Description
For the past 40 years, scholars, consultants, and organizational members have discussed issues related to diversity and inclusion in the workplace with increasing urgency. Despite these efforts, workplaces continue to struggle creating environments where all employees feel represented, safe, and valued. As the United States population shifts—from rapidly changing racial demographics to baby boomers exiting the workforce, to an increasing number of people identifying as part of the LGBTQI+ community—organizations are facing increasing organizational and cultural challenges. Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) programs and policies have become the primary way businesses attempt to address a variety of organizational constraints, including employee engagement, cultural sensitivity, and respect in the workplace. Many workplaces turn to consultants to run diversity and inclusion workshops as part of these programs. This project examines the instructors of these courses: their experiences, goals, struggles, and triumphs. Applying a feminist lens and the Communicative Constitution of Organization (CCO) framework, I identify how notions of diversity and inclusion become constituted, consider potential drawbacks to these approaches, and offer practical suggestions for scholars, consultants, and business people to take in creating more effective D&I programs. I also expand CCO literature through this empirical study of organizational tiling and ventriloquism, and offer a new feminist CCO perspective. Keywords: diversity and inclusion, organizational communication, CCO, ventriloquism.
