"Construals of “Diversity”: Examining Frameworks for Justifying, Defining, and Perceiving Diversity"

Abstract

Four papers examine the multiple frames for justifying, defining, and perceiving diversity and their implications for workplace harmony and equality. First, Apfelbaum and Amengual examine the three most commonly used frames to justify the need for diversity: a business case, a moral case, and a hybrid case that combines the two previous justifications. They show that support for business and moral justifications is hydraulic. Furthermore, this hydraulic relationship can lead hybrid justifications to undermine people’s support for diversity-related issues. Second, Opie, Ho, Akinola, Unzueta, Castel, and Brief investigate the consequences of broadening definitions of diversity. They show that definitions of diversity have broadened from primarily being about the inclusion of underrepresented groups to being more about the celebration of individual differences. They find that these broader definitions can undermine efforts to promote workplace equality. Third, Siy and Phillips show how social groups commonly labeled as both racial and cultural groups, such as Blacks and Asians, are not perceived equally as racial and cultural. Furthermore, perceiving Blacks as a cultural group causes Whites to believe differences associated with Blacks are more legitimate than perceiving Blacks as a racial group. To conclude, Chao, Yao, and Fu examine how essentialist beliefs about cultural diversity affect negotiations across cultures. They demonstrate that Hong Kongers who hold strong essentialist beliefs about culture are less trusting and obtain worse deals when negotiation with members of a cultural outgroup compared to Hong Kongers who hold weak essentialist beliefs. Overall, these four papers introduce new frameworks for understanding the ways people frame diversity so that organizations can harness its power to bring harmony and equality for all. Seeing Race versus Culture: Examining when Group Differences are Justified Presenter: John Oliver Siy; Columbia U. Presenter: Katherine W. Phillips; Columbia U.