Envisioning Inclusive Futures: Organizational Alternatives Beyond the Business Case Approach in the Spectrum of Utopia and Dystopia

Abstract

Alternative futures are conceptualized as representations that transcend the dominant socio-economic paradigm, challenging the assumptions that underpin it. The primary goal is to generate new imaginaries that reframe and expand the possibilities. To achieve this, the mobilization of utopia and its corollary, dystopia, proves instrumental in accentuating the tensions between current organizational practices and representations of the future. To question the prevailing business case approach on the inclusion of people with disabilities within organizations, we conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with visually-impaired employees and stakeholders in organizational inclusion, exploring their visions of utopian and dystopian futures. The respondents’ utopian and dystopian visions highlight tensions between the temporalities of inclusive processes and economic performance. They also prompt us to consider inclusion not as a passive process but as an active one, driven by those directly affected, and evolving over time. This approach challenges the traditional conception of inclusion, often confined to a business case perspective, by encouraging a critical examination of how organizations can transform towards inclusive futures.