This article situates workplace empowerment within the broader principle of inclusion and offers a historical analysis of the discourse of difference in America since the 1930s with a view to developing a deeper understanding of the dynamics of empowerment in the American workplace. The article identifies two primary themes, namely, discrimination and diversity, as constituting the discourse of difference and investigates the differing historical contours of these two themes over the period of this study. The article argues that, during different years, these two themes came to attain different levels of salience that held important implications for inclusion and empowerment in the American workplace.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Bartunek, J.
, & Spreitzer, G. (1999, August). The career of a popular construct: A pluralistic journey of understandings of empowerment. Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Chicago.
2.
Bender, R. A.
(1970). Title VII seven years later: A glance at the basic statutory scheme and content of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the judicial gloss placed upon it by recent developments. BNA Labor Relations Yearbook, 6, 229-247.
3.
Benson, J. K.
(1983). A dialectical method for the study of organizations. In G. Morgan (Ed.), Beyond method (pp. 331-346). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
4.
Bové, P.
(1995). Discourse. In F. Lentricchia & T. McLaughlin (Eds.), Critical terms for literary study (2nd ed., pp. 50-65). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
5.
Broderick, F. L.
(1966). W. E. B. Dubois: Negro leader in a time of crisis. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
6.
Cavanaugh, J. M.
(1997). (In)corporating the other? Managing the politics of workplace difference. In P. Prasad, A. J. Mills, M. Elmes, & A. Prasad (Eds.), Managing the organizational melting pot: Dilemmas of workplace diversity (pp. 31-53). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
7.
Conger, J.
, & Kanungo, R. (1988). The empowerment process: Integrating theory and practice. Academy of Management Review, 13, 471-482.
8.
Copeland, L.
(1988, May). Learning to manage a multicultural workforce. Training, pp. 49-56.
9.
Crusius, T.
(1989). Discourse: A critique and synthesis of major theories. New York: Modern Language Association.
10.
Emery, F.
, & Trist, E. (1972). Towards a social ecology. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.
11.
Fairclough, N.
(1995). Critical discourse analysis. New York: Longman.
12.
Fernandez, J. P.
(1991). Managing a diverse workforce: Regaining the competitive edge. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
13.
Fish, S.
(1997). Boutique multiculturalism, or why liberals are incapable of thinking about hate speech. Critical Inquiry, 23, 378-395.
14.
Foucault, M.
(1970). The order of things: An archaeology of the human sciences. New York: Vintage.
15.
Foucault, M.
(1972). The archaeology of knowledge. New York: Pantheon.
16.
Foucault, M.
(1977). Discipline and punish. New York: Pantheon.
17.
Fyock, C. D.
(1990). America’s workforce is coming of age. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
18.
Galbraith, J. K.
(1971, August 22). The equality question: A forum. New York Times Magazine, p. 7-7.
19.
Glazer, N.
(1961). The immigrant groups and American culture. Yale Review, 53, 382-397.
20.
Granovetter, M.
(1985). Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 91, 481-510.
21.
Greeley, A.
(1968). Why can’t they be like us? America’s white ethnic groups. New York: Dutton.
22.
Greenberg, E.
(1986). Workplace democracy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
23.
Harvard University, Committee on the Objectives of General Education in a Free Society. (1945). General education in a free society: Report of the Harvard committee (with an introduction by James Bryant Conant). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
24.
Herbert, S. P.
, & Reischel, C. L. (1971). Title VII and the multiple approaches to eliminating employment discrimination. New York University Law Review, 46, 449-485.
25.
Hollander, E. P.
, & Offerman, L. R. (1990). Power and leadership in organizations. American Psychologist, 45, 179-189.
26.
Jamieson, D.
, & O’Mara, J. (1991). Managing workforce 2000: Gaining the diversity advantage. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
27.
Johnston, W. B.
, & Packer, A. H. (1987). Workforce 2000: Work and workers for the 21st century. Indianapolis, IN: Hudson.
28.
Kanter, R. M.
(1977). Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books.
29.
Kaufman, A.
, & Zacharias, L. (1992). From trust to contract: The legal language of managerial ideology, 1920-1980. Business History Review, 66, 523-572.
30.
Kaufman, A.
, Zacharias, L., & Karson, M. (1995). Managers vs. owners: The struggle for corporate control in American democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.
31.
Larrain, J.
(1983). Marxism and ideology. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press.
32.
MacDonald, H.
(1993, July 5). The diversity industry. New Republic, pp. 22-25.
33.
Macdonell, D.
(1986). Theories of discourse. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
34.
Mason, R.
(1982). Participatory and workplace democracy. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
35.
Menand, L.
(1995). Diversity. In F. Lentricchia & T. McLaughlin (Eds.), Critical terms for literary study (2nd ed., pp. 336-353). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
36.
Mills, S.
(1997). Discourse. New York: Routledge.
37.
Nightingale, D.
(1982). Workplace democracy. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
38.
Perrow, C.
(1986). Complex organizations (3rd. ed.). New York: Random House.
39.
Prasad, A.
, & Elmes, M. (1997). Issues in the management of workplace diversity. In P. Prasad, A. J. Mills, M. Elmes, & A. Prasad (Eds.), Managing the organizational melting pot: Dilemmas of workplace diversity (pp. 367-375). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
40.
Prasad, P.
, & Mills, A. J. (1997). From showcase to shadow: Understanding the dilemmas of managing workplace diversity. In P. Prasad, A. J. Mills, M. Elmes, & A. Prasad (Eds.), Managing the organizational melting pot: Dilemmas of workplace diversity (pp. 3-27). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
41.
Rice, C.
(1969, July 16). Assimilation or cultural pluralism?Christian Century, pp. 945-947.
42.
Roszak, T.
(1969). The making of a counter culture: Reflections on the technocratic society and its youthful opposition. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday.
43.
Simons, T.
, Pelled, L., & Smith, K. (1999). Making use of difference: Diversity, debate, and decision comprehensiveness in top management teams. Academy of Management Journal, 42, 662-673.
44.
Sitkoff, H.
(1978). A new deal for Blacks: The emergence of civil rights as a national issue. New York: Columbia University Press.
45.
Stewart, T. A.
(1989, November 6). New ways to exercise power. Fortune, pp. 52-64.
46.
Sutton, F. X.
, Harris, S. E., Kaysen, C., & Tobin, J. (1956). The American business creed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
47.
Takaki, R.
(1993). A different mirror: A history of multicultural America. Boston: Little, Brown.
48.
Tinker, T.
, & Neimark, M. (1987). The role of annual reports in gender and class contradictions at General Motors: 1917-1976. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 12, 71-88.
49.
Weber, M.
(1968). Economy and society. Totowa, NJ: Bedminster.
50.
Weedon, C.
(1997). Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
51.
Wolters, R.
(1970). Negroes and the Great Depression: The problem of economic recovery. Westport, CT: Quorum.
52.
Wright, P.
, Ferris, S., Hiller, J., & Kroll, M. (1995). Competitiveness through management of diversity: Effects on stock price valuation. Academy of Management Journal, 38(1), 272-287.
53.
Zwerdling, D.
(1974). Workplace democracy. New York: Harper & Row.
