Scandinavian Journal of Management (2014) 30, 317—331

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Alternative diversity management:

Organizational practices fostering ethnic
equality at work
Maddy Janssens a,*, Patrizia Zanoni b,1

a
KU Leuven, Faculty of Business & Economics, Research Center for Organization Studies, Naamsestraat 69,
3000 Leuven, Belgium
b
Hasselt University, Faculty of Business Economics, Agoralaan Gebouw D, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium

KEYWORDS Abstract Taking a critical, performative stance, this study aims to advance our understanding
Diversity management of diversity management enhancing ethnic equality at work. Relying on a multiple-case study, we
practices; inductively identify organizational practices that foster the valuing of multiple competencies and
Ethnic equality at work; the ability to express multiple identities, two key organizational markers of ethnic equality
Ethnic minorities; advanced in the gender and diversity literature. Our analysis indicates that ethnic equality is
Employment relation; fostered by practices that broaden dominant norms on competencies and cultural identities, and
Structural inequality; avoid reducing ethnic minority employees to mere representatives of a stigmatized social group.
Broadened norms In contrast to ‘classical’ diversity management practices which focus on individuals’ cognitive
biases toward out-group members, these practices redefine what is ‘standard’ in the employment
relationship, hereby structurally countering ethnic inequality within organizational boundaries.
# 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction not only been found largely ineffective in fostering equality

(Kalev, Dobbin, & Kelly, 2006; Kulik & Roberson, 2008) but
Despite two decades of research documenting and theorizing even counterproductive to the extent that they reinforce
power inequality between the majority and historically stereotypes and exacerbate the majority’s hostility toward
underrepresented groups in organizations (Linnehan & Kon- minorities (Bond & Pyle, 1998;Linnehan & Konrad, 1999).
rad, 1999; Prasad, Pringle, & Konrad, 2006), our current Starting from the social psychological assumption that
knowledge on how organizations can actually achieve power inequality primarily originates in the negative in-group/out-
equality remains poor. The diversity management (DM) prac- group dynamics resulting from individuals’ biased cognitive
tices advanced in the scientific and managerial literature — processes (Byrne, 1971;Tajfel & Turner, 1986), classical DM
e.g. formalized human resource management (HRM) proce- practices aim to correct majority individuals’ stereotyping
dures, diversity training, networking and mentoring — have and prejudices (e.g. diversity training), to limit the discre-
tion of biased decision makers regarding allocation and
rewarding decisions (e.g. formalization of HRM procedures),
and to compensate for majority’s exclusion of minorities due
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +32 16 326874;fax: +32 16 326732. to their bias (e.g. networking and mentoring programs).
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Janssens), Although social psychology acknowledges that contextual
[email protected] (P. Zanoni). factors play a key role in triggering or diminishing negative
1
Tel.: +32 11 268672. in-group/out-group dynamics (Allport, 1954; Pettigrew &

0956-5221/$ — see front matter # 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scaman.2013.12.006
318 M. Janssens, P. Zanoni

Tropp, 2006), these practices do not address them. Rather, which aim to enhance performance instead of challenging
they directly address cognition, leaving organizational inequalities (cf. Foldy, 2002). At the same time, we acknowl-
structures and routines which reproduce inequalities and edge the difficulties of the task at hand and do not evade
normalize the privileges of the dominant group (e.g. white critically self-reflecting on the (im)possibilities of equality-
and male employees) unchanged (Jones & Stablein, 2006; fostering DM practices in capitalist organizations.
Kalev et al., 2006; Prasad, 2006; Zanoni, Janssens, Empirically, we present in depth one organization — a call
Benschop, & Nkomo, 2010). center — that stood out in a larger multiple-case study of ten
In this study, we seek to envision alternative DM practices organizations for the equality it had achieved between ethnic
which more effectively foster ethnic equality (cf. Holvino & majority and minority employees along the two above-men-
Kamp, 2009;Litvin, 2006). To do so, we inductively identify tioned markers. We complement our case analysis by com-
practices — formalized organizational system, process, or paring the practices of this organization with those
practice developed and implemented for the purpose of implemented in the other nine, less equal organizations.
effectively managing a diverse workforce (Yang & Konrad, Our findings suggest that organizations can enhance ethnic
2011) — that achieve two key organizational markers of equality by deploying their power to enforce practices that
ethnic equality derived from the gender and diversity litera- redefine the employment relationship along broadened
ture: (1) the valuing of multiple knowledge, skills and com- norms and avoid reducing ethnic minority employees to mere
petencies of a diverse personnel (rather than valuing solely representatives of a stigmatized social group. Capitalist
those of the majority) (Acker, 1990;Zanoni & Janssens, 2004; organizations are not necessarily sites maintaining ethnic
Zanoni & Janssens, 2007) and (2) the possibility for all inequality. By enforcing alternative structures, they can
employees to bring their entire set of identities to work avoid reproducing the ethnic inequality institutionalized in
(rather than having to assimilate to the majority culture) broader society within their own boundaries, taking up a
(Cox, 1991, 1993;Linnehan & Konrad, 1999). These markers pioneering role in advancing ethnic equality.
point to structural contextual characteristics of organiza-
tions. They reflect the two main identity axes along which
inter-ethnic power relations occur in organizations: class — Theoretical background
i.e. ethnic minority employees’ subordinate position in the
employment relation — and ethnicity — i.e. their ethnic/ ‘Classical’ diversity management practices
cultural/religious/linguistic subordinate position vis-à-vis
the ethnic majority. By including both identity axes, we avoid Whereas the critical diversity literature has pointed to struc-
reducing ethnic minority workers a priori to their particular tural organizational characteristics as the main reason for the
cultural background, language and religion (Proudford & enduring disadvantages of ethnic minorities at the workplace,
Nkomo, 2006). the practices commonly advanced in the DM literature focus on
Searching for alternative DM, this study seeks to contribute individuals’ cognition and related discriminatory behavior
to the critically oriented diversity literature. While drawing on (Kalev et al., 2006). We review here the main DM practices
different critical theories (e.g. post-structuralism, Marxist and their shortcomings as found in empirical studies.
theories, postcolonial theory, feminist perspectives), this lit- One of the main diversity practices is formalized HRM
erature shares at its core an understanding of diversity as procedures. Here, the argument is that objective and pre-
socially (re)produced in ongoing, context-specific organiza- specified criteria in selection, promotion, lay-off decisions
tional processes which both reflect and reproduce structural (Konrad & Linnehan, 1995; Reskin, 2003), performance
power relations (Prasad et al., 2006; Zanoni et al., 2010). appraisal and pay structures (Elvira & Graham, 2002) will
Power is conceptualized as a relation emerging from specific restrict ethnic majority decision makers’ discretion and
material and/or ideological structures, rather than as being prevent cognitive biases to shape allocation and rewarding
located in individual cognition. Accordingly, these theories decisions, reducing discrimination. While widespread, this
provide lenses that are suitable to highlight how organizational diversity practice is not without discussion. Scholars have
practices reinforce inequality along identity lines or, conver- pointed to its limited impact because decisions makers’
sely, challenge structural elements of inequality. discretion is not totally removed (Linnehan & Konrad,
In undertaking this search for alternative DM, we are 1999) and, more importantly, because HRM systems continue
aware of the difficulties and contradictions inherent to to be culturally biased, valuing the skills and the qualities of
building ‘critical’ diversity theory from practices in capitalist the ethnic majority (Acker, 1990; Bond & Pyle, 1998). This
organizations (cf. Foldy, 2002; Fournier & Grey, 2000). We latter critique is in line with our starting argument that a
neither deny nor champion the inherently instrumental nat- focus on individuals’ cognition does not adequately address
ure of management. Rather, we take notice of it and opt to power differentials and equality between social identity
temporarily bracket our fundamental critique to engage with groups.
such practices (cf. Anthony, 1998) and gain an understanding A second widespread practice is training. Based on the
of how organizations can achieve more equality between the social psychological insight that information may reduce bias
majority and minorities, despite (and even, possibly, by (Fiske, 1998), training modules familiarize employees with
virtue of) their capitalistic nature. We follow Pringle, Konrad, anti-discrimination law, suggest behavioral changes, and
and Prasad’s (2006) call for pushing critical approaches increase cultural awareness and cross-cultural communica-
beyond the mere examination and exposition of situations tion (Pendry, Driscoll, & Field, 2007). However, some studies
of dominance and repression, melding them into the prag- indicate that information about out-group members’ culture
matics of the daily management of diversity. So, we refuse to actually reinforces group stereotypes and prejudices (Ellis &
leave DM to non-critical, functionalistic research paradigms Sonnenfeld, 1994; Rynes & Rosen, 1995) does not change
Alternative diversity management 319

attitudes toward particular groups (Kulik & Roberson, 2008), and ethnicity (and gender) affect assumptions about skill,
and does not necessarily result in behavioral change (Hite & resulting in decisions that while males are the more compe-
McDonald, 2006). tent, more suited to the job than are others (Acker, 2006),
Finally, dedicated networking and mentoring initiatives particularly in the US—European context. Ethnic inequality at
have been designed to counter minorities’ social isolation work has therefore a structural component as the dominant
due to homophily patterns (Ibarra, 1995; Mollica, Gray, & groups in society have historically decided on the value of
Trevino, 2003). These initiatives are based on research show- particular competences and skills and organizational prac-
ing that minority employees typically have less homophilous tices (such as recruitment, wage setting) create hierarchy in
(same-race or same-sex) ties, less interpersonal closeness which ethnic (and gender) inequalities are maintained in
and fewer overlapping social circles providing social and organizations (Acker, 2006). Although the stress of the socio-
instrumental support for their careers. However, also speci- logical literature is on the role of ideological structures in
fically designed mentoring or networking practices have generating material and symbolic inequality, these insights
found to be largely ineffective in fostering equality (Kalev are not completely extraneous to the more psychologically
et al., 2006). A first reason that has been advanced to explain oriented literature. For instance, status theory formulates
this is that cross-race or cross-sex mentoring, more often the analogous argument that status inequality between
than same-race or same-sex mentoring, produces conflict members of those groups is legitimated by associating dif-
and does not meet all minorities’ needs (Thomas, 2001). ferent social identities with different levels of competence
Further, it is argued that the formality of specifically (Ridgeway & Correll, 2006). Albeit in a less explicit way, Ely
designed mentoring initiatives may impede their impact, and Thomas’s (2001) learning-and-integration paradigm
as formal mentoring relationships provide less mentoring points in a similar direction. It underlines the importance
functions than informal ones (Ragins & Cotton, 1999). of encouraging employees to bring their entire demographic
As a whole, there is little empirical evidence that the and cultural knowledge to work, despite the fact that such
current DM practices are adequate to foster ethnic equality knowledge has been historically devalued by organizations,
at work. Our argument is that they are ineffective because as this fosters a ‘diversity mindset’ among the personnel,
they focus directly on individuals’ cognition rather than leading to positive intergroup relations.
addressing the structural dimension of privilege, domination, Most critically oriented diversity scholars take however a
disadvantage and deprivation (Glastra, Meerman, Schedler, skeptical stance toward turning to the logic of competencies
& Sjiera de Vries, 2000;Zanoni et al., 2010). As Kalev et al. to enhance equality in organization. They warn that the
(2006) argue, although cognitive bias and its consequences essentialistic and utilitarian conceptualization of identity,
may provide explanations of inequality at work, interven- which is typical of the ‘business case’, will not lead to more
tions focused on these aspects are not necessarily the best equality (Lorbiecki & Jack, 2000;Noon, 2007). Although we
suited for its remediation: ‘‘Understanding the cause of agree that the valuing of multiple competencies alone is not a
malaria and understanding its treatment are two different sufficient condition to achieve ethnic equality, we hold that it
things. Whether a prescription for inequality is effective is an is likely to be a necessary one. Arguably, as within a capita-
inherently empirical question’’ (p. 591). Following their listic logic employees are human resources functional to
reasoning, we opted for a qualitative, multiple-case research producing value for the organization, employees who are
design, a design allowing for the inductive identification of seen as possessing valuable competencies are in a more
organizational practices fostering ethnic equality. Our search favorable power position vis-à-vis both the employer and
is guided by two organizational markers of ethnic equality employees who are seen as not possessing them. The associa-
derived from the critical gender and diversity literature. tion of ethnic minorities with valuable competencies is thus
However, we do not uphold one particular critical theory, likely to reduce inequality along ethnic lines as it counters
as this would limit our ability to inductively identify practices the dominant assumption about (ethnic) minorities’ low(er)
based on their effectiveness in reducing ethnic inequality. competence. This is well illustrated by Zanoni and Janssens’s
(2007) study of organizations which, by valuing minority
Organizational markers of ethnic equality employees’ competencies, offer them possibilities of
‘micro-emancipation’, despite the exploitative nature of
The gender and diversity literature points to two structural the employment relation.
equality markers of an ethnically diverse organization: the A second key marker of ethnic equality originates in Cox’s
valuing of multiple forms of knowledge, skills and compe- (1991, 1993) foundational model of the multicultural orga-
tencies and enabling all employees to express their identi- nization. Theoretically grounded in Gordon’s (1964) socio-
ties. Both markers are crucial as they address structural logical work, this model argues for pluralism through the
aspects of the organizational context determining power majority and the minority’s mutual acculturation. All
differentials between employees belonging to different employees should be allowed to bring their entire set of
socio-demographic groups. identities to work rather than be required to assimilate into
The first marker originates in the sociologically oriented the dominant culture based on the majority’s identity. The
literature which highlights that organizations have tradition- underlying idea is that power inequality originates in orga-
ally valued the competencies and skills of the social groups in nizational settings which are infused with cultural norms
historical positions of power, downplaying the value of those reflecting historically dominant (ethnic) identities, fore-
of less privileged groups (Acker, 1990;Cockburn, 1991;Stein- closing the expression of others. Many organizations remain
berg, 1990). What is competence and, conversely, who is ‘monocultural’ and require (ethnic) minorities to assimilate
competent is consequently not an ethnicity-neutral (nor to such norms. Yet such expectation is not only unethical, it
gender-neutral) decision. ‘Competence’ involves judgment is also unrealistic. Studies on the experiences of ethnic
320 M. Janssens, P. Zanoni

minority employees at the workplace indicate how, despite the employment of ethnic minorities in Europe as they
minorities’ efforts to assimilate, the majority keeps seeing account for 99.8 percent of European enterprises and 69.8
them as ‘other’ (Healy, Bradley, & Forson, 2011;Ogbonna & percent of total employment (European Commission, 2003).
Harris, 2006;Van Laer & Janssens, 2011). Whiteness studies Ethnicity in our study can be best understood as a combi-
have well theorized how the dominant ethnic group in nation of low-education, culture, religion, and language.
society acquires its structural social, political and cultural Reflecting ethnic minorities’ disadvantaged position in the
advantage thanks to its social status. ‘White privilege’ Belgian labor market, most ethnic minority employees in our
indeed refers to the package of unearned assets which white ten cases were low educated and mostly employed in lower-
people can count on cashing in each day (McIntosh, 2004). rank jobs. As in other European countries, ethnic minorities
These advantages derive from existing inequality structures suffer from high unemployment rates, and, when employed,
and thus remain invisible to white people, but are obvious to are concentrated in sectors at the low end of the economy
non-whites. As long as unspoken cultural norms remain (OECD, 2008), due to their significant lower educational
unquestioned, thinking about ‘‘equality and equity is kept qualifications (OECD, 2008) as well as discrimination (Arrijn,
incomplete, protecting unearned advantage and conferred Feld, & Nayer, 1998). Further, Flanders knows a strong soci-
dominance’’ (McIntosh, 2004: 192). Acknowledging such etal discourse of ethnic minorities as ‘allochthons’ — from
norms is thus an essential precondition to redesign social the Greek, meaning ‘from another country’ — as opposed to
systems such as organizations to attain structural equality. ‘autochtons’ — individuals with origins in the country. In the
last decade, this discourse has been mainly used to refer to
Research design Muslim labor immigrants and their descendants (Ceuppens &
Geschiere, 2005), who suffer from a particularly weak socio-
economic position and whose social mobility has, till today,
The study site
remained limited. In this discourse, minorities’ disadvan-
taged socio-economic position is often presented as resulting
This study is based on ten ethnically diverse organizations: a
from their alleged unwillingness to learn Dutch and ‘their’
call center, a wholesale producer dealer, a logistic company,
culturally specific values and behaviors. The stress on lan-
a scaffold construction company, a hospital, a transport
guage likely derives from the historical exclusion of Dutch
company, a chemical company, a hotel, a home for elderly,
from the public sphere, dominated by French. In Flanders,
and an NGO in development cooperation. They were inves-
the inability to speak Dutch retains today a strong negative
tigated in a publicly funded research project aiming at
connotation as it is interpreted as contempt for Flemish
fostering the employment of ethnic minorities, officially
culture. Concerning employment relations more generally,
defined as nationals of countries outside the EU15 (i.e.
Belgium is characterized by institutionalized collective bar-
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
gaining at the sectoral level guaranteeing legally employed
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portu-
individuals’ minimum protection standards and wages.
gal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom) or whose parents (mini-
The call center stood out of our ten organizations for its
mum one) or grandparents (minimum 2) are non EU15
equality in terms of the recognition of competencies and the
nationals.2 The organizations are small- and medium-sized
expression of identities. Founded in 1998, this company grew
companies3 (SMEs) in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of
out of a socio-economic development project to stimulate
Belgium.4 They were identified from a list of organizations
the revival of an underprivileged urban area with high unem-
participating in a government scheme providing public fund-
ployment. Today, it is a for-profit company offering telemar-
ing and consulting services for implementing diversity initia-
keting, telephone market research and help desk services in a
tives. Selection criteria were minimal size of the organization
variety of European languages. The company has a flat
to secure a sufficient number of interviews, and sectoral and
organizational structure with four organizational levels:
regional spreading.
operators (151), supervisors (3), management (5), and the
These organizations represent a particularly suitable con-
CEO. At the time of the study, 45 (28 percent) of the 160
text to look for effective DM for a number of reasons. Since
employees of the call center had a foreign background, from
Belgium has no tradition of affirmative action legislation, DM
countries like Morocco, Ghana, Turkey, Senegal, Cameroon,
practices in Belgian organizations are less likely to be
but also European countries such as Poland, Rumania, Italy,
adopted for merely legal compliance. This is even more
and Spain. This percentage is rather high as 8.2 of the total
the case for SMEs, which, having less resources than larger
Belgian population has a foreign nationality (OECD, 2005).5
companies, tend not to implement practices solely for win-
Most ethnic minority (97 percent) and majority (93 percent)
dow-dressing (Bacon & Hoque, 2005). Finally, it should
employees worked as call operators. One of the three super-
further be observed that SMEs are particularly relevant for
visors was Moroccan;no ethnic minority employees were in
any of the few management positions. The call center’s
workforce ethnic composition well reflects the composition
2
of the Belgian workforce resulting from various waves of
This definition is used in work-related policy, as individuals with migration since the 1950s.
origins outside the EU15 area score remarkably lower on work-
related indicators.
3
According to the EU definition, these are companies with less
than 250 employees.
4 5
Belgium is composed of three main regions: Dutch-speaking However, this figure is an underestimation as it does not include
Flanders, French-speaking Wallonia, and mainly French-speaking the population with foreign origins who has obtained the Belgian
yet officially bilingual Brussels. citizenship, on which no official data is available.
Alternative diversity management 321

Method yet this practice was (unsurprisingly) not mentioned by

managers. We decided to incorporate all practices identified
For each of the ten companies, we collected data through by at least two types of respondents or data sources in our
semi-structured interviews and documents such as the ‘diver- analysis. Table 1 presents an overview of the results of our
sity plan’ drafted to benefit from government support and analysis for all cases in our sample, indicating for each case
describing the organizations’ DM initiatives. In total, 116 its equality outcome in terms of the two markers and the set
interviews were conducted at the workplace during working of identified organizational practices.
hours. They lasted between one and two hours and were In the results section below, we focus our analysis on the
recorded and transcribed verbatim for analysis. In each case, set of practices of the call center. However, to understand
respondents included the person responsible for DM and/or the how the practices of this organization foster equality, we
human resource manager, managers supervising an ethnically selectively compare them with those implemented in the
diverse group of employees, ethnic majority employees, eth- other nine organizations and report their less positive/
nic minority employees, and if present, representatives of the negative effects on the two equality markers. This analytical
unions. The interviews aimed at exploring any organizational approach allows developing an in-depth, nuanced analysis of
practice that affected ethnic (in)equality, including not only a best case organization without losing the explanatory
the classical DM practices but also the reason for recruiting power of a cross-case comparative design (Eisenhardt &
minority employees (Kossek & Pichler, 2006), work processes Graebner, 2007).
(Janssens & Zanoni, 2005), and human resource practices
(Chen, Chanda, D’Netto, & Monga, 2009). Results
The interviews were conducted by four male and female
ethnic majority researchers who were part of the larger
All the information we collected at the call center pointed to
research project team led by the first author, and who were
a company characterized by a high degree of ethnic equality.
familiar with research on diversity. Drawing on our prior
The words of a supervisor of Moroccan origins are illustrative
experience with qualitative data collection on diversity in
of respondents’ accounts:
the workplace, we drafted the interview protocol and dis-
cussed it with the interviewers. We specifically drew their The different backgrounds are enriching. I do not see that
attention to the vulnerable position of ethnic minority somebody is black, disabled, etc. We are family. Here its
respondents and the importance of formulating questions lively, warm, thanks to differences. There is solidarity and
in a simple, concrete language as many interviewees would togetherness. Also, the different nationalities make us
not be speaking in their own mother tongue and some would multilingual, a great advantage for this organization.
have limited schooling. A few interviews were conducted in
Equality was achieved by means of a virtuous combination
French. Overall, we stressed the need to engage in a dialog
of organizational practices. Some of these practices — a
with informants to understand their perspective, rather than
business/social recruitment policy, teamwork in multi-ethnic
mechanically reproducing the questions. To avoid probing,
teams, a competency-based job classification and a devel-
we put general questions first and more specific ones on
opmental evaluation system — valued multiple competen-
diversity later.
cies, while others — multicultural practices, a two-language
Data analysis was guided by the constant comparative
policy and a flexible work schedule policy — enabled the
method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) whereby intra- and inter-
expression of multiple identities.
case differences and similarities in the two equality markers
were drawn out in relation to consistencies and variations in
organizational practices. We first assessed each organization Practices valuing multiple competencies
in terms of the two equality markers. We selected all inter-
viewees’ accounts that indicated whether or not employees A business/social recruitment policy
felt valued for their competencies and referred to the ability A first practice crucial to valuing multiple competencies was
or inability of expressing their identities at work and dis- the call center’s recruitment policy based on both business
cussed them jointly. and social criteria. Specialized in multilingual services, the
We then identified the organizational practices related to company considered ethnic minorities’ linguistic skills a
the two markers. To do so, we focused on the transcribed strategic asset to deliver its services internationally. The
data which explicitly referred to practices that were men- CEO told us:
tioned by interviewees as relevant to managing an ethnically We are multilingual and work with native speakers. People
diverse workforce or as influencing minority and majority who really speak their mother tongue are crucial in our
employees’ working experience. We did not rely here on an a industry. This way we can deliver services in most Eur-
priori definition of ethnicity to include/exclude practices but opean languages. For instance, an American company was
rather incorporated all practices that respondents men- looking for somebody here to open the European market
tioned when asked about ethnic minorities, such as religion, for them. They came to us because we had the language
language, skin color, and weak labor market position. Within knowledge they needed. We have the basic languages:
each case, we checked the mentioned practices across inter- French, Dutch, English, German, Italian, Portuguese,
viewees and how the organization’s diversity policy was Spanish, Romanian, Polish, etc.
described in the documents but found only minor discrepan-
cies. For instance, in one organization, accounts by both At the same time, the company offered employment to
minority and majority employees pointed to a laissez-faire particularly vulnerable individuals in the labor market such
approach that negatively influenced their work experience, as migrant female single parents, political refugees, and
Table 1 Ethnic equality at the ten cases and their organizational practices.
322

Markers of ethnic Cases

equality
Call center Wholesale produce Logistic company Scaffold construction Hospital
dealer company
Valuing multiple High Low Medium High Medium
competencies
Expression of multiple High Low Low Low Low
identities
Focus of organizational
practice
Work design and Ethnic minorities in same Ethnic minorities in low- Ethnic minorities in low- Ethnic minorities in same Ethnic minorities in
ethnic minorities’ jobs as majority status, upstream job in a status, upstream job in a jobs as majority mainly segregated, low-
position within it colleagues in ethnically sequential work flow sequential work flow, colleagues in ethnically status job of logistical
mixed project teams, complemented by weekly mixed permanent teams, assistant + acting as
having both individual team meetings responsible for common translator for ethnic
and common goals goal minorities’ patients
Job classification Competence-based job
classification, consisting
of developmental stages
of skill acquisition
Newcomers’ Developmental Adjusted newcomers’
introduction newcomers’ introduction introduction to address
language difficulties
Job evaluation Developmental Non-transparent Meritocratic evaluation Meritocratic evaluation
performance appraisal evaluation system based on explicit criteria based on explicit criteria
focused on improving one
particular skill
Recruitment Recruitment for ethnic Recruitment based on Recruitment based on Recruitment based on Recruitment for ethnic
minorities’ language availability rationale availability rationale availability rationale minorities’ specific
skills and motivation as cultural knowledge and
well as offering them language skills
chance to work
Religious practices Religious practices are Religious practices are Religious practices are Religious practices are
allowed tolerated not allowed not allowed
Discriminatory Anti-discrimination policy Laissez-faire policy Change of team member
behavior composition if within
team conflict
Social activities Multicultural social Social activities based Social activities mainly
activities upon ethnic majority’s for majority employees to
habits learn other cultures
(neighborhood walks)
Language Two-language policy One-language policy One-language policy One-language policy One-language policy
M. Janssens, P. Zanoni
Table 1 (Continued )
Markers of ethnic Cases
equality
Call center Wholesale produce Logistic company Scaffold construction Hospital
dealer company
Work schedule Work schedule flexibility Work schedule flexibility Work schedule flexibility
policy attending policy attending policy attending
employees’ individual employees’ individual employees’ individual
needs needs needs

Markers of ethnic Cases

Alternative diversity management

equality
Chemical company Hotel Transport company Nursing home Social profit organization
Valuing multiple High Medium Medium Low Medium
competencies
Expression of Medium Medium Medium Low Low
multiple identities
Focus of organizational
practice
Work design and ethnic Ethnic minorities in same Specific ethnic minority Ethnic minorities mainly Ethnic minorities in low- Ethnic minorities in
minorities’ position jobs as majority groups concentrated in in operative jobs in small, status jobs different jobs and they
within it colleagues in ethnically specific jobs yet ethnic ethnically mixed are involved in projects
mixed permanent teams minorities in all permanent teams with their country of
organizational ranks origin
Job classification
Newcomers’ On-the-job training Company-oriented Ad-hoc newcomers’ Ad-hoc newcomers’
introduction newcomers’ introduction introduction introduction
Job evaluation Meritocratic evaluation Meritocratic evaluation Non-transparent Evaluation based on Ad-hoc evaluation
based on explicit criteria based on explicit criteria evaluation system to integration into specific oriented toward
receive promotion work culture identifying need for
training
Recruitment Recruitment based on Recruitment based on Recruitment based on Recruitment based on Recruitment based on
availability rationale availability rationale and availability rationale availability rationale social responsibility
ethnic minorities’ rationale
language and cultural
skills
Religious practices Religious practices are Religious practices are Religious practices are
tolerated mostly allowed but not allowed
when interfering with
work
Discriminatory Change of team member Informal mediation Anti-discrimination policy
behavior composition if within before laying-off the
team conflict person
323
324 M. Janssens, P. Zanoni

persons with disability. This policy was based on the double

focused on learning other

Social profit organization

Work schedule flexibility

idea that they deserved to get a chance to work and that they

employees’ individual
One-language policy,
language courses for
New social activities
would be more committed and loyal to the company than
somebody with better employment chances:

ethnic minorities

policy attending
For example, if four candidates are all good, we look at
their specific situations. The Belgian is 25 years old and

cultures
just got out of school. The African is 45, a refugee. We ask

needs
ourselves: ‘Who of the two experiences the most difficul-
ties in the labor market?’ And then we would say, let’s take
the African. The other is as good but has more chances.
That’s the philosophy behind it (manager).
upon ethnic majority’s
Social activities based

One-language policy

Our people really choose for this job and want to make
something of it. They are proud of what they do. This
Nursing home

positively affects the performance, how they are, their

communication. They make more effort to come to an
habits

outstanding result than somebody who’s just passing by

(CEO).
This recruitment policy effectively acknowledged and
valued the linguistic and motivational competencies of its
Work schedule flexibility

diverse workforce. Despite its clear business rationale, it was

upon ethnic majority’s
Social activities based

employees’ individual

strongly appreciated both by ethnic minority and majority

One-language policy
Transport company

employees, as illustrated by the following quotes:

policy attending

They need us because of our native language is French but

they also want to give us a chance. We really feel they
want to give us foreigners a chance to work. They [man-
habits

needs

agement] don’t say that officially, but you see that.

Because there are many foreigners here. So, it’s not just
business, it’s also a choice. Also the Belgians who work
here have a hard time finding a job. . . It’s not easy for me
to find work here, surely not as foreigner and as I don’t
upon ethnic majority’s
Social activities based

minorities’ festivities
One-language policy,

speak Dutch, and surely as a black (laughs). Really, people

language courses for
habits, a few ethnic

have a lot of negative prejudices. I have been looking for a

ethnic minorities

job in several places but when there is that negative

prejudice, you don’t have a chance. That’s very disap-
pointing. So, when I could start working here, I really took
that chance very seriously (operator of Senegalese ori-
Hotel

gins).

This company has a special regime. How or what, I don’t

know exactly, but in any case, a special goal to be open for
Social activities taking
into account cultural

One-language policy

those who have less chances, to focus especially on them.

Chemical company

differences (food)

On the phone, you don’t see who is on the line. It’s not just
people of a foreign origin. Here, you have for instance a
lot of fat people, if I may put it bluntly. That’s also a
handicap when you look for a job, just as skin color
Cases

(operator of Belgian origins).

Despite its clear business rationale, this practice redefines
competencies in a way that values those of a diverse work-
force, fostering ethnic equality in the organization. Rather
than using education and previous working experience as
Table 1 (Continued )

signs of competence — as organizations generally do, result-

Markers of ethnic

Social activities

ing in the exclusion of ethnic minority candidates —, the call

Work schedule

center stresses language skills, motivation and loyalty. While

equality

reflecting the exploitative nature of the employment rela-

Language

tion, this practice structurally redefines the organizational

understanding of who is ‘a good candidate’, countering the
dominant representation of ethnic minorities as lacking
Alternative diversity management 325

competencies (cf. MacKenzie & Forde, 2009;Zanoni & Jans- jobs based on their individual strengths and preferences. For
sens, 2004) and resulting in occupational chances for ethnic instance, an operator with local background told us:
minorities (and, more broadly, disadvantaged candidates).
I’m strong in helpdesk, less in sales. They know that I like
This does not often occur in Flemish organizations, which
to hold longer calls;I haven’t yet received a remark about
generally either discriminate and exclude ethnic minorities
that. . . they also have their goals, want to reach a certain
or hire them as second-best workers merely to solve the
percentage but if they hear that somebody is very good in
shortage of majority candidates. Indeed, the other organiza-
serving the customer, then it’s less important if you have
tions in our sample at best stressed avoiding discriminating on
sold or not;you gave good customer service. And there are
the basis of ethnicity in recruitment.
other criteria for all calls. . .. And this way, everybody is
good in something.
Teamwork in multi-ethnic teams
A practice that further contributed to valuing multiple com- At the highest competence level, employees could decide
petencies was the organization of work in multi-ethnic teams themselves whether to work on several projects or focus on
with both individual and collective goals. Operators were one, and they were free to change their preference over
instructed in teams and then independently called customers time.
by phone. This individually carried out task was embedded in Practices with an evaluative component focused on an
project teams, where operators helped and coached each individualized learning process in which employees could
other by sharing their expertise and insights, enabling the grow at their own pace, according to their own potential,
achievement of both individual and common targets. The rather than along an absolute norm. For instance, after the
following quotes are illustrative: introduction, newcomers were not monitored for a while to
allow them to learn the job at ease. Our respondents experi-
In the team meetings, we discuss the best way to sell,
enced this practice as highly supportive:
what can be improved in the calls, changes. . . Team
members can make suggestions. We look together for In the beginning, they make you feel at ease. Here, it is
the best manner to sell a product. If the client has really so that they don’t force you. When you start working
comments, we also discuss them. . . People learn from here, you don’t know a thing, it’s all new. And if they then
each other, they coach each other and exchange tips force you in all these things: ‘You need to do that in that
(female operator of Moroccan origins). way and this and that. . .’ They did say: ‘I hope you will get
good results’, but they didn’t push, pushing, no, that
doesn’t happen here. Of course, if you have no results,
[Work as a call operator]is individual work, but it becomes then they will tell you: ‘Look, this can better, and that can
team work from the moment that you have the opportu- better’, but not in terms like. . . they really welcome you
nity to listen to different experiences. We help each other. here (operator of Moroccan origins).
If somebody for instance is not reaching her sale targets,
then we can ask each other: ‘How are you doing that?’ We Interviewees also referred to developmental performance
all help each other out. We work as a team (female appraisals focused on their achievements and identifying, if
operator of Turkish origins). necessary, only one aspect for improvement at once. Thanks
to this orientation toward personal improvement, they felt
This work design makes competencies of ethnic minorities able to do their job and experienced a sense of value:
(and of all employees) visible to co-workers. It fosters ethnic
equality because, similar to the recruitment policy, it under- They correct you in a way that you become better every
mines the societal ideology of minorities as less competent time. They say: ‘You can better do it like this, when you
workers (cf. MacKenzie & Forde, 2009; Zanoni & Janssens, talk with a customer, and avoid saying this or that’
2004). The key role of this collaborative work arrangement in (operator of Turkish origins).
fostering this equality marker was confirmed by comparison
Managers indicated that these practices were meant to
with the other organizations in our sample. For instance,
enhance and broaden employees’ skills. They further
where ethnic minorities were concentrated in low-status jobs
described how providing constructive feedback helped them
in a sequential workflow — e.g. the wholesale produce dealer,
to become more self-confident and assertive, fostering not
the logistic company and the hospital — minority and major-
only their performance but also their personal development.
ity workers interacted largely when minorities made mis-
For instance, the female supervisor of Moroccan origins told us:
takes, interrupting the flow of activities. As a result, in these
organizations, minorities were perceived as less competent There are many aspects of a person that change when
than majority employees, in line with prevailing stereotypes somebody starts working here, in terms of motivation,
in Flemish society at large. character. There are people who come in who are very
insecure, but who now have much more punch. Some
A competency-based job classification and operators were very timid, but they evolved completely.
developmental evaluation system We also do individual coaching. When somebody is shy,
At the same time, a competency-based job classification and a afraid, or cries when being yelled at by a customer, we
developmental evaluation system enabled the call center to provide individual support.
value multiple competencies by highlighting their potential
rather than their shortcomings. The organization used a com- These practices further redefine the organizational under-
petency-based job classification consisting of four stages of standing of what are ‘valuable competencies’. They empha-
skill acquisition. This practice allowed to define employees’ size a multiplicity of competencies, focusing on employees’
326 M. Janssens, P. Zanoni

strengths, potential and individual improvement (cf. Clifton behavior was tolerated — wholesale produce dealer—or
& Harter, 2003). By broadening the norms on competencies solved by assigning the involved employees to another unit
and performance, various individual developmental paths — e.g. scaffold construction company, chemical company.
were created, letting all employees experience that they Finally, also enabling the expression of employees’ multi-
were valued for what they could contribute to the organiza- ple identities were the call center’s multicultural social
tion. This approach stands in strong contrast to other orga- activities. Organized on a regular basis, often to celebrate
nizations where (ethnic minority) employees were evaluated the end of a project, they created opportunities for ethnic
through a ‘meritocratic’ system based on mere compliant minority respondents to bring their own music and dishes to a
behavior (i.e. coming on time, being a disciplined worker) — drink. Respondents emphasized that there were no specific
e.g. chemical company, logistic company — or arbitrarily — ‘ethnic’ evenings but that this was something ‘normal’ to do.
e.g. wholesale produce dealer. An operator of Moroccan origins recounted:
There are often social events and then we go out together.
Practices enabling the expression of multiple
We once went bowling until midnight. Next to it was Café
identities Ile Afrique. I said, I know a bar here and then we all went
there. They [colleagues]liked it, we started dancing in an
Multicultural practice African way. We laughed, we stayed until 4am. . . we also
Several practices at the call center fostered equality by went once to a Moroccan bar, or we go dance rai music.
allowing the expression of multiple identities. We discuss Everybody was there, and everybody was Moroccan that
them here together as they all contribute to enforcing multi- day, we laughed a lot. It was fantastic.
cultural norms in the organization rather than ethnic major-
ity ones. For instance, the call center allowed religious Such social activities create space for the expression of
symbols and practices at work. Muslim respondents men- multiple cultural identities. In contrast, other organizations —
tioned the importance of being allowed to pray and to wear e.g. hotel, nursing home, transport company — also organized
a headscarf. For example, a Muslim female worker told us: social activities for their personnel, yet these reflected ethnic
majority’s common leisure activities, such as BBQs and bowl-
For the girls who wear a headscarf, it’s really good that
ing, hereby creating a monocultural organization. Overall, the
they are allowed to. That they don’t have to take it off,
various multicultural practices are in line with Cox’s (1991)
‘cause I know it’s very hard for them. It’s good for them,
idea of the multicultural organization, allowing for multiple
that they don’t need to change that.
expressions of religious and cultural identities rather than
Also, the fasting hours during Ramadan were publicly imposing the ethnic majority norm on all employees.
communicated so that everybody knew when practicing
Muslim employees would take a break to eat. According to Two-language policy
the managers, this enhanced ethnic majority employees’ A second practice enabling the expression of multiple iden-
understanding and support for their fasting colleagues. tities was the two-language policy allowing French as the
The symbolic power of this religion-friendly policy can be second working language next to Dutch. As French was
fully appreciated only by comparison with the other cases, spoken by many ethnic minorities, employees were allowed
where these expressions were forbidden, reflecting the eth- to use it and all official documents were translated in both
nic majority norm that expressions of one’s faith — especially languages. This practice provided the possibility to express
of non-Christian ones — are inappropriate in the workplace. oneself in the language in which one felt most comfortable.
To ensure that all employees were able to express their For instance, an operator of Moroccan origins said:
identities, the call center further implemented a strict anti-
discrimination policy. From the female supervisor of Moroc- . . . it’s easier for people to talk another language every
can origins, we learned that a temporary ethnic majority was now and then. Above all French and Dutch. If you can’t
fired because she had made racist remarks on her. Other speak Dutch very well, but you can understand, then it can
ethnic minority and majority respondents confirmed this happen that you talk French to me and I answer back in
strict anti-discrimination policy. Some interviewees men- Dutch to you.
tioned that the company made it clear already during the
The CEO presented the two-language policy as ‘‘a matter
recruitment process:
of being polite’’ when working with a multilingual workforce.
Here you run into all colors, foreign origins, everything. The same politeness principle applied to ethnic minorities,
. . .If you don’t feel at ease with people with other origins, who were not allowed to speak their native language at work,
then you are not going to start here, you wouldn’t get a frequent cause of inter-group conflict in the organizations
through the first interview, your eyes would fall out. . . It’s in our study. The symbolic power of including French as an
expected, although it’s not required to become best official language in the work place is particularly strong in the
friends or so. I think that they say it explicitly in the Flemish context, where language remains a particularly
beginning: ‘We have people like this and like that here, do sensitive political issue. Indeed, all other organizations only
you think you fit here?’ (ethnic majority operator) allowed Dutch on the work floor.

This anti-discrimination policy signaled to employees that A flexible work schedule policy
the company would use its power position when employees A last practice allowing the expression of multiple identities
showed no respect for the manifestations of other employ- was the call center’s flexible work schedule policy. All
ees’ identities. In the other companies, discriminatory employees could obtain flexible schedules for a variety of
Alternative diversity management 327

personal needs and requests, independent of whether they Alternative diversity management: countering
were related to care, religion, family or other. An ethnic societal, institutionalized ethnic inequality
majority operator told us:
A main insight that emerges from our study is that equality-
Our work schedules are adjusted to our needs, because of
fostering DM is about broadening norms on competences and
small children or any other kind of reason. . . we can almost
identities, countering societal, institutionalized understand-
decide ourselves.
ings of ethnic minorities both as workers and as ethnic
Ethnic minority interviewees were highly appreciative of minorities. Our most equal organization, the call center,
this practice as it allowed them to take an extra day of refuses to apply institutionalized categorical identities
vacation during Ramadan or take longer vacation to travel to (and the relations between them) that are dominant in the
their countries of origin. As the company did not close its surrounding society within its own boundaries. This is crucial
operations around Christmas, non-Christian employees could as, according to Tilly (1989), such imitation is precisely one of
keep working and save their vacation days for their own the key mechanisms of the reproduction of inequality along
religious holidays. socio-demographic lines. Organizations tend to copy social
This individual-centered flexibility policy treated a broad structures including unequal categorical relations from other
variety of requests as equally legitimate, allowing all locations because they are familiar, decreasing individuals’
employees to arrange working hours in ways that were transaction costs of learning them (not because they are
compatible not only with religious practices but also, more inherently better in terms of efficiency). Our ‘best case’
broadly, with their other social roles outside work. In this though refuses to just imitate. Rather, it redefines its under-
way, the organization refrained from only considering ethnic standing of ethnic minority employees so that representa-
majority requests to be legitimate requests. This practice tions of the ‘normal/ideal worker’ in the organization are
was implemented in five of the ten organizations under destabilized (Benschop, 2001; Ostendorp & Steyaert, 2009;
study, and facilitated in all of them the expression of multi- Prasad & Mills, 1997) and ethnic minority workers are no
ple identities (cf. Kamenou, 2008). Often, the flexibility longer constructed as deviations from the dominant norm. It
policy was presented by managers as compensating employ- does so by broadening norms which offer multiple position-
ees’ own flexibility in function of the employer’s needs. The ings that are less hierarchical in value.
call center, however, tried to limit flexibility demands on In particular, the recruitment, job classification and eva-
employees. The company had for instance refused to extend luation practices in the call center redefine the organizational
working hours into the evening, anticipating the difficulties understanding of what valuable competencies are and, there-
this would have caused to employees with caring responsi- fore, who is a good candidate and what is good performance.
bilities. Such broadened norms foster equality as they challenge the
societal assumption that ethnic minorities are less competent.
Instead of merely reproducing inequalities within the organi-
Discussion zational boundaries (Acker, 2006), contributing to their insti-
tutionalization, the broadened norms enacted through the
Driven by our concern to envision possibilities for an alter- practices of the HR cycle decrease inequalities. Paraphrasing
native DM within the constraints of capitalist organizations, Liff and Wajcman’s (1996) argument that gender equality will
this study aimed at advancing the current knowledge on not be achieved as long as the ‘‘perceptions of job require-
equality-fostering DM. We are aware that the call center ments and procedures for assessing merit [are]saturated with
case might appear to the critical reader fairy tale-like, gendered assumptions’’ (1996, p. 89), we argue that ethnic
especially in the light of the literature on work and employ- equality will not be achieved as long as the perceptions of job
ment conditions in call centers (Bain & Taylor, 2000;Fleming requirements and procedures for assessing merit are saturated
& Sturdy, 2011;Knights & McCabe, 2003) and the exploitation with cultural assumptions. The work design further plays a key
of ethnic minorities and migrants (Anderson & Ruhs, 2010; facilitating role in enforcing broadened norms on competences
MacKenzie & Forde, 2009). Still, the DM practices we identi- in the every-day functioning of the organization. Specifically
fied were clearly exceptionally innovative and coherent, concerning the call center, multi-ethnic teams made ethnic
recognized by respondents in various positions and supported minority employees’ contributions to work visible to all,
by other available data sources. countering the predominant ideology of ethnic minorities as
Reflecting on our empirical results, we propose two impor- less competent.
tant ways in which the organizational practices we identified Similarly, the broader norms on cultural identities
effectively foster ethnic equality. On the one hand, they enforced by the practices of allowing religious symbols,
broaden the norms on both competences and identities. On two official languages, flexible work schedules and the strict
the other, they approach ethnic minority employees as full non-discrimination policy make room for the expression of a
subjects. Hereunder, we first discuss these key insights in the broader variety of identities. Refraining from an ethnocentric
light of the existing DM literature and then indicate their judgment of religious practices, language use and requests
contribution to the critical diversity literature. Our argument worthy of accommodation, the organization avoided repro-
is that, in order to foster ethnic equality within organiza- ducing monocultural, institutionalized norms within its bor-
tions, diversity management should not only address unequal ders. Rather, it opened space for multiple identities. This is of
power relations between ethnic majority and minority particular significance to ethnic minorities whose cultural
groups, as generally pled (cf. Linnehan & Konrad, 1999) expressions are often considered illegitimate both at work
but also address the (culturally defined) relationship and in other public spheres (Modood, Triandafyllidou, &
between the employer and employees. Zapata-Barrero, 2006).
328 M. Janssens, P. Zanoni

DM practices that broaden norms and offer multiple considered DM as a particular tool to this end (Prasad, 2006).
understandings of competence and multiple identity posi- Our study however suggests that a capitalist organization can
tionings are effective in fostering ethnic equality because potentially be a site of social change, contributing to combat
they subvert Western perceptions of ‘otherness’ in terms ethnic inequality.
of, ethnicities, ‘races’, cultures, religions etc. Specifically, Until now, the diversity literature has largely discussed
they destabilize the dominant hierarchical system of bin- power along socio-demographic identity groups, or the
aries which values the ethnic majority over the ethnic historical relation between minority and majority groups
minority in work settings: e.g. skilled/unskilled, produc- resulting in their unequal access to resources (Linnehan &
tive/unproductive, and thus valuable/valueless. As argued Konrad, 1999; Pringle et al., 2006). The argument is that
by postcolonial theory, such system serves to conceptually ‘‘intergroup power relationships constitute a fundamental
maneuver the West into a position of ontological super- issue that diversity initiatives must engage to be effective’’
iority over the Orient (Prasad, 2006; Said, 1978). The (Linnehan & Konrad, 1999, p. 400). Although this is neces-
pervasive structural inequality sustained by these collec- sary, we argue that it might not be sufficient to foster
tively shared linguistic categories cannot be corrected at equality, as an exclusive focus on intergroup power rela-
the level of individuals’ cognition — for instance through tions tends to obscure the specific role of the (majority)
training —, as individuals rely on them to make sense of employer in reproducing (or countering) inequality. In other
social reality and act upon it. Inequality rather needs to be words, by conceiving power along socio-demographic iden-
addressed by changing the discursive structures through tity lines, the power of management is seen as originating
organizational practices and processes at the core of the solely in its membership to the dominant identity group.
organization. Management is cast as powerful because managers largely
The destabilization of hierarchically ordered binary cate- belong to the cultural ‘majority’, thus similarly to majority
gories further opens up novel possibilities for DM because it employees.
allows the organization to address ethnic minorities as Our findings however strongly indicate that management
employees, rather than as members of ethnic minority is powerful also by virtue of its position in the employment
groups. By replacing binaries with multiple positioning, relation, which grants it power over labor. This power can be
diversity is normalized and the needs of ethnic minority effectively used to redefine the employment relation in ways
employees can be cast as analogous to those of ethnic that no longer match the profile of ethnic majority labor,
majority ones, rather than automatically ascribed to their avoiding the indirect discrimination of minorities. The
specific ethnic background. The advantage of this approach is employer can namely craft an employment relationship in
that ethnic minority employees are no longer essentialisti- which multiple competences are valued and multiple iden-
cally reduced to mere representatives of a stigmatized social tity positionings are offered and enforced in all its practices.
group but are approached as ‘full’ subjects, a key condition As a result, an ‘alternative’ organizational space is created
for equality (cf. Zanoni & Janssens, 2004). where all employees’ contributions are valued and differ-
This point throws new light on the debate on whether DM ences are normalized, and where all employees are
should rest on broad or narrow definition of diversity (Prasad expected to comply with broadened norms (rather than
et al., 2006). Critically oriented diversity scholars have asking only minority employees to unilaterally adjust and
traditionally argued that, to be effective in promoting equal- assimilate to historical majority employment norms). So,
ity, DM should focus on identity axes along which inequality paradoxically, it is its by virtue of its power over an ethnically
has historically been structured, such as gender, ethnicity or diverse labor that the call center is able to increase ethnic
sexual orientation (Holvino & Kamp, 2009;Liff, 1997;Linne- equality within that same labor and, at the same time, to
han & Konrad, 1999). Yet, the problem with a ‘target group’ harvest the business gains of doing so. In this sense, the
policy grounded on existing categories of employees as practices of the call center radically question institutiona-
members of historically subordinate social groups is that it lized power relations along ethnicity, but less fundamentally
inevitably reproduces reified representations of minority those along class, which are constitutive of capitalistic
employees (Jones & Stablein, 2006; Litvin, 1997; Zanoni & organizing.
Janssens, 2004). Its emancipation purposes are undermined In the light of our result, we argue that to understand the
because the predominant negative representations of min- dynamics of diversity and envision practices fostering ethnic
ority employees are perpetuated, denying them subjectivity equality, organizations should be conceptualized at once as
and agency. In this sense, the destabilization of identity expressions of cultural majority norms and as expressions of
categories constitutes in itself a political act (cf. Butler, capital within the employment relation. This double lens is
1990;Yeatman, 1990), as it helps achieve the delicate bal- indispensable to account for the complexities of power in
ance between ‘‘recogniz[ing]otherness while making space real organizational settings and address them effectively
for individual experiences beyond categorization’’ (Ghorashi through DM. Such insight echoes the argument of intersec-
& Sabelis, 2013: p. 83). tionality scholars for researching and practicing more for-
cefully and intentionally the simultaneity of identities such a
race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality and class in
Alternative diversity management and its organizations (Holvino, 2010; McCall, 2005; Munro, 2001).
contribution to critical diversity literature Specifically, our study brings to the foreground that to open
up new possibilities for understanding diversity manage-
The critical diversity literature has traditionally viewed ment and to challenge (in)equality in organizations we need
capitalist organizations as maintaining and reproducing eth- to interlock ethnicity in the employer—employee relation-
nic inequality (Noon, 2010; Zanoni & Janssens, 2004) and ship, or class.
Alternative diversity management 329

The (im)possibilities of alternative diversity institutions represent a precondition for equality-fostering

management in capitalist organizations: a future organizational practices to emerge, as if this is the case,
research agenda political efforts should better be enlarged to include not only
anti-discrimination legislation but also more general work-
With this study we have presented one ‘best case’ organiza- ers’ rights (cf. Harvey, 1993).
tion fostering ethnic equality by crafting broader norms on Finally, future research may benefit from simultaneously
competences and identities. The capacity of this organiza- using multiple markers to assess equality. In our study, we
tion to challenge institutionalized inequality raises a whole focused on the two structural equality markers of valuing
new set of important research questions for diversity scho- multiple competences and allowing multiple identities,
lars. Considering the boundary conditions of the call center, which are suitable to assess ethnic equality when there is
we propose the following directions. a large gap in formal qualifications between the ethnic
Scholars may in the first instance examine what motivates majority and the ethnic minority and thus more rank-sensi-
and drives an organization to enact multiple novel practices tive measures would skew results. However, when minority
rather than merely imitating dominant practices which insti- and majority employees have similar educational profiles, we
tutionalize inequality. In our case, the origins of the call center recommend research to consider adding to these two markers
in a socio-economic development project likely played a key the ‘classical’ structural indicators of power re-distribution,
role in its capacity to envision novel practices that attempt to such as the degree of horizontal and vertical segregation.
align business needs with ethnic equality. This calls for study- This will allow diversity scholars to gain a fuller and more
ing organizations which have an explicit social goal next to a fine-grained understanding of the way novel practices re-
business one, such as organizations within the socio-profit shape power relations and thus (in)equality.
sector. To date, this literature remains rather limited (yet In the aftermath of this study, the question remains under
see Kalonaityte, 2010;Tomlinson & Schwabenland, 2010). But which conditions alternative business models can emerge in
research may also focus on leadership within profit organiza- capitalist organization. Despite our prudence toward the
tions to study why an organization refuses to imitate social very possibility of equality in such organizations, we invite
structures, hereby identifying the values and motives that critical diversity scholars to take a tempered radical stance
initiate an organizational understanding of desirable practices and not to give up the search for organizational practices
toward broader norms on competencies and identities. Insights calling into question institutionalized inequality.
on this matter may raise important implications (as well as
research) for how change agents such as diversity managers
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