scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question

Showing papers in "Human Relations in 2013"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a relational model of institutional work and complexity is developed, which refines our current understanding of agency, intentionality and effort in institutional work by demonstrating how different dimensions of agency interact dynamically in the institutional work of reconstructing institutional complexity.
Abstract: This article develops a relational model of institutional work and complexity. This model advances current institutional debates on institutional complexity and institutional work in three ways. First, it provides a relational and dynamic perspective on institutional complexity by explaining how constellations of logics - and their degree of internal contradiction - are constructed rather than given. Second, it refines our current understanding of agency, intentionality and effort in institutional work by demonstrating how different dimensions of agency interact dynamically in the institutional work of reconstructing institutional complexity. Third, it situates institutional work in the everyday practice of individuals coping with the institutional complexities of their work. In doing so, it reconnects the construction of institutionally complex settings to the actions and interactions of the individuals who inhabit them.

308 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that current evaluation frameworks suffer from four limitations: (i) they are not aligned with state-of-the-art research and practice; (ii) they fail to apply theory to explain how and why human agents influence intervention implementation and outcomes; (iii) they do not offer suggestions as to how such agency can be measured; and (iv) nor do they discuss how we may use knowledge obtained from process evaluation proactively when designing future organizational interventions.
Abstract: In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the processes of organizational interventions when evaluating the outcomes on employee health and well-being. Nevertheless, process evaluation is still in its infancy and primarily consists of checklists inspired by the public health intervention literature. In these frameworks, employees are seen as passive recipients whose reactions to pre-developed interventions should be evaluated. Current organizational intervention design rests on a participatory approach and recent process evaluations reveal that employees and line managers influence the implementation and the outcomes of organizational interventions. Following the current foci of current frameworks we may miss out on important information on the influence of both the participatory process and the line managers on intervention outcomes. I argue that current evaluation frameworks suffer from four limitations: (i) they are not aligned with state-of-the-art research and practice; (ii) and therefore they fail to apply theory to explain how and why human agents influence intervention implementation and outcomes; (iii) they do not offer suggestions as to how such agency can be measured; and (iv) nor do they discuss how we may use knowledge obtained from process evaluation proactively when designing future organizational interventions.

220 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how work is shaped by performance measures, focusing on the use of journal lists, rather than the detail of their construction, in conditioning the research activity of academics.
Abstract: The article critically examines how work is shaped by performance measures. Its specific focus is upon the use of journal lists, rather than the detail of their construction, in conditioning the research activity of academics. It is argued that an effect of the ‘one size fits all’ logic of journal lists is to endorse and cultivate a research monoculture in which particular criteria, favoured by a given list, assume the status of a universal benchmark of performance (‘research quality’). The article demonstrates, with reference to the Association of Business Schools (ABS) ‘Journal Guide’, how use of a journal list can come to dominate and define the focus and trajectory of a field of research, with detrimental consequences for the development of scholarship.

216 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an analysis of job types can deepen our understanding of job quality and how job quality varies across 27 European countries, using the European Working Conditions Survey 2005, a taxonomy of six job types is developed and their quality established.
Abstract: This article shows how an analysis of job types can deepen our understanding of job quality and how job quality varies across 27 European countries First, using the European Working Conditions Survey 2005, a taxonomy of six job types is developed and their quality established This taxonomy suggests that there are different types of high- and low-quality jobs Second, institutional theory is drawn on to examine why job quality varies cross-nationally The results of a multilevel analysis indicate that national differences in institutional regimes (social democratic, continental, liberal, southern European, transitional) result in cross-national variation in both the level of job quality (ie the overall proportions of high- and low-quality jobs) and the nature of job quality (ie the particular types of high- and low-quality jobs found) It is concluded that institutional theory is able to explain the level but not the nature of cross-national variation in job quality

210 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine themes that have become associated with work and retirement in the context of demographic change, and conclude that a radical repositioning, inspired by mature identity, is required to rely less upon economically determined roles and more upon alternative grounding in existential life tasks and experience to give space for a mature subjectivity and a desirab...
Abstract: In this article, the authors critically examine themes that have become associated with work and retirement in the context of demographic change. Two discourses are looked at in detail, those of ‘active’ and ‘productive’ ageing, with a focus upon International and European social policy. Drawing on the work of Foucault and others, the emergence of a dominant discourse and its effects on policy-based understandings of ageing are examined. A new orthodoxy of ageing subjectivity is identified, restricting the social contribution of older adults to work and work-like activities. A subtext refers to the co-option of liberal gerontological priorities into new and socially rigid forms of identity that legitimize particular ways of growing old. The authors conclude that a radical re-positioning, inspired by mature identity, is required to rely less upon economically determined roles and more upon alternative grounding in existential life tasks and experience to give space for a ‘mature subjectivity’ and a desirab...

178 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the cross-level relationships of organizational ethical climate on employee silence and found that the associations of the instrumental climate, caring climate, and independence climate with acquiescent silence and defensive silence are mediated by the perceived organization.
Abstract: This article reports on a study investigating the cross-level relationships of organizational ethical climate on employee silence. Using a sample of 408 full-time employees from 24 high-technology firms in Taiwan, the study conducted multilevel analyses to examine its hypotheses. The results showed that instrumental climate – one type of organizational ethical climate – had a positive association with acquiescent silence, but not with defensive silence. Another two types of organizational ethical climate – caring climate and independence climate – had a negative association with both acquiescent silence and defensive silence. Rules climate and the law and code climate, the remaining types of organizational ethical climate, were not associated with either the acquiescent silence or the defensive silence. The results also showed that the associations of the instrumental climate, caring climate, and independence climate with acquiescent silence and defensive silence are mediated by the perceived organization...

159 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide background to the renewed interest in job quality and, drawing on the contributions to the Special Issue, start to map the dimensions of job quality, the factors that influence job quality.
Abstract: Job quality is a timely issue because of its potential impact on individual, firm and national well-being. This renewed interest underscores the need for robust conceptualization of job quality. This article provides background to the renewed interest in job quality and, drawing on the contributions to the Special Issue, starts to map the dimensions of job quality, the factors that influence job quality, and the outcomes or impacts of job quality. We identify a number of emergent themes. First, job quality is a multidimensional phenomenon. Second, multiple factors and forces operating at multiple levels influence job quality. Third, the study of job quality is an inherently multi-disciplinary endeavour. Fourth, job quality is a contextual phenomenon, differing among persons, occupations and labour market segments, societies and historical periods. Our mapping of job quality, and the articles in the Special Issue, provide a foundation and springboard for understanding better the theoretically challenging and policy-relevant issue of job quality.

153 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how the timing, nature and meaning of retirement and planning are played out in specific domestic contexts and conclude that future research and policies surrounding retirement need to focus on the household, not the individual; consider retirement as an often messy and disrupted process and not a discrete event; and understand that retirement may mean very different things for women and for men.
Abstract: Against a global backdrop of population and workforce ageing, successive UK governments have encouraged people to work longer and delay retirement. Debates focus mainly on factors affecting individuals’ decisions on when and how to retire. We argue that a fuller understanding of retirement can be achieved by recognizing the ways in which individuals’ expectations and behaviours reflect a complicated, dynamic set of interactions between domestic environments and gender roles, often established over a long time period, and more temporally proximate factors. Using a qualitative data set, we explore how the timing, nature and meaning of retirement and retirement planning are played out in specific domestic contexts. We conclude that future research and policies surrounding retirement need to: focus on the household, not the individual; consider retirement as an often messy and disrupted process and not a discrete event; and understand that retirement may mean very different things for women and for men.

153 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present empirical evidence from household and firm survey data collected during 2009-2010 on the implementation of the 2008 Labor Contract Law and its effects on China's workers.
Abstract: This paper presents empirical evidence from household and firm survey data collected during 2009-2010 on the implementation of the 2008 Labor Contract Law and its effects on China's workers. The government and local labor bureaus have made substantial efforts to enforce the provisions of the new law, which has likely contributed to reversing a trend toward increasing informalization of the urban labor market. Enforcement of the law, however, varies substantially across cities. The paper analyzes the determinants of worker satisfaction with the enforcement of the law, the propensity of workers to have a labor contract, workers' awareness of the content of the law, and their likelihood of initiating disputes. The paper finds that all of these factors are highly correlated with the level of education, especially for migrants. Although higher labor costs may have had a negative impact on manufacturing employment growth, this has not led to an overall increase in aggregate unemployment or prevented the rapid growth of real wages. Less progress has been made in increasing social insurance coverage, although signing a labor contract is more likely to be associated with participation in social insurance programs than in the past, particularly for migrant workers.

144 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate three forms of justice (distributive, procedural, and interactional justice) and two sources of support (from organizations and supervisors) as they influence the development of three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished accomplishment) and subsequent forms of attitudinal withdrawal (organizational commitment and turnover intentions) and behavioral withdrawal (turnover).
Abstract: We propose and test a comprehensive model of burnout, as influenced by justice and support, and as it impacts the turnover process. Deriving our conceptual model from conservation of resources theory, augmented by several domain-specific theories, we investigate three forms of justice (distributive, procedural, and interactional justice) and two sources of support (from organizations and supervisors) as they influence the development of three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished accomplishment) and subsequent forms of attitudinal withdrawal (organizational commitment and turnover intentions) and behavioral withdrawal (turnover). In a study of 343 social workers, our theoretical path model was well-supported, providing increased understanding of the distinct roles of each form of justice and support in the development of burnout and the subsequent turnover process. Theoretical contributions and implications in the areas of justice, burnout, and turnover are discussed.

129 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The concept of maternal body work has been introduced by as discussed by the authors, who found that despite decades of feminist scholarship, dissonances remain between the private worlds of reproduction and public worlds of organization.
Abstract: This article builds on the theorizing of body work through introducing a new concept: ‘maternal body work’. In so doing, it shows how progress towards a feminist politics of motherhood within organizations remains limited. Despite decades of feminist scholarship, dissonances remain between the private worlds of reproduction and public worlds of organization. With regard to this limited progress, the article reveals how, among a sample of 27 mothers (all professionally and managerially employed in the UK), 22 felt marginalized and undervalued at work, experiencing the borders between maternity and organization as unmalleable. By contrast, five women treated borders between reproduction and organization as more fluid than anticipated. Setting a high value on their skills, they developed strategies for parrying unfavourable revisions of their status. The article concludes by considering the potential development of resources for enhancing maternal coping strategies.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the role of ethical cognition as a psychological mechanism linking ethical leadership to employee engagement in specific discretionary workplace behaviors was examined and hypotheses were developed that ethical leadership is associated with employees' negative moral equity judgments of workplace deviance (a discretionary antisocial behavior).
Abstract: The current study examines the role of ethical cognition as a psychological mechanism linking ethical leadership to employee engagement in specific discretionary workplace behaviors. Hypotheses are developed proposing that ethical leadership is associated with employees’ negative moral equity judgments of workplace deviance (a discretionary antisocial behavior) and positive moral equity judgments of organizational citizenship (a discretionary prosocial behavior). In addition, hypotheses propose that moral equity judgments are a key type of ethical cognition linking ethical leadership with employee behaviors. Hypotheses are tested in a cross-organizational sample of 190 supervisor–employee dyads. Results indicate that employees who work for ethical leaders tended to judge acts of workplace deviance as morally inequitable and acts of organizational citizenship as morally equitable. In turn, these judgments guided employee regulation of behavior, and mediated the relationships between ethical leadership and ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a micro-sociological and interactionist approach is used to explore the interplay between identity and power in the leadership development process. But the authors focus on the deconstruction, unravelling and letting go that can be experienced when working upon one's self.
Abstract: Leadership development theory and practice is increasingly turning its gaze on identity as a primary focus for development efforts. Most of this literature focuses on how the identities of participants are strengthened, repaired and evolved. This article focuses on identity work practices that are underdeveloped in the literature: the deconstruction, unravelling and letting go that can be experienced when working upon one's self. We group these experiences, among others, under the conceptual term identity undoing' and, based on findings from an 18-month ethnographic study of a leadership development program, we offer five manifestations of how it can be experienced. Through foregrounding the undoing of identity, we are able to look more closely at how power relations shape the leadership development experience. In order to raise questions and propositions for leadership and its development we use a micro-sociological and interactionist approach to explore the interplay between identity and power.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a model that frames two general forms of reinvention of retirement, the first involves continuation of the idea of a distinct and well-defined period of life occurring at the end of a career trajectory, but with changes in the timing, the kinds of post-retirement activities pursued, and meanings associated with this period, and a more fundamental reinvention in which the overall concept of retirement as a distinct period in an individual's life is challenged or rejected.
Abstract: Retirement involves a set of institutional arrangements combined with socio-cultural meanings to sustain a distinct retirement phase in life course and career pathways. In this Introduction to the Special Issue: 'Reinventing Retirement: New Pathways, New Arrangements, New Meanings,' we outline the historical development of retirement. We identify the dramatic broad-based changes that recently have shaken this established construct to its core. We describe the main organizational responses to these changes, and how they have been associated with shifting, multiple meanings of retirement. Finally, we present a model that frames two general forms of reinvention of retirement. The first involves continuation of the idea of a distinct and well-defined period of life occurring at the end of a career trajectory, but with changes in the timing, the kinds of post-retirement activities pursued, and meanings associated with this period of life. The second represents a more fundamental reinvention in which the overall concept of retirement as a distinct period in an individual's life is challenged or rejected, whether because it is not appealing or no longer realistic. We provide examples of how both types of reinvention may manifest in individuals' careers and lives, and suggest future research directions that follow from our model.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a field experiment in which confederates portraying Hijabis or not applied for jobs at stores and restaurants was conducted, and evidence for formal discrimination (job call backs, permission to complete application), interpersonal discrimination (perceived negativity, perceived interest), and low expectations to receive job offers in the workplace was found for Hijabi confederate.
Abstract: This study addresses discrimination that individuals who wear religious attire encounter during the hiring process. We build from the relational demography literature and contemporary research on discrimination in the workplace to propose possible discriminatory effects against Hijabis (Muslim women who wear the headscarf). Specifically, we conduct a field experiment in which confederates portraying Hijabis or not applied for jobs at stores and restaurants. Evidence for formal discrimination (job call backs, permission to complete application), interpersonal discrimination (perceived negativity, perceived interest), and low expectations to receive job offers in the workplace was found for Hijabi confederates. Furthermore, Hijabis were less likely to receive call backs when there was low employee diversity compared to when there was high employee diversity. Implications of these findings with regards to Hijabis and organizations are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper explored the career strategies of 68 white women and BME legal professionals to understand more about their experiences in the profession and found that five of the six career strategies tend to reproduce rather than transform opportunity structures in the legal profession.
Abstract: The legal profession in England and Wales is becoming more diverse. However, while white women and black and minority ethnic (BME) individuals now enter the profession in larger numbers, inequalities remain. This article explores the career strategies of 68 white women and BME legal professionals to understand more about their experiences in the profession. Archer’s work on structure and agency informs the analysis, as does Emirbayer and Mische’s (1998) ‘temporally embedded’ conceptualization of agency as having past, current and future elements. We identify six career strategies, which relate to different career points. They are assimilation, compromise, playing the game, reforming the system, location/relocation and withdrawal. We find that five of the six strategies tend to reproduce rather than transform opportunity structures in the legal profession. The overall picture is one of structural reproduction (rather than transformation) of traditional organizational structure and practice. The theoretical frame and empirical data analysis presented in this article accounts for the rarity of structural reform and goes some way towards explaining why, even in contexts populated by highly skilled, knowledgeable agents and where organizations appear committed to equal opportunities, old opportunity structures and inequalities often endure.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that not all employees respond to third-party injustices by experiencing an eye-for-an-eye retributive response; rather, some employees respond in ways that are higher in moral acceptance (e.g., increasing turnover intentions, engaging in constructive resistance).
Abstract: We extend the deontic model of justice (Folger, 1998, 2001) by arguing that not all employees respond to third-party injustices by experiencing an eye-for-an-eye retributive response; rather, some employees respond in ways that are higher in moral acceptance (e.g. increasing turnover intentions, engaging in constructive resistance). We predict that the positive relationship between supervisor abuse of customers and organizational deviance is weaker when employees are high in moral identity. In contrast, we hypothesize that the relationships between supervisor abuse of customers and turnover intentions and constructive resistance are more strongly positive when employees are high in moral identity. Regression results from two field studies (N = 222 and N = 199, respectively) provide general support for our theoretical model.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a detailed qualitative study of six leading law firms conducted between 2006 and 2010 was conducted to investigate the reasons why they discriminate on the basis of social class, concluding that discrimination is a response to conflicting commercial imperatives: the first to attract talent and the second to reduce risk and enhance image.
Abstract: For leading law firms in the City of London, diversity and inclusion has become an important human resources strategy over the past 15 years. A recent focus on social class within the sector has been encouraged by increasing governmental concerns relating to social mobility, which acknowledge that elite professions, particularly the law, have become more socially exclusive over the past 30 years. Based on a detailed qualitative study of six leading law firms conducted between 2006 and 2010, this article asks: why do leading law firms discriminate on the basis of social class? It argues that discrimination is a response to conflicting commercial imperatives: the first to attract talent and the second to reduce risk and enhance image. The article describes these dynamics, emphasizing the role played by the ambiguity of knowledge. It argues that until these conflicting demands are reconciled, organizational and state-sponsored initiatives centred on the ‘business case’ for diversity may achieve only limited success.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper investigated the orientation and socialization processes (also known as onboarding) from the broader perspective of social capital and found that the quality of the relationships newcomers formed with coworkers and managers was the primary driver of socialization outcomes.
Abstract: When starting a new job, newcomers strive to learn the tasks and expectations of their work, decipher the unwritten rules or norms of the culture, and achieve membership in the organization. The literature on the socialization of newcomers in organizations typically links success to the ability of the newcomer to learn to fit in. Yet recent empirical studies identified coworkers and managers as sharing the responsibility for successful socialization. The purpose of this study was to investigate the orientation and socialization processes (also known as onboarding) from the broader perspective of social capital. The concept of social capital generally describes the value and resources of social relations and network ties afforded to members of social networks or groups. Through a set of in-depth interviews with newly hired engineers in a large manufacturing organization, newcomers reported how they learned about and integrated into the social networks that made up their workplace. Overall, it was the quality of the relationships newcomers formed with coworkers and managers that was the primary driver of socialization outcomes.

Journal ArticleDOI
Abstract: The article compares the importance for the quality of work of three forms of direct participation – individual task discretion, semi-autonomous teamwork and consultative participation – drawing on a representative national survey of British employees. It assesses their implications for employee welfare, specifically their subjective importance, their implications for learning new skills and their effects on psychological well-being. It finds that individual task discretion is the most effective form of direct participation, followed by consultative participation. Although there are also positive effects of semi-autonomous teamwork, these are weaker and less consistently significant. The article finds that the strength of the implications of direct participation vary between employees, particularly by occupational class and the importance employees attach to the use of initiative at work. However, with the exception of those with weak initiative orientation, its effects are generally positive across diffe...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of the organizational justice literature can be found in this paper, where the authors argue that organizational justice research is focused on four reoccurring issues: (i) why justice at work matters to individuals; (ii) how justice judgements are formed; (iii) the consequences of injustice; and (iv) the factors antecedent to justice perceptions.
Abstract: Both organizational justice and behavioural ethics are concerned with questions of 'right and wrong' in the context of work organizations. Until recently they have developed largely independently of each other, choosing to focus on subtly different concerns, constructs and research questions. The last few years have, however, witnessed a significant growth in theoretical and empirical research integrating these closely related academic specialities. We review the organizational justice literature, illustrating the impact of behavioural ethics research on important fairness questions. We argue that organizational justice research is focused on four reoccurring issues: (i) why justice at work matters to individuals; (ii) how justice judgements are formed; (iii) the consequences of injustice; and (iv) the factors antecedent to justice perceptions. Current and future justice research has begun and will continue borrowing from the behavioural ethics literature in answering these questions.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated the full JD-R model for the prediction of psychological strain and work engagement, within a longitudinal research design with samples of Australian and Chinese employees (N = 9404).
Abstract: The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model proposes that employee health and performance are dependent upon direct and interacting perceptions of job demands and job resources. The JD-R model has been tested primarily with small, cross-sectional, European samples. The current research extends scholarly discussions by evaluating the full JD-R model for the prediction of psychological strain and work engagement, within a longitudinal research design with samples of Australian and Chinese employees (N = 9404). Job resources (supervisor support and colleague support) accounted for substantial variance, supporting the motivational hypothesis of the JD-R model. However, minimal evidence was found for the strain hypothesis of the JD-R model. The interactions of job demands and job resources were not evident, with only one from 16 interaction tests demonstrating significance. We discuss explanations for our findings. The implications of testing western-derived organizational behavior theories among employees employed in Asian regions, especially in regard to the increasing 'westernization' of many Asian organizations and their employees, are also discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used data from over 200 members of 30 global OCoPs in a Fortune 100 US-based multinational mining and minerals processing firm, and found that nationality diversity was curvilinearly (U-shaped) related to community performance.
Abstract: Organizational communities of practice (OCoPs) are used increasingly to capitalize on valuable distributed knowledge and to fully engage the innovation potential of employees. OCoPs have become increasingly global in their reach, relying of necessity on virtual forms of interaction to engage the participation and expertise of a global workforce. An unanswered question is whether the performance of such global OCoPs may be predicted to benefit or suffer owing to their nationality diversity. Using data from over 200 members of 30 global OCoPs in a Fortune 100 US-based multinational mining and minerals processing firm, we found that nationality diversity was curvilinearly (U-shaped) related to community performance. We also found that the curvilinear relationship was moderated by psychological safety and the extent of rich communication media use. Specifically, the arc relating nationality diversity and performance became more positive at the higher end, and less negative at the lower end, to the extent that...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the role of perceived prosocial impact and immediate supervisor support in facilitating work engagement in midwifery was investigated and the importance of relational resources and suggest their explicit inclusion in current models of work engagement.
Abstract: Relational resources are now recognized as significant factors in workplaces and increasing attention is being given to the motivational impact of giving, in addition to receiving social support. Our study builds on this work to determine the role of such relational mechanisms in work engagement, a concept that simultaneously captures drive and well-being. Data from 182 midwives from two maternity hospitals revealed a best-fit model where perceived supervisor support, social support from peers, prosocial impact on others and autonomy explained 52 percent of variance in work engagement. Perceived prosocial impact acted as a significant partial mediator between autonomy and work engagement. This study provides evidence for the importance of perceived prosocial impact and the role of immediate supervisors in facilitating work engagement in midwifery. Results highlight the value of relational resources and suggest their explicit inclusion in current models of work engagement.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an empirical case analysis of the shooting of Mr Jean Charles de Menezes shows how sensemaking is tested under such conditions, through elaborating the relationship between the concepts of frames and cues, and finding that the introduction of a new organizational routine to anticipate action in changing circumstances leads to discrepant sensemaking.
Abstract: Organizations increasingly find themselves contending with circumstances that are suffused with dynamic complexity. So how do they make sense of and contend with this? Using a sensemaking approach, our empirical case analysis of the shooting of Mr Jean Charles de Menezes shows how sensemaking is tested under such conditions. Through elaborating the relationship between the concepts of frames and cues, we find that the introduction of a new organizational routine to anticipate action in changing circumstances leads to discrepant sensemaking. This reveals how novel routines do not necessarily replace extant ones but, instead, overlay each other and give rise to novel, dissonant identities which in turn can lead to an increase rather than a reduction in equivocality. This has important implications for sensemaking and organizing amidst unprecedented circumstances.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors found that actors engage with the aesthetic and market logics that are entrenched in their field, and that flexible script enactment takes place within interactions with specific audiences, but rather that the market and aesthetic logics are relevant in the interactions with each of the audience groups, albeit to varying degrees.
Abstract: We contribute to research on institutional complexity by acknowledging that institutional logics are not reified cognitive structures, but rather are open to interpretation. In doing so, we highlight the need to understand how actors engage with institutional logics and the creativity that such engagement implies. Using an inductive case study of the Ontario wine industry, we rely on the notion of scripts to explicate how actors engage with the aesthetic and the market logics that are entrenched in their field. Our findings reveal two scripts that are used to adhere to the aesthetic logic (farmer and artist) and one that is used to adhere to the market logic (business professional). We find that not only can actors enact two different scripts to adhere to an institutional logic, but also that flexible script enactment takes place within interactions with specific audiences. Thus, we found no unique match between particular logics and specific audiences, but rather that the aesthetic and the market logics, and their underlying scripts, are relevant in the interactions with each of the audience groups, albeit to varying degrees. These findings have important implications for research on institutional complexity.

Journal ArticleDOI
Matt Vidal1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a critical reconstruction of the concept of postfordism, arguing for a regulation-theoretic approach that views Fordism and post-fordism not in terms of production models based on a particular labour process but as institutional regimes of competition, within which there are one of four types of generic labour process: high-autonomy, semiautonomous, tightly constrained and unrationalized labourintensive.
Abstract: In this article I present a critical reconstruction of the concept of postfordism, arguing for a regulation-theoretic approach that views Fordism and postfordism not in terms of production models based on a particular labour process but as institutional regimes of competition, within which there are one of four types of generic labour process: high-autonomy, semiautonomous, tightly constrained and unrationalized labour-intensive. I show that over one-third of US employment is in low-autonomy jobs and sketch an analytical framework for analysing job quality. Contrasting the four labour processes with various measures of job quality produces 18 job types that reduce to one of three job quality categories: good jobs, bad jobs and decent jobs. The typology provides a framework for analysing upgrading or downgrading of four aspects of employment quality within and across the four generic labour processes.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a reframing of workforce diversity as a social tragedy is presented, where the authors identify two dilemmas that underscore the social tragedy of diversity and explain why they prevent workforce diversity from progressing: voluntarism and individualism.
Abstract: This article presents a reframing of workforce diversity as a social tragedy. We draw on Hardin’s concept of ‘tragedy of the commons’, which explored the conflicts between individual and collective good. We identify two dilemmas that underscore the social tragedy of diversity and explain why they prevent workforce diversity from progressing: (1) voluntarism and (2) individualism. We critique the simplistic models of managing diversity and suggest an alternative conceptualization as a way forward. We advocate an approach that captures the potential contradictions between individual and social good and accounts for the role of multiple actors in tackling the tragedy of the uncommons. A reframing of organizational self-interest and collective interests in the context of diversity is presented and solutions to social tragedy of diversity are proposed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article investigated the effect of receiving interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB) from coworkers on the recipient's turnover intention and found that the association between receiving ICB from coworkers and turnover intention would be mediated by job satisfaction and moderated by employees' communion-striving motivation and task interdependence.
Abstract: Given that few studies have examined relational bases for voluntary employee turnover, the purpose of the article is to examine whether work relationships explain employee turnover intention. Adopting a social relational perspective on employee turnover, we investigated the effect of receiving interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB) from coworkers on the recipient’s turnover intention. We hypothesized that the association between receiving ICB from coworkers and turnover intention would be mediated by job satisfaction and moderated by employees’ communion-striving motivation and task interdependence. We tested our hypotheses regarding moderated mediation in a sample of 149 hospital nurses. The results show that there is an indirect (through job satisfaction) and negative effect of receiving ICB on turnover intention provided communion-striving motivation and task interdependence were high, but not when these were low. This study has implications for research and offers managers insights into task situati...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article studied the role of fantasies in creative knowledge work and found that both managers and employees avoid concrete definitions of responsibility in favor of intense mutual recognition, which makes them more vulnerable towards each other and makes both parties resist attempts at moderation.
Abstract: This article draws on combinations of discourse theory and Lacanian theory to study the role of fantasies in creative knowledge work. It attempts to nuance a number of critical Lacanian studies that emphasize how management and HRM practices exploit the seductive, yet disciplining, effects of fantasies to increase worker commitment. In contrast, empirical data from fieldwork in two creative industries are used to show how employees also ensnare and discipline their managers based on the same fantasmatic dynamics. The article argues that both managers and employees avoid concrete definitions of responsibility in favor of intense mutual recognition. This allows them to pursue a shared fantasy about limitless potential (financial and existential) realized via work. This dynamic of recognition renders both parties more vulnerable towards each other and makes both parties resist attempts at moderation. The question of power and exploitation thus becomes highly muddled.