Diversity Trouble

In line with Judith Butler’s famous “Gender Trouble”, this article starts by challenging some basic assumptions. What are the conceptual premises of diversity and its management? How do these concepts define identities? How do they decide and influence the entrepreneurial management of these identities? And what patterns of action are typical for diversity conscious organizations? Following these questions by focusing on the discussion of diversity in the German-speaking world, the authors discuss three distinct issues they have had with current diversity management concepts: first, the personalization of social systems; second, the monolithic construction of organizational cultures; and third, an understanding of change that follows a rather mechanistic logic. Trying to light up different blind spots, the article argues for a different approach to diversity management, paying more respect towards organizational dynamics, coping with complexity in a mindful manner, and a sense of ambivalence that should be at the heart of diversity leadership.