The Racial Foundation of Organizational Communication

Abstract

Scholars of organizational communication have begun to focus diligently on organization as gendered, yet we continue to neglect the ways in which it is fundamentally raced. With this article, we seek to stimulate systematic attention to the racial dynamics of organizational communication. We argue that the field's most common ways of framing race ironically preserve its racial foundation. Specifically, our analysis of core organizational communication texts exposes 5 disciplined messages that disguise our field's participation in preserving the normative power of organized Whiteness. We conclude with specific suggestions for revising the racial subtext of our scholarship. The essay follows in the spirit of "a radical rethinking of the role we play in articulating accounts of organizational life" (Mumby, 1993, p. 21).

Professionalization as a Branding Activity: Occupational Identity and the Dialectic of Inclusivity‐Exclusivity

“…By extension, her argument helps us see tacit racial inclusion as well. Similar to gender in this respect, analyses of race in the diversity literature emphasize obstacles that face of Others in white-dominated professions (Ashcraft and Allen, 2003). Yet focus on their professional exclusion elides their concentration in low-wage work deemed to be unskilled (Tomaskovic-Devey, 1993); and professions are born in contrast with this 'menial' work as well.…”

Organizational Communication: Challenges for the New Century

“…The positivist idea that theory is objective and stands back from the biases of researchers has also been criticized. Ashcraft and Allen (2003) challenged researchers to consider the ways in which the field is fundamentally raced (or racist), just as feminist theories have focused on organizations as gendered (cf. Taylor & Trujillo, 2001).…”

Organizational Communication Meets Queer Theory: Theorizing Relations of “Difference” Differently

“…Most empirical work that has engaged in intersectional analyses has responded to Parker's (2014) question by foregrounding the intersections of gender and race. Ashcraft and Allen (2003) argue that race is a particularly important social identity to foreground in difference research because race is communicatively accomplished in subtle everyday work interactions, race is a central organizing feature of the division of labor in society, race is a major basis of domination in our society, and ideology of whiteness prevents many white people from seeing the omnipresence of race relations at work (Allen, 2007;Grimes, 2002;Nkomo, 1992). The intersection between race and gender was first examined in organizational communication research through Allen's (1996Allen's ( , 1998Allen's ( , 2000 applications of feminist standpoint theory to her experiences as a Black woman in U.S. academia.…”