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Although there has been substantial academic and practitioner interest into innovative structural arrangements, the study of structural transformation and the structural practices of small to medium‐sized organizations in traditional industries has been relatively ignored. This article presents empirical evidence of a company that changed its organizational structure from a traditional bureaucracy to a structure that was fundamentally different from those of other firms within its industry. The changed structure was characterized by many novel attributes such as devolved responsibility, empowerment, community orientation and a lack of hierarchy. Although there was some evidence to suggest that the structure had positive performance implications, the study also finds that the content, context and process of change were influenced by a dominant managing director such that the outcomes masked underlying political issues. The article concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

The chorus of a classic 1960s popular song begins with the line “I'll get by with a little help from my friends”. Trends may have regularly come and gone since then but the sentiments expressed in the words remain just as relevant today. In the world of business, the growing importance of mentoring serves to illustrate the point. With competition intense and expectation high, an increasing number of senior managers are feeling the need to secure the services of an outside coach, mentor or consultant. Success and failure are often separated by the narrowest of divides and this additional support can help in the quest to end up on the right side of the margin.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

This article aims to represent three ethnographers researching an organizational event within academia: the Second International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry. It explores the divergent viewpoints of their ethnographic experiences as well as reflecting upon their relationships with each other as they attempted to understand each others’ viewpoints.

This ethnographic project involved participant observation, full participation, and narrative interviews. However, as the project continued, it evolved to reflexively examining the authors’ own viewpoints and relationships challenges.

This paper contributes to understanding ethnographic research of organizational events in several ways. First, it is an exemplar of how three ethnographers examining the same organizational event view it through differing lenses. Secondly, it shows how the authors worked together through the research, struggling to understand each others’ varied political and personal lenses through dialogue.

The research examined only one organizational event, therefore the findings are specific to this site and the same results may not necessarily be found in other organizations.

This paper is unique in that three ethnographers from different generations and different political worldviews can come together for the purposes of research, examine an organizational event and learn to cooperate with and appreciate each others’ viewpoints.

The case narrates the experiences of a fresh MBA graduate, Ryan, from a top business school in India. After graduating, he joined his traditional family business with the aim to transform it, accelerate growth and start a new business line. Ryan starts several initiatives over one year but his efforts are met with failure. The case focuses on the decisions he takes and the difficulties he has in making career choices. The case lends itself to discussion on taking charge of a business, change management, training next generation family business leaders and career choices by young management graduates.

This paper examines medical managers' beliefs about the impact reduced‐hour career paths for physicians has on organizational effectiveness. The findings of this exploratory inductive study of 17 medical managers at nine medical organizations in the Boston area suggest that managers believe the benefits of reduced‐hour physicians (RHPs) far outweigh the disadvantages. However, many of their reasons appear to be exploitative of RHPs. In particular, managers believe that employing RHPs results in increased managerial control and that RHPs should: work more than they are compensated for; do a disproportionate share of the undesirable work; and remain extra flexible and available to the organization. An interpretation of the findings based on psychological contract theory is offered, and may help to illuminate other results reported in the literature, including some controversial findings that reduced‐hour workers tend to have poor health outcomes.

Gender balance has been a declared goal in business and society for decades as gender diversity leads to more equality and better decision-making, enhances financial performance of organizations, and fosters creativity and innovation. Although there is a steady upward trend in the number of women actively participating in the workplace, there is still a dearth of women in top leadership positions. This motivates a closer look at the reasons why this happens. Stigmatization – a social process of disapproval based on stereotypes or particular distinguishing characteristics of individuals (e.g. gender) – has been recognized as one of the primary explanations for the barriers to career advancement of women. This chapter aims to address workplace inequality by analysing different sources of stigma women face in the workplace. Previous research has mostly focused on visible sources of stigma, such as gender or race/ethnicity. We propose to go beyond visible sources of stigma and expand the focus to other physical (e.g. physical appearance, age, childbearing age), emotional (e.g. mental health) and societal (e.g. flexibility) sources of stigma. We are especially interested in the consequences of stigma for women in the workplace. Stigmatization of women is a multi-level process, so this chapter focuses on the antecedents (sources of stigma) and outcomes (consequences of stigma) for women at the individual level, organizational level and the societal level. The proposed chapter will make contributions to the areas of management, diversity and gender studies.

This chapter investigates how normative beliefs attributed to insecure paid work and care responsibilities affect social understandings of the work–family boundary, and either challenge or reinforce traditional links between gender and moral obligation.

Within an interpretive approach and from a gender perspective, I present a discourse analysis of 41 interviews with Italian parents.

This chapter shows that women in the sample felt forced into blurred boundaries that did not suit their work–family normative beliefs. Men in the sample perceived that they had more boundary control, and they created boundaries that support an innovative fatherhood model. Unlike women, men’s boundaries aligned with their desires.

The specific target of respondents prevents empirical comparisons between social classes. Moreover, the cross-level analysis presented is limited: in particular, further investigation is required at the level of organizational cultures.

The study suggests not only thinking in terms of work–family boundary segmentation and integration but also looking at the normative dimensions which can either enhance or exacerbate perceptions of the work–family interface. The value of the study also stems from its theoretically relevant target.

Through analysis of interviews conducted in 1996‐98 with reduced‐load professionals and managers in organizations, this study examines in‐depth the meaning of a good family life from the perspective of those seeking to enhance their personal and family experience by cutting back on hours devoted to work. The results suggest that the concept of family well‐being is more complex and multi‐faceted than prior research has indicated. Six different dimensions of family well‐being are identified through examination of recurrent themes in the interviews: (1) spending high quality time with family members; (2) being able to relax in free time; (3) emotional well‐being and health of family members; (4) high quality communication and support; (5) high quality child care and education; (6) satisfaction with work and work load at home. Finally, three paradigms of family well‐being derived from interview data are proposed: Family well‐being as effective parenting, family well‐being as love and being together, family well‐being as peace and harmony.