abstract
- Although management scholars have conceptualized how diversity manifests in various organizational outcomes, several aspects of diversity remain undertheorized. I examine the model minority¿a specific and understudied racialized other. To conceptualize the model minority¿s position in the contemporary workplace, I analyze the series The Chair. Juxtaposing The Chair against germane discourses on the model minority, I consider some of the salient, though not fully understood, challenges to inclusion at work. I develop theoretical insights on how the model minority encounters specific forms of institutional racism that encumber their inclusion in organizations. Namely, I contend that the construction of an organizational member of color as the model minority positions them in (a) double consciousness and (b) the leadership conundrum. Double consciousness refers to the phenomenon wherein the model minority is subjected to latent or overt institutional racism while simultaneously being pressured to remain within the restrictive parameters of the model minority stereotype. The leadership conundrum refers to how the model minority is cast with expectations to behave in ways not expected of White colleagues occupying the same role, which ultimately sets up the model minority leader for failure. This article contributes to ongoing debates in critical diversity studies on the limits of workplace inclusion.