The Critical Management Studies (CMS) Division of the Academy of Management has recognised Professor Stella Nkomo, of the Department of Human Resources Management, for her distinguished contributions to critical management scholarship. 

The CMS Division is the premier association for academics in the field of management. It promotes management research and education dedicated to interrogating relations of power and control, and giving voice to marginal and oppressed voices.

For her work on critical race theory and decolonisation theory and its challenges to mainstream theories of management and organisation, Prof Nkomo was awarded the Rosa Luxemburg Award from the CMS. The award, named after Polish philosopher Rosa Luxemburg, whose activism focused on change and democratisation, was conferred in December 2022 at the 12^th International Critical Management Studies Conference, where Prof Nkomo was the keynote speaker.

Prof Nkomo’s internationally recognised research on race, gender, diversity, and leadership in organisations has been published in numerous journals.

According to Prof Nkomo, her most significant contribution to the critical management scholarship has been theorising race in organisations, particularly the intersection of race and gender. “My work helps to understand how these two marginalised categories of identity shape experiences of exclusion in the workplace.  I also provide some recommendations for how to change these structural impediments,” she says.

Asked about her views on gender equality in organisation, a field she researches, she says it is sad that even in the second decade of the 21^st century, we are still battling to achieve gender equality. She believes that gender equality for women requires radical change, where the pace of change needs to be accelerated.

“Practically, this requires identifying and letting go of ‘the way we do things’ (since the ‘we’ are usually white men). Leaders will have to muster their most creative and visionary thinking to develop fresh organisational practices and policies that do not disadvantage any race or gender group before they have a chance to succeed. Women will have to do their part as well. Those who do get a seat at the tables of power, whether in government or the private sector, must also contribute to the advancement of all women,” says Prof Nkomo, sharing her views.