Queering lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities in human resource development and management education contexts

This article engages with queer theory and the practice of queering with the aim of enabling researchers within the fields of human resource development (HRD) and management education (ME) to conceptualise lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) identities as performative and unbounded, with potentially subversive effects. One reason for focusing on HRD is that, with some notable exceptions (McDonald, 2013, 2015), it is one of few areas within the management learning domain that has engaged with queer theory (Chapman and Gedro, 2009; Collins, 2010; Gedro, 2010; Gedro and Mizzi, 2014), primarily to challenge the hetero/cisnormative bias that has been noted in HRD research and practice (Bierema; 2015; Collins, 2012; Schmidt and Githens, 2010). This emergent literature offers valuable insights into the potential of a theory that has yet to impact profoundly the wider discipline of management and organisation studies (Pullen et al., 2016). Further scope exists for advancing queer theory deeper into the realm of HRD, connecting with scholars and practitioners interested in mobilising identities as a foundation for HRD. Although this article takes HRD as its primary context and aims to reach out to scholars within this domain, it seeks also to converse with academics within management learning and education more broadly, especially those who are intrigued by the notion of ‘queer pedagogy’ and interested in queering identities, organisations and modes of organising.