Patrick Primeaux realized that the ethical story is far more complicated than the tale of individual responsibility we typically spin for our students. Pat brought pop culture…
Abstract
Patrick Primeaux realized that the ethical story is far more complicated than the tale of individual responsibility we typically spin for our students. Pat brought pop culture (e.g. Bruce Springsteen) (Primeaux, 1996) into business ethics precisely because he knew that culture shapes each of us in myriad ways, creating habits, expectations and outlooks we then bring to the workplace. In his book Reinterpreting the American Dream: Persons and Ethics, Pat showed how American culture encourages us to concentrate all of our energy into work and the pursuit of wealth and distinction (Primeaux, 2000). Pat also realized that institutions knowingly or unwittingly shape the kind of experiences individuals have and that these experiences directly inform our consciousness and, hence, our behaviour within organizations (Primeaux, 1992).
A recent novel – A. D. Miller's Snowdrops – does a wonderful job of exploring psychic and cultural dynamics and in the process raises some troubling questions of where responsibility for wrongdoing lies. This essay uses Miller's book to explore from a psychological viewpoint how and why employees who are sent abroad by multinational corporations (MNCs) may get involved in local corruption; to show why personal integrity requires external support if agents are to be able to do the right thing; and to raise the issue of what sort of responsibilities MNCs have to the employees whom they send abroad.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to explore how gay men and lesbians draw upon workplace friendship for developing and sustaining managerial careers and identities.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how gay men and lesbians draw upon workplace friendship for developing and sustaining managerial careers and identities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a qualitative design, using data collected from semi‐structured interviews with four lesbians and eight gay men, all employed in managerial roles in the UK.
Findings
Data reveal the importance of workplace friendship as a resource for mentoring, climbing managerial career ladders, fitting into existing work cultures and developing gay and lesbian managerial identities. A significant finding is that participants preferred to befriend heterosexual colleagues, to that end complicating previous research that suggests gay and lesbian friendship preferences tend to be marked by similarity in regard to sexual identity. Work friends enable and constrain the development and visibility of gay and lesbian managerial identities and careers.
Research limitations/implications
Although the data are not generalisable, it is of concern that gay men and lesbians continue to be disadvantaged by heteronormative constructions of gender and sexuality. While gender and sexual norms can limit the visibility and embodiment of gay and lesbian managers in the workplace, the study reveals also how gay sexualities can be utilised as a resource for developing influential friendships.
Originality/value
This article provides insights into issues not previously covered or understudied in the organisation studies literature such as the agency of gay men and lesbians in constructing different types of workplace friendships as a resource for developing managerial identities and careers.
Details
Keywords
“We’re watching the wiring of the cerebral cortex of society”, said Jay Walker, founder and vice‐chairman of priceline.com, of the new Internet revolution. “It is dramatically…
Abstract
“We’re watching the wiring of the cerebral cortex of society”, said Jay Walker, founder and vice‐chairman of priceline.com, of the new Internet revolution. “It is dramatically transforming communication and marketing models; it is providing marketers with a new set of capabilities.” But with new capabilities come casualties; Jay Walker cautions that advertising will disappear on the Net, “It may take two or ten years, but it will disappear.” Walker’s hypothesis is borne out by the latest research findings from Roper Starch. In its latest report it identifies the “The advertising‐free zone brought to you by (fill in the brand)” phenomenon. Roper Starch predict “ad‐free zones will be popping up on the Internet soon, a reflection of consumers’ increasing antipathy towards advertising”. This paper examines the opportunities for effective online marketing that go beyond the now omnipresent banner advertisements, and provides guidelines for marketers as to how to harness the “new set of capabilities” through planning and evaluation. The paper has relevance to those involved with public relations in a marketing context (often called marketing PR), and those interested in planning and evaluating online communications campaigns.
Details
Keywords
Robert Douglas Hinshelwood and Gary Winship
A one-day conference organised by the University of Essex and the Consortium of Therapeutic Communities, 10 December, 2021 with the theme, “The Unconscious and Organisations”…
Abstract
Purpose
A one-day conference organised by the University of Essex and the Consortium of Therapeutic Communities, 10 December, 2021 with the theme, “The Unconscious and Organisations”. Presentations and discussions throughout the conference had the aim of generating ideas and sharing knowledge about the unconscious and how this can inform practitioners working in therapeutic communities and other organisations meeting the challenge of emotional distress.
Design/methodology/approach
Interview with Professor Robert (Bob) Hinshelwood (RH), now 83 years old, who has been involved in therapeutic communities (TCs) since 1969, part of the initial founding of the Association of Therapeutic Communities in 1974, is presented. He qualified as a psychoanalyst in 1976. In 1980 he instigated the founding of the International Journal of Therapeutic Communities along with Nick Manning, David Kennard, Jeff Roberts and Barry Shenkar. In 1984 he founded the British Journal of Psychotherapy, and edited it for 10 years. He was Director of the Cassel Hospital 1993–1997. In 1999 he founded the journal Psychoanalysis and History. He was part of the Free Associations Group (founded by Bob Young and others) which ran the journal Free Associations, and with Mike Rustin and the University of East London, the “Psychoanalysis and Public Sphere” conferences in the 1990s. He has written a great deal about the dynamics of organisational cultures in complex settings. He is Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society, Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Professor Emeritus of the University of Essex. The interviewer was conducted by Dr Gary Winship (GW) is an associate professor at the University of Nottingham where he leads the MA in Trauma Informed Practice, visiting professor Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, and also visiting professor at the Russian State Humanities University, editor of the International Journal of Therapeutic Communities.
Findings
Hinshelwood reflects on the question of the unconscious and the impact of destructive tendencies on organisational process. He shares his personal experience being a young evacuee during the Second World War and considers the impact of trauma, losing his religion and his subsequent career choices in medicine, psychiatry and psychoanalysis. He discusses his experience of supervision with Isabel Menzies Lyth and reflects on the different groups in the Institute of Psychoanalysis. He turns to the question tribalism in TCs and regrets that there had not been more bridge building and collaboration. He talks about his own prolific writing and publishing career which he describes as obsessional rather than passionate, and finally candidly reflects on the prospect of facing death.
Originality/value
The interview was transcribed.
Details
Keywords
Social policy, labour markets and industrial relations are closely linked, both empirically and conceptually, as described in the first part of the paper using examples drawn from…
Abstract
Social policy, labour markets and industrial relations are closely linked, both empirically and conceptually, as described in the first part of the paper using examples drawn from the USA and Europe. The same issues are then explored in more detail for the Russian case. The latter half of the paper presents the results of a new survey of Russian heads of household in St Petersburg, Moscow and Voronezh. The households have been selected from among those unemployed, on forced leave, facing imminent redundancy, or recently re‐employed after unemployment. Interactions between these four labour market states, household labour market strategies, and their variations across the three cities are explored. Conclusions regarding the current mix of social policy, labour markets and industrial relations in Russia close the paper.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to explore the precarious existence which therapeutic communities face and the recurring concern about their survival.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the precarious existence which therapeutic communities face and the recurring concern about their survival.
Design/methodology/approach
Some general factors related to the possible collapse of communities are explored through a comparative study of communes, prisons, mutinies and student protest. Sources of internal disorganisation and external threat are examined and the crucial role of leadership explored.
Findings
A typology is suggested in which therapeutic communities exhibit a career of death, from functional failure, through self awareness, to official closure.
Originality/value
The paper provides valuable insight into therapeutic communities.
Details
Keywords
Human Resource Management
Abstract
Subject area
Human Resource Management
Study level/applicability
Postgraduate business students, particularly MBA students.
Case overview
This case examines the working environment of Fritz Publishing, a small independent South African publishing company. Fritz Publishing was established in 1960 by Nick Fritz. After his retirement, ownership passed to his son, Martin. In 2011, Martin Fritz decided to sell the company to the Prys Group, an international publishing house headquartered in Germany. February 2011 saw the arrival of a newly appointed CEO for Fritz Publishing, Vadim Arshavin, who had already experienced excellent financial results as the head of another publishing house. In the wake of his arrival, the company experienced several changes. The case highlights the challenges at Fritz Publishing that have resulted in a growing sense of dissatisfaction. After Martin Fritz sold Fritz Publishing, the organisational culture shifted quite drastically which created challenges for managers, employees and customers alike. Employees, including some members of management, are de-motivated, disengaged and frustrated because of the leadership style and behaviour of the new CEO Vadim Arshavin and consider their psychological contracts to have been breached. The case explores factors that have helped create this situation. It considers challenges to the sustainability of the organisation given recent events including an internal employee engagement survey and feedback from key customers. The case further examines the potential dangers that toxic leadership creates within organisations and encourages discussion on ways this form of destructive leadership can be handled.
Expected learning outcomes
The learning objectives to be drawn from the case are: to assess the impact of leadership on organisational culture; to analyse how leadership impacts the psychological contract; to identify the cross-cultural factors at play in an emerging market organisation and to understand the way a toxic leadership style can detrimentally affect a high-performance workplace. In addition, there are further learning objectives that can be explored. These are: to examine the change process and associated challenges with the introduction of new leadership into a family-type organisational culture; to understand how breach can be avoided and/or how the psychological contract can be reconstructed.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.
Subject code
CSS 6: Human Resource Management.
Details
Keywords
Describes the experience of being a dietitian in the media, gettinginto television, the experiences encountered once in, and advice andtips for those approached to do similar work.
Abstract
Describes the experience of being a dietitian in the media, getting into television, the experiences encountered once in, and advice and tips for those approached to do similar work.
Details
Keywords
Self‐directed support is a revolutionary shift which is complex to manage but essential for people's well‐being. This article outlines some of the challenges, and uses case…
Abstract
Self‐directed support is a revolutionary shift which is complex to manage but essential for people's well‐being. This article outlines some of the challenges, and uses case studies to show how they can be met successfully.