ABSTRACT
By emphasizing ‘difference’ as something to be managed, many organizations institute ‘the problem of difference’. This happens within the framework of apparent consensus as to the purposes, direction and ideology of the organization. Postmodernism may actually have contributed to this problem via the implicit acceptance of plurality which, in practice, may be seen to undermine notions of collectivity and dissipate political praxis. While organizations pay lip-service to ideas of equality, their day-to-day practices may be unchanged and unchallenged. Discrimination of various groups such as women, immigrants and older people continues and its dynamics remain unclear, not least because of the difficulties of studying it in the field. Additionally, various kinds of programmes aimed at removing inequality, such as gender equality or managing diversity programmes, may actually promote it by making differences visible and stabilizing them. Management, under such circumstances, comes to refer to the management of appearances which substitute for (other) more radical acts.
