This article outlines the authors’ ongoing study of diversity, focusing particularly on the AQAL model as a linchpin in an evolving theory of “diversity maturity.” Recognizing the limitations of non-integral approaches to understanding and negotiating diversity dynamics, the authors explain how an integral perspectives come to inform their postconventional understanding. The authors share their preliminary theory of the diversity maturity process in which the integral vision/theory that unites diversity, complexity, and creativity is the dynamic relationship among and between quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types. The article concludes with an agenda for further theoretical and empirical inquiry.
Toni Gregory
Toni A. Gregory, Ed.D. specializes in the study of organizational learning and the impact of culture and complexity on organizational transformation. She has been a faculty member, senior administrator, and program director in higher education. She has also been a corporate manager and the director of research for the American Institute for Managing Diversity, where she established and managed a global research division and supervised a variety of research initiatives. She has a broad background in research methods and design, and an extensive background in leadership, management, and organization theory. She is currently Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs in the Ph.D. Progam in Interdisciplinary Studies at Union Institute and University.