Susan Durbin and Steve Fleetwood
The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the relationship between the causes of gender inequality in employment and policies designed to eliminate or ameliorate it. When this…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the relationship between the causes of gender inequality in employment and policies designed to eliminate or ameliorate it. When this is brought into focus, some fundamental shortcomings in policy emerge from the shadows. It also provides a thumbnail sketch of the four other papers that make up this special issue.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a theoretical reflection, with lessons for practice.
Findings
The paper: establishes that gender inequality in employment exists; considers the main causes of gender inequality in employment; and evaluates the effectiveness of the main policies dealing with these causes.
Practical implications
Policy makers must reflect far more thoroughly on the causes of gender inequality in employment, and tailor their policies to address them.
Originality/value
It is one of only a few papers dealing with the relationship between the causes of gender inequality in employment and policies designed to eliminate or ameliorate it.
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Steve Fleetwood and Anthony Hesketh
The purpose of this paper is to identify the conceptual underpinnings of the theoretical weaknesses of extant research investigating the HRM‐Organizational Performance Link…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the conceptual underpinnings of the theoretical weaknesses of extant research investigating the HRM‐Organizational Performance Link (hereafter HRM‐P Link).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews a number of different empirical approaches to the HRM‐P Link and reflects upon, and defines, theory, focusing upon two important dimensions: prediction and explanation. The paper also discusses why the field in its current guise cannot sustain a commitment to explanation, so that under‐theorisation and lack of explanatory power go hand‐in‐hand. It then tackles the possibility that theoretical underpinnings for empirical research on the HRM‐P Link might come from other disciplines such as economics. The paper also begins to set out a meta‐theoretical alternative.
Findings
The paper finds that: theoretical underpinnings will not emerge and develop simply by doing more, and/or better, empirical work; meta‐theoretical problems besetting the paradigm are actually far worse than is usually recognised; and attempts to borrow theories from other disciplines have not been successful.
Research limitations/implications
The paper shows that this is a broad and complex field and it has been necessarily selective in its evaluation. It does, however, signpost additional writing in this area to complement the word limit it faces here.
Practical implications
The paper shows that both organizations and researchers need to think more robustly about the meta‐theoretical underpinnings of the relationship between HRM practices and their capacity to enable people to perform. It is hoped that renewed meta‐theoretical debate will be triggered in this direction.
Originality/value
This paper is the only critical review of the meta‐theoretical underpinnings of the HRM‐P field.
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The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of a selection of the diversity‐related research presented at the Academy of Management's 2009 annual meeting.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of a selection of the diversity‐related research presented at the Academy of Management's 2009 annual meeting.
Design/methodology/approach
The annual meeting of the Academy of Management is the largest annual gathering of management scholars with more than 10,000 attendees. The meeting provides a forum for sharing research through multiple paper sessions, panels, symposia and workshops. From these sessions, 12 papers on gender and diversity were selected and summarized in this report.
Findings
Empirical evidence presented confirms that weight, gender, age and race‐based discrimination persist in organizations. At times, these strands of diversity interact with each other in a complex way, complicating the process of stigmatization. Critical papers called for more inclusive research and alternative approaches on gender tokenism, work‐life interface and migrants.
Originality/value
The papers summarized in this report offer new insights on dimensions of diversity previously explored and identify new avenues for future diversity research.
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Jennifer Tomlinson and Susan Durbin
The purpose of this paper is to explore the employment trajectories, aspirations, work‐life balance and career mobility of women working as part‐time managers.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the employment trajectories, aspirations, work‐life balance and career mobility of women working as part‐time managers.
Design/methodology/approach
In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 16 female part‐time managers and four of their line managers in public and private‐sector organizations. Interviews explored women's career trajectories before and after the transition to part‐time work and focused on career mobility, aspirations and work‐life balance.
Findings
The part‐time managers in this sample held varied careers while working full‐time but careers stalled once a transition to part‐time work was made. The majority were career focused, worked intensively and felt frustrated with their lack of mobility and career progression while working part‐time. The majority worked in excess of their contracted hours and did not experience an appropriate reallocation of work when they reduced hours.
Practical implications
This paper is of value to both researchers and policy makers. Policy implications point to the limitations of the current UK legislation on the right to request flexible working. The paper states that further research would be beneficial on the ways in which managers employed on part‐time and other flexible contracts, operate successfully in organizations, with the aim of championing alternative working patterns and breaking down traditional long hours cultures which act as a barrier to women and part‐time workers.
Originality/value
This paper explores the employment profiles and experiences of a little studied and rare group of female workers.
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Suzan Lewis and Anne Laure Humbert
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of flexible working arrangements (FWAs) and particularly reduced hours working arrangements on a Dual Agenda of gender equity…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of flexible working arrangements (FWAs) and particularly reduced hours working arrangements on a Dual Agenda of gender equity and workplace effectiveness, in a case study organization employing a relatively high proportion of women scientists.
Design/methodology/approach
In‐depth interviews based on the initial stages of collaborative interactive action research (CIAR) are used within a case‐study approach. The interviews explored working practices, the assumptions underpinning them and their un/intended consequences.
Findings
The main form of FWA used in the organization, four days a week, is double edged and complex in its effects. It supports mothers, but at a cost because of gendered assumptions. Despite a commitment to flexibility and “work‐life balance”, the gendered construction of the ideal worker and ideas of competence conflated with hegemonic masculinity, remain powerful. This, together with a prevalent “good mother” ideology, undermines both gender equity and workplace effectiveness.
Practical implications
This paper is of value to both researchers and policy makers. It shows that highly developed work‐life balance or flexible working polices are not sufficient to enhance gender equity and points to the importance of surfacing and challenging gender assumptions in science, engineering and technology. It emphasizes the need to move forward from policy to practice.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to a growing body of work using initial stages of the CIAR methodology and showcases the theoretical insights gained by such an approach.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine contemporary sex worker labour unionism in a number of major western economies because it now faces an acute historical dilemma of being…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine contemporary sex worker labour unionism in a number of major western economies because it now faces an acute historical dilemma of being forced into acting as the antithesis of what it professes and aims to be, namely, elite pressure groups.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews and structured e‐mail dialogues with sex worker union activists were supplemented with an array of secondary sources and documentation, the authors of which are sex workers union activists themselves.
Findings
This loss of initial momentum for sex worker unionization projects concerned paucity of human resources, the limited spread of a “sex work” consciousness among sex workers, and ambivalence from potential allies. Consequently, sex worker unions concentrated on engaging in political lobbying on public policy, projects of legal reform of sex work, and helping provide individualized assistance to sex workers inside and outside their worksites on health issues, criminal offences and business matters. Thus, nascent or weakened labour unions in the sex industry acted as pressure groups concerned with work issues in a way in which other pressure groups operate on non‐work issues, thereby forsaking a key characteristic of labour unionism, namely, the focus of collective self‐activity in and on the workplace and from a basis on having a tangible presence in the workplace through membership among workers.
Practical implications
This research is of value to researchers, practitioners and policy makers, for it shows how workers seek collective interest representation through collective means in an environment of “atypical” work and employment.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to a growing body of work studying sex work and sex workers from what can be termed conventional, sociological and organizational behavioural approaches. The result of this is to be able to understand the processes and outcomes of their activities and exchanges as economic and social transactions rather than deviancy.
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The purpose of this paper is to outline the impact of partnership and family‐building on the aspirations, expectations and orientations to work of a sample of highly qualified…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to outline the impact of partnership and family‐building on the aspirations, expectations and orientations to work of a sample of highly qualified women working across a range of industry sectors.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on both qualitative and quantitative data collected in a longitudinal study of the early careers of UK graduates, incorporating both a large‐scale questionnaire survey and detailed interviews with a sample of respondents.
Findings
This paper highlights the persistence of gender asymmetries in both employment and domestic partnership and shows the complex decision‐making process which determines career prioritization among equally highly qualified partners. It also provides evidence of change in the values, priorities and orientations to work and the work‐life balance of UK graduates as they progress through early career development.
Practical implications
The extent to which highly qualified women use (and are sometimes precipitated by circumstances into using) the life stage associated with stable partnership formation and family‐building to reassess values and priorities has implications for both policymakers and employers. In particular, employers need to take account of changing orientations in work and life stage in formulating effective recruitment and retention strategies for high‐qualified workers.
Originality/value
This paper provides new data on how dual‐career partnerships negotiate the transition from, in career terms, single entities into dyads and the dynamics of gender role change and stability.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the drivers of new incubators’ business model. Several researchers have agreed that incubation is related to the early phase of a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the drivers of new incubators’ business model. Several researchers have agreed that incubation is related to the early phase of a venture’s life and identified the incubators as organizations that support start-ups. But only recently has a new generation of incubators emerged.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an Italian incubator case study, the research results are mainly ascribable to the ability of the incubator to facilitate not only internal networking, but also external networking.
Findings
As described in the findings, the business model of the service incubator is founded on value-added services among networking within incubatees as well as between start-ups and external actors. The service incubator becomes a knowledge intermediary that allows new ventures to identify innovation parties and transform them into innovation partners.
Originality/value
The paper investigates the new business model of incubator founded on external networking orientation. Even if some researches analyzed incubators and cooperation within incubatees, less attention has been focussed on external networking and collaboration among incubators, incubatees, and several stakeholders. Based on such collaboration, incubatees can undertake new entrepreneurial measures, explore new markets, and innovate constantly.
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Drawing inspiration from C Wright Mills exhortation to sociologists to locate themselves and their experiences in the ‘trends of their epoch’, I consider how first-hand experience…
Abstract
Drawing inspiration from C Wright Mills exhortation to sociologists to locate themselves and their experiences in the ‘trends of their epoch’, I consider how first-hand experience of imprisonment can help criminology account for the growing trend towards the use of imprisonment in many Western democracies. Using interviews with a small group of British criminologists who have experience of imprisonment, I explore the connections between personal stories and collective narratives. Drawing reflexively from my own imprisonment, my subsequent professional trajectory and experiences of prison research, I consider the difficulties and potential of crafting a collective criminological project from disparate and profoundly personal experiences of imprisonment. The chapter combines methodological reflections on the use of autoethnography, autobiography and vignettes as a means to an end: establishing collective narratives from personal stories. I argue that the task of connecting these narratives to the ‘trends of the epoch’ that manifest in expanding prison populations is difficult but developing some momentum in convict criminology.