Marjolein Dennissen

119 Discussion Discussion The aim of my dissertation was to study how diversity networks contribute to equality in organizations in order to come to a better understanding of the functioning of diversity networks as diversity management instruments. To date, the implications of diversity networks for organizational equality – conceptualized as the systematic parities in power and control over goals, resources, behaviors, agendas, cultures and outcomes (Acker, 2006) – remain an understudied terrain. Diversity management in organizations is a complex, contextual, and power-laden endeavor (Ahmed & Swan, 2006; Bendl et al., 2015; Prasad & Mills, 1997). Developing a critical diversity perspective on diversity networks allowed me to specifically focus on power and inequalities and the underlying processes, practices, and discourses that maintain and reproduce these inequalities (Prasad & Mills, 1997; Zanoni et al., 2010). Drawing on critical diversity studies, I set out to answer the following main research question: How do diversity networks contribute to equality in organizations? Each chapter in this dissertation provides unique insights into answering this research question and sheds new light on previously underexplored areas of diversity networks as diversity management instruments. In this final chapter, I provide an answer to this research question and elaborate on the contributions of my study to the literature. I conclude with the contribution to practice and some final reflections on the limitations and directions for future research. Answering the research question Contradicting discourses of organizational equality In Chapter 2, I explore the histories, goals, and activities of five different diversity networks: a women’s network, an ethnic minority network, an LGBT network, a disability network and a young employee network. I focused on the de facto leaders of diversity networks, the diversity network board members. These board members are responsible for determining the course of action of their diversity networks, the goals set, and the actions and activities organized. In their capacity as network leaders, these board members legitimize the existence and functioning of their networks in the organization. To gain a better understanding of how diversity networks contribute to equality in organizations, I started by examining how diversity network leaders discursively construct the value of their networks against the backdrop of discourses on diversity and equality. To do so, I developed a theoretical framework of organizational equality and distinguished between networks’ contributions on three main levels: network members individually, network members as a group, and the organization as a whole. This theoretical framework allowed me to analyze the discourses by which network board members legitimize the value of their diversity network in relation to multiple levels of organizational equality.