What happens to diversity at work in the context of a toxic triangle? Accounting for the gap between discourses and practices of diversity management

Abstract

© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.With liberalization, the responsibility for the management of diversity has shifted internationally from the state to organizations. Countries that are prepared for this transition have developed legal measures and supportive discourses to hold organizations responsible for diversity. We provide evidence from a country that has not undertaken such a transition and has neither protective laws nor supportive arguments for diversity. Drawing on a survey with 792 employees from Turkey, our field study examines the awareness and embeddedness of diversity, by considering the gap between discourses and diversity practices in organizations. In this study, we introduce the concept of the toxic triangle, which includes (a) hyper-deregulation of diversity, where the legal measures of equality are absent, (b) voluntarism without responsibilization of organizations, and (c) lack of supportive discourses for diversity. Our study shows that diversity is left unattended in the context of a toxic triangle.