CALL FOR ACTION RESEARCH PROJECTS
AOM 2011 Professional Development Workshop:
Shaping Caring Cultures and Strategies in Organizations
PDW Date and Time: Friday, August 12, 2011 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Central Time)
Location: Grand Hyatt, Lone Star C, San Antonio, Texas
Primary Sponsor: OB Division, with cosponsors ODC, BPS, MC, MED, and IM
Main Contact: Kristine Kawamura, PhD, kristinekawamura@yahoo.com,
or (mb) 1 310 567 7603
How do we, as management scholars and practitioners, shape caring cultures and strategies in organizations? How do we create courageous organizations, managers, and employees that understand the value and imperative of caring for their people as well as for profits? How do we put humans back into the economic equation?
As we become a global knowledge/service society, people are well proclaimed as our most important resource. With their hearts and minds, knowledge and experience, people create an organizations' culture and its' results with their work, loyalty, and values. People thrive in caring environments. Yet people have often been sacrificed in their organization's quest for survival in the recent recession. How do organizations recover and then grow, while managing disheartened employees and facing a global talent shortage?
We believe that to move forward, we who value organizational systems and cultures, people and values, must collaboratively work for societal and organizational cultural transformation. We need to care, and to enliven care in our work.
We invite scholars and/or research practitioners who are interested in the caring transformation of organizations, societies, and leaders (in governments, for profits and/or non-profit institutions) to submit a one page proposal for Action Research Projects by June 15, 2011 (either embryo or in-process projects) that will be organically and collaboratively created, nurtured, developed, and/or critiqued. Be part of an exciting cross-divisional, cross-disciplinary conversation as you design real-world projects that move Caring Economics from concept to reality. We'll utilize Action Research methods to bridge research with experience in hands-on, practice-oriented, practice-grounded roundtables.
Our intent is to solve real organizational, community, and inter-organizational problems. We want to generate deeper learning and publishable knowledge in the area of Caring Economics and ignite the inclusion of Care as a critical component of Societal and Organizational Change, as well as Leadership Practice. We build upon the excitement of the 2010 All Academy Theme "Dare to Care" as well as the transformational work of Riane Eisler, described in her book, The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics (2007, Berrett-Koehler) and highlighted in her 2010 All-Academy speech.
* Please contact to discuss conceptual project ideas.
PDW Organizing Committee
· Riane Eisler, President, Center for Partnership Studies (Email: eisler@partnershipway.org)
· Kristine Kawamura, PhD, AIM Centre, St. Georges University, Grenada (Email: kristinekawamura@yahoo.com)
· Jeana Wirtenberg, PhD, Institute for Sustainable Enterprise, Silberman College of Business, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, New Jersey (Email: jwirtenb@fdu.edu )
· Simon Dolan, PhD, ESADE, Barcelona, Spain (Email: simon.dolan@esade.edu)
TOPIC BACKGROUND
The workshop is dedicated to generating collaboration among academics and practitioners and a synergy between theory and practice in bringing about more caring and compassionate organizations and national governments through the development of caring cultures and strategies.
Organizations and their management teams face multiple performance challenges as they seek to recover from the recent global recession. Many organizations have sacrificed employee loyalty for survival as they have downsized staffs, streamlined strategies, and cut costs. Having gained from necessary productivity improvements, many organizations are choosing to stay lean in a relatively unsure business climate. Employees, in turn, have created new work structures and entrepreneurial ventures for their own survival as well as to reduce their dependency on organizations and the potential risk faced in future downsizing activities. Women in particular have adopted a career agency model, choosing to work outside the organizational hierarchy in order to achieve both personal and professional goals. (Cabrera 2007; Cabrera 2009; Shapiro, Ingols et al. 2009) Furthermore, the recession may be changing American's attitudes toward work, with job insecurity raising people's appreciation of family and friends, increasing their drive to be a better person rather than just a better worker, and raising their awareness of over-commitment to work at the expense of family and recreation.(Berkman, Buxton et al. 2010; Preidt 2010) Organizations are losing out, as they are losing and laying off talented employees with whom they have invested significant time and money in development and training, who have developed relationship capital with clients, and who hold the tacit knowledge and organizational experience in their minds and hearts that are vital for the creativity and innovation that leads to global competitive advantage. (Cabrera 2009)
Capitalism, as presently implemented, has contributed to the depressed work environment. It has been faulted for policies that have sapped economic growth. Business has been viewed as the major cause of social, environmental and economic problems, where companies have been perceived to have prospered at the expense of the broader community, their employees, the natural environment, and social progress, at large. (Raich and Dolan 2008; Porter and Kramer 2011)
Even in this cautious business climate, however, research predicts a global talent shortage by the year 2040. (Desvaux, Devillard-Hoellinger et al. 2007) Organizations need to create practices, cultures, and programs that attract and retain their employees, especially women, in order to meet this global talent shortage – because without people, neither companies nor our societies are sustainable. People – with the knowledge in their heads and the passion in their hearts – are essential for growth, innovation, and revitalization, especially in our post-recession, post-industrial knowledge/service era. (Pfeffer 1994; Pfeffer 1998; Eisler 2007) Organizations also must consciously examine and choose the values upon which their strategies and people are selected in order for business and society to reach its highest potential. (Twomey, Twomey et al. 2010) People – with honest reflection upon the values that underlie and influence their decisions and actions – are the vehicle for social, environmental, and cultural change.
It may take nothing less than a societal and organizational cultural transformation to solve these challenges. Organizations must take the lead in bringing business and society back together and build strategies and cultures based on shared value – which involves creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing social needs and challenges. (Dolan, Garcia et al. 2006; Dolan 2010; Porter and Kramer 2011) (Dolan 2010) Courageous leaders and managers working in courageous organizations can create caring cultures and strategies that value the whole employee, revitalize loyalty and commitment, and reignite passion, the fuel for innovation and creativity. Courageous employees can revive their ability to commit, to care, and to create in organizations that value their contributions of mind and heart. In fact, businesses that have created cultures through employing more caring personnel policies have radically cut turnover and absentee-related losses, higher customer satisfaction rates, higher market value, higher profitability, and less stress and work-related medical problems. (Burud and Tumolo 2004; Eisler 2009b; Berkman, Buxton et al. 2010)
As human beings, we want to care and to be cared for (Noddings 2003) When people feel cared for, they become more fully alive. (Dutton 2003) The experiments of psychologist Alice Isen and her colleagues show than when people feel good – which they do when they feel cared for – they are more productive and innovative. (Eisler 2009b) They are better negotiators, get along better with others, and are much more creative. (Isen 1987) Caring enlivens people, their passions, and their sense of meaning. In short, people come alive from care. Care adds meaning to our lives. Neuroscience studies tell us that people's brains come alive with care - that both cognitive and emotional functions underlie how people see and perceive the world, how they think utilizing a 'whole brain' and how they ultimately make decisions.
The energy produced in caring organizations drives productivity through putting people back into the business equation. (Eisler 2009b) Caring helps people to be more creative, flexible, team-oriented, and reflective which will positively impact the systems that connect humans with humans across the globe, the institutions in which we serve and the lives we live – and will enable us to co-create a different and better world. The more deeply rooted and diffuse the values such as care are in an organization, the harder it is to change the culture. (Gagliardi 1986) As people thrive, in turn, so do their families, organizations, institutions and our greater society. (Kawamura, Wirtenberg et al. 2010)
So, how do we create more caring organizational cultures and strategies? How do we create courageous organizations, managers, and employees that understand the value and imperative of caring for their people, as well as the environment? In this PDW, we invite members of Organizational Behavior and the-cosponsoring divisions to submit working projects regarding this topic.
SAMPLE PROJECTS
All types of projects are welcome. We especially encourage projects that are multi-disciplinary and contain both research- and practitioner-oriented perspectives. The projects should focus on the critical importance of caring practices, policies, and programs that develop the well-being of a nation's and organization's people, and the culture and strategy of the organizations in which they work and thrive. We encourage projects to address a broad range of "people", including: male and female leaders at all levels of organizations and institutions; women and minorities, children and the elderly, and people of diverse cultural and/or socio-economic backgrounds; and, new generations of students and employees who may be our future leaders.
Participants are invited to propose their own project (in embryo or development stage) or join one of those being sponsored by others. "Embryo" project proposals are new collaborative project between academics and practitioners for which attendees would like to add action-research expertise and advance during the session. "In-Process" project proposals are either ongoing collaborative activities that attendees would like to evolve into an action research project or are ongoing AR projects that they would like to strengthen/expand, through critique and development during the session. Once the action research projects are selected, we will circulate the final project topics through the Sponsoring Divisions, again, in order to invite further project participation at the PDW.
All participants in this PDW will be invited to co-create an ongoing vision for this transformational work. For example, we anticipate post-workshop paper submissions and possible monograph or book publications.
Sample questions for exploration via action-research include, but are not limited to, the following:
General
- What is Caring Economics? What are Caring Societies, Caring Organizations and Caring Leaders? How do we develop them?
- What course curriculum and teaching methods may educate and empower students (and educators) to build and lead Caring Societies and Caring Organizations through Caring Economics?
- What is the interplay between care, values, and spirituality in building and leading Caring Societies and Caring Organizations through Caring Economics?
- What institutional assumptions, mindsets, players or entrenched systems either block, or resist, a move to building and leading Caring Societies, Organizations and Leaders?
- What caring practices, programs and policies will empower as well as develop the well-being of women and children through Caring Economics?
- What caring policies, practices and/or measurements in organizations and societies will help to develop the well-being of the natural environment?
- How does care influence, or not influence, management education in the areas of economics, organizations, and management?
Organizational Strategies and Cultures
- How do we put humans back into the business equation?
- How do we create, or develop, caring organizational strategies and cultures? What practices may be used to develop caring organizational strategies and cultures?
- What organizations are currently creating and implementing caring practices, policies, and environments? What may we learn from them?
- What is the link between management (philosophy, value, vision, and goals) to culture to leadership type, communication strategy, and group dynamics in the development of a caring culture and caring organizational system?
- What HR policies, practices and competencies would support the developing of Caring Organizational Systems?
- What would a care model for a caring organization look like?
- What is a "whole leader"? What is a "whole" person, and how may we motivate, empower, value, and measure them?
- What Leadership skills, knowledge and resources are needed in Caring Economics?
- What practices, policies, and programs are necessary and valuable for guiding the cultural transformation to a caring organization?
- What management consultant skill-sets are needed to design, deliver, and implement measurable caring change programs?
- What system-wide Social Wealth indicators and Organizational Metrics are needed to build the capacity and change existing mindsets for Caring Economics to be realized?
- How applicable are Western theories, philosophies and practices for developing caring organizations, egalitarian environments, and value applicable in other parts of the world? How might Eastern theories, philosophies and practices inform and alter Western?
- Should we develop a "generic" theory and practice for creating caring organizations that apply to multiple cultures, or should we use a contingency based approach in which practices vary by culture?
International
- How do we activate a Care-based paradigm shift within the social, cultural, organizational, and economic differences of East-West economies?
- What philosophical, cultural, social, political, and economic differences influence the development of caring organizations across the globe?
- How might different management, work and scholarly traditions play out, or influence, the development of management education and learning across different cultures and societies in the developing of caring organizations?
- How might globalization and migration impact the development of globally-based caring organizational cultures and strategies?
- How do different cultural values and traditions express themselves in terms of care?
Bibliography
Berkman, L. F., O. Buxton, et al. (2010). "Managers' Practices Related to Work-Family Balance Predict Employee Cardiovascular Risk and Sleep Duration in Extended Care Settings." Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 15(3): 316-329.
Burud, S. and N. Tumolo (2004). Leveraging the New Human Capital. Mountain View, California, Davies-Black.
Cabrera, E. F. (2007). "Opting Out and Opting In: Understanding the Complexities of Women's Career Transitions." Career Development International 12(3): 218-237.
Cabrera, E. F. (2009). "Fixing the Leaky Pipeline: Five Ways to Retain Female Talent." People & Strategy 32(1): 40-45.
Desvaux, G., S. Devillard-Hoellinger, et al. (2007). Women Matter: Gender diversity, a corporate performance drive, McKinsy & Company in global partnership with Women's Forum for the Economy & Society.
Dolan, S. L. (2010). "Managing and Coaching by Values." Effective Executive (A special Issue on the Pursuit of Excellence) 13(9): 14-20.
Dolan, S. L., S. Garcia, et al. (2006). Managing by Values: Corporate Guide to living, being alive and making a living in the 21st century. London, Palgrave-Macmillan.
Dutton, J. (2003). Energize Your Workplace. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.
Eisler, R. (2007). The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics. San Francisco, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Eisler, R. (2009b). Putting Human Back in the Business Equation: Creating a Caring Economics. San Francisco.
Gagliardi, P. (1986). "The Creation and Change of Organizational Cultures: A Conceptual Framework." Organization Studies 7(2): 117-134.
Isen, A. (1987). ""Positive Affect, Cognitive Processes, and Social Behavior"." ADvances in Experimental Social Psychology 20: 203-253.
Kawamura, K., J. Wirtenberg, et al. (2010). A Caring Manifesto. The Caring Economics Project, Center for Partnership Studies.
Noddings, N. (2003). Caring: a feminine approach to ethics and moral education. Berkeley, University of California Press.
Pfeffer, J. (1994). Competitive Advantage through People. Boston, Harvard Business School Press.
Pfeffer, J. (1998). The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First. Boston, Harvard Business School Press.
Porter, M. E. and M. R. Kramer (2011). "Creating Shared Value." Harvard Business Review January-February.
Preidt, R. (2010). "Recession may be changing American's attitudes toward work." Executive Health. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/644692.html.
Raich, M. and S. L. Dolan (2008). Beyond: Business and Society in Transformation. London, Palgrave-Macmillan.
Shapiro, M., C. Ingols, et al. (2009). "Canaries in the Mine Shaft: Women Signaling a New Career Model." People & Strategy 32(3): 52-59.
Twomey, D. F., R. F. Twomey, et al. (2010). "Human Values & Sustainability." People & Strategy 33(1): 52-59.
Contact Information
Kristine Marin Kawamura, PhD
Associate Professor
Centre for Advancing International Management
St. George's University
Grenada, West Indies
Direct location: Claremont, CA
Direct cell: (1) 310 567 7603