Apologies for any cross-posting.
A new bumper issue of Human Relations is available online: Human Relations February 2016; Vol. 69, No. 2 − we hope you enjoy reading these articles.
THEMED CONTENT: CRITICAL PERFORMATIVITY
Critical Essay: Reconsidering critical performativity
Laure Cabantous, Jean-Pascal Gond, Nancy Harding, and Mark Learmonth
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 197–213, published online before print August 12, 2015, doi: 10.1177/0018726715584690
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/197?etoc
Abstract
In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of 'critical performativity', a concept designed to debate relationships between theory and practice and encourage practical interventions in organizational life. Notwithstanding its laudable ambition to stimulate discussion about engagement between critical management studies researchers and practitioners, we are concerned that critical performativity theory is flawed as it misreads foundational performativity authors, such as Austin and Butler, in ways that nullify their political potential, and ignores a range of other influential theories of performativity. It also overlooks the materiality of performativity. We review these limitations and then use three illustrations to sketch out a possible alternative conceptualization of performativity. This alternative approach, which builds on Butler's and Callon's work on performativity, recognizes that performativity is about the constitution of subjects, is an inherently material and discursive construct, and happens through the political engineering of sociomaterial agencements. We argue that such an approach – a political theory of organizational performativity – is more likely to deliver on both theoretical and practical fronts than the concept of critical performativity.
On the potential of progressive performativity: Definitional purity, re-engagement and empirical points of departure
Stephan M Schaefer and Christopher Wickert
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 215–224, doi: 10.1177/0018726715608931
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/215?etoc
Abstract
In this article, we respond to Cabantous, Gond, Harding and Learmonth's (2016) critique of recent conceptual contributions that employ the concept of performativity for prompting progressive changes in organizations. All in all, we seem to share the general unease concerning the marginal impact of Critical Management Studies on re-defining organizational realities. At the same time, we largely disagree on how critical scholars could support effective, progressive changes. In this rejoinder, we respond to but also absorb Cabantous et al.'s critique of progressive performativity and sketch three ways of how to advance discussions of Critical Management Studies' role in organizational scholarship.
Extending critical performativity
André Spicer, Mats Alvesson, and Dan Kärreman
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 225–249, doi: 10.1177/0018726715614073
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/225?etoc
Abstract
In this article we extend the debate about critical performativity. We begin by outlining the basic tenets of critical performativity and how this has been applied in the study of management and organization. We then address recent critiques of critical performance. We note these arguments suffer from an undue focus on intra-academic debates; engage in author-itarian theoretical policing; feign relevance through symbolic radicalism; and repackage common sense. We take these critiques as an opportunity to offer an extended model of critical performativity that involves focusing on issues ofpublic importance; engaging with non-academic groups using dialectical reasoning; scaling up insights through movement building; and propagating deliberation.
Moving critical performativity forward
Mark Learmonth, Nancy Harding, Jean-Pascal Gond, and Laure Cabantous
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 251–256, doi: 10.1177/0018726715620477
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/251?etoc
Abstract
In this rejoinder, we draw attention to some of the possible performative effects of Spicer et al.'s (2016) commentary and reaffirm the importance, in our eyes, of the fundamentally political and material dimensions of performativity.
When performativity fails: Implications for Critical Management Studies
Peter Fleming and Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 257–276, published online before print November 27, 2015, doi:10.1177/0018726715599241
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/257?etoc
Abstract
This article argues that recent calls in this journal and elsewhere for Critical Management Studies scholars to embrace rather than reject performativity presents an overly optimistic view of (a) the power of language to achieve emancipatory organizational change and (b) the capability of lone Critical Management Studies researchers to resignify management discourses. We introduce the notion of failed performatives to extend this argument and discuss its implications for critical inquiry. If Critical Management Studies seeks to make a practical difference in business and society, and realize its ideals of emancipation, we suggest alternative methods of impact must be explored.
NON-THEMED CONTENT:
Symmetrical and asymmetrical outcomes of leader anger expression: A qualitative study of army personnel [Free access – attached]
Dirk Lindebaum, Peter J Jordan, and Lucy Morris
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 277–300, published online before print July 14, 2015, doi: 10.1177/0018726715593350
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/277?etoc
Abstract
Recent studies have highlighted the utility of anger at work, suggesting that anger can have positive outcomes. Using the Dual Threshold Model, we assess the positive and negative consequences of anger expressions at work and focus on the conditions under which expressions of anger crossing the impropriety threshold are perceived as productive or counterproductive by observers or targets of that anger. To explore this phenomenon, we conducted a phenomenological study (n = 20) to probe the lived experiences of followers (as observers and targets) associated with anger expressions by military leaders. The nature of task (e.g. the display rules prescribed for combat situations) emerged as one condition under which the crossing of the impropriety threshold leads to positive outcomes of anger expressions. Our data reveal tensions between emotional display rules and emotional display norms in the military, thereby fostering paradoxical attitudes toward anger expression and its consequences among followers. Within this paradoxical space, anger expressions have both positive (asymmetrical) and negative (symmetrical) consequences. We place our findings in the context of the Dual Threshold Model, discuss the practical implications of our research and offer avenues for future studies.
A relational, transformative and engaged approach to sustainable supply chain management: The potential of action research
Anne Touboulic and Helen Walker
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 301–343, published online before printSeptember 29, 2015, doi: 10.1177/0018726715583364
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/301?etoc
Abstract
This article describes how action research can advance sustainable supply chain management research. Most sustainable supply chain management research is empirical and little attention has been paid to reflecting upon how research is conducted in the field. Current research fails to make links with ideas of relationality, change and engagement proposed in broader sustainability research. We propose to address this gap by discussing how action research could help address current challenges in sustainable supply chain management. The article explores the proponents and application of action research as a relevant methodology for knowledge development in the field, based upon a critical analysis of sustainable supply chain management and action research, including a review of previous action research studies and insights from a research project in which action research was applied. Particular emphasis is put on exploring the links between the sustainability dimension of sustainable supply chain management and the foundations and practice of action research. The article does not reject other methodological approaches, but it shows that the pragmatic orientation of action research is particularly suitable for an applied field such as sustainable supply chain management where problems are often messy, cross-disciplinary and essentially concerned with the flourishing of individuals and organizations. Our article has broader implications for inter-organizational research.
Looking intra-organizationally for identity cues: Whether perceived organizational support shapes employees' organizational identification
Long Wai Lam, Yan Liu, and Raymond Loi
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 345–367, published online before print September 24, 2015, doi:10.1177/0018726715584689
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/345?etoc
Abstract
We propose that employees' perceptions of intra-organizational cues are an important factor influencing their identification with their organizations. Building on self-categorization theory, we examine whether perceived organizational support influences organizational identification. We contend that in addition to the mediating effect of affective commitment, organizational identification also mediates the effect of perceived organizational support on employees' extra-role behavior. We collect perceptions of perceived organizational support, organizational identification and extra-role behavior information from 363 nurses in China using a three-wave data collection method and find empirical evidence to support most of our hypotheses. We find that collectivism moderates the indirect effect of perceived organizational support on extra-role behavior through organizational identification. We discuss the implications of our findings.
On stopping doing those things that are not getting us to where we want to be: Unlearning, wicked problems and critical action learning
Cheryl Brook, Mike Pedler, Christine Abbott, and John Burgoyne
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 369–389, published online before print September 24, 2015, doi: 10.1177/0018726715586243
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/369?etoc
Abstract
This article explores the idea of unlearning on the basis of empirical data drawn from 73 social workers' accounts of addressing their problems and challenges in critical action learning sets. To address intractable or wicked problems, characterized by having multiple stakeholders with competing perspectives and by an absence of obvious solution, it may be necessary first to unlearn existing responses and to ask fresh questions to illuminate what is as yet unknown. Action learning privileges questions over solutions in seeking learning from action on organizational challenges, whilst critical action learning is a variety that employs insights from critical social theory to promote critical reflection and unlearning in this process. The article breaks new ground in claiming: first, that unlearning in the context of the wicked problems of social work is characterized less by the discarding of outmoded knowledge and routines and more by a critical unlearning that opens up new possibilities of not knowing and non-action; and second, that critical unlearning is much more likely to take place when supported by a deliberated and social process such as that provided by critical action learning.
Antenarratives of organizational change: The microstoria of Burger King's storytelling in space, time and strategic context
David M Boje, Usha CV Haley, and Rohny Saylors
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/391?etoc
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 391–418, published online before printSeptember 29, 2015, doi: 10.1177/0018726715585812
Abstract
This research extends our understanding of organizational sensemaking through storytelling to highlight complex processes of organizational change in space, time and strategic context. We focus on the concept of antenarratives, how managers' and other stakeholders' fragmented speculations regarding futures may legitimate or resist organizational change. Antenarratives are not yet fully-formed narratives, but rather pieces of organizational discourse that help to construct identities and interests. We explain the theoretical relevance of Russian socio-linguist Mikhail Bakhtin's space and time conceptualizations (chronotopes) for strategic narratives of change, and illustrate how antenarratives play important roles in narrative chronotopes. We relate German philosopher Martin Heidegger's reasons for being in relation to others (existential ontology) to stakeholders' and organizational identities, and to antenarrative glimpses in Bakhtin's chronotopes. Through these theorizations, we contribute to conversations surrounding managerial discourses of organizational change, and discussions on how researchers may analyze antenarratives in relation to stabilized narratives. We use microstoria, or little-story analysis, and the case of Burger King Corporation's international strategizing, to highlight emergent conflicts and their resolution for sensemaking that includes diverse organizational stakeholders and affects organizational effectiveness.
Organization at the margins: Subaltern resistance of Singur
Mahuya Pal
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 419–438, published online before print October 15, 2015, doi: 10.1177/0018726715589797
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/419?etoc
Abstract
Based on fieldwork and subaltern studies as a theoretical framework, this article engages organizational discourses of farmers in Singur, India. Opposing their land grab by the state for a corporate project, the farmers join the global struggle against land acquisition by subaltern communities, a prominent feature of the neoliberal economy. My conversations with the farmers reveal that discourses of violence and non-violence informed their organization of struggle. Further, their organization of resistance emerges as a self-organization, demonstrates the interplay of agency and structure, and follows an ethico-political ideology to challenge the imperial power produced by state-corporate nexus. In particular, cultural value frames of ahimsa (non-violence) anddharma (moral) guide their organizational principles centered on ethical considerations, justice and human dignity. This research brings forth the counter-hegemonic potential of the Singur resistance and suggests its possibilities to contribute to the process of change in the neoliberal economy. Ultimately, the peasant discourses decentralize the ways we think of the world in terms of its forms of organization and its social life in the neoliberal political order, and offer social imaginaries of a politically just society.
The paradox of inclusion and exclusion in membership associations
Nicholas Solebello, Mary Tschirhart, and Jeffrey Leiter
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 439–460, published online before print October 15, 2015, doi: 10.1177/0018726715590166
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/439?etoc
Abstract
We use interviews and a focus group with leaders of a sample of nonprofit professional and trade membership associations based in the United States to understand what the leaders recognize to be their membership association's diversity challenges and initiatives. We identify incentives, identity and power challenges as fundamental influences on the diversity of potential and existing members. Our analysis reveals a paradox in which attempts to increase the association's inclusiveness are met with countervailing desires to maintain the membership association's exclusiveness. We find that leaders may attempt to manage the paradox through strategies that legitimize diversity initiatives, change the membership association's identity to reflect the valuing of diversity, and take advantage of organizational structures to embed diversity-related practices and accountability. These strategies have been discussed in the diversity management literature but without our paradox perspective. Additionally, paradox literature emphasizes the importance of ambidextrous ('both/and') approaches to paradox management, but these strategies may reflect an 'either/or' approach as leaders push their agenda forward, potentially in direct conflict with the desires of some current members.
Recognition and the moral taint of sexuality: Threat, masculinity and Santa Claus
Philip Hancock
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 461–481, published online before printSeptember 29, 2015, doi: 10.1177/0018726715589798
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/461?etoc
Abstract
This article explores the ways in which a desire for recognition characterizes the work of a particular category of service worker, the semi-professional Santa Claus performer. Employing a series of observations and in-depth, semi-structured interviews, it considers ways in which such work is underpinned by a struggle for recognition based on an exchange of love and social esteem that is immanent to the perceived reality of the performance of the character himself. The discussion focuses on the risk posed to the possibility of this relationship by the attribution to these performers of a tainted identity, one premised on the combination of a debased version of male sexuality and an increasingly prevalent cultural unease surrounding the relationship between children and adults. It concludes by arguing for a broader reconsideration of the concept of taint – particularly moral taint – as a far more fluid and contingent concept than has traditionally been deployed, as well as the value of engaging with the importance of recognition as a conceptual resource for both understanding, and possibly improving, the experiences of the contemporary service worker.
The social potency of affect: Identification and power in the immanent structuring of practice
Mark Thompson and Hugh Willmott
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/483?etoc
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 483–506, published online before print October 12, 2015, doi: 10.1177/0018726715593161
Abstract
We address the centrality of affect in structuring social practices, including those of organizing and managing. Social practices, it is argued, are contingent upon actors' affectively charged involvement in immanent, yet indeterminate social relations. To understand this generative involvement, we commend a temporally-sensitive, critically-oriented theoretical framework, grounded in an affect-based ontology of practice. We demonstrate the relevance and credibility of this proposal through an analysis of the interactions of Board members in a UK consulting company.
Crafting one's leisure time in response to high job strain
Paraskevas Petrou and Arnold B Bakker
Human Relations February 2016, 69(2): 507–529, published online before print October 12, 2015, doi: 10.1177/0018726715590453
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/69/2/507?etoc
Abstract
The present study addresses employee leisure crafting as the proactive pursuit and enactment of leisure activities targeted at goal setting, human connection, learning and personal development. Study 1 developed a measure for leisure crafting and provided evidence for its reliability and validity. In study 2, we followed 80 employees over the course of three weeks. We hypothesized that weekly leisure crafting would be more likely during weeks of high job strain (i.e. high quantitative job demands and low job autonomy) combined with sufficient autonomy at home, and during weeks of high activity at home (i.e. high quantitative home demands and high home autonomy). Furthermore, we predicted that weekly leisure crafting would relate positively to weekly satisfaction of basic human needs. Results indicated that leisure crafting was pronounced during weeks with high job strain combined with high home autonomy. However, an active home condition (i.e. high home demands and high home autonomy) was unrelated to leisure crafting. Weekly leisure crafting further related positively to weekly satisfaction of relatedness and autonomy (but not competence) needs. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings for the job crafting and leisure literatures.
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