Taking the bull by the horns: creating and maintaining LGBT inclusivity at a local group of companies in Sri Lanka

The aim of this paper is to explore what purposeful and practical actions a local conglomerate in Sri Lanka engages in to create and maintain LGBT inclusivity within the organization, contravening the social, religious and legal strictures related to homosexuality in the country. Conceptualizing LGBT inclusivity as a product of institutional work, we adopt an institutional work lens to achieve the aim of the paper. Under the interpretivist paradigm, qualitative case study approach was employed. Data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with key informants of the organization and two categories of archival data. Findings illustrate a series and forms of institutional work that the selected company has engaged in to insitutionalize LGBT inclusivity within the company. In creating the institution of LGBT inclusivity, the company had engaged first, in explicitly including sexual orientation and gender identity into the existing policies. Then over time, the company has introduced a specific Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) policy with LGBT inclusivity, normalized non-heterosexualities through training, obtaining top management advocacy, and creating and publicizing a visual identity related to D&I including LGBT inclusivity. Once the institution was created, the company has engaged in maintaining the institution through creating authorizing roles and committees, continuous training and education, collaborating with LGBT activist groups, and integrating LGBT inclusivity into HR policies. All in all, these findings indicate a way forward for companies and the need for macro social and legal changes related to LGBT inclusivity.