The Fork in the Road: Diversity Management and Organizational Justice

Abstract

The diversity management literature frequently makes reference to justice constructs, but diversity researchers rarely draw explicitly upon organizational justice frameworks. In this chapter, we use Cropanzano, Rupp, Mohler and Schminke’s (2001a) three “roads” to organizational justice to examine how instrumental, relational, and deontic concerns are enacted in the diversity management literature. We describe the “fork in the road” that reflects the two dominant ways organizations approach diversity management: identity blind vs identity conscious. We review research on diversity climate and affirmative action to demonstrate how diversity management research does not (climate) and does (affirmative action) link organizational management practices with employee perceptions of justice. Finally, we suggest some ways that diversity management research can more effectively engage with organizational justice theory to predict, and understand, the consequences of organizations’ diversity management choices.