Resistance to diversity and inclusion initiatives within the Dutch Armed Forces: A discourse analysis on resistance of military employees to diversity and inclusion initiatives based on an autobiographical case study.
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2022-07-13
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en
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In my position as the first Diversity and Inclusion Officer within the Dutch military organization, I have encountered hostility in multiple negative comments in real life, corridors at work, in my business mailbox and on social media such as LinkedIn. It triggered my interests in the phenomenon of resistance to diversity and inclusion initiatives within the military organization. The link between the military and hegemonic masculinity is crucial for understanding a possible backlash to the (gendered) diversity and inclusion initiatives and the construction of a prevailing dominant discourse. For instance, resistance to diversity and inclusion initiatives is dependent of how the resistor conceptualizes these organizational changes. Contributing to the theories on resistance to diversity and inclusion initiatives, this thesis increases our understanding of tensions between different perspectives on diversity and inclusion initiatives amongst resistors and how these perspectives affect the prevailing dominant discourse. Drawing on an autobiographical case study, this study presents a discourse-analysis on the discursively practices of resistance to diversity and inclusion initiatives. The tensions and paradoxes between and within practices of resistances display how these perspectives work counterproductive to the contribution to a safer and more just world. In addition, I presented how resistance to diversity and inclusion initiatives might trickle down to other organizational members, which ultimately affects the prevailing discourse.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen