Marjolein Dennissen

88 The Herculean task of diversity networks and how they collectively use their network to advance equality in organizations. To come to a better understanding of these dynamic processes of collective action in organizations, I turn to a practice approach towards networking to study what this collective networking in diversity networks entails, and how these networking practices further organizational equality. A practice approach to networking In general, practice-based studies share the notion that social structures are continuously (re)produced and emerge through people’s recurrent actions (Feldman&Orlikowski, 2011). Practices can be defined as nexuses of the actual sayings and doings of people (Nicolini, 2012; Schatzki, 1996; Yanow, 2006). Practices are always rooted in a context of interaction, constantly reproduced and negotiated, and thus always dynamic and provisional (Nicolini, Gherardi & Yanow, 2003). By engaging in practices, people either reproduce or challenge social structures (Nicolini, 2009, 2012). As such, practices are considered to be key to the (re)production and transformation of social and organizational matters (Nicolini, 2012; Schatzki, Knorr-Cetina & Von Savigny, 2001). Studying practices helps to uncover the unre exive and taken-for-granted patterns of activities and underlying norms that constitute social reality (Berger, 2015; Geiger, 2009; Nicolini, 2009). In 1984, Gould and Penley already referred to the practice of networking: “the practice of developing a system or ‘network’ of contacts inside and/or outside the organization, thereby providing relevant career information and support for the individual” (p. 246). Several scholars have taken up a practice approach to networking in organizations (e.g., Benschop, 2009; Berger, 2015; Manning, 2010; Van den Brink & Benschop, 2014). A practice approach to networking allows for the examination of the actual activities and strategies of network agents in particular organizational contexts (Berger, 2015; Manning, 2010; Van den Brink & Benschop, 2014). By studying the actual networking practices of people, previous studies have shed light on how people use their networks at work and what people actually do when they enter, build, maintain, use, and exit their network (Benschop, 2009; Berger, 2015; Manning, 2010; Shaw, 2006). Examples of networking practices are: maintaining contacts, socializing, forming coalitions, negotiating, and sharing or withholding information (Van den Brink & Benschop, 2014). A focus on networking practices allows insight into the subtle behaviors and dynamic processes that maintain, (re)produce and change organizational structures (Nicolini, 2009, 2012). For example, studies by Benschop (2009) and Van den Brink and Benschop (2014) show that networking practices contribute to the reinforcement of inequalities, but also open up possibilities to change them. Furthermore, Manning (2010) shows that by engaging in networking practices, actors do not only help to (re)produce network relationships, but also the norms, rules, and resources they refer to when constituting and coordinating these relationships. Thus, a practice approach towards networking has proven to be an excellent way to provide a more accurate description and richer theoretical understanding of the processes of networking (Parkhe, Wasserman & Ralston, 2006; Van den Brink & Benschop, 2014). It emphasizes the interrelation of agency and structure, and thereby the process-relational core of networking