The Value of Difference: How Swedish and German Media Companies Assess Diverse Workforce

• In Event: Reinvigorating Theory in Journalism Studies: Employing Social Systems Theory to Theorize Journalism and Mass Communication

Abstract

Media companies are often criticized as ‘lagging behind’ in becoming ethnically diverse contrary to other branches. Often, media research blames organizational structures for it. Employing a systems theory approach, I shift the focus to the level of organizational communication. Instead of ascribing structures a status of something fixed, independent of agency and being determining factors for organizational actions towards e.g. diverse workforce, I relate structures to agency. By using the concept of expectation as developed within systems theory, structures are defined as expectation structures that condition or shape communication, instead of determining communication. This perspective allows researchers to observe changes, deviance, random occurrences, and also surprising and new events. By observing concrete practices through the lenses of expectation structures, here, from the perspective of Human Resources managers in Swedish and German media organizations, it enables understanding how expectations can make certain organizational decisions and actions more likely than others.


Author

• Heike Graf, Soedertoern U