Marjolein Dennissen

124 The Herculean task of diversity networks Contributions to literature In this dissertation, I built a more comprehensive understanding of diversity networks as diversity management instruments by taking a critical diversity perspective. As explicated in the introduction, organizational diversity management is inextricably linked to power processes and every day micropolitics and, therefore, is a complex endeavor that requires more than managerial commitment and good intentions (Ahmed & Swan, 2006; Prasad & Mills, 1997). Thus, when studying diversity and diversity management, it is crucial to take into account unequal power processes, marginalized organizational voices, and context-specific organizational practices. Yet, in the burgeoning field of diversity management research, many studies adopt a noncritical, instrumental view of diversity, representing it as too easily “doable” (Foldy, 2002; Janssens & Zanoni, 2014; Prasad & Mills, 1997, p. 11). The focus on “doable” and “palatable” diversity management leaves little room for analyzing the processes of power (Hoobler, 2005, p. 55; Nkomo & Hoobler, 2014). As a result, the way that diversity management practices maintain, normalize, and reinforce organizational inequalities are largely overlooked (Alvesson et al., 2009; Zanoni et al., 2010). Drawing on various critical diversity perspectives, I provided a fine-grained analysis on how diversity networks, as exemplars of present-day diversity management practices, help or hinder equality in organizations. The insights from this analysis present important implications for the diversity management literature. By taking into account power processes and the underlying practices and discourses that maintain and reproduce organizational inequalities, I contributed to the diversity management literature in three ways. First, I reconceptualized the notion of organizational equality, allowing for multiple levels of equality and going beyond instrumental approaches and numerical outcomes. Second, I introduced an intersectionality perspective on single category diversity management practices. Theorizing the heterogeneity within single identity categories, I showed that organizational inequalities cannot be dismantled separately because they entail multiple intersecting identities that mutually reinforce each other. Third, I used a practice-based approach as a novel theoretical perspective to study how diversity networks work by exploring the collective networking practices that occur in diversity networks. Focusing on practices, I was able to shed light on the sociopolitical processes of networking for organizational equality. As such, a practice-based approach can provide an in-depth, processual understanding of how diversity management can either sustain or counteract inequality in organizations. Reconceptualizing organizational equality The first contribution to the diversitymanagement literature pertains to the reconceptualization of organizational equality. The majority of the research on diversity management have typically concentrated on the effectiveness of different diversity practices such as mentoring and diversity training in terms of numerical outcomes. Diversity management practices are