Diversity in the National Basketball Association: a narrative policy analysis

Abstract

The introduction of a new dress code by the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 2005 was received with conflicting interpretations, reflecting a split along different social and political views regarding race and economic relations. The analyst attempting to understand the impact of this organizational policy is faced with the difficult task of having to work with incompatible interpretations of the new code, lacking in many cases a common basis on which a general appraisal of this policy can be constructed. In order to build this common foundation, Emery Roe’s narrative policy analysis is used to determine the stories built around this policy and to find a metanarrative that can provide the needed common ground on which the policy can be examined. The narrative analysis of media discourses regarding the NBA dress code identified two main stories, economic and cultural. The first interprets the dress code as a purely economic decision, separating the policy from its social context, while the second ties the new policy to broader discourses on inequality and racism. Based on nonstories identified in the media discourses, an organizational culture narrative was proposed as a metanarrative, due to its ability at the same time to use empirical evidence to appeal to economic arguments and to place organizational policy in a broader social context. This kind of metanarrative has the potential to help policy analysts mediate between highly conflicting views of organizational policy.

Keywords:

• metanarrative
• organizational culture
• racism
• nonstories
• media analysis

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Drs. Lucie Thibault and Lisa Kikulis for their feedback and support during the writing of this study.

Notes

^1. Since the debates around the codes will be presented later in this section, only a few broad trends will be outlined at this time, which will become clearer as narratives are identified.