Managing Chinese diverse workforce: toward a theory of organizational inclusion

Purpose This paper aims to apply and integrate the existing literature of inclusion to develop a multi-level theory of organizational inclusion for the more and more diverse workforce. Design/methodology/approach This paper first analyzes the issue of workforce diversity in China, and then reviews the concept of organizational inclusion. After that, this paper develops a multi-level model of organizational inclusion catering to Chinese diversity issue. Findings This paper outlines a series of propositions on how organizational, group, interpersonal and individual factors affect inclusion at both organizational and individual levels, and the consequences of inclusion in the workplace. Originality/value This paper is the first research to discuss the inclusion management in Chinese context. This paper proposes a multi-level theoretical model of organizational inclusion to guide empirical studies on the integration of the diversity in workplace in China.