abstract

Re-orienting diversity and inclusion: pursuing the political, historical, relational, ethical and technological dimensions of theory and practice The starting call for this collection of articles was to move from boxed-in research to boxbreaking research, which emphasised openness to radical, transformative ideas about how to understand and respond to difference in a complex social world, while eschewing the dominant tendency of contemporary business and management research towards incrementalism (Alvesson and Sandberg, 2014). The thought-provoking articles in this collection pose an imaginative challenge to the current limitations of diversity management scholarship and practice. Although they form an eclectic and varied mix, the articles posit an overarching concern with the ossification of diversity and inclusion. Aware of the unfulfilled promise of equality for all in organisations, they breathe new life into a mature field of study that encompass not only important ideas but also a plethora of blind spots and status-quo tendencies (Oswick and Noon, 2014). Thus, despite exhibiting different sensitivities, these articles express convergences in reconsidering what (we think) we know about diversity and inclusion to pursue change that truly advances the equality agenda.Diversity and inclusion theory and practice stand to benefit significantly from expanding multi-dimensionally. As this special collection signals, there is fruitful new ground to explore along the political, historical, relational, ethical and technological dimensions of analysis, if we are to overcome the impasses in our thinking and practice. The political dimension suggests that unequal power relations that privilege some groups over others constitute a core feature of the workplace inequalities problematic today, and significant positive change is not possible without re-politicising the struggle for equality. Yet, at present, power disparities are so fully normalised that they operate invisibly and unchecked in both policy and practice (Ahonen et al., 2014), and re-orienting the field requires a stronger awareness of the political nature of diversity and inclusion processes. Equally, the literature on diversity and inclusion is not fully alert to the presence of historical effects on diversity policies and practices (Nkomo and Hoobler, 2014). There is a need for diversity and inclusion research to explore temporally contingent nature of difference, which requires accounting for the reflections of historical (dis)advantages in current diversity policy and practice. Additionally, the extant scholarship still suffers from a neglect of relational accounts that connect social processes to diversity and inclusion (Ozbilgin and Tatli, 2008). Yet, pursuing a relational dimension can highlight how workers operate within complex webs of social relations that embed their constructions of and responses to diversity and inclusion. Furthermore, diversity and inclusion must expand along the dimension of ethics because ethics is the foundation of how people ...

Political Gay Science: Nietzsche, Conservatism, and Nonbinary Identity

“…Many Fortune 500 companies have pursued workplace diversity and inclusion efforts that include PGP to improve the work environment of LGBTQ workers, without outside pressure (Everly & Schwartz, 2014). Although challenging to implement successfully, diversity and inclusion programs are seen by many in the business world as important for creating a more just society (Ozturk, 2021).…”