In our own backyard: when a less inclusive community challenges organizational inclusion

• Published date: 15 June 2015
• Date: 15 June 2015
• Pages: 395-421
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-11-2013-0105
• Author: Beth K. Humberd,Judith A. Clair,Stephanie J. Creary

SPECIAL ISSUE PAPER

In our own backyard: when a less

inclusive community challenges

organizational inclusion

Beth K. Humberd

Manning School of Business, University of Massachusetts, Lowell,

Massachusetts, USA, and

Judith A. Clair and Stephanie J. Creary

Management & Organization Department, Boston College,

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to build insight into how the local community impacts an

organization’s ability to develop an inclusive culture. The paper introduces the concept of inclusion

disconnects as incongruent experiences of inclusion between an organization and its community.

Then, using the case of teaching hospitals, the paper empirically demonstrates how individuals and

organizations experience and deal with inclusion disconnects across the boundaries of organization

and community.

Design/methodology/approach –A multi-method qualitative study was conducted in hospitals

located in the same city. Focus groups were conducted with 11 medical trainees from underrepresented

backgrounds and semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten leaders involved with

diversity efforts at two hospitals. Data analysis followed an iterative approach built from Miles and

Huberman (1994).

Findings –The findings demonstrate how boundary conflicts arise from disconnected experiences

of organizational and community inclusiveness. Such disconnects create challenges for leaders in

retaining and supporting minority individuals, and for trainees in feeling like they could build a life

within, and outside of, their organizations. Based on findings from the data, the paper offers insights

into how organizations can build their capacity to address these challenges by engaging in boundary

work across organizational and community domains.

Research limitations/implications –Future research should build upon this work by further

examining how inclusion disconnects between communities and organizations impact individuals and

organizations.

Practical implications –The paper includes in-depth insight into how organizations can build their

capacity to address such a deep-rooted challenge that comes from a less inclusive community.

Originality/value –This paper contributes to an understanding of how forces from the community

outside an organization can shape internal efforts toward fostering inclusion and individuals’

experiences of inclusion.

Keywords Community, Organizational inclusion, Organizational effectiveness

Paper type Research paper

With increasing demographic diversity in the USA and around the world, scholars and

organizations alike are interested in understanding how organizations can foster

inclusive organizational cultures. Inclusive organizational cultures are those in which

employees from different backgrounds can individually and collectively contribute and

reach their fullest potential (Pless and Maak, 2004) while feeling validated, accepted,

and appreciated (Davidson and Ferdman, 2002). While there has been some progress,

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 34 No. 5, 2015

pp. 395-421

©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-11-2013-0105

Received 30 November 2013

Revised 26 April 2014

7 August 2014

Accepted 10 August 2014

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/2040-7149.htm

395

Inclusive

community

challenges

organizations continue to face challenges in creating and maintaining inclusive

cultures that positively engage difference (Davidson, 2011; Holvino et al., 2004).

As such, much of the diversity management literature continues to focus on uncovering

organizational processes and structures that can help individuals and organizatio ns

work more effectively across difference.

Over two decades of research findings demonstrate that a myriad of organizational

factors influence an organization’s capacity to develop an inclusive culture. Namely,

organizational cultural assumptions and beliefs concerning diversity (e.g. Thomas,

1991; Pless and Maak, 2004), shared understanding of what is meant by inclusion

(e.g. Ely and Thomas, 2001; Roberson, 2006), engaged leaders (e.g. Ainscow and Sandill,

2010; Nishii and Mayer, 2009), and HR systems, processes, and training that promote

a climate of inclusion (e.g. Cox, 1994; Ferdman and Brody, 1996) are all necessary for

creating inclusive cultures. However, only recently has work begun to attend to the role

that the local context outside of the organization’s walls plays in fostering inclusive

organizational cultures. This oversight is striking given that organizational theorists

have long been concerned with the relationship between organizations and their

environments (e.g. Barnard, 1938; Katz and Kahn, 1978; Selznick, 1949), recognizing

that organizations are deeply embedded in local social systems (Marquis et al., 2011)

that shape, and are shaped by, an organization’s behavior (Freeman, 1984; Mitro ff,

1983). Like organizations, these social systems have their own cultural assumptions

and beliefs concerning diversity, demographic patterns of integration and segregation,

and an institutional environment that can privilege or disadvantage individuals.

Thus, as Brief et al. (2005, p. 839) stated: “It is time that researchers concerned with

relationships among demographically different groups in organizations look outside

the organizations they study to better understand what is happening within them.”

In line with this, we propose that greater attention to the role of the local community is

critical to advancing research and praxis on diversity and inclusioninorganizations.

Ourworkfitswithinagrowingbodyofdiversity scholarship which reveals important

relationships between community-related variables and job-relevant outcomes for

individuals in the context of diversity, such as how community racial/ethnic

demographics impact reports of workplace discrimination (Avery et al., 2008) or incivility

displays (King et al., 2011). However, scholars have under-considered employees’subjective

experiences of the local community-organizational interface, which are the mechanisms

through which these effects arise. In this paper, we delve into this individual experience of

inclusion as it relates to organizations and local community through an inductive

qualitative study in the context of three teaching hospitals seeking torecruitandretain

ethnically and racially underrepresented residents to their residency programs, but that are

situated in a community perceived by residents as “diversity unfriendly.”Our findings shed

light on the perspectives of these residents that face “inclusion disconnects,”which we

define as incongruences between the inclusiveness experienced in their employing hospital s

and the inclusiveness experienced within the local community surrounding the hospitals.

Our findings demonstrate that inclusion disconnects can have a critical effect on key

performance measures for a diverse organization, such as the organization’s ability to

recruit and retain a diverse workforce. Drawing from boundary incongruence theory

(Kreiner et al.,2009),weassertthatthisoccursbecauseinclusiondisconnectscreatea

subjective state of conflict and concern for employees. While employees enjoy inclusion in

their organizations, they feel conflict when they are not extended or do not perceive

inclusion in the surrounding communities in which they live and interact. This experience

sets up barriers to recruitment and retention of diverse employees for the organizations.

396

EDI

34,5