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1 – 10 of 52The purpose of this paper is to present a degendered organizational resilience model challenging current and dominant conceptualizations of organizational resilience by exploring…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a degendered organizational resilience model challenging current and dominant conceptualizations of organizational resilience by exploring how gendered organizational power structures, language and practices of everyday organizational life interplay and limit inclusive constructions of organizational resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
The degendered organizational resilience model was developed using Acker’s (1990) model of gendered organizations, Martin’s (2003) gendering practices, Lorber’s (2000) degendering and other feminist research on gendered organizations. The purpose of the model is to explore power structures, practices and language within the organizational context during conditions requiring organizational resilience.
Findings
A conceptual model for analyzing the theoretical development of organizational resilience is presented. The model analyzes the following three different aspects of organizations: power structure, to identify which resilient practices receive status based on established gendered organizational hierarchies and roles; actions, to identify how resilience is enacted through practices and practicing of gender; and language, to identify how and what people speak reinforces collective practices of gendering that become embedded in the organization’s story and culture.
Practical implications
The degendered organizational resilience model offers a process for researchers, managers and organizational leaders to analyze and reveal power imbalances that hinder inclusive theoretical development and practices of organizational resilience.
Social implications
The degendered organizational resilience model can be used to reveal power structures, gendered practices and language favoring normative masculine organizational practices, which restrict the systemic implementation of inclusive democratic practices that incorporate and benefit women, men and other groups subject to organizational subordination.
Originality/value
This paper offers an original perspective on the theoretical development of organizational resilience by proposing a degendering model for analysis. A feminist perspective is used to reveal the gendered power structures, practices and language suppressing the full range of resilient qualities by restricting what is valued and who gives voice to resilient processes that lead to resilient organizations.
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Christina Scholten and Hope Witmer
This paper aims to reveal gendered leadership constructs that hinder a competency-based view of leadership in Swedish-based global companies and the implications for leadership…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to reveal gendered leadership constructs that hinder a competency-based view of leadership in Swedish-based global companies and the implications for leadership recruitment and development to top management positions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews, which have been analyzed using a gender analytic framework to identify how senior management, Human resource management and leadership trainees are discussing leadership and career development.
Findings
Three themes were identified as clouding the issue of gender-equal leadership practices thereby creating an opaque gendered lens of who is defined as eligible for leadership positions. The three themes were: symbols as gendered images, counting heads – preserving the existing system and illusive gender inclusion.
Research limitations/implications
Recruitment practices were identified as contributors to homosocial practices that perpetuate male-dominated leadership representation. However, specific recruitment practices were not fully explored.
Practical implications
The potential use of gender equality as a sustainable management practice for competitive organizations to recruit and develop talented people.
Social implications
To create resilient and gender-equal recruitment and leadership development practices.
Originality/value
This research offers an original perspective on gender representation at the senior management level in global companies by revealing gendered leadership constructs in the leadership recruitment and development process as antecedents to unequal gender representation in senior management positions.
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Witmer's belief in the benefits of degendering resiliency is based on three assumptions. First, that gender is socially constructed. Second, that what is historically, socially…
Abstract
Purpose
Witmer's belief in the benefits of degendering resiliency is based on three assumptions. First, that gender is socially constructed. Second, that what is historically, socially and culturally constructed as masculine is seen as superior to what is seen as feminine, and third, that the gender system in organisations reproduces masculine power structures that marginalize the feminine qualities of the willow.
Design/methodology/approach
Witmer proposes the degendered organizational resilience (DOR) model to challenge current thinking and encourage more diverse practices. She analyses resilience factors using the three aspects of the DOR, which are power structure, gendering practices and language.
Findings
The author concludes by saying that a dual focus on resilience and inclusivity will “benefit men, women and the organisation, and it creates the space for innovation, learning and collective transformation.” The result will be a degendered construct that arms organisations with the “agile, collaborative aspects of the willow and the rational, logical aspects of the oak.”
Originality/value
The author concludes by saying that a dual focus on resilience and inclusivity will “benefit men, women and the organisation, and it creates the space for innovation, learning and collective transformation.” The result will be a degendered construct that arms organisations with the “agile, collaborative aspects of the willow and the rational, logical aspects of the oak.”
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Tammy Joy Burnham and Mary L. Slade
Service-learning implementation in higher education classes provides positive value to the undergraduate students as well as to the community organization being served…
Abstract
Service-learning implementation in higher education classes provides positive value to the undergraduate students as well as to the community organization being served. Opportunities for personal and professional growth allow students to develop their cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skills (Barnes, 2016; Myers, 2020). In addition, the curriculum and content connections to real-world situations encourage a deeper understanding of concepts and an application of meaningful critical thinking and problem-solving scenarios. Including the reflection component as part of the service-learning project enriches the experience and authenticates learning connecting theory to practice. The organization benefits with creative and innovative ideas from the volunteers as resources are shared and the student cultivates relationships in a culturally responsive manner (Schneider, 2018; Schvaneveldt & Spencer, 2016). Guidelines for the effective implementation of the service-learning project ensure a successful experience for all parties involved (Lee, Park, & Chun, 2018). The mutual beneficial relationship is healthy for all who are involved. Service-learning is an opportunity to further develop the student in areas of personal growth and teacher efficacy as well as helping the organizations and schools they serve (Barnes, 2016; Moore et al., 2016). In conclusion, service-learning advances many components of an engaging course and fosters experiential learning for the undergraduate student.
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Elizabeth H. Bradley and Carlos Alamo-Pastrana
The chapter summarizes key literature, including emerging ideas, that is pertinent to the question of how organizations and their leadership deal with and are resilient through…
Abstract
The chapter summarizes key literature, including emerging ideas, that is pertinent to the question of how organizations and their leadership deal with and are resilient through crises – highlighting what works in surviving unexpected crises. The chapter presents an illustration of organizational response; it concludes with an analysis of what is missing from the literature and recommends a path forward to expanding actionable knowledge in this area. Multiple, interdependent factors that foster resilience are identified including (1) being sensitive to possible threats – even seemingly small failures, (2) not relying on simple interpretations of events but rather seeking diversity to create a complete view of the environment, (3) leadership that embraces communication, transparency, and continuous learning, (4) valuing expertise and allowing expert staff to make decisions during a crisis, and (5) a cultural commitment to a resiliency mindset that accepts failures as opportunities to learn and improve. Emerging concepts that may foster resilience but require more research include managing paradox, emotional ambivalence and diversity. Additional areas for fruitful research include: the impact of short-term versus long-term, or successive, crises; external versus internal shocks and the framing of the source of shocks; how crisis affect the pace of innovation and change; the role of diversity in organizational responses to crises; and a set of methodological opportunities to leverage natural experiments or simulations in ways that allow for longitudinal data illuminating the full cycle of crises across organizations from anticipation, to response, to longer-term adaptation to the new normal.
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Gary D. Wolfe, Barbara Cole, John Emerick, James S. Fogerty, Larry Olson and Ann Witmer
Over the past two years, Commonwealth Libraries, the State Library of Pennsylvania, has extended Internet access to 220 school, public, academic, and special libraries. Using a…
Abstract
Over the past two years, Commonwealth Libraries, the State Library of Pennsylvania, has extended Internet access to 220 school, public, academic, and special libraries. Using a text‐based interface, access has been provided through library staff, who attended basic and advance training workshops. The goals of the project are to
This paper aims to introduce a new thought process and associated predictive tool to assist designers of infrastructure for unfamiliar rural societies in understanding the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to introduce a new thought process and associated predictive tool to assist designers of infrastructure for unfamiliar rural societies in understanding the specific non-engineering influences that can lead to greater effectiveness of engineered infrastructure.
Design/methodology/approach
Using sociological principles, a simple checklist tool has been designed to assess specific societal conditions that may influence intervention outcomes. The tool, when weighted by regional predispositions, allows the designer to incorporate five non-engineering influences into technical design of engineered infrastructure.
Findings
Early deployment of the tool indicates that the predictive process helps to adapt technical designs to societal contexts. It also enhances consultant understanding of the client’s values and needs to achieve a collaborative technical solution.
Research limitations/implications
Long-term outcomes have not been assessed, so additional time is needed to confirm the value of context in design performance. Further evaluations will refine the technical guideline process as well.
Practical implications
Merging sociological understanding with technical design allows engineers to assimilate client values and indigenous beliefs into an infrastructure, preventing rejection due to incompatibility with local context.
Originality/value
The concept of contextual engineering, which melds technical approach with societal influences, is the original contribution of the author, as is the predictive tool.
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Laëtitia Lethielleux, Caroline Demeyère, Amélie Artis, Martine Vézina and Jean-Pierre Girard
This article examines the links between nonprofits and communities’ resilience during the COVID-19 crisis. Previous research on resilience has overlooked nonprofits, with limited…
Abstract
Purpose
This article examines the links between nonprofits and communities’ resilience during the COVID-19 crisis. Previous research on resilience has overlooked nonprofits, with limited studies on their ongoing resilience processes. While nonprofits’ potential to lead their communities’ resilience has been highlighted, we know little about how this potential can be fully achieved.
Design/methodology/approach
Nonprofit’s potential to lead their communities’ resilience has been highlighted. Yet, nonprofits are also deeply affected by crises, and little is known about their organizational resilience. This study explores the interplay between nonprofits’ organizational resilience and community resilience in the face of crises. We draw from an international comparative case study based on two participatory research designs in France and Quebec during the Covid-19 crisis.
Findings
The results highlight similarities and differences in how nonprofits’ developed organizational resilience capabilities. These different organizational resilience processes affected in return the reactive and proactive roles the nonprofits could play in community resilience.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of the research method include its time boundaries, the specificity of the Covid-19 crisis, which differs from natural hazards which are traditionally studied in the resilience literature (e.g.: Roberts et al., 2021). The unicity of the cases fits the comprehensive purpose of the study, and generalizations of the results are limited.
Practical implications
Empirically, we offer an original approach of nonprofits and community resilience as ongoing interdependent processes.
Originality/value
The article contributes to the organizational resilience literature in refining how nonprofits’ characteristics and embeddedness in their community affect their development of resilience capabilities. We theorize the dynamic reciprocal links between nonprofits and community resilience.
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