Public Personnel Management Special Issue
Inclusion in Public Sector Workplaces:
Integrating Theory and Practice
Special Issue Co-Editors:
Maja Husar Holmes, West Virginia University
Nicole Elias, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Maria D’Agostino, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The current societal context is at an inflection point. There is a renewed recognition of continued inequities and barriers to full participation of individuals in society and within public sector workplaces, respectively. There is also awareness, illuminated by recent social justice actions and response to the global pandemic that society has to acknowledge and integrate our unique identities and lived experiences and generate spaces that support a sense of belonging. This connection between uniqueness and belongingness reflects the conceptualization of inclusion. There is also a growing call to integrate policies, practices, and principles of inclusion in public sector workplaces.
To develop inclusive strategies and hold ourselves as scholars and practitioners accountable, a more nuanced treatment of what inclusion means, how it is applied and institutionalized in the public sector workplaces, and the impacts of inclusion on individuals and groups needs to be examined. This call for papers asks members of our community to help chart the meaningful adoption of inclusion in public sector workplaces to advance the opportunities of the public it serves.
To this end, we invite manuscript proposals that offer conceptual, theoretical, empirical and practice-informed responses to the theme of this call. We are interested in diverse perspectives, including scholarly and practitioner voices. Possible prompts include, but are not limited to:
- How should inclusion in public sector workplaces be conceptualized and defined?
- What constitutes “meaningful” inclusion in practice? How do public sector organizations move beyond the legal parameters or symbolic celebrations as practices of so-called inclusion?
- What are the impacts of inclusive workplace policies and practices in the public sector (i.e. organizational culture, productivity, retention, responsiveness)?
- How do we acknowledge and integrate new identity categories in public sector workplaces without isolating individuals and groups?
- What are strategies for addressing implicit and explicit resistance to inclusion? What are ways to overcome these barriers in public sector workplaces?
This special issue is planned for publication in late 2023. If you wish to submit a proposal for consideration, please email a one-page Word or PDF document to the attention of Heather Getha-Taylor, Editor-in-Chief, at ppm@ku.edu by March 31, 2022. Authors should note “PPM Special Issue Proposal: Inclusion in Public Sector Workplaces: Integrating Theory and Practice” in the subject line of the email message. Decisions will be issued by May 1, 2022. Invited manuscripts will be due by September 1, 2022, and will be subject to peer review. Please forward any questions to the above email address. We look forward to receiving your proposals!
