Greg,
Sorry not to have replied sooner – I was traveling for spring break.
I have copied in Gary Powell, who is a diversity expert. However, while the abstract might not align directly with his work, he is currently editing a special issue on diversity for AMR so might be able to point you in the right direction.
Best,
Lucy
Lucy L. Gilson
Management Professor and Department Head
Academic Director: Geno Auriemma Leadership Conference
Senior Associate Editor, Group & Organization Management
UConn Women's MBA Association Faculty Advisor
University of Connecticut
School of Business
2100 Hillside Road, Unit 1041
Storrs, CT 06269-1041
(860) 486-3504
lucy.gilson@uconn.edu
www.genoleads.com
From: Kivenzor, Gregory
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2018 11:48 AM
To: Gilson, Lucy <lucy.gilson@uconn.edu>
Subject: Seeking advice
Hi Lucy,
I would like to ask for your advice in the area of your expertise.
In 2017, I was invited to serve as a Guest Editor-in-Chief of the Special Issue of the International Journal for Management and Training for Industries. This growing journal is published by the Nishinippon Institute of Technology, Japan (a peer of Georgia Tech) and indexed by ProQuest and EBSCO.
As Guest Editor, I designed the Special Issue with the focus on cultural research and named it "Doing Business in an Interconnected World: Cross-Cultural Issues in Management and Marketing." It is scheduled to be published in December 2018 and, as of now, we received five invited and competitive papers from reputable researchers from the public and private universities located in the US, Japan, and Austria. For each invited paper, I plan to have a commentary published next to it in the Special Issue. So far, I found Contributing Commentators for all papers, but one.
Lucy, I would like to ask for your advice in my search for a Contributing Commentator for the invited paper titled "Diversity as a Problematic Predictor of Organizational Performance: Issues of Context and Expectations" (please see the abstract below) which investigates the problems of organizational diversity focusing on cultural differences. The Contributing Commentator will be able to review the full paper and suggest areas for improvement and necessary edits to the authors between now and mid-April. Upon the authors' revision, he/she will write a four to six-page long commentary for the publication - this can be done without rush - until the end of July.
I found notable researchers from the Management and Marketing fields who agreed to contribute to the discussion, however, one of them got an unexpected scheduling conflict, and I am looking for another expert. If you can recommend one of your colleagues, I will greatly appreciate your help. It goes without saying that I will do my best to support this person in the process.
I will very much rely on your recommendations.
Director of Experiential Learning Collaborative
Associate Professor In-Residence of Marketing
University of Connecticut School of Business
Diversity as a Problematic Predictor of Organizational Performance: Issues of Context and Expectations
Diversity continues to confound scholars with its range of interpretations, debates about its benefits, and hypothesized impacts on organizational performance. A review of the literature reveals equivocal results when studying the elusive relationship of diversity and performance. Using Hofstede's seminal work on culture as a starting point, we challenge a variety of diversity arguments for their reported influence on performance outcomes, and find that organizational context matters a great deal. Additionally, much of the literature emphasizes disturbingly high expectations for diversity as a condition and predictor of better organizational performance. Numerous scholars have expressed disappointment at the absence of clear and consistent linkages between diversity and performance. Although well-intentioned, equality advocates may have mitigated the responsibility of disinterested inquiry required of scholars and the popular press. The paper points out the complexity and diversity of diversity variables that include, but is certainly not limited to, gender, race, class, nationality, functional skills, and perspective. Among scholars, we find empathy for management practitioners encountering difficulty in dealing with diversity initiatives within organizations. The hopeful orientation and high level of expectations of much diversity research are critiqued. The paper offers explanations for the over-generalized and problematic nature of diversity as an explanatory variable and concludes with suggestions for future study.