Organizational inclusion and leadership in times of global crisis

The globe is facing a never before seen pandemic situation because of Covid-19. Virtual workspaces have become a reality today. With the emergence of newer ways of working, it is necessary to ensure that employees contribute and feel involved in the workspace. This paper attempts to explore the ways in which practitioners and policymakers of inclusion perceive it at the workplace in the current COVID-19 pandemic, outline the role of leaders in fostering inclusion, and empirically test how organizational inclusion (OI) impacts organizational outcomes during the disturbing times. The participants were employees working in the service sector companies in India. A mixed-method approach would be adopted for data collection. The content analysis technique would be used for the qualitative data analysis and Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyze the quantitative data. The paper provides insights on how inclusion is perceived differently by each individual, and though organizations have policies in place, getting them into practice is yet to be accomplished. The findings of the study indicate the benefits of having an inclusive work environment along with leadership commitment during disruption. The study is a novel attempt to empirically examine the way of leveraging a diverse workforce through inclusion to benefit the organization in the times of global crisis. It also adds to the existing body of knowledge on how inclusion and role of a leader are experienced by the employer and employee in Indian companies, which is a niche area of research.