We are thrilled to announce that a paper co-authored by Xue (Sunny) Xiang, a PhD student in Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management, and Professor Soo Min Toh, director of CRAWLab and a professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga with a cross-appointment to the Rotman School, has received a Best Paper distinction from the 2024 Academy of Management Annual Meeting’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Division. The paper, titled “Language of Change: Building an Inclusive Culture Through Diversity Rhetoric and Narrative,” examines the powerful ways in which language can model behaviors, shift culture, and promote inclusivity within organizations.
The paper delves into the critical role of middle managers, who are pivotal to the success of organizational changes but can often become immobilized by novel changes for which they feel unprepared. It proposes a typology of narratives designed to mobilize this “frozen middle,” aiding middle managers—and the organization as a whole—to effectively navigate through these changes.