Ahu Tatli

Work-life, diversity and intersectionality: a critical review and research agenda

Work-life issues have important implications at both organizational and individual levels. This paper provides a critical review of the work-life literature from 1990 onwards through the lens of diversity, with a particular focus on disparities of power induced by methodological and conceptual framings of work and life. The review seeks to answer the following questions: What are the gaps and omissions in the work-life research? How may they be overcome? To answer these questions, the review scrutinizes blind spots in the treatment of life, diversity and power in work-life research in both positivist and critical scholarship. In order to transcend the blind spots in positivist and critical work-life research, the review argues the case for an intersectional approach which captures the changing realities of family and workforce through the lens of diversity and intersectionality. The theoretical contribution is threefold: first, the review demonstrates that contemporary framing of life in the work-life literature should be expanded to cover aspects of life beyond domestic life. Second, the review explains why and how other strands of diversity than gender also manifest as salient causes of difference in experiences of the work-life interface. Third, the review reveals that social and historical context has more explanatory power in work-life dynamics than the micro-individual level of explanations. Work-life literature should capture the dynamism in these contexts. The paper also provides a set of useful recommendations to capture and operationalize methodological and theoretical changes required in the work-life literature.

A Multi-Layered Exploration of the Diversity Management Field: Diversity Discourses, Practices and Practitioners in the UK

This paper presents a multi-layered exploration of the diversity management field in the UK. In doing so, it aims to address two problematic tendencies in the current diversity research: the focus on single-level explorations, and the polarization between critical and mainstream approaches. Using Bourdieus concept of field, I develop a theoretical framework that conceptualizes the field of diversity management in three constituents: diversity discourse, diversity practice and diversity practitioners. The framework is used to analyse empirical evidence generated through semi-structured interviews with 19 diversity managers of large private-sector companies. This study reveals the presence of a gap between the diversity discourse and practice, and the absence of any standard set of qualifications and skills requirement for practitioners. The findings demonstrate the twofold role of discourse in drawing the boundaries of the diversity management field. First, it is instrumental in constructing diversity management as distinct from equal opportunities. Second, the use discourse functions as a mechanism to control the entry of practitioners into this field, which otherwise has low entry barriers. The paper offers a contribution to management research in general and equality and diversity research in particular through its original use of Bourdieuan sociology in an empirical study.

Book Review Essay: Understanding Bourdieu'S Contribution To Organization And Management Studies

The article reviews several books by Pierre Bourdieu including “Outline of Theory and Practice,” “The Logic of Practice,” and “Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action.”

Mapping out the field of equality and diversity: Rise of individualism and voluntarism

Drawing on 66 interviews with key actors in the equality and diversity field in the UK, we operationalize Bourdieu’s conception of the field, across the axes of individualism versus collectivism and regulation versus voluntarism, and map out the location of the key actors in this field. The contribution of this article is three-fold. First, we advance the understanding of the equality and diversity field at national level by analysing the accounts of the influential actors, whose interests and actions shape the field. Second, the article illustrates how the multi-actor and contested nature of the equality and diversity field manifests in these accounts, and presents evidence in support of policy and strategic thinking that goes beyond a single-actor focus. Finally, we contribute to the theoretical maturity and expansion of the equality and diversity scholarship through the use of Bourdieuan sociology.

The role of regulatory and temporal context in the construction of diversity discourses: The case of the UK, France and Germany:

Despite growing interest in how the concept of diversity management is reinterpreted as it crosses national boundaries, there has been little study of this process in Europe. To bridge this knowledge gap, this article explores the construction of diversity discourses in the context of the UK, France and Germany. We use the discursive politics approach to investigate the ways in which the meaning of diversity is shrunk, bent and stretched. We demonstrate that the concept of diversity has no universal fixed meaning but is contextual, contested and temporal. Temporarily fixed definitions and frames of diversity are path-dependent and shaped by the regulatory context. Thus unique national histories and the context of regulation are key determinants of the ways in which the concept is redefined as it crosses national and regional borders.

Social regulation and diversity management: A comparative study of France, Canada and the UK:

Much of the diversity management debate is trapped in a binary opposition between regulation and voluntarism. We argue for an evidence-based approach and illustrate this by offering a context-sensitive overview of workforce diversity debate and practice in three countries: France, Canada and the UK. We use Reynaud’s social regulation theory in order to challenge the assumption that there is a clear separation between regulation and voluntarism. The article unpacks the complexities and ambivalences of regulation of workforce diversity, which is generated by multiple influences.

A Bourdieuan Relational Perspective for Entrepreneurship Research

In this paper, we illustrate the possibilities a relational perspective offers for overcoming the dominant dichotomies (e.g., qualitative versus quantitative, agency versus structure) that exist in the study of entrepreneurial phenomena. Relational perspective is an approach to research that allows the exploration of a phenomenon, such as entrepreneurship, as irreducibly interconnected sets of relationships. We demonstrate how ierre ourdieus concepts may be mobilized to offer an exemplary toolkit for a relational perspective in entrepreneurship research.

Global Diversity Management

Managing diversity is an imperative for organisations of all sectors and sizes. If managed effectively, workforce diversity promises to have positive social, economic and environmental consequences by removing barriers to contributions of individuals from diverse backgrounds; by transforming ways of thinking, structures and routines of work; and by regulating work and life in unprecedented ways. As the literature on diversity management is littered with narrow rationales, it may seem as if workforce diversity does not have intrinsic merit or wider purpose (social, economic and environment) than that. This chapter brings together a wider range of rationales than just organisational longevity and sustainability alone in pursuing diversity management. It explores the practice of global diversity management (GDM) through models of change and brings evidence together from field studies and organisational case studies. The chapter discusses the three main challenges that face GDM: individualism, deregulation and financialisation. In response to these challenges, the chapter introduces three innovative approaches as contemporary remedies: intersectional solidarity, global value chain and synchronicity, respectively. Intersectional solidarity can help organisations to overcome the individualist tendency that renders diversity management practices ineffectual. The global value chain approach can help organisations to have a more robust and meaningful accounting of diversity interventions across their value chain. Finally, the synchronicity approach challenges the domination of financial decisions on business case arguments, alerting practitioners to the wider possibilities of social, economic and environmental benefits in acausal forms of togetherness and coexistence.

Change agency as performance and embeddedness: Exploring the possibilities and limits of Butler and Bourdieu

In this paper, we explore the dual role of human agency in maintaining the status quo and generating change. Judith Butler and Pierre Bourdieu offer differing conceptions of change agency in relation to organization and transformation of gender relations. Focusing on how those approaches would work, we analyse an empirical case study on a particular change process: getting women the right to vote in the Swiss cantons of Appenzell. We contribute to the current use of Butlers and Bourdieus theories in organization studies in three main ways. First, we explore stability and change from the lenses of these two scholars. Second, we illustrate how change agency looks from these two distinct perspectives. Finally, we offer an empirical analysis that identifies the main elements of change agency in the two frameworks and discuss the possibilities and limitations of bringing these two approaches together to better understand change agency.

Tackling Whiteness in organizations and management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical and methodological framework to overcome knowledge gaps on Whiteness in organizational and management studies. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on a brief review of literature on ethnic privileges. Findings – The authors propose a relational approach to tackling ethnic privileges in organizations and management research. Research limitations/implications – The framework contributes to a better understanding and deconstruction of ethnic privileges at work. Originality/value – The paper proposes a theoretical and a methodological framework for tackling Whiteness in organizational and management studies. By doing so, it elucidates the topic of Whiteness, bringing new insights from an interdisciplinary perspective.