Marjolein Dennissen

86 The Herculean task of diversity networks To address these limitations, I adopt a practice-based approach (Gherardi, 2009; Janssens & Steyaert, 2019; Nicolini, 2009) and focus on the actual networking practices that diversity networks engage in. Central to a practice-based approach is the orientation towards practices, that is, what people actually say and do in action (Nicolini, 2012; Yanow, 2006). By engaging in practices, people can either reproduce or challenge organizational, diversity-related phenomena ( Janssens & Steyaert, 2019; Nicolini, 2009, 2012). Drawing on Van den Brink and Benschop (2014), I define diversity networking practices as the collective sociopolitical actions of building, maintaining, and using relations in the workplace to advance organizational equality. Focusing on diversity networking practices allows me to explore how diversity networks are used, how diversity networks (net)work as collectives, and what diversity networks actually do to advance equality in the workplace. The aim of this chapter is to come to a better understanding of how in-company diversity networks as collectives (net)work to advance equality in organizations. I will focus on the following research questions: 1) which collective networking practices occur in diversity networks; and 2) how do these specific diversity networking practices potentially contribute to equality in organizations? This allows me to make two important contributions to diversity management studies. First, I identify and analyze diversity networking practices that diversity networks engage in to stimulate organizational equality. Second, analyzing diversity networking practices, I shed light on the sociopolitical processes that diversity networks collectively engage in when they network for equality. As such, this study extends previous literature by providing an in-depth understanding of how diversity networks either sustain or counteract inequality in organizations. This chapter is organized in five sections. I start with outlining my theoretical framework in which I connect the literature on collective action in the workplace with a networking-as-a- practice perspective. After the description of the methodology, I continue with the findings of the particular diversity networking practices that are illustrative of diversity networks in my study. I conclude the chapter with a discussion of the contributions to diversity management studies. Theoretical framework Collective action in organizations Diversity networks entail collective action against inequality-related issues in the workplace. As such, they can be seen as the organizational equivalent of social movements, which address inequality-related issues in society at large. Social movements can be broadly defined as “collective challenges by people with common purposes and solidarity in sustained interaction with elites, opponents and authorities” (Tarrow, 1994 as cited in Spicer & Böhm, 2007, p. 1673). Theories of social movement address “how groups mobilize to challenge inequalities in