Apologies for any cross-posting. We hope you enjoy reading the articles below.
__________________________________________________
RECENT ONLINE FIRST PREVIEW ARTICLES
__________________________________________________
Othering, ableism and disability:
A discursive analysis of co-workers' construction of colleagues with visible impairments
Nanna Mik-Meyer
Human Relations, published online before print February 4, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715618454
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/02/04/0018726715618454?papetoc
Abstract
The aim of this article is to explore how able-bodied co-workers engage in the 'othering' of colleagues with impairments. Taking a discursive analytical approach, the article examines interviews with 19 managers and 43 colleagues who all worked closely with an employee with cerebral palsy in 13 different work organizations. The primary finding of the article is that co-workers spontaneously refer to other 'different' people (e.g. transvestites, homosexuals, immigrants) when talking about a colleague with visible impairments. This finding suggests that disability is simultaneously a discursive category (i.e. the discourse of ableism prevents co-workers from talking about the impairments of a colleague) and a material phenomenon (i.e. employees with impairments are a distinct category of employees in the eyes of the co-workers). Othering of employees with disabilities thus demonstrates contradictory discourses of ableism (which automatically produce difference) and tolerance and inclusiveness (which automatically render it problematic to talk about difference).
Do women advance equity?
The effect of gender leadership composition on LGBT-friendly policies in American firms
Alison Cook and Christy Glass
Human Relations, published online before print February 3, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715611734
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/22/0018726715611734?papetoc
Abstract
We advance the literature on the demographic factors that shape organizational outcomes by analyzing the impact of the gender composition of firm leadership on the likelihood that a firm will adopt lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)-friendly policies. Drawing on social role and token theory, we test the relative impact of CEO gender and the gender composition of the board of directors separately and together in order to identify the effects of gender diversity at the top of the organization. We rely on a unique data set that includes corporate policies (gender identity and sexual orientation non-discrimination policies, domestic-partner benefits, and overall corporate equality index scores) as well as the gender of the CEO and board of directors among Fortune 500 firms over a 10-year period. Our findings suggest that firms with gender-diverse boards are more likely than other firms to offer LGBT-friendly policies, whereas findings for firms with women CEOs offer mixed results.
What do employees want and why?
An exploration of employees' preferred psychological contract elements across career stages
Chin Heng Low, Prashant Bordia, and Sarbari Bordia
Human Relations first published on February 3, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726715616468
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/02/03/0018726715616468?papetoc
Abstract
Employees' psychological contracts comprise their beliefs about what they have to contribute to their organizations and what inducements they will receive in return. One recommended approach to attract and retain employees is to design psychological contracts that allow them to contribute in desirable ways and receive attractive inducements. However, we know little about the factors that affect psychological contract preferences. We present a qualitative study on the preferred psychological contracts of employees who are in different career stages. Our findings reveal that the roles and self-concepts that employees take on at a particular career stage may shape preferences for stage-relevant contributions and inducements. These findings advance psychological contract theory by highlighting the plausible link between employees' career stages and their psychological contract preferences.
Self and senior executive perceptions of fit and performance:
A time-lagged examination of newly-hired executives
Jia Hu, Sandy J Wayne, Talya N Bauer, Berrin Erdogan and Robert C Liden
Human Relations, published online before print February 3, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715609108
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/02/03/0018726715609108?papetoc
Abstract
Drawing on the person–organization fit literature and person-categorization theory, we proposed that new executive performance depends on both their self-perceptions as well as their fit as seen by senior executives. Using three-phased, multisource data from newly-hired executives of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company across their first six months on the job, we found that senior executive pre-entry person–organization fit expectations of their followers (new executives) are positively related to their post-entry person–organization fit perceptions through the partial mediating role of their leader–member exchange relationships. Furthermore, results also revealed that senior executive person–organization fit perceptions were significantly and positively related to new executive in-role and extra-role performance, but only when new executives' own perceptions of person–organization fit were low.
When saying sorry may not help:
Transgressor power moderates the effect of an apology on forgiveness in the workplace
Xue Zheng, Marius van Dijke, Joost M Leunissen, Laura M Giurge, and David De Cremer
Human Relations 0018726715611236, first published on February 2, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726715611236
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/22/0018726715611236?papetoc
Abstract
An apology, as an expression of remorse, can be an effective response from a transgressor to obtain forgiveness from a victim. Yet, to be effective, the victim should not construe the transgressor's actions in a cynical way. Because low-power people tend to interpret the actions of high-power people in a cynical way, we argue that an apology (versus no apology) from high-power transgressors should be relatively ineffective in increasing forgiveness from low-power victims. We find support for this moderated mediation model in a critical incidents study (Study 1), a forced recall study (Study 2) among employees from various organizations and a controlled laboratory experiment among business students (Study 3).
These studies reveal the limited value of expressions of remorse by high-power people in promoting forgiveness.
Metaphors, organizations and water:
Generating new images for environmental sustainability
John M Jermier and Linda C Forbes
Human Relations, published online before print February 2, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715616469
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/22/0018726715616469?papetoc
Abstract
Research across the social sciences and related fields has made it clear that metaphors underwrite both scientific and everyday thinking. Gareth Morgan's work in this area, most vividly developed in his classic book Images of Organization, illustrates how metaphors underwrite thinking about organizations and the important role they can play in generating new thinking. In this study, we use and extend Morgan's (2006) thesis of 'organizations as instruments of domination' (IoD) to reflect on critical issues in organizational studies related to water and the broader natural environment. We find extending the IoD image to be helpful: (i) in deriving and elaborating a metaphor that reflects a risky trend ('organizations as water exploiters'); and (ii) in generating and developing a new metaphor that is explicitly normative and nature-centered ('organizations as water keepers'). The water keeper image brings needed attention to water problems and invites further research on activist organizations (businesses and others) seeking to change thinking and practice related to environmental sustainability. We illustrate the water keeper metaphor (and the significant move away from the paradigmatic assumptions of hard anthropocentrism) with examples from environmental champion Patagonia, Inc. We then take up Morgan's challenge to move beyond the IoD metaphor to envision non-dominating forms of organization. We revisit classic nature-inclusive metaphors and the under-explored paradigm of ecocentrism to evoke and reflect on broader notions of agency, interdependence, connectedness and social relations in transformed organizations.
Quantity and quality:
Increasing safety norms through after action reviews
Alexandra M Dunn, Clifton Scott, Joseph A Allen, and Daniel Bonilla
Human Relations published online before print January 14, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715609972
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/08/0018726715609972?papetoc
Abstract
Workplace safety is a concern for both scholars and practitioners alike because accidents and injuries can result in time away from work and lost organizational resources. This study focuses on how one type of post-incident discussion can be effectively used to promote positive safety norms. It adds to the growing body of research on after action review meetings, one type of post-incident discussion intervention commonly used in high reliability organizations to increase future workplace safety behaviors. This study also extends the sensemaking and high reliability literatures by examining a three-way interaction between perceived frequency of after action review meetings, ambiguity reduction and psychological safety. Survey data were obtained from 330 firefighters. Results from the three-way interaction showed that safety norms were highest when perceived after action review frequency, ambiguity reduction and psychological safety were simultaneously high, and safety norms were lowest when perceived after action review frequency, ambiguity reduction and psychological safety were simultaneously low. By examining both the perceived quantity and quality of after action review meetings, this study provides insight into which after action review facilitation objectives are most likely to increase positive safety norms and ultimately create a shared understanding of how to behave safely in future workplace events in high reliability organizational contexts.
Work-related smartphone use, work–family conflict and family role performance:
The role of segmentation preference
Daantje Derks, Arnold B Bakker, Pascale Peters, and Pauline van Wingerden
Human Relations, published online before print 14 January 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715601890
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/08/0018726715601890?papetoc
Abstract
Is work-related smartphone use during off-job time associated with lower conflict owing to the blurring of the boundaries between work and family life? Or does it help employees juggling work and family demands? The present four-day quantitative diary study (N = 71 employees, N = 265–280 data points) aims to shed light on the relationship between daily work-related smartphone use during off-job time, and daily work–family conflict and daily family role performance, respectively. Moreover, individuals' general segmentation preference is investigated as a potential cross-level moderator in the relationships between daily work-related smartphone use during off-job time and both work–family conflict and family role performance. Overall, the results of multilevel modelling support our mediated moderation model indicating that for integrators more frequent work-related smartphone use during off-job time is associated with better family role performance through reduced work–family conflict. For segmenters, smartphone use does not have any impact on work–family conflict and family role performance. These findings suggest that for integrators smartphone use during off-job time may be useful to simultaneously meet both work demands and family demands, which has the potential to reduce work–family conflict and enhance family role performance; whereas for segmenters no effects were found.
Constructing positive identities in ableist workplaces:
Disabled employees' discursive practices engaging with the discourse of lower productivity
Eline Jammaers, Patrizia Zanoni and Stefan Hardonk
Human Relations, published online before print January 14, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715612901
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/08/0018726715612901?papetoc
Abstract
This article explores how disabled workers engage with the ableist discourse of disability as lower productivity in constructing positive identities in the workplace. Disabled employees inhabit a contradictory discursive position: as disabled individuals, they are discursively constructed for what they are unable to do, whereas as employees they are constituted as human resources and expected to be able to produce and create value. Our discourse analysis of 30 in-depth interviews with disabled employees identifies three types of discursive practices through which they construct positive workplace identities: (1) practices contesting the discourse of lower productivity as commonly defined; (2) practices contesting the discourse of lower productivity by redefining productivity; and (3) practices reaffirming the discourse of lower productivity yet refusing individual responsibility for it. The study advances the disability literature by highlighting how disabled speakers sustain positive workplace identities despite the negative institutionalized expectations of lower productivity both by challenging and reproducing ableism as an organizing principle.
Institutional fields as linked arenas:
Inter-field resource dependence, institutional work and institutional change
Santi Furnari
Human Relations published online before print January 14, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715605555
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/08/0018726715605555?papetoc
Abstract
Theories of institutional change have paid limited attention to the ways in which relations between institutional fields might facilitate or hinder institutional change. I introduce inter-field resource dependence as an important condition explaining institutional change between fields. Building on resource dependence theory, I conceptualize two dimensions of inter-field resource dependence: mutual dependence and power imbalance. I argue that these two dimensions have opposite effects on the likelihood of institutional change between fields. Mutual dependence between two fields increases the chances of institutional change by inducing actors in both the fields to work at creating new shared institutions in order to regulate their mutual dependence. Power imbalance between two fields decreases the chances of institutional change by inducing actors in the dominant field to work at maintaining existing institutions in order to preserve their power. Thus, different types of inter-field resource dependence motivate actors to undertake different forms of institutional work, which in turn shape the likelihood of institutional change between fields. Developing this core argument, I theorize that whether the institutional change occurring between two fields is radical or incremental is a function of the type of resource dependence linking the two fields; for example, when power imbalance is high, institutional change is unlikely but when it occurs it tends to be radical.
When the 'unorganisable' organise:
The collective mobilization of migrant domestic workers in London
Zhe Jiang and Marek Korczynski
Human Relations, published online before print January 14, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715600229
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/08/0018726715600229?papetoc
Abstract
The collective mobilization of migrant workers is an important issue for analysis. Three key barriers to the mobilization of migrant workers have been identified – employment conditions, which tend to prevent migrant workers coming together; the framings held by migrant workers, which marginalize an understanding of their position as that of exploited workers; and the issue of the sustainability of any mobilization. The article examines migrant domestic workers as a case in which collective mobilization appears highly unlikely. The article uses the social movement approach as a meta-theoretical framing to explore the collective mobilization of migrant domestic workers in London. As such, it analyses how the 'unorganizable' organize. We show that mobilization changed the framing of migrant domestic workers from 'labourers of love' to workers with rights. It was able to do this because it addressed the three barriers to mobilization: by creating a space for the development of communities of coping among migrant workers; by using politicized learning; and by using participative democracy and collective leadership development, tied to links with formal organizations. The article argues for the importance of social scientists examining the creative processes by which migrant workers move towards collective mobilization, and for the utility of a social movement approach in this process.
Making the absent subject present in organizational research
Michaela Driver
Human Relations, published online before print January 14, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715596801
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/08/0018726715596801?papetoc
Abstract
This study explores how researchers engage with research subjects. Specifically, it examines the struggle to account for the lived experience of subjects under study while producing knowledge about and for them. Drawing on psychoanalytic, specifically Lacanian, theorizing, the study suggests that such struggles are even more complex when real subjects are absent and impossible to account for. It advances the idea that by articulating the research subject through four different discourses, researchers may take different positions toward this absence. In the first, researchers produce research subjects and put them to work. In the second, subjects are subsumed through systematic knowledge production. In the third, the subject serves the production of knowledge as a function of the split subject's enjoyment. In the fourth discourse the researcher becomes the object of desire so as to empower subjects in their becoming. It is suggested that each discourse allows researchers to take a different stance toward their research subjects. While discourses one and two are quite commonly adopted, discourses three and four may be alternatives for reflection that facilitate the creative expression of subjectivity, ethical choice and transformational, frame-breaking textual practices. Implications of this perspective for organizational research are discussed.
'What happens when you intuit?':
Understanding human resource practitioners' subjective experience of intuition through a novel linguistic method
Eugene Sadler-Smith
Human Relations 0018726715602047, first published on January 14, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726715602047
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/08/0018726715602047?papetoc
Abstract
The objective of this research was to understand the phenomenon of intuition from the perspective of the intuitor. Against a background of a steadily growing interest in intuition in managerial decision research, and inclining towards a phenomenological stance, the research used a novel linguistic method based on 'de-nominalization' to access participants' (124 human resource practitioners) experiences of intuition. Based on an analysis of responses to the question 'What happens when you intuit?', the article: defines intuition based on participants' subjective experiences; reveals the subjective experience of intuition as comprising three phases − 'intuiting', 'intuition' and 'implementing'; uncovers two aspects of intuitive affect − 'bodily awareness' and 'cognitive awareness'; and establishes that participants use primary metaphors to articulate their experiences of intuition. The article outlines the theoretical implications and practical relevance of these findings, and makes suggestions for further qualitative phenomenological studies of intuition.
A theory of Abject Appearance:
Women elite leaders' intra-gender 'management' of bodies and appearance
Sharon Mavin and Gina Grandy
Human Relations, published online before print January 7, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715609107
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/07/0018726715609107?papetoc
Abstract
In this article, we develop a theory of Abject Appearance to explain women elite leaders' embodied identity work within a context of intra-gender relations. The theory of Abject Appearance illuminates a dynamic and dialectical process whereby women elite leaders 'manage' the ambiguities of their 'in-between' and 'abject' status. This process is understood as a possible material effect or consequence of women's abjection in organizations. Women elite leaders hold power through their formal positions, yet remain marginalized in social relations because their feminine bodies are out of place in organizations. In a qualitative study with women elite leaders, we illustrate how the theme Fascination with bodies and appearance depicts a dialectical process of simultaneous disgust and attraction with women's bodies and appearance. We discuss how this material effect of abjection may be played out through two embodied identity work strategies in an intra-gender context, namely: Shifting focus from the body and appearance and Achieving a professional balance. We offer insights into how women's embodiment in elite leader roles may be constrained in a context of intra-gender relations. We suggest opportunities to strengthen women's agency by raising awareness to the theory of Abject Appearance and women leaders' associated body work.
When and why do individuals craft their jobs?
The role of individual motivation and work characteristics for job crafting
Cornelia Niessen, Daniela Weseler and Petya Kostova
Human Relations, published online before print January 7, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726715610642
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/01/07/0018726715610642?papetoc
Abstract
As a proactive behavior, job crafting refers to changes in the task (cognitive, and behavioral) and social boundaries at work. This article focuses on antecedents of job crafting and the development and validation of a job crafting scale. In Study 1 (N = 466), an exploratory factor analysis with one half of the sample (n = 233) and a confirmatory factor analysis with the other half (n = 233) supported a three-dimensional structure of job crafting (task crafting, relational crafting and cognitive crafting), and convergent as well as discriminant validity of job crafting, in relation to personal initiative and organizational citizenship behavior. In Study 2 (N = 118, two points of measurement), we cross-validated the measure and demonstrated that job crafting was related to, yet distinct from, taking charge. We found that an increase in job crafting at Time 2 was predicted by need for positive self-image (Time 1), as well as by work experience (Time 1). Need for human connection (Time 1) was related to job crafting at Time 2 when self-efficacy was high. Moreover, there was evidence that job crafting as self-oriented behavior related positively to person–job fit. Implications for future research are discussed.
You can view more Human Relations preview articles here: http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/recent
__________________________________________________
FEBRUARY FREE ACCESS ARTICLE
__________________________________________________
FREE to access until 20 March 2016:
Towards a progressive understanding of performativity in critical management studies
Christoper Wickert and Stephan M Schaefer
Human Relations January 2015 vol. 68 no. 1 107-130, first published online before print February 24, 2014, doi: 10.1177/0018726713519279
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/68/1/107.full.pdf+html
Abstract
A central debate in critical management studies (CMS) revolves around the concern that critical research has rather little influence on what managers do in practice. We argue that this is partly because CMS research often focuses on criticizing antagonistically, rather than engaging with managers. In light of this, we seek to re-interpret the anti-performative stance of CMS by focusing on how researchers understand, conceptualize and make use of the performative effects of language. Drawing on the works of JL Austin and Judith Butler, we put forward the concept of progressive performativity, which requires critical researchers to stimulate the performative effects of language in order to induce incremental, rather than radical, changes in managerial behaviour. The research framework we propose comprises two interrelated processes: (i) the strategy of micro-engagement, which allows critical researchers to identify and 'ally' with internal activists among managers, and to support their role as internal agents of change; and (ii) 'reflexive conscientization' − that is, a dialogic process between researchers and researched that aims to gradually raise the critical consciousness of actors in order to provide spaces in which new practices can be 'talked into existence' through the performative effects of language.
This article appears in our new Critical Performativity Virtual Special Issue, which will be FREE to access until 20 March 2016:
http://hum.sagepub.com/site/misc/VSI/critical_performativity.xhtml
Best wishes,
Claire Castle
Managing Editor, Human Relations
Tavistock Institute of Human Relations
Telephone: +44 (0)7432740583
Email: c.castle@tavinstitute.org
Website: www.humanrelationsjournal.org
OnlineFirst forthcoming articles: http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/recent
Submission guidance: http://www.tavinstitute.org/humanrelations/submit_paper.html
Special issues and calls for papers: http://www.tavinstitute.org/humanrelations/special_issues.html
2-year impact factor: 2.398 - Ranked: 35/185 in Management and 5/95 in Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
5-year impact factor: 3.187 - Ranked: 37/185 in Management and 3/95 in Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
Source: 2014 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters, 2015)