1573: Organizing for Inclusion: Integrating and Extending Research on Diversity and Organization Design (16931)

This symposium, aligning with the theme “Innovating for the Future”, aims to bring together management scholars from the fields of diversity and inclusion (D&I) and organizational design (OD). The goal is to identify how research at the intersection of these disciplines can provide insights to enhance D&I outcomes that also lead to improved organizational performance. D&I initiatives can face a variety of challenges during implementation. These challenges can arise when existing practices are not taken into consideration, leading to ineffective or underwhelming outcomes. To address these challenges, it is essential to examine the broader organizational context and how D&I practices interact as a bundle of practices. This can help achieve both D&I and organizational goals. Additionally, since the OD literature tends to focus more on the organization being the primary beneficiary of value creation and less on how organizational members can be beneficiaries of value creation, incorporating a D&I lens to OD theories can shed light on organizational arrangements suited for accomplishing multiple objectives. The symposium panel will showcase distinguished scholars in the fields of D&I and OD. They will share their perspectives on "Organizing for Inclusion" and examine the limitations and findings from their respective fields. The conversation will also delve into how each discipline can contribute to research in the panelists' respective fields and vice versa. The session will conclude with a presentation by the session organizers on opportunities for intervention and data collection to support research in this area.