** apologies for cross-posting **
International Conference - Paris - May 17, 2011
Work-Life: Cross-national Conversations
Context theorizing in work-life research
Rouen Business School research group Contemporary P@thways of Career, Life and Learning, in association with the Special Interest Group Diversity and equal opportunity of the French-speaking Academic Association of HRM, will be holding an international conference in Paris, with two primary objectives:
(1) To bridge academic communities researching work-life in different countries and from different disciplines such as organizational behavior and management, industrial psychology, industrial relations and sociology, so as to broaden our perspectives and hopefully facilitate future collaborations.
(2) To reflect on the role that national context plays in work-life research, both for the production of research itself (influence of national context on researchers' approaches) and on the phenomena we are studying (at the individual, organizational and social policy levels).
Numerous appeals for the greater consideration of context in management research have been made. Recently, an AMJ editorial urged scholars to go "beyond contextualization" and use "context theories to narrow the micro-macro gap in management research" (Bamberger, 2008).
Work-life researchers are well aware of the need to account for national context in particular. National context can be understood from an institutional perspective and/or a cultural perspective. National context notably translates into values and attitudes towards work and life and into public provisions. These values and public provisions may influence individuals' experiences of work-life fit as well as their expectations towards employers and the State, lay the ground for supervisors' varying degrees of supportiveness, promote or discourage employers' work-life initiatives and inform social policy. Additionally, national context matters from an epistemic point of view, since it often influences work-life researchers' choices of research questions, theoretical frameworks and research designs.
However, little research has thought to use or build frameworks able to "context theorize" work-life issues. Drawing on examples from our research, how can we contribute to narrow the micro-macro gap in work-life research and beyond?
References
Keynote speakers
Pr. Ellen E. Kossek (MSU) and Pr. Maurice Thévenet (ESSEC and CNAM), will introduce the sessions.
Pr. Jeffrey H. Greenhaus (Drexel University) will wrap up the conference.
Format and Submissions
Reflecting the conference's objectives, scholars are invited to present their line of work in a global way rather than focusing on a single study or manuscript. Therefore, we expect individual submissions to fit the conference's objectives better than collective submissions, although collective submissions may be considered.
Submissions should be in the form of an 800 words statement (not an abstract) indicating:
(1) How your research is reflective of the importance of national context in work-life research, with examples either at the individual, organizational, public policy or epistemic levels.
(2) Your current projects, research ideas in the early stage and help you would like to provide to other work-life scholars or receive from them.
Each person or team whose submission is accepted will give a brief oral presentation, preceding group discussions. Space will be provided to display small posters (A3 format) or printed Powerpoint slides, again presenting the broader implications of your research for national context rather than a single piece of research.
Please send your submission by January 31, 2011 to Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, aom@rouenbs.fr. Notifications of acceptance will be given before February 28, 2011.
Venue and registration
The conference will take place in Paris downtown, at RBS Paris Executive Campus, 9 rue d'Athènes, 75009 Paris.
Registration fee: 80 € (30 € for students). The fee includes conference attendance, welcome coffee, coffee breaks, lunch and cocktail.
Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, PhD
Associate Professor
Management and Strategy Department
Head of research group Tr@jectoires - Contemporary P@thways of Career, Life and Learning
Rouen Business School
1, rue du Maréchal Juin, BP 215
76825 Mont Saint Aignan Cedex, France
+ 33 6 70 47 64 37
aom@rouenbs.fr
International conference Work-life: Cross-national conversations, Paris, May 17, 2011