Diversity has become a buzzword and a “must-have” corporate practice for contemporary organizations. This article aims to determine how discursive strategies employed by organizations to frame diversity are constructed in digital contexts. Drawing on the literature related to diversity in organizations and its framing in external digital contexts, this study adopts a critical perspective on the discourse analysis of corporate multimodal communication. This methodological approach allows us, first, to map the discursive strategies used to frame diversity in digital contexts through several semiotic modes; and second, to unravel in detail how this discursive construction is realized in terms of social actors, social actions, space, and time. This approach is empirically applied to the case of a leading global organization, Google. The study takes current research on diversity-related framing in corporate digital communication forward and shifts the focus to multimodal discursive strategies. Researchers can use this methodological approach to capture and analyze in detail the ongoing processes of discursive representations, and to produce longitudinal studies. Practitioners can become more aware of the multimodal character of contemporary communication and build on this study to ensure that their diversity-related framing is characterized by consistency across different digital platforms.
AllenB. J. (1995). “Diversity” and organizational communication. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 23, 143-155.
2.
ArgentiP. A.BarnesC. M. (2009). Digital strategies for powerful corporate communications. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
3.
BanZ. (2016). Delineating responsibility, decisions and compromises: A frame analysis of the fast food industry’s online CSR communication. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 44, 296-315.
4.
BellardE.RülingC.-C. (2001, July). Reflections and projections of boundaries in the diversity management discourses in the United-States, France and Germany. Paper presented at the 17th EGOS Colloquium, Lyon, France.
5.
BenfordR. D.SnowD. A. (2000). Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 611-639.
6.
BezemerJ.MaversD. (2011). Multimodal transcription as academic practice: A social semiotic perspective. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 14, 191-206.
CornelissenJ. P. (2014). Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice (4th ed.). London, England: Sage.
10.
CornelissenJ. P.WernerM. D. (2014). Putting framing in perspective: A review of framing and frame analysis across the management and organizational literature. Academy of Management Annals, 8, 181-235.
11.
CurtisE. F.DreachslinJ. L. (2008). Integrative literature review: Diversity management interventions and organizational performance: A synthesis of current literature. Human Resource Development Review, 7, 107-134.
EntmanR. M. (1993). Framing: Toward clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4), 51-58.
14.
EntmanR. M. (2007). Framing bias: Media in the distribution of power. Journal of Communication, 57(1), 163-173.
15.
FaircloughN. (1992). Discourse and social change. Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
16.
FaircloughN. (2003). Analyzing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. London, England: Routledge.
17.
FaircloughN. (2010). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language. Harlow, England: Longman.
18.
FaircloughN. L.WodakR. (1997). Critical discourse analysis. In van DijkT. A. (Ed.), Discourse studies: A multidisciplinary introduction (2nd ed., pp. 358-378). London. England: Sage.
FaveroL. W.HeathR. G. (2012). Generational perspectives in the workplace: Interpreting the discourses that constitute women’s struggle to balance work and life. Journal of Business Communication, 49, 332-356.
21.
GreckhamerT.CilesizS. (2014). Rigor, transparency, evidence, and representation in discourse analysis: Challenges and recommendations. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 13, 422-443.
22.
GuerrierY.WilsonC. (2011). Representing diversity on UK company web sites. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 30, 183-195.
23.
HallahanK. (1999). Seven models of framing: Implications for public relations. Journal of Public Relations Research, 11, 205-242.
24.
HallahanK. (2005). Framing theory. In HeathR. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of public relations (pp. 341-344). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
25.
JayneM. E. A.DipboyeR. L. (2004). Leveraging diversity to improve business performance: Research findings and recommendations for organizations. Human Resource Management, 43, 409-424.
JoutsenvirtaM. (2011). Setting boundaries for corporate social responsibility: Firm–NGO relationship as discursive legitimation struggle. Journal of Business Ethics, 102, 55-75.
KerstenA. (2000). Diversity management: Dialogue, dialectics and diversion. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 13(3), 235-48.
30.
KirbyS. L.RichardO. C. (2000). Impact of marketing work-place diversity on employee job involvement and organizational commitment. Journal of Social Psychology, 140, 367-377.
31.
KressG. (2009). What is a mode? In JewittC. (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of multimodal analysis (pp. 54-68). London, England: Routledge.
32.
KressG.van LeeuwenT. (2001). Multimodal discourse: The modes and media of contemporary communication. London, England: Arnold.
33.
LimJ.JonesL. (2010). A baseline summary of framing research in public relations from 1990 to 2009. Public Relations Review, 36, 292-297.
34.
LodenM.RosenerJ. B. (1991). Workforce America! Managing employee diversity as a vital resource. Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin.
35.
LorbieckiA.JackG. (2000). Critical turns in the evolution of diversity management. British Journal of Management, 11(Suppl. 1), S17-S31.
36.
MachinD.MayrA. (2012). How to do critical discourse analysis: A multimodal introduction. London, England: Sage.
37.
MachinD.van LeeuwenT. (2007). Global media discourse: A critical introduction. London, England: Routledge.
38.
MaierC. D. (2017). Exploring organizational heritage identity: The multimodal communication strategies. In SeizovO.WildfeuerJ. (Eds.), New studies in multimodality: Conceptual and methodological elaborations (pp. 225-246). London, England: Bloomsbury.
39.
MaierC. D.AndersenM. A. (2017). Strategic internal communication of corporate heritage identity in a hypermodal context. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 22, 36-59.
MeaseJ. J. (2012). Reconsidering consultants’ strategic use of the business case for diversity. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 40, 384-402.
42.
MillikenF. J.MartinsL. L. (1996). Searching for common threads: Understanding the multiple effects of diversity in organizational groups. Academy of Management Review, 21, 402-433.
OliveiraM. F. (2013). Multicultural environments and their challenges to crisis communication. Journal of Business Communication, 50, 253-277.
45.
OlsenJ. E.MartinsL. L. (2012). Understanding organizational diversity management programs: A theoretical framework and directions for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33, 1168-1187.
46.
PasztorS. K. (2016). Exploring the framing of diversity rhetoric in “top-rated in diversity” organizations. International Journal of Business Communication. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/2329488416664175
47.
PodsiadlowskiA.GröschkeD.KoglerM.SpringerC.van der ZeeK. (2013). Managing a culturally diverse workforce: Diversity perspectives in organizations. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37, 159-175.
48.
PointS.SinghV. (2003). Defining and dimensionalising diversity: Evidence from corporate websites across Europe. European Journal of Management, 21, 750-761.
49.
PrasadP.MillsA. (1997). From showcase to shadow: Understanding the dilemmas of managing workplace diversity. In PrasadP.MillsA.ElmesM.PrasadA. (Eds.), Managing the Organizational Melting Pot (pp. 3-30). London, UK: Sage.
50.
RavazzaniS. (2016). Understanding approaches for managing diversity in the workplace: An empirical investigation in Italy. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 35, 154-168.
51.
RavazzaniS. (in press). Diversity management. In HeathR. L.JohansenW. (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of strategic communication (1st ed.). New York, NY: Wiley.
52.
RavazzaniS.MaierC. D. (2017a). Framing of issues across actors: Exploring competing discourses in digital arenas. Journal of Communication Management, 21, 186-200.
53.
RavazzaniS.MaierC. D. (2017b). Strategic organizational discourse and framing in hypermodal spaces. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 22, 507-522.
54.
RobinsonG.DechantK. (1997). Building a business case for diversity. Academy of Management Executive, 11(3), 21-31.
55.
SimonsG. F. (Ed.). (2002). Eurodiversity. A business guide to managing differences. Boston, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann.
ThomasD. A.ElyR. J. (1996). Making differences matter: A new paradigm for managing diversity. Harvard Business Review, 74(5), 79-90.
58.
TrittinH.SchoenebornD. (2015). Diversity as polyphony: Reconceptualizing diversity management from a communication-centered perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 144(2), 305-322.
59.
VaaraE.TienariJ.LaurilaJ. (2006). Pulp and paper fiction: On the discursive legitimation of global industrial restructuring. Organization Studies, 27, 789-810.
60.
van LeeuwenT. (2005). Introducing social semiotics. London, England: Routledge.
61.
van LeeuwenT. (2007). Legitimation in discourse and communication. Discourse & Communication, 1, 91-112.
62.
van LeeuwenT. (2008). Discourse and practice: New tools for critical discourse analysis. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
63.
van LeeuwenT. (2009a). Critical discourse analysis. In RekemaJ. (Ed.), Discourse, of course: An overview of research in discourse studies (pp. 277-292). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins.
64.
van LeeuwenT. (2009b). Discourse as the recontextualization of social practice: A guide. In WodakR.MeyerM. (Eds.), Methods of critical discourse analysis (pp. 144-161). London, England: Sage.
65.
VliegenthartR.van ZoonenL. (2011). Power to the frame: Bringing sociology back to frame analysis. European Journal of Communication, 26, 101-115.
66.
WangA. (2007). Priming, framing, and position on corporate social responsibility. Journal of Public Relations Research, 19, 123-145.
