Project R-7966

The power dynamics of managing ethnic diversity: A study of the emergence and effects of diversity management practices (Research)

Faced with growing ethnic diversity in the workforce, organizations in Europe have increasingly implemented diversity management (DM) practices, yet continue to struggle with the question of how to manage ethnic diversity effectively. This problem can be linked to important gaps in the scientific literature on DM, which has mainly explored organizations in the United States, focusing on a limited number of formal DM practices and on the influence of anti-discrimination legislation on DM. Drawing on resource dependence theory and institutional theory, this research aims to advance the scientific knowledge on DM in three ways. First, it explores the bundles of DM practices organizations adopt to deal with DM challenges in Belgium, the synergies and interactions between DM practices which are adopted simultaneously, and the relation of these practices to the broader organizational and societal arrangements in which they are embedded. Second, it investigates the way the emergence of bundles of DM practices in organizations is shaped by power relations between management and the (ethnically diverse) workforce, and the resource dependencies and institutional pressures underlying them. Third, it examines the effects of bundles of DM practices on the career opportunities and inclusion of ethnic minority employees. Methodologically, this project adopts a multiple case study approach studying four organizations in Belgium.

01 October 2017 - 30 September 2021