Resistance through difference : the co-constitution of dissent and inclusion

Gagnon, Suzanne and Collinson, David Leonard (2017) Resistance through difference : the co-constitution of dissent and inclusion. Organization Studies, 38 (9). pp. 1253-1276. ISSN 0170-8406

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Abstract

This article argues that discursive constructions of difference can shape practices of organizational resistance. Drawing on an inductive study of international teams in a global leadership programme, the paper reveals how difference is discursively produced and reproduced in team members’ talk. In conditions of normalizing control, the majority of teams engage in individuating practices that reinforce internal differences, preclude group cohesion and marginalize certain members. One team, however, explicitly resists programme stipulations in ways that express members’ heterogeneity and simultaneously reinforce group solidarity. Referring to these oppositional practices as ‘resistance through difference’, the article describes how dissent challenges the hierarchies and disciplinary practices embedded in the leadership programme, and theorizes the co-constitution of inclusion and resistance. By examining the construction of difference not as ‘a problem’, but as a productive resource, the paper also addresses the generative outcomes of this managerial resistance. We argue that ‘resistance through difference’ is an important form of dissent that could well become more prevalent as globalized business processes expand.