Diversity ideologies in organizations

Abstract

This review examines diversity ideologies as influential tools for managing intergroup relations in organizations. Drawing from over two decades of scholarship, we consider our evolving understanding of what diversity ideologies are, how they manifest, and what consequences they have. Diversity ideologies are multi-level constructs that can be espoused or enacted. They are a blueprint for how individuals and organizations should respond to social group differences. We distinguish between awareness and blindness ideologies, and their roles in shaping individual and group experiences. Finally, we describe how the effectiveness of these ideologies is contingent on the group targeted, the nature of the context, and individual differences. Overall, our synthesis of extant literature highlights how diversity ideologies both shape and are shaped by organizational environments.