EAWOP SMALL GROUP MEETING ON
MANAGING DIVERSITY IN ORGANIZATIONS: BRIDGING THE WORLD
OF SCIENCE AND PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE
23-24 September, 2010 Aston Business School, Birmingham, UK
ANNOUNCEMENT and CALL FOR PAPERS
The EAWOP Small Group Meeting on Managing Diversity in Organizations will be held at Aston Business
School, Birmingham, UK from 23-24 September 2010. The small group meeting will feature top international
scholars and experts on diversity management in organisations as well as presentations by a relatively small
number of academics with specific interest/expertise in the area of diversity, and will give all participants plenty
of chance for debate and discussion.
Small Group Meeting Theme and Focus
As a result of the ongoing debate in the academic literature it remains unclear how diversity should be
managed in organizations, and consequently resulted in actual diversity management practices in
organizations often remaining uninformed by the academic literature. The aim of the small group meeting is
therefore to bridge the worlds of science and practice by reviewing and critically reflecting on what can be
learnt from the diversity literature on how to manage diversity in organizations, and to discuss and explore
open questions. It will cover all aspects of diversity in organizations but we would particularly welcome
conceptual and empirical papers on:
1. What have we learnt on how to conceptualize and measure diversity? What other conceptualization and
measures of diversity do we need to look at?
2. What have we learnt on how diversity at the individual, group and organizational level affects individual,
group and organizational outcomes? How can we integrate these literatures in a unifying multi-level
framework? What other levels do we need to look at (e.g., dyadic and societal level)?
3. What have we learnt on the underlying mechanisms (e.g., social categorization, conflict, information
processing, etc.) explaining the relationship between diversity and outcomes in organizations and teams?
What other mechanisms do we need to look at (e.g., social exchange, network structures, etc.)?
4. What have we learnt about the boundary conditions (e.g., leadership, personality, organizational culture,
diversity beliefs, etc.) accounting for the relationship between diversity and outcomes in organizations?
What other organizationally relevant boundary conditions do we need to look at (e.g., societal culture and
cross-cultural differences, training, organizational policies, practices and procedures, etc.)?
5. What methods have been used in the past (quantitative: survey, experiments), and what other methods
should we consider in the future (quantitative: social networks, social relations modelling, qualitative:
grounded theory, ethnography etc.)?
6. How should organisations manage diversity (in terms of organisational, work group and workplace design,
policies and practices, organizational culture and leadership, diversity training, in different societies, etc.)
based on the knowledge accumulated in the diversity literature? And how could this knowledge be made
available to practitioners – that often don’t read the academic diversity literature?
7. What are the challenges organizations will face regarding managing diversity in the years to come, and
what might be research questions that academics have to answer in order to meet these challenges?
Keynote Speakers
Binna Kandola, Pearn Kandola and Leeds University, United Kingdom
Daan van Knippenberg, Erasmus University, Netherlands
Michael West, Aston Business School, United Kingdom
Format
We plan a small-scale workshop over two days with approximately 25 oral presentations and plenty of time for
discussion. Exhibiting an additional amount of posters during the meeting will also be possible. Together, a
maximum of 25 participants will be able to participate.
Submission of Papers
Abstracts of papers (max. 500 words) should be submitted by March 31th of 2010 to Yves Guillaume
([email protected]). After the review process each author will be notified about the acceptance of
the submitted abstract by 1st of May 2010. Full papers must be submitted before 1st of August 2010. Papers
should not exceed 40 pages (including tables, figures and references). Papers will be made available on a
website for all participants, so that all information can be studied before the small group meeting takes place.
Publication of Papers
The outcomes of the meeting will appear in the form of a position paper submitted to EJWOP. We hope that
selected papers will be published in a special issue of an academic journal.
Practicalities
The small group meeting will take place at Aston Business School, Aston University in Birmingham (UK) under
the auspices of Aston University’s centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Language and Diversity (InterLanD).
Aston Business School is considered one of the UK’s leading business schools, having been ranked 3rd in the
UK by the Financial Times in 2008. Aston Business School is also renowned for its highly diverse student body
having been ranked 1st in the World for student diversity by the Economist 2008. InterLanD is an innovative
new research centre at Aston University which has been established to explore issues on diversity, such as
how organisations can harness diversity. The conference will be held in Aston’s Conference Centre to provide
a wonderful environment for learning and research, as well as outstanding conference facilities.
Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK with a population of over 1 million and is reported to have more
canals than the city of Venice! Being situated in the heart of England it is easily accessible by road, train or
plane. Britain’s most ethnically diverse city, it has been transformed over the past 20 years with fantastic new
developments including Symphony Hall, the Bullring Shopping Centre and internationally renowned
restaurants.
The workshop will commence on 23 September around 9 am and will conclude on 24 September around 4 pm.
Fees
£225 (including one night accommodation for the 23rd September, lunches and conference dinner) + £75 (extra
night accommodation for the 22nd September, if necessary)
For PhD candidates we have a special fee of £175.
Local Organising Committee
Prof Michael West, Prof Pawan Budhwar, Prof Sam Aryee, Jeremy Dawson, Dr Yves Guillaume, Dr Cinzia
Priola, Dr Claudia Sacramento, Dr Steve Woods
Contact Person
Dr Yves Guillaume ([email protected])
Aston Business School
Aston University
B4 7ET Birmingham
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 121 204 3252
Fax:+44 (0) 121 359 2919