The Challenge of Balancing Organizational Expectations Revisited: A Perspective on the Challenges of Assuming Professional Responsibility for Diversity

Discussions about diversity have become more sophisticated in recent years, but they still seem to be based on justifying diversity in organizations. If this is an accurate observation, then discussions about diversity are more symbolic than substantive. Previously, in an earlier discussion on this subject a colleague and myself argued that organizational expectations could influence the behavior of newcomers. The newcomers are forced to choose between being a change agent for diversity and reinforcing established behavioral expectations (see Winn and CoreyScruggs 2005). Perhaps what is needed is a discussion about diversity that concentrates on the role of professional organizations in strengthening the institutionalization of the logic for diversity-and in particular, its implications for a concerted effort to move diversity from the material realm to the procedural realm.