Rethinking Diversity in Organizations and Society

Knights, David and Omanović, Vedran (2015) Rethinking Diversity in Organizations and Society. In: The Oxford Handbook of Diversity in Organizations :. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 9780199679805

Abstract

The problem addressed in this chapter is whether emphasis on the ‘business case’ has gone too far, for even on its own terms there have been questions concerning the actual commercial benefits of diversity management. The concern is that if practitioner interests in anti-discrimination are reduced to the business case, then any failure to achieve commercial benefits will condemn the whole programme. Consequently, there has to be some return to the social justice arguments for managing diversity. As a way of seeking to stimulate such developments, we have conducted a literature survey of the various methodological and analytical frameworks deployed in diversity in organizations research. This is in order to search for alternatives to the reduction of ideas and interests in diversity to a single managerial preoccupation with making diversity ‘pay’, or limiting diversity practices to their potential to generate commercial benefits.