Rhona Rapoport and Robert N. Rapoport
Social, economic and demographic forces, fuelling new efforts torecruit, retain and develop women in the workforce, are examined.Transnational perspectives and policies such as…
Abstract
Social, economic and demographic forces, fuelling new efforts to recruit, retain and develop women in the workforce, are examined. Transnational perspectives and policies such as “parental leave” and “career breaks” are explored, with particular reference to differing attitudes in Sweden, the UK and the US. It is argued that greater concern for helping workers achieve a more satisfactory balance between responsibilities may result in increasing gender equity.
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Affirming Diversity R.R. Thomas in Vol. 68 No. 2 of Harvard Business Review, in an article entitled From affirmative action to affirming diversity', argues that affirmative action…
Abstract
Affirming Diversity R.R. Thomas in Vol. 68 No. 2 of Harvard Business Review, in an article entitled From affirmative action to affirming diversity', argues that affirmative action in the recruitment of women and minorities is based on premises no longer appropriate. White males are no longer dominant at every level of the corporation (statistically, they are merely the largest of many minorities), while decades of attack have noticeably weakened racial and gender prejudices. At the intake level, affirmative action sets the stage for a workplace that is gender‐, culture‐, and colour‐blind. But minorities and women tend to stagnate, plateau, or quit when they fail to move up the corporate ladder, and everyone's dashed hopes lead to corporate frustration, usually followed by a crisis and more recruitment. The traditional American approach to diversity has been assimilation and the author suggests that this is no longer valid. Companies are faced with the task of managing unassimilated diversity and getting from it the same commitment, quality, and profit they once got from a homogeneous workforce. To reach this goal, organisations need to work not merely toward culture and colour‐ blindness but also towards an openly multicultural workplace that taps the full potential of every employee without artificial programmes, standards, or barriers. The author gives his own ten guidelines for learning to manage diversity by learning to understand and modify the company's culture, vision, assumptions, models, and systems.
Helmut Kasper, Michael Meyer and Angelika Schmidt
Most managers are heavily affected by the relationship between their professional and their private life. Work‐life‐balance is discussed rarely without discomfort, which suggests…
Abstract
Purpose
Most managers are heavily affected by the relationship between their professional and their private life. Work‐life‐balance is discussed rarely without discomfort, which suggests a massive tension and conflict caused by the contradiction of private and professional requirements. Managers use a range of individual strategies to deal with this conflict situation. An explorative empirical study on these strategies is presented.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample is drawn largely according to the principles of theoretical sampling, different family‐work constellations provide the basis of selection. Our sample includes people from the upper and highest levels of organizational hierarchies. Most of them have children and working partners, hence they find themselves in specific phases of the family cycle. Thirty problem‐focussed interviews are content analyzed. In order to reveal pattern of dealing with work‐life‐conflict cluster and pronominal analyses are applied.
Findings
Results show three distinct prototypes of dealing with the work‐family‐tension: career as subject of social fascination, family as a factual task, the tradition of two worlds, double burden and the pressure of tasks. One outstanding result in advance: if both partners are professionally active (Double Career Couples), the family will increasingly be dominated by merely functional requirements.
Originality/value
Explorative analyses and results are presented. The applied combination of content analysis and detailed linguistic procedures allows a new, more differentiated view on how managers perceive work‐life‐balance. Real types of handling work‐life‐conflicts are revealed. Based on these findings, more quantitative and structured analyses of managers' work‐life‐behavior can be conducted, especially on these types' overall prevalence, on changes in the course of managers' life cycle, on causal factors, and on implications for human resource management.
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Deborah Jones and Andrzej Huczynski
An evaluation of management development courses for senior officers in the Health Service has been sponsored by the DHSS at the Polytechnic of Central London.
Georgina Capone, Louise Braham, Thomas Schroder and Nima Moghaddam
The purpose of this paper is to explore staff and service users’ perceptions of therapeutic principles within a unique male high secure learning disability therapeutic community…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore staff and service users’ perceptions of therapeutic principles within a unique male high secure learning disability therapeutic community (LDTC).
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was adopted using deductive content analysis and inductive thematic analysis. In total, 12 participants took part in a semi-structured interview to explore their perceptions of Haigh’s (2013) quintessence principles and any further additional therapeutic features in the environment not captured by the theory.
Findings
All five quintessence principles were identified in the LDTC environment. Some limits to the principle of “agency” were highlighted, with specific reference to difficulties implementing a flattened hierarchy in a forensic setting. Additional therapeutic features were identified including; security and risk, responsivity, and more physical freedom which appear to aid implementation of the quintessence principles.
Research limitations/implications
The study was performed within a single case study design. Therefore, results remain specific to this LDTC. However, the finding of these principles in such a unique setting may indicate Haigh’s (2013) quintessence principles are evident in other TC environments.
Originality/value
This is the first research paper that has attempted to test whether Haigh’s (2013) quintessence principles are evident within a given therapeutic community. The research provides empirical evidence for the quintessence principles in a novel TC setting and suggests recommendations for future research.
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Adrian J Hayes, Tulane Chiarletti, Stephanie Hares, Sarah Devereux, Stephanie Upton, Daniel McNamara and Sally Brookes
The therapeutic community (TC) is an environmental intervention where principles of working together democratically can enhance self-agency. While availability of inpatient TCs…
Abstract
Purpose
The therapeutic community (TC) is an environmental intervention where principles of working together democratically can enhance self-agency. While availability of inpatient TCs within the UK National Health Service (NHS) has declined, shorter or alternative interventions using core TC approaches have shown promise in enacting change. The purpose of this paper is to report and reflect on the development and running of a pilot nano-TC.
Design/methodology/approach
Foundations Group was a 2-h TC group intervention set up and run within the NHS for 18 months in 2021–2022, and taking place on City Farm premises. The group was convened as part of the complex emotional needs service in a mental health NHS Trust in the South West of England. Over the study period, the group comprised 11 members, one peer member and three staff members.
Findings
The authors reflected on the TC stance of working democratically with a fluid hierarchy, taking a non-expert approach, and using support and challenge to enhance self-agency and belongingness. The authors have detailed the structure of the group session including use of community meetings, psychoeducation, creative sessions and reviews. Members took on roles within the group including chairing sessions.
Originality/value
This group was a novel service within the NHS Trust where it was conducted and may represent a standalone therapeutic group. The authors hope it will show that core TC principles can be applied in shorter interventions than have previously been used.
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Stephen L. Vargo, Robert F. Lusch, Melissa Archpru Akaka and Yi He
This article illustrates the significance of pathways in cultural landscapes. It does so via an in-depth analysis at the paths in the historic community of Masulih, located in the…
Abstract
This article illustrates the significance of pathways in cultural landscapes. It does so via an in-depth analysis at the paths in the historic community of Masulih, located in the Iranian province of Gilān. The town of Masulih, including its surrounding landscape, has an inter-connected systems of pathways that serve to tie the area together as coherent whole, making it an excellent site to explore the significance of path systems. On a functional level the neighbourhoods and homes, bazaar, teahouses, mosques, and Imāmzādih, in addition to the grazing lands and paths connect shrines outside the community. However, the paths of Masulih are significant beyond their mere utilitarian function as travel routes. This paper finds that various attributes of the paths are interrelated: the relation of path to topography; the cyclical and seasonal usage of paths; the path's function as connector of the bazaar and tea houses where individuals meet and socialize; paths serve as an stage during the lunar rituals that allows for further socializing; lands near and far are connected by the network of paths. Finally, this paper documents the dynamic connections between paths, landscape, built environment, and individuals in Masulih.
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Dual‐career families were first identified and discussed by Britishresearchers but subsequent research has been predominantly American.This article first discusses the social…
Abstract
Dual‐career families were first identified and discussed by British researchers but subsequent research has been predominantly American. This article first discusses the social context for couples combining careers and family in Britain. It then addresses the questions of whether gender roles within the family, and employers′ expectations are changing with the growth of dual‐career families. It concludes that change is slow to occur and that changes in work and family are interdependent. Implications for further organisational change are briefly discussed.
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Aysu Akalin, Kemal Yildirim, Christopher Wilson and Aysun Saylan
This research solicits the opinions of the residents of the Keçiören district of Ankara, Turkey, in order to learn their preferences about their local postmodern environment where…
Abstract
This research solicits the opinions of the residents of the Keçiören district of Ankara, Turkey, in order to learn their preferences about their local postmodern environment where the municipality forces all contractors and architects to adhere to strict planning laws requiring Turkish folk and Islamic architectural references. The Municipality of Keçiören, as an agent of civil power, manages the architectural and urban transformation of the area from a district formerly composed of squatter housing to one comprised of, in the words of Robert Venturi, “decorated sheds,” in an effort to create a different looking environment rich in nostalgia and excitement. In this research, a total of 7 different sets of apartment façades were analyzed, with each set comprising three examples each of minimum complexity (representing the former condition of the district), intermediate complexity (representing “high” architecture designed by an architect, which does not exist in the district) and maximum complexity (representing the present postmodern condition of the district). The main hypothesis of the study was that preference rates would be high for intermediately altered “high style” houses by showing the existence of a U-shaped relationship between preference and complexity. That is, façades representing an intermediate level of complexity would be favored over less complex and more complex façades. It was also assumed that there would be a difference in the ratings of different age groups. A questionnaire was carried out with 50 adults (aged 30-45) and 50 high school students (aged 18-20) of Keçiören, who were asked to rate a total of 21 photographs from 7 apartment complexes with the help of a five-point semantic differential scales under three headings: preference, complexity and impressiveness. The results proved the existence of a U-shaped relationship between preference and complexity. On the other hand, younger respondents, compared to older respondents, gave more favorable ratings to the physical qualities of the photographed buildings.