Increasing Diversity – Loss of Control or Adaptive Identity Construction?
The Institute of Leadership and Ethics of the Evangelische Theologische Faculteit (ETF), Leuven (Belgium), together with congress partners from Africa and Europe under the lead of GBFE (Gesellschaft für Bildung und Forschung in Europa) organize a combined leadership conference, to be hosted at the ETF from April 29 – 30, 2016. We invite academic and practitioner perspectives from different disciplines to submit proposals for conference contributions.Call for papers 2015 (PDF Format)
Introduction
Diversity is on the increase at all levels in our society. Some organizations and communities thrive on diversity, achieving new levels of creativity and innovation as a result. Others are overwhelmed to the point of losing control, and may be threatened to the core of their identity.
Although diversity has been a topic for leadership and research since at least the 1990’s, the socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, religious and ethical diversity continues to increase, especially in major urban areas across the world. Connections between these diverse people and their backgrounds, facilitated through social and other digital media, becomes so complex, that some scholars speak of superdiversity. Organizations and communities must become complex adaptive systems to respond to these challenges.
How do organizations and their leaders respond to increasing diversity? How can social and corporate identities be shaped and adapted to incorporate healthy levels of diversity without losing vision, direction and control? Which organizational and personal skills do leaders need to increase creativity and productivity in a superdiverse environment? What leadership opportunities present themselves through negotiation and reconciliation?
Abstracts and Deadline
Abstracts should be between 150-250 words. It should include author information (name, position/function, institution or organization, and other relevant information for considering the abstract) as well as key bibliographic sources consulted (please use Chicago 16th formatting).
Please send abstracts as a separate document (.doc of .pdf), with your last name, first name and short title as document name (e.g. Walker, Gail – Complexity Approach to Diversity.docx). Abstracts should be received by Mrs. Peirong Lin, peirong.lin@etf.edu by November 30, 2015.
Potential Topics
The key challenges as well as different dimensions of diversity and leadership: socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, religious, value and ethics, gender and sexuality, age, etc.
Leadership for handling diversity in different contexts: business, politics, education, religion, cities and ethnic neighborhoods/divisions, the relationship between nationals, immigrants and refugees, different national contexts, etc.
A focus on diversity and leadership may include the following topics:
- The effect of diversity on teamwork, effectiveness and problem-solving
- Diversity as a key value for innovation and business advantage
- Educational leadership in teaching and sustaining healthy diversity
- Diversity as a major disruption of the social fabric of our societies
- Diversity, pluralism and intergroup leadership
- The psychological, anthropological or sociological dimensions of diversity
- The effect of diversity on emotions and trust in group relationships
- Religious diversity and leadership for the common good
- The needs and skills for forgiveness and reconciliation as key leadership competencies in a diverse environment
- Strategies for coping with diversity: from boundary management to peaceful coexistence to harmonious cooperation
- The importance of negotiation, discernment and forgiveness in bridging boundaries.
- Collective memory, intergroup relationships and leadership
Publication
A committee will decide which papers are accepted for the conference. This committee consists of Prof. Dr. Jack Barentsen, Dr. Steven van den Heuvel (both from ETF), Prof. Dr. Stefan Jung (YMCA University) and Prof. Dr. Volker Kessler (GBFE). Furthermore, selected papers will be published after international peer review in a dedicated volume of the series Christian Perspectives on Leadership and Social Ethics with Peeters Publications (http://www.peeters-leuven.be/search_serie_book.asp?nr=291).
Types of Contributions
Case studies and other practitioner perspectives – a personal story relating to various scholarly perspectives on diversity
- Literature research connecting various disciplines (i.e.: interdisciplinary research)
- Field research that investigates and compares select cases of diversity with sound research methodology
- Theological contributions, bringing biblical and theological reflections to bear on diversity and leadership
Congress Partners
This conference is the 3rd Christian Leadership Conference with previous conferences held in South Africa (2013) and in Germany (2014). Its current congress partners are:
- Institute of Leadership and Ethics (ILE) at ETF, Leuven, Belgium
- Gesellschaft für Bildung und Forschung in Europa (GBFE), Oerlinghausen, Germany
- International YMCA-University of Applied Sciences, Kassel, Germany
- University of South Africa (Unisa), Pretoria, South Africa
- Akademie für christliche Führungskräfte, Gummersbach, Germany
- Heidelberg Institute, Leipzig, Germany
- Ingenior business company, Hanau, Germany
- Kongress Christlicher Führungskräfte, Wetzlar, Germany
- Lutheran School of Theology Aarhus, Denmark
- Theologische Hochschule Ewersbach, Germany
Date & Location
The conference will be hosted on April 29-30, 2016 in the Leuven Center of Christian Studies, part of the Evangelical Theological Faculty in Leuven (Belgium). It is located at the St. Jansbergsesteenweg 95, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. Registration information will be available through ILE’s website (http://www.etf-ilse.org/) starting in February.
Suggested reading
In orde
r to develop a common language on diversity and leadership, and thus to facilitate our dialogue, we ask potential contributors as well as attendees to consult one or both of the following sources that deal with diversity and leadership on a professional level. For more (academic) input, see the bibliography below.
Page, Scott E. The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2007.
Pittinsky, Todd L. Us Plus Them: Tapping the Positive Power of Difference. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press, 2012.
Short Bibliography
Bendl, Regine, Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger, and Roswitha Hofmann (Eds.) Diversität und Diversitätsmanagement. Stuttgart: UTB, 2012
Blaine, Bruce Evan. Understanding the Psychology of Diversity. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2013.
Chin, Jean Lau and Joseph E. Trimble. Diversity and Leadership. Los Angeles, CA: Sage, 2015.
Foster, Charles R. Embracing Diversity: Leadership in Multicultural Congregations. Bethesda, MD: Alban Institute, 1997.
Gotsis, George and Zoe Kortezi. “Ethical Paradigms as Potential Foundations of Diversity Management Initiatives in Business Organizations.” Journal of Organizational Change Management 26, no. 6 (2013): 948-76.
Gutting, Doris. Diversity Management als Führungsaufgabe: Potenziale multikultureller Kooperation erkennen und nutzen. Wiesbaden: Pringer Gabler, 2015.
Hicks, Douglas A. “Spiritual and Religious Diversity in the Workplace: Implications for Leadership.” The Leadership Quarterly 13, no. 4 (2002): 379-96.
Hogg, Michael A., Daan van Knippenberg and David E. Rast. “Intergroup Leadership in Organizations: Leading Across Group and Organizational Boundaries.” Academy of Management Review 37, no. 2 (2012): 232-55.
Knippenberg, Daan van, S. Alexander Haslam and Michael J. Platow. “Unity through Diversity: Value-in-Diversity Beliefs, Work Group Diversity, and Group Identification.” Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice 11, no. 3 (2007): 207.
Page, Scott E. Diversity and Complexity. Primers in Complex Systems. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010.
Pittinsky, Todd L., ed. Crossing the Divide: Intergroup Leadership in a World of Difference. Leadership for the Common Good. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press, 2009.
Rink, F. and N. Ellemers. “Diversity as a Basis for Shared Organizational Identity: The Norm Congruity Principle.” British Journal of Management 18 (2007): S17-S27.
Vertovec, Steven. “Super-Diversity and Its Implications.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 30, no. 6 (2007): 1024-54.
________, ed. Routledge International Handbook of Diversity Studies. London: Routledge, 2015.
