Organizing Inclusion: Moving Diversity from Demographics to Communication Processes

Organizing Inclusion brings communication experts together to examine issues of inclusion and exclusion, which have emerged as a major challenge as both society and the workforce become more diverse.

Connecting communication theories to diversity and inclusion, and clarifying that inclusion is about the communication processes of organizations, institutions, and communities, the book explores how communication as an organizing phenomenon underlies systemic and institutionalized biases and generates practices that privilege certain groups while excluding or marginalizing others. Bringing a global perspective that transcends particular problems faced by Western cultures, the contributors address issues across sub-disciplines of communication studies, ranging from social and environmental activism to problems of race, gender, sexual orientation, age and ability. With these various perspectives, the chapters go beyond demographic diversity by addressing interaction and structural processes that can be used to promote inclusion. Using these multiple theoretical frameworks, Organizing Inclusion is an intellectual resource for improving theoretical understanding and practical applications that come with ever more diverse people working, coordinating, and engaging one another.

The book will be of great relevance to organizational stakeholders, human resource personnel and policy makers, as well as to scholars and students working in the fields of communication, management, and organization studies.

Marya Doerfel (Professor of Communication and Director of the Network Science Lab, School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University) examines social networks, community building, and organizational and community transformation. She has been funded by the National Science Foundation with recent peer-reviewed articles including Engaging Partnerships, The Story of Collective Action, (Un)Obtrusive Control in Emergent Networks, and Digitizing the Strength of Weak Ties.

Jennifer Gibbs (Professor of Communication, Co-Editor of Communication Research) investigates collaboration in global teams and other distributed work arrangements, as well as the social and organizational impacts of new technologies. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, as well as a recent book entitled Distracted: Staying Connected without Losing Focus.