Unlearning diversity management

Abstract

Organizational unlearning occurs when organizations cast-off knowledge, beliefs, or routines. A key assumption is that the discarded information inhibits organizational performance. This view ignores the possibility that organizations may intentionally unlearn practices that are useful for some stakeholders. Using qualitative methods over eight years, we studied the processes by which a subsidiary of a French multinational company (MNC) unlearned diversity management when it was sold to a Polish state owner. This case enables us to understand the processes by which organizations unlearn, the power of the institutional environment in shaping the abandonment of diversity management, once a subsidiary changes ownership.