Chapter 6: Organizational Identity Group Relations Inthe Trump ERA: An Asymmetric Model of Diversity and Inclusion Norm Violations

This chapter examines recent theory and research on identity group relations in organizations with the purpose of distinguishing between accounts that consider the impact of status differentials between identity groups and those which fail to do so. Making this distinction is important to the validity of diversity and inclusion (D&I) theorizing, and therefore, the usefulness of the field for predicting and explaining the emergence and impact of identity group dynamics in organizations. Developing valid and usable D&I theory is particularly important in contemporary times when some political leaders have chosen to inflame intergroup tensions with hateful rhetoric in order to garner and solidify a power base (Corrington & Hebl, 2018; Konrad, 2018). Sadly, these inflamed tensions enter work organizations with damaging consequences (Ferdman, 2018), such as impaired working relationships, weakened norms of workplace civility and development of countercultural subgroups alienated from organizational D&I values. Tracing the processes through which such damage occurs may be valuable for identifying actions organizational leaders can take to limit these negative effects.