Exploring national diversity and identity regulation: managerial discourses and material practices in a transnational company

Abstract

The paper sets out to interpret the concept of national and linguistic identity/diversity in the perspective of organisational power and control, by analysing both the managerial discourses and the material practices. We particularly intend to examine how the management of national diversity comprises a means for shaping the perception of collective identities and regulating the organisational behaviours of minority groups. For this purpose, a case study of a large Italian-French company is discussed: the analysis is based on a qualitative investigation conducted in terms of grounded theory. We further show how such managerial language and practices model and form individual and collective identity, reinforcing the establishment of precise criteria of inclusion and exclusion from the organisational life. The dominating group tries to affect the sense of group identity/diversity in order to establish models of action with a view to maintaining the status quo. In this respect the discourse and praxis of diversity management are seen as a mechanism of catalysis acting on national differences serving to reinforce the collective identity building processes and enhance the existing power relations.