Managing Diversity and Inclusion in Nursing Homes: Practices and Regulations

Abstract

Changing demographics and a rising number of immigrants entering the labor market have posed new challenges to managers in work organizations.Within this context, Norway has been noted to have a highly regulated work sector that is considered beneficial for minorities and marginalized groups.  Through a case study of three nursing homes in Norway, this paper analyzes how managers engage with diversity-related regulations when addressing their everyday challenges, and how their enacted practices affect the inclusion of immigrants in the workplace. The study applies a practice-theoretical approach and contributes to diversity management research by identifying how managers’ differing enactments of inclusion-related practices are connected to competing institutional logics. The analysis shows how the co-existence of multiple institutional logics in this context represents an arena for political struggle.