Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T12:52:47.830Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Queer theory and diversity management: Reading codes of conduct from a queer perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Regine Bendl ,
Alexander Fleischmann  and
Roswitha Hofmann
Regine Bendl
Affiliation:
Department of Management (Group for Gender and Diversity Management), Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna, Austria
Alexander Fleischmann
Affiliation:
Department of Management (Group for Gender and Diversity Management), Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna, Austria
Roswitha Hofmann
Affiliation:
Department of Management (Group for Gender and Diversity Management), Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Vienna, Austria
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Queer theory is a relatively new theoretical approach in organizational discourse that we think can uncover power relations and normative and hierarchical processes in diversity management discourse. ‘Heteronormativity’ and ‘performativity’, core concepts of queer theory, critique categorization and fixed identities and thereby problematize and broaden perspectives on current diversity management discourse, especially those associated with organizational constructions of diversity dimensions. In this article, we focus on the discursive and intersectional construction of subject positions and identities within organizations by drawing upon a queer theoretical framework to analyze three companies' codes of conduct that claim to create an inclusive work environment. The deconstructive analysis of these discursive artifacts emphasizes the intersectional power dynamics of and between the categories of sex, gender and sexuality, and can be taken as a point of departure for questioning the heteronormative arrangements of diversity management practices.

Keywords

heteronormativitydiversitydifferencesidentitycategorization
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 15 , Issue 5 , November 2009 , pp. 625 - 638
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beauvoir, S. (1964) The second sex, Bantam Books, New York.Google Scholar
Becker, M. and Seidel, A. (eds) (2006) Diversity Management. Unternehmens- und Personalpolitik der Vielfalt, Schäffer-Poeschel Verlag, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Bendl, R. (2005) Revisiting organization theory: Integration and deconstruction of gender and transformation of organization theory, Lang, Frankfurt/M.Google Scholar
Bendl, R., Fleischmann, A. and Walenta, C. (2008) Diversity management discourse meets queer theory, Gender in Management: An International Journal 23(6): 382–394.Google Scholar
Bendl, R., Hanappi-Egger, E. and Hofmann, R. (eds) (2004) Interdisziplinäres Gender- und Diversitätsmanagement Linde, Wien.Google Scholar
Boudry, P., Kuster, B. and Lorenz, R. (1999) Reproduktionskonten fälschen! Heterosexualität. Arbeit und Zuhause, b_books, Berlin.Google Scholar
Bublitz, H. (1999) Diskursanalyse als Gesellschaftstheorie, in: Bublitz, H. (eds), Das Wuchern der Diskurse. Perspektiven der Diskursanalyse Foucaults: pp. 22–48, Campus, Frankfurt/M.Google Scholar
Butler, J. (1999) Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity (10th Anniv. Edn), Routledge, New York.Google Scholar
Calás, M. B. and Smircich, L. (2006) From ‘The woman's point of view’ ten years later: Towards a feminist organization studies, in: Clegg, S., Hardy, C., Lawrence, T. B. and Nord, W. R. (eds), The Sage Handbook of Organization Studies (2nd edn) pp 284–346, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Engel, A. (2002) Wider die Eindeutigkeit: Sexualität und Geschlecht im Fokus queerer Politik der Repräsentation, Campus, Frankfurt/M.Google Scholar
Engel, A., Schulz, N. and Wedl, J. (2005) Kreuzweise queer: Eine Einleitung, femina politica, 14(1): 9–23.Google Scholar
Engel, R. and Hofmann, R. (2004) Chancengleichheit - gestern - heute - morgen am Beispiel der Schering AG, in: Bendl, R., Hanappi-Egger, E. and Hofmann, R. (eds), Interdisziplinäres Gender- und Diversitätsmanagement. Einführung in Theorie und Praxis. pp. 247–252, Linde, Wien.Google Scholar
European Commission (2005) The business case for diversity – Good practices in the workplace Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg.Google Scholar
Farrell, H. and Farrell, B. J. (1998) The language of business codes of ethics: Implications of knowledge and power, Journal of Business Ethics 17(6): 587.Google Scholar
Fleischmann, A. (2009) Queering the Principles: A Queer/intersectional reading of Frederick W. Taylor's ‘The Principles of Scientific Management’ in Ozbilgin, MF (eds), Equality, diversity and inclusion at work: theory and scholarship, pp. 159–170, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.Google Scholar
Foucault, M. (1978) The history of sexuality, Vintage Books, New York.Google Scholar
Gamson, J. and Moon, D. (2004) The sociology of sexualities: Queer and beyond, Annual Review of Sociology 30(1): 47–64.Google Scholar
Genschel, C., Lay, C., Wagenknecht, N. and Woltersorff, W. (2001) Anschlüsse, in: Jagose, A (eds), Queer theory, Querverlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Hewitson, G. (1999) Feminist economics: Interrogatingthe masculinity of rational economic man, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.Google Scholar
Ingraham, C. (2006) Thinking straight, acting bent: heteronormativity and homosexuality, in: Davis, K., Evans, M. and Lorber, J. (eds), Handbook of gender and women's studies, pp. 307–320, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Jackson, S. (2006) Interchanges: Gender, sexuality and heterosexuality: The complexity (and limits) of heteronormativity, Feminist Theory 7(1): 105–121.Google Scholar
Jagose, A. (1996) Queer theory, New York University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Jones, D. and Stablein, R. (2006) Diversity as resistance, resistance to diversity: critical theory, post-structuralist perspectives and workplace diversity, in: Konrad, A. M., Prasad, P. and Pringle, J. K. (eds), Handbook of workforce diversity. pp. 145–166, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Klapeer, C. M. (2007) Queer.contexts: Entstehung und Rezeption von Queer Theory in den USA und Österreich, StudienVerlag, Innsbruck.Google Scholar
Koall, I., Bruchhagen, V. and Höher, F. (eds) (2007) Diversity Outlooks. Managing Diversity zwischen Ethik, Profit und Antidiskriminierung, LIT Verlag, Hamburg.Google Scholar
Konrad, A., Pushkala, P. and Pringle, J. (eds) (2006) Handbook of workplace diversity, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Landström, C. (2007) Queering feminist technology studies, Feminist Theory 8(1): 7–26.Google Scholar
Lorbiecki, A. and Jack, G. (2000) Critical turns in the evolution of diversity management, British Journal of Management 11(3): S17–S31.Google Scholar
McCall, L. (2005) The complexity of intersectionality, Signs. Journal of Women in Culture and Society 30(3): 1771–1780.Google Scholar
Oakley, A. (1972) Sex, gender and society, Temple Smith, London.Google Scholar
Parker, M. (2002) Queering management and organization, Gender, Work & Organization 9(2): 146–166.Google Scholar
Pearsall, J. (Ed.) (1998) The New Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Pelfrey, S. and Peacock, E. (1991) Ethical codes of conduct are improving, Business Forum 16(2): 14.Google Scholar
Perko, G. (2005) Queer-Theorien. Ethische, politische und logische Dimensionen plural-queeren Denkens, PapyRossa-Verlag, Köln.Google Scholar
Prasad, P., Mills, A., Elmes, M. and Prasad, A. (eds) (1997) Managing the organizational melting pot dilemmas of workplace diversity, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Pringle, J. K. (2008) Gender in management: Theorizing gender as heterogender, British Journal of Management 19 (s1): S110–S119.Google Scholar
Pühl, K. (2005). Queer theory in Germany – potentials, questions, critique. Feminist Perspectives. Free University Berlin, Germany.Google Scholar
Raab, H. (2004) ‘Queer meets Gender’ – Prekäre Beziehung oder gelungenen Koalition? Zum Verhälntnis von Queer Theory und Genderforschung, in: Hertzfeldt, H., Schäfgen, K. and Veith, S. (eds), Geschlechter Verhältnisse. Analysen aus Wissenschaft, Politik und Praxis. Pp.56–65, Dietz, Berlin.Google Scholar
Seidman, S. (1996) Introduction, in: Seidman, S (eds), Queer theory/sociology, pp. 1–30, Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar
Sepehri, P. (2002) Diversity und Managing Diversity in internationalen Organisationen Wahrnehmungen zum Verständnis und ökonomischer Relevanz, Rainer Hampp Verlag, München-Mering.Google Scholar
Singh, V. and Point, S. (2006) (Re)Presentations of gender and ethnicity in diversity statements on European company websites, Journal of Business Ethics 68(4): 363–379.Google Scholar
Stein, A. (1997) Sex after sexuality: from sexology to post-structuralism, in: Owen, D (eds), Sociology after postmodernism. pp.158–172, Sage, London.Google Scholar
Trinkfass, B. and Enders, M. (2006) Procter & Gamble, in: Bendl, R., Hanappi-Egger, E. and Hoffmann, R. (eds), Agenda Diversität: Gender-und Diversitätsmanagement in Wissenschaft und Praxis. pp. 109–116, Rainer Hampp Verlag, München- Mering.Google Scholar
Werner, K. and Weiss, H. (2006) Das neue Schwarzbuch Markenfirmen, Ullstein.Google Scholar
Wolff, C. (2006) Deutsche Bank, in: Bendl, R., Hanappi-Egger, E. and Hofmann, R. (Eds), Agenda Diversität: Gender- und Diversitätsmanagement in Wissenschaft und Praxis. pp. 52–63, Rainer Hampp Verlag, München-Mering.Google Scholar
Zanoni, P. and Janssens, M. (2004) Deconstructing difference: The rhetoric of human resource managers' diversity discourses, Organization Studies 25(1): 55–74.Google Scholar