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PDW 02 – Approaching Diversity beyond the Concept of Identity [hybrid]

Convenors:
Inge Bleijenbergh
Radboud University, The Netherlands
Laura Dobusch
Johannes Kepler University, Austria
Alexander Fleischmann
IMD Business School, Switzerland
Dide van Eck
Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Call for Applications

Facilitators:
Yvonne Benschop, Radboud University, The Netherlands
Bontu Lucie Guschke, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Eline Jammaers, Hasselt University, Belgium
Emmanouela Mandalaki, NEOMA Business School, France
Koen Van Laer, Hasselt University, Belgium
Alice Wickström, Gothenburg School of Business, Sweden


Purpose

The overall goal of this PDW, hosted by the EGOS Standing Working Group (SWG) 02: “Pushing the Boundaries of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Theorizing Transformative Change in Organizations”, is to provide a platform for scholars interested in advancing (organizational) research in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion beyond individualist and identity-centered approaches. This PDW aims to offer interested doctoral students, junior scholars and more experienced faculty an opportunity to explore and reflect on conceptual and methodological tools that do not approach diversity and connected inequalities as brought into the “neutral container” (Janssens & Zanoni, 2021) of the organization but as fundamentally co-constituted through forms of organizing.
 
Oftentimes, diversity is explicitly or implicitly conceptualized as something that individuals have (Ely, 1995). This has not only severe consequences for which diversity policies are perceived as appropriate (Dobbin & Kalev, 2022) but also implies an onto-epistemological position that takes the individual and its agency for granted. This underestimates that intersecting inequalities are first and foremost reproduced and inextricably embedded in everyday practices and socio-material arrangements (Barad, 2003).

  • Therefore, we welcome papers – at early or advanced stages of development – that engage with researching diversity beyond the concept of individual identities by applying for example communication/discourse centered (e.g., Dobusch, 2017; Plotnikof et al., 2022), space-related (Van Laer et al., 2023), new materialist (e.g., van Amsterdam et al., 2023), fundamentally relational/more-than-human (e.g., Cozza & Gherardi, 2023), practice-theoretical perspectives (e.g., Janssens & Steyaert, 2019) or advancing research into gendered or racialized organizational structures (Acker, 2006; Ray, 2019).

  • In addition, we welcome papers that use methodological approaches that allow for decentering individual experiences such as ethnographic and arts-based methodologies (e.g., Gherardi, 2019) as well as action research methodologies (e.g., Bleijenbergh, 2023).

 
By bringing together scholars interested in these perspectives, we want to provide a platform for exchange and support to advance diversity research beyond the concept of identity.
 

Hybrid format

The PDW will start with a brief introduction to the background and aims of the event from the organizers and facilitators, followed by an introduction round of the participants. The workshop will allow for an in-depth engagement with each submitted paper and ends with a closing panel where participants discuss the potential of theorizing and researching beyond the individual/identities. The focus is on on-site participation, but based on interest we will also provide online subgroups for paper discussions and feedback. Moreover, the plenary will be livestreamed to online participants and the organizers will ensure that online participants can take part in the discussion.
 

Application

To be considered for the workshop, please submit – via the EGOS website – by April 30, 2024 a single document of application (.doc, .docx or .pdf file) that includes

  • A cover page with full details of name, affiliation and email address;

  • A short statement of motivation for participation (200 words);

  • A proposal for a working paper or a draft of the paper.
     

References

Acker, J. (2006): “Inequality regimes: Gender, class, and race in organizations.” Gender and Society, 20 (4), 441–464.
  • Barad, K. (2003): “Posthumanist performativity: Toward an understanding of how matter comes to matter.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28 (3), 801–831.
  • Bleijenbergh, I. (2023): “Feminist action research.” In: S. Katila, S. Meriläinen, & E. Bell (eds.): Handbook of Feminist Research Methodologies in Management and Organization Studies. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 107–122.
  • Cozza, M., & Gherardi, S. (2023): “Posthuman feminism and feminist new materialism: towards an ethico-onto-epistemology in research practices.” In: S. Katila, S. Meriläinen, & E. Bell (eds.): Handbook of Feminist Research Methodologies in Management and Organization Studies. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 55–71.
  • Dobbin, F., & Kalev, A. (2022): Getting to Diversity: What Works and Doesn’t. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Dobusch, L. (2017): “Gender, Dis-/ability and Diversity Management: Unequal Dynamics of Inclusion?” Gender, Work & Organization, 24 (5), 487–505.
  • Ely, R.J. (1995): “The role of dominant identity and experience in organizational work on diversity.” In: S. Jackson & M. Ruderman (eds.): Diversity in Work Teams: Research Paradigms for a Changing Workplace. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 161–186.
  • Gherardi, S. (2019): “Theorizing affective ethnography for organization studies.” Organization, 26 (6), 741–760.
  • Janssens, M., & Steyaert, C. (2019): “A practice-based theory of diversity: Respecifying (in)equality in organizations.” Academy of Management Review, 44 (3), 518–537.
  • Janssens, M., & Zanoni, P. (2021): “Making diversity research matter for social change: New conversations beyond the firm.” Organization Theory, 2 (2), https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/26317877211004603.
  • Plotnikof, M., Muhr, S.L., Holck, L., & Just, S.N. (2022): “Repoliticizing diversity work? Exploring the performative potentials of norm‐critical activism.” Gender, Work & Organization, 29 (2), 466–485.
  • Ray, V. (2019): “A Theory of Racialized Organizations.” American Sociological Review, 84 (1), 26–53.
  • van Amsterdam, N., van Eck, D., & Meldgaard Kjær, K. (2023): “On (Not) Fitting In: Fat embodiment, affect and organizational materials as differentiating agents.” Organization Studies, 44 (4), 593–612.
  • Van Laer, K., Jammaers, E., & Hoeven, W. (2022): “Disabling organizational spaces: Exploring the processes through which spatial environments disable employees with impairments.” Organization, 29 (6), 1018–1035.
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Inge Bleijenbergh is a Full Professor of Action Research, in particular in the field of equality, diversity and inclusion, at Radboud University, The Netherlands. She uses participatory methods, like focus groups and group model building, to involve organizational members in analyzing and addressing complex problems. Inge published widely on subjects such as organizational change, gender inequality and diversity, work life balance, change agents, and participatory action research. She is a co-editor of the “Oxford Handbook of Diversity in Organizations” and wrote several textbooks on qualitative research methods.
Laura Dobusch is a post-doctoral University Assistant at the Sustainable Transformation Management Lab at Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria. Main areas of her research are: how organizations can become both more inclusive and sustainable and how respective policy approaches interact with each other; which opportunities, limits and also unintended consequences are linked to organizational inclusion strategies; and how contemporary forms of organizing are connected to the creation of il-/legitimate subjectivities. Laura’s research has been published in, among others, ‘Gender, Work & Organization’, ‘Organization’ and ‘Organization Studies’.
Alexander Fleischmann is a Research Affiliate at IMD Business School, Lausanne, Switzerland. His research focuses on inclusion and how it is measured, inclusive language and images, ableism and LGBTIQ+ at work as well as possibilities to organize solidarity. Alexander’s work appeared in, amongst others, ‘Organization’, ‘Work, Employment and Society’, ‘Journal of Management and Organization’, and ‘Gender in Management: An International Journal’.
Dide van Eck is an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University School of Governance, The Netherlands. Her research interests lie broadly with (critical) management and diversity studies. More specifically, her research projects are or have been informed by (critical) inclusion studies, practice theory, affect and new materialism, exploring how different ways of organizing disrupts or reproduces power asymmetries related to gender, race/ethnicity, body size and class. Methodologically, she combines extensive ethnographic fieldwork with creative analytical practices. Dide has published in ‘Organization Studies’, ‘Organization’, and ‘Gender, Work and Organization’.