Abstract

Our analysis begins with an exploratory study of the historical context of diversity concept, and how this construction affects the arenas in which diversity is presented. This stage is particularly informed by the approximations of diversity which conceive it as discoursive formations. Those approaches also allowed for the dismantling of the subject in the discussion of diversity, as well as the uses and meanings that diversity has come to assume (Jones, Pringle & Sheperd 200; Kelly & Dobbin, 1998; Thomas & Ely, 1996). The second step deals with the implications of diversity training as it is currently implemented in organizations. A wide array of diversity conceptualizations point to that the difference in the very notion of diversity is no more than variances and extensions of the liberal connotation of representation (Sabsay, 2011). These studies specifically suggest that this rhetoric of diversity can be used as a mechanism of social regulation and control. (Alvesson & Wilmott, 2002; Sveningsson & Alvesson, 2003). Even though, such uses of diversity could be seen as manifestations of corporate identities as political fictions in a global context (Benhabib, 2002). Thirdly, we are going to analyze the notion of diversity within organizational structures and how its hegemonic articulations shape itself as a managerial resource (Lorbiecki & Jack, 2000). Further, it allows us to examine socio political models of diversity and its exclusionary imaginaries, and the configuration of hegemonic notions of diversity within the context of organizations. Finally, this paper seeks to ask if the concept of diversity, within the study of organizations, actually has epistemic relevance. On the other hand, we are concerned with its theoretical implications for critical management studies, more specifically, for diversity management.