The Race to Identity Conflicts in the Workplace : Creating a More Inclusive Environment

Conflicts and disputes in the workplace have often been based on individual identities shared with others in a group, creating identity-based conflicts with employees between each other, and with management. The organization of such conflicts on a group basis often entrenches positions, and creates an adversarial-type dispute. This paper explains how workplace and non-workplace actors affect and influence identity-based disputes, and describes how the use of intersectionality, and creating complex linkages across the workplace, may be a more effective means of promoting organizational change. Although examining various aspects of identity conflicts, the paper focuses specifically on ethnicity and race, and with a particular lens on the power dynamics in Toronto, Canada, which is often touted as one of the most multicultural cities in the world. The ultimate goal of the transformational shift is to get all workers in the workplace to identify with the employer, which can be achieved through the creation of an inclusive workplace that the employer is equally identified with