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This study examines the method of scenario analysis as a means of exposing hidden assumptions which cause misattributions that lead to multicultural conflict and as a way of assessing cross‐cultural understanding. Results from thirty‐five critical incident interviews of technical professionals and semi‐structured scenario questionnaires from graduate business and engineering students are presented. The results provide support for the use of scenarios as a method of exposing hidden assumptions leading to multicultural conflict and as a process which helps participants deal with the conflict. Implications for organizational research and practice are discussed, including the use of scenario analysis as an evaluation and measurement tool for culturally‐related conflict in organizations.

To date, grievance research has made little use of behavioural concepts developed in the literature on organisational conflict. Such concepts form the basis for a model of grievance behaviour that relates the sources of grievances to grievance actions and outcomes. Sources of grievance conflict are explored by analysing interviews with Belgian and American employees concerning their complaints in the workplace. As an alternative to the limiting substantive classifications traditionally used, a categorisation of grievances is presented that corresponds to grievants′ own formulations of the causes of conflict. Applying this categorisation scheme to the interview data revealed that most grievances have multiple sources and that a grievant typically distorts public statements concerning the sources of the grievance. Behavioural analysis of grievances can benefit researcher and practitioner by providing insight into the organisational function of conflict and into employees′ most basic beliefs about their organisation′s values.

By focusing on grievants′ formulation of their grievances, behavioural analysis can further our understanding of grievants′ actions and their assessment of grievance outcomes. Building on concepts reported in the preceding issue of this journal and examining the grievance reports of over 200 Belgian and American employees, a multi‐episodic model of grievance formulation, actions, outcomes and reformulation is developed and examined. Persistence in pursuing a grievance through several episodes, while risky for the grievant, was positively related to the grievant′s satisfaction with outcomes. This effect is explained by increased opportunities for reformulation, including learning which action strategies are most likely to lead to success. Successful action strategies differed between Belgian and US contexts, in ways consistent with their structural and institutional characteristics. Implications for researchers and third party intervenors include the need to manage grievances in a manner that favourably influences grievants′ beliefs about the organisation.

Responding to findings of psychological discomfort impeding interracial/interethnic attitude and skill development, the purpose of this paper is to investigate group-level factors as possible antecedents to individuals’ comfort in interracial/interethnic interactions. Among individuals experiencing diversity during a key developmental stage in life, college students, the study inquires whether group practices that foster a sense of belonging and inclusion among all members differentiate comfortable from uncomfortable interracial/interethnic interactions. As part of the analysis, the construct interracial/interethnic comfort is developed and tested as a measure of interactions that are experienced with ease and confidence.

Scale development methods and structural equation modeling were used to analyze survey data from 360 members of a voluntary service organization at 50 US colleges.

The structural equation analyses indicate that the group practices – shared superordinate purpose, a welcoming climate for diverse members, and practices for structuring interactions among all group members – have significant and important effects on interracial/interethnic comfort, which was found to be a reliable construct. The relationship between each of the group practices and individuals’ interracial/interethnic comfort was either totally or partially mediated by the individuals’ sense of belonging, a strong form of inclusion.

The results indicate group practices that possess the capacity to contribute to students’ interracial/interethnic attitude and skill development by creating solidarity and comfort in their interactions with diverse others. Institutions can make efforts to further individuals’ cultural development by stimulating the use of these practices in campus groups.

This study identifies concepts for understanding and addressing the known, problematic phenomenon of psychological discomfort in settings of diversity. These constructs offer new directions for research on diversity climate by focussing on relational practices at the group level that can move diversity beyond numerical representation to strong inclusion and close relationships.

A global pandemic, broken supply chains, workforce constraints, technological advancements in artificial intelligence, etc. illustrate the continual threats that SMEs face. Extending the dynamic capability concepts of sensing, seizing and transforming, this research investigates practices by which SMEs successfully adapt over time.

A comparative case study method was employed using a purposive sample of SMEs, consisting of three American firms and one Canadian firm.

Three sets of organizational practices, termed adaptive practices, that underlie dynamic capabilities for successful adaptation were identified: (1) continuous learning and process improvement, (2) leveraging reciprocal relationships and (3) communicating effectively.

The selected cases are from two countries in North America. Using a qualitative, inductive process, the authors are able to identify patterns of actions within various organizations; however, they are not able to establish causality.

This study provides practical guidance for leaders to take action to improve their SME's dynamic capabilities for adaptation through creating coherent bundles of specified adaptive practices.

Better understanding of how SMEs successfully adapt to high uncertainty and business viability threats can result in multidimensional (e.g. financial, emotional) and multi-level (individual, family, community), positive outcomes for societal stakeholders.

The findings of this study build on the literature of dynamic capabilities and organizational practices and provide a practical foundation for effective adaptation, labeled as adaptive practices.

This book focuses on the concept and role of relational practices as a way to understand, conceive, and study processes of organization, and subscribes to a processual view of organization that, since Weick's seminal book The Social Psychology of Organizing, has turned the study of organizations into one of organizing. More than 30 years later, the field of organizing has increasingly expanded Weick's interpretive framework of sense making, resulting in a rich palette of conceptual frameworks that vary between such diverse processual approaches as complexity theory, phenomenology, narration, dramaturgy, ethnomethodology, discourse (analysis), practice, actor-network theory, and radical process theory (Steyaert, 2007). These various theoretical approaches draw upon and give expression to a relational turn that has transformed conceptual thinking in philosophy, literature, and social sciences, and that increasingly inscribes the study of organization within an ontology of becoming.

This chapter explores social enterprises as an alternative and addition to traditional entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs). It reviews the substantial social enterprise literature in order to identify the myriad of competing tensions constraining development and success of social EEs in areas of significant poverty and economic deprivation. Following this, the findings of several contemporary and novel studies are discussed. These collectively evidence ways social enterprises are overcoming the seemingly immutable constraints they operate under. In particular, the Social Enterprise Places initiative has been highly effective in supporting the development of flourishing social EEs in many locations in the UK. However, the growth of social enterprises, both in number and economic importance, presents further challenges that social enterprise owners and managers will have to contend with. Consequently, these organisations and their allied ecosystems require continued structural, financial and skills support.

This paper examines the role of theory in public procurement research. Theoretical rigour is integral to management science, yet little is known on the extent and form of theory in public procurement. With the field starting to mature, addressing this issue is timely. From conducting a systematic literature review we find that 29 percent of articles are theoretically grounded, with the incidence of theory having increased in recent years. Economic, sociological, psychological, and management theories are all in evidence, but micro-economic theories predominate. Our findings also show that survey reporting and case studies account for almost half of all studies; procurement research is focused on organizational-level aspects more than regulatory-policy issues or public buyers; and studies to date have largely emanated from the North American and European regions. The contribution of this paper lies in clarifying the theoretical underpinnings of public procurement. Out of this we highlight the need for greater theoretical rigour, point to the under-use and even absence of theories that could have high validity and utility, and suggest a narrowing of research foci.

Purpose: Entrepreneurial teams are one of the most crystallized forms of collaboration in the generically collective dynamics underpinning social entrepreneurship. Despite their quantitative prevalence, social entrepreneurial teams (SETs) remain quite absent from the scholarly literature. This chapter aims to develop a research agenda addressing this gap. Methodology/Approach: This chapter first reviews the scarce literature dealing with this subject and develops an operationalizable definition of SETs. Next, it confronts current knowledge on entrepreneurial teams with the specific context of social entrepreneurship to introduce and discuss main topics of investigation on SETs. Findings: Six topics are suggested to have a high potential for developing knowledge on SETs: formation, size and extended team, gender, decision-making and leadership, identity, and turnover. Research Implications: This chapter frames these research avenues within a developmental stages perspective with the aim to contribute to help form and maintain effective SETs. Originality/Value of Chapter: This research has implications for scholars as it defines SETs as a distinct object for research, which allows extending knowledge on collaborative dynamics in social entrepreneurship, but also on entrepreneurial teams in general. The suggested research agenda and its orientation toward the development of effective SETs should be a springboard for future research on this subject.

Modern organizational forms are subject to isomorphic processes (Di Maggio & Powell, 1983) that create a narrow range of organizational types. These types dominate discussion in the management literature, creating the impression that they represent the proper, advanced way to organize. As a consequence, critical scholars are calling for management research and education to become committed to praxis, “the ongoing construction of social arrangements that are conducive to the flourishing (our emphasis) of the human condition” (Prasad & Caproni, 1997, p. 288). According to this view, researchers should seek to generate knowledge of alternative social forms that provide options to organizational leaders. This chapter represents our attempt to do so.