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A new issue of Human Relations is available online: Human Relations January 2017; 70(1) − we hope you enjoy reading these articles.
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JANUARY ISSUE ARTICLES
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Social relations in and around work
Nick Turner
Human Relations, January 2017, 70(1): 3‒6
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/70/1/3?etoc
Professor Nick Turner (University of Calgary, Canada) considers the past, present and future of 'social relations in and around work' at Human Relations as he prepares to begin his term as Editor-in-Chief.
Human Relations Paper of the Year 2016 Award
Human Relations, January 2017, 70(1): 7
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/70/1/7?etoc
The Human Relations Paper of the Year Award is given to the article that the Editorial Team considers best encapsulates broad readership appeal, sound methods, and whose theory advances our understanding of human relations at work.
The editors looked at all the articles published in the 69th volume before arriving at a shortlist of nine nominated articles for consideration for the 2016 Paper of the Year Award. These shortlisted articles covered a very wide variety of topics and methods, and the editors read all nine articles carefully before scoring each. Total scores for each nomination revealed a clear winner... [read more]
Themed content: A realist critique of meta-analysis in Organization and Management Studies:
A realist alternative to meta-analysis: Two papers
Paul K Edwards
Human Relations, January 2017, 70(1): 8‒10
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/70/1/8?etoc
Abstract
Meta-analysis (the statistical combination of a set of studies in a given area, with the aim of establishing an overall or average effect of something) is increasingly common in work and organization studies. Critiques of meta-analysis are now common. There is also a well-known alternative based in realism. The purpose in bringing together the two papers by Nielsen and Miraglia and by Vincent and colleagues is not to rehearse the critiques or simply explain realism or realist evaluation. The two papers certainly perform these functions in setting out problems with meta-analysis and also identifying when and to what extent it remains valid. The goal, however, is to move forward by showing what a realist synthesis would look like and illustrating how it works. Vincent and colleagues lay out the principles, while Nielsen and Miraglia take the case of intervention studies to show how realist evaluation works.
Critical Essay: Meta-analysis: A critical realist critique and alternative
Matthew J Brannan, Steve Fleetwood, Joe O'Mahoney, and Steve Vincent
Human Relations, January 2017, 70(1): 11‒39
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/70/1/11?etoc
Abstract
Meta-analysis has proved increasingly popular in management and organization studies as a way of combining existing empirical quantitative research to generate a statistical estimate of how strongly variables are associated. Whilst a number of studies identify technical, procedural and practical limitations of meta-analyses, none have yet tackled the meta-theoretical flaws in this approach. We deploy critical realist meta-theory to argue that the individual quantitative studies, upon which meta-analysis relies, lack explanatory power because they are rooted in quasi-empiricist meta-theory. This problem, we argue, is carried over in meta-analyses. We then propose a 'critical realist synthesis' as a potential alternative to the use of meta-analysis in organization studies and social science more widely.
What works for whom in which circumstances? On the need to move beyond the 'what works?' question in organizational intervention research
Karina Nielsen and Mariella Miraglia
Human Relations, January 2017, 70(1): 40‒62
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/70/1/40?etoc
Abstract
A debate has arisen out of the need to understand true intervention outcomes in the social sciences. Traditionally, the randomized, controlled trial that answers the question of 'what works' has been considered the gold standard. Although randomized, controlled trials have been favoured in organizational intervention research, there has been an increasing interest in understanding the influence of context and intervention processes on the outcomes of such interventions. In the present critical essay, we question the suitability of trials and meta-analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of organizational interventions and we suggest that realist evaluation that seeks to answer the questions of what works for whom in which circumstances may present a more suitable framework. We argue that examining the content and process mechanisms through which organizational interventions are effective, and the conditions under which these are triggered, will enable us to better understand how interventions achieve the desired outcomes of improved employee health and well-being. We suggest that organizational intervention content and process mechanisms may help bring about the desired outcomes of improved employee health and well-being and that contextual factors determine whether these mechanisms are triggered.
Non-themed content:
Microfinance and the business of poverty reduction: Critical perspectives from rural Bangladesh
Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee and Laurel Jackson
Human Relations, January 2017, 70(1): 63‒91
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/70/1/63?etoc
Abstract
In this article we provide a critical analysis of the role of market-based approaches to poverty reduction in developing countries. In particular, we analyse the role of microfinance in poverty alleviation by conducting an ethnographic study of three villages in Bangladesh. Microfinance has become an increasingly popular approach that aims to alleviate poverty by providing the poor new opportunities for entrepreneurship. It also aims to promote empowerment (especially among women) while enhancing social capital in poor communities. Our findings, however, reflect a different picture. We found microfinance led to increasing levels of indebtedness among already impoverished communities and exacerbated economic, social and environmental vulnerabilities. Our findings contribute to the emerging literature on the role of social capital in developing entrepreneurial capabilities in poor communities by highlighting processes whereby social capital can be undermined by market-based measures like microfinance.
Reputation and identity conflict in management consulting
William S Harvey, Timothy Morris, and Milena Müller Santos
Human Relations, January 2017, 70(1): 92‒118
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/70/1/92?etoc
Abstract
Based on a case study of a large consulting firm, this article makes two contributions to the literature on reputation and identity by examining how an organization responds when its identity is substantially misaligned with the experience and perceptions of external stakeholders that form the basis of reputational judgments. First, rather than triggering some form of identity adaptation, it outlines how other forms of identity can come into play to remediate this gap, buffering the organization's identity from change. This shift to other individual identities is facilitated by a low organizational identity context even when the identity of the firm is coherent and strong. The second contribution concerns the conceptualization of consulting and other professional service firms. We explain how reputation and identity interact in the context of the distinctive organizational features of these firms. Notably, their loosely coupled structure and the central importance of expert knowledge claims enable individual consultants both to reinforce and supplement corporate reputation via individual identity work.
The impact of stereotypes and supervisor perceptions of employee work–family conflict on job performance ratings
Andrew Li, Jessica Bagger, and Russell Cropanzano
Human Relations, January 2017, 70(1): 119‒145
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/70/1/119?etoc
Abstract
We draw on gender role theory to examine the relationships among employee-rated work–family conflict, supervisor perceptions of employee work–family conflict, employee gender and supervisor-rated job performance. We found that the relationship between employee-rated work–family conflict and supervisor perceptions of employee conflict varied based on both employee gender and the direction of conflict under consideration. Specifically, the relationship between the two rating sources (employee and supervisor) was stronger for male employees when conflict was considered. However, the relationship between the two rating sources was stronger for female employees when family-to-work conflict was considered. Supervisor perceptions of employee work–family conflict were negatively related to employee job performance ratings. More generally, we found support for a moderated mediation model such that the relationship between employee-rated work–family conflict and job performance was mediated by supervisor perceptions of employee work–family conflict, and the effect was moderated by employee gender. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
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DECEMBER FREE ACCESS ARTICLE
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Free to access until 31 December 2016:
What is the relationship between long working hours, over-employment, under-employment and the subjective well-being of workers? Longitudinal evidence from the UK
David Angrave and Andy Charlwood
Human Relations September 2015 68: 1491‒1515, first published on March 26, 2015 doi:10.1177/0018726714559752
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/68/9/1491.full.pdf+html
Abstract
Are long working hours, over-employment and under-employment associated with a reduction in subjective well-being? If they are, is the association long or short-lasting? This article answers these questions through within-person analysis of a nationally representative longitudinal survey from the United Kingdom. The results suggest that long working hours do not directly affect subjective well-being, but in line with theories of person–environment fit, both over-employment and under-employment are associated with lower subjective well-being. However, over-employment is more likely for those who work the longest hours. The duration of the subjective well-being penalty associated with over-employment and under-employment is typically short, but subjective well-being levels tend to remain depressed for those who remain over-employed for two years or more. Results imply that state and organizational policies that reduce the incidence of long hours working are likely to enhance aggregate well-being levels.
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RECENT ONLINE FIRST PREVIEW ARTICLES
Access all OnlineFirst articles here: http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/recent
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FREE ACCESS for a limited period in association with the press release below:
Work–life management in legal prostitution: Stigma and lockdown in Nevada's brothels
Sarah Jane Blithe and Anna Wiederhold Wolfe
Human Relations 0018726716674262, published online before print December 6, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726716674262
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/11/16/0018726716674262?papetoc
Abstract
Across occupations, people contend with the difficult task of managing time between their work and other aspects of life. Previous research on stigmatized industries has suggested that so-called 'dirty workers' experience extreme identity segmentation between these two realms because they tend to cope with their occupational stigma by placing distance between their work and personal lives. Through a qualitative study of Nevada's legal brothel industry, this article focuses on the prevalence of boundary segmentation as a dominant work–life management practice for dirty workers. Our analysis suggests that work–life boundaries are disciplined by legal mythologies and ambiguities surrounding worker restrictions, occupational ideologies of 'work now, life later,' and perceived and experienced effects of community-based stigma. These legal, occupational and community constructs ultimately privilege organizations' and external communities' interests, while individual dirty workers carry the weight of stigma.
brothels
Press release:
Work‒life laws and policies are put in place primarily to protect workers. However, for legal prostitutes working in Nevada's brothels these law and policies are instead geared towards brothel and community interests, finds a new study published in the journal Human Relations.
Generally speaking, work‒life laws and policies do not apply uniformly across occupations, leaving some legal workers without access to a wide range of strategies for managing boundaries between work and nonwork time. The researchers explain how, "most work‒life laws exist primarily for two reasons: (1) to protect and benefit workers or (2) to protect communities. Work‒life laws for legal prostitutes largely emerged from this later tradition."
One of the main work policies that the researchers explored was the lockdown which prevents prostitutes from leaving brothels after 5pm, unless they are on their day off, which they generally have to take out of town. The researchers discovered that lockdown helps brothels to stay "below the sagebrush", i.e. keep prostitutes hidden.
"Unlike most work‒life regulations, which protect workers from exploitation and the community from accidents related to overwork, lockdown regulations primarily benefit the brothels [...] Brothels also benefit from keeping prostitutes out of the limelight because they are able to continue their business without visibly going against the moral expectations of the surrounding communities."
As so call 'dirty workers' Nevada's legal prostitutes also carry the weight of the stigma associated with their positions, which negatively affects them in the community. A key example of this was given by one of the prostitutes interviewed who explained her own experience of trying to secure a car loan:
"I tried to lease a super basic Audi . . . And they were like, 'We can't give it to you.' And I was like, 'I make 20 grand plus a month and you're telling me you can't give me a loan? A 20 grand loan . . . They want your proof of income. And it comes from here . . . And I was automatically denied.'"
These prostitutes, through the process of coping with both occupation-based stigma and work‒life laws and regulations, have to deal with a complicated work‒life arrangement, as the researchers concluded: "Individual prostitutes take on the occupational stigma and unfair work‒life laws and regulations while brothel and community interests are privileged."
Whistle-blowing and the politics of truth: Mobilizing 'truth games' in the WikiLeaks case
Iain Munro
Human Relations 0018726716672721, first published on December 1, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726716672721
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/11/22/0018726716672721?papetoc
Abstract
This article investigates the role of 'truth' as an object of contention within organizations, with specific reference to the 'politics of truth' in the WikiLeaks case. For an empirical illustration of a 'truth game', this article draws on varied accounts of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing website. The article shows how different 'truth games' are mobilized by different organizational actors engaged in a politics of truth. The article demonstrates the existence of different truth games at work in the WikiLeaks case. It shows WikiLeaks' profound challenge to hegemonic games of truth in terms of a 'networked parhessia', which entails a radical transformation of the process of truth-telling in support of whistle-blowers and in pursuit of an explicitly emancipatory, anarchist political agenda. Networked parhessia provides a new infrastructure to enable a 'parhessia of the governed'. This article demonstrates how WikiLeaks is of singular importance as a case study of organizational resistance in the way it moves beyond micropolitical acts of resistance, such as whistle-blowing, towards an engagement with wider political struggles.
Who gets to lead the multinational team? An updated status characteristics perspective
Minna Paunova
Human Relations 0018726716678469, published online before print November 22, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726716678469
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/11/21/0018726716678469?papetoc
Abstract
This article examines the emergence of informal leadership in multinational teams. Building on and extending status characteristics theory, the article proposes and tests a model that describes how global inequalities reproduce in multinational teams, and accounts for who gets to lead these teams. It is argued that an individual's language (i.e. a specific status characteristic) and nationality (i.e. a diffuse status characteristic) predict deference received from peers (i.e. leadership status). However, individuals enhance and/or compensate for the effects of their status characteristics by virtue of their core self-evaluations. A study of over 230 individuals from 46 nationalities working in 36 self-managing teams generally supports the expected main and moderation effects. Individual core self-evaluations enhance an otherwise weak effect of English proficiency, but compensate for low levels of national development. The article concludes with implications for practice, and linking micro- and macro-level theories of status and global inequality.
A femininity that 'giveth and taketh away':
The prosperity gospel and postfeminism in the neoliberal economy
Katie Rose Sullivan and Helen Delaney
Human Relations 0018726716676322, published online before print November 21, 2016, doi:10.1177/0018726716676322 http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/11/18/0018726716676322?papetoc
Abstract
This article explores how postfeminist and prosperity gospel discourses intersect in an organizational context to produce a particular ideal of feminine subjectivity that reproduces a neoliberal agenda. We focus on narratives written by female national vice presidents in a multi-national network marketing organization headquartered in America. Network marketing tends to attract a vast number of women who are enticed by grand messages of material and spiritual riches; however, such messages are often at odds with the precarious and uncertain working conditions. We contribute to gender and organization scholarship by introducing the concept of evangelical entrepreneurial femininity to explore the tensions and demands that are placed on women in an organizational context where postfeminism and prosperity gospel discourses intersect. In doing so, we question the expectations and constraints that many working women negotiate in this neoliberal age of alleged 'freedom' and 'equality,' and raise a number of concerns for feminist critique.
Ethnic discrimination during résumé screening:
Interactive effects of applicants' ethnic salience with job context
Eva Derous, Roland Pepermans, and Ann Marie Ryan
Human Relations 0018726716676537, published online before print November 21, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726716676537
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/11/18/0018726716676537?papetoc
Abstract
Systematic research considering job context as affecting ethnic discrimination in hiring is limited. Building on contemporary literature on social categorization and cognitive matching, the interactive effect of context characteristics (client contact; industry status) and person characteristics (i.e. ethnic cues: Maghreb/Arab vs Flemish-sounding name; dark vs light skin tone) were investigated using an experimental field study among 424 white majority HR professionals. Findings showed that equally qualified applicants with a dark skin tone received lower job suitability ratings than applicants with a light skin tone, particularly when they were screened for high client contact/low industry status positions and low client contact/high industry status positions. It is concluded that some ethnic cues (such as skin tone) may be more salient compared with other cues and that job context may influence the salience of ethnic cues and steer hiring discrimination in subtle ways. Implications of these findings for hiring discrimination research and organizations are discussed.
Not all brokers are alike: Creative implications of brokering networks in different work functions
Diego Stea and Torben Pedersen
Human Relations 0018726716672921, first published on November 21, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726716672921
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/11/18/0018726716672921?papetoc
Abstract
Brokers are expected to be more creative than employees embedded in closed social structures because they occupy a position in the social space that provides them with access to non-redundant knowledge. However, the extant research provides partly inconsistent findings on the creative implications of brokerage, which raises important questions about when and how brokering between otherwise disconnected colleagues leads to individual creativity. We advance the relational perspective on individual creativity by adopting a contingency view, and showing that a curvilinear (inverted U-shape) specification of the relationship between brokerage and creativity applies particularly when brokers work in research and development, as they are more likely to intensively exploit their structural opportunities. In addition, we show that brokers who work in research and development are more sensitive to work environments that protect their cognitive resources, such that they exhibit greater creativity when the work environment is free from environmental stressors, such as noise and disturbances. Thus, environmental stressors are particularly harmful for those employees who are most likely to exploit the opportunity to broker across otherwise disconnected colleagues.
Authentic leadership in context:
An analysis of banking CEO narratives during the global financial crisis
Helena Liu, Leanne Cutcher, and David Grant
Human Relations 0018726716672920, first published on November 18, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726716672920
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/11/16/0018726716672920?papetoc
Abstract
The concept of authentic leadership rose to prominence through its idealization as an inherently moral and universally desirable trait. We problematize this romantic notion by exploring how the 'authenticity' of the CEOs of four major Australian banks was discursively constructed before and during the global financial crisis (GFC). Using multimodal discourse analysis of media texts, we show how what it meant to be an 'authentic leader' was co-constructed differently by the CEOs and the media. We also highlight the dynamic nature of context, where the GFC was variously framed by and for each of the CEOs. Our study challenges the acontextual notion of authentic leadership by showing how a discursively constructed context can reinforce or undermine leaders' narratives of authenticity.
Beneath the white gaze: Strategic self-Orientalism among Chinese Australians
Helena Liu
Human Relations 0018726716676323, first published on November 14, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726716676323
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/11/08/0018726716676323?papetoc
Abstract
This article analyses the ethno-cultural identities of Chinese Australian professionals through a postcolonial lens. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 21 participants, it explores how they engaged in self-Orientalism; casting themselves as exotic commodities for the benefit of white people and institutions. In particular, they enacted Chinese stereotypes through 'mythtapping' and 'mythkeeping' in order to secure recognition under the white gaze. As mythtappers, professionals presented themselves as custodians of an ancient and mysterious culture that offered organizational wisdoms for 'the West.' As mythkeepers, the professionals allayed white anxieties by surrendering themselves to white Australians as pathways into their communities. However, the professionals' Orientalized identities are not passively determined, but are in some cases tactically and strategically resisted through 'mythbusting.' The article contributes to postcolonial theorizing by demonstrating how imperialist ideologies constrain the lives of people beyond the colonizer/colonized dichotomy and by illuminating the potential for their resistance against Orientalization.
Is it ok to care?
How compassion falters and is courageously accomplished in the midst of uncertainty
Jason Kanov, Edward H Powley, and Neil D Walshe
Human Relations 0018726716673144, first published on November 14, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726716673144
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/11/08/0018726716673144?papetoc
Abstract
This article elaborates the organizational literature's process theory of compassion – an empathic response to suffering – which falls short of adequately explaining why and how compassion unfolds readily in some workplace situations or settings but not in others. We address this shortcoming by calling attention to the basic uncertainty of suffering and compassion, demonstrating that this uncertainty tends to be particularly pronounced in organizational settings, and presenting propositions that explain how such uncertainty inhibits the compassion process. We then argue that understanding the accomplishment of compassion in the midst of uncertainty necessitates regarding compassion as an enactment of courage, and we incorporate insights from the organizational literature on everyday courageous action into compassion theory. We conclude with a discussion of implications in which we underscore the importance of organizational support for the expression of suffering and the doing of compassion, and we also consider directions for future research.
Power, corruption and lies: Mis-selling and the production of culture in financial services
Matthew J Brannan
Human Relations 0018726716673441, published online before print November 1, 2016, doi: 10.1177/0018726716673441
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/10/12/0018726716673441?papetoc
Abstract
The extent of recent misconduct in retail financial services questions assumptions that mis-selling is perpetrated by rogue traders dealing in sub-prime markets. Yet we know little about the organizational dimensions of mis-selling and specifically how new employees are introduced to and subsequently enact mis-selling behaviour when not explicitly encouraged to do so. This article seeks to understand the mechanics of mis-selling through an ethnographic account of the opening of a new retail financial services call centre, and analysis of the ritual nature of the sales interaction. The study documents the training, induction and initial work of direct sales agents to better understand the complexity, social relations and organization of mis-selling, together with the way in which regulation and management regimes shape sales practice and consequent employee behaviour. The critical analysis of sales rituals allows us to explain how mis-selling becomes embedded in organizational practice and contributes to our understanding of the everydayness of mis-selling in contrast to approaches that focus either on individual decision-making or on cultural explanations.
The relationship of social support with well-being outcomes via work–family conflict:
Moderating effects of gender, dependants and nationality
Suzie Drummond, Michael P O'Driscoll, Paula Brough, Thomas Kalliath, Oi-Ling Siu, Carolyn Timms, Derek Riley, Cindy Sit, and Danny Lo
Human Relations 0018726716662696, first published on November 1, 2016 as doi:10.1177/0018726716662696
http://hum.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/10/12/0018726716662696?papetoc
Abstract
The impact of work–family conflict on well-being outcomes is well established, as is the role of social support in buffering perceptions of conflict. What is less well understood is how these relationships vary for different groups of respondents. Using a two-wave longitudinal design with a 12-month time lag and samples of employees (total N = 2183) from Australia, New Zealand, China and Hong Kong, the present research investigated whether the mediating relationships between social support, work–family conflict and well-being outcomes were moderated by gender, geographical region and the presence of dependants in the household. Supervisor support and family support were associated with lower work–family conflict, and hence reduced psychological strain and increased job and family satisfaction, for women and for employees in China and Hong Kong, but not for employees in Australia and New Zealand. However, the presence of dependants was not a significant moderator. Our findings illustrate the importance of exploring gender and national differences in work–family conflict research, particularly the investigation of cross-domain effects.
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CALLS FOR PAPERS
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Special issue: The changing nature of managerial work – submit by 31 January 2017
http://www.tavinstitute.org/humanrelations/special_issues/Managerial%20work.html
Special issue: Inserting professionals and professional organizations in studies of wrongdoing: The nature, antecedents, and consequences of professional misconduct – submit by 30 April 2017
http://www.tavinstitute.org/humanrelations/special_issues/Professional%20misconduct.html
Human Relations welcomes critical reviews and essays:
- Critical reviews advance a field through new theory, new methods, a novel synthesis of extant evidence, or a combination of two or three of these elements. Reviews that identify new research questions and that make links between management and organizations and the wider social sciences are particularly welcome. Surveys or overviews of a field are unlikely to meet these criteria.
- Critical essays address contemporary scholarly issues and debates within the journal's scope. They are more controversial than conventional papers or reviews, and can be shorter. They argue a point of view, but must meet standards of academic rigour. Anyone with an idea for a critical essay is particularly encouraged to discuss it at an early stage with the Editor-in-Chief.
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WHY PUBLISH IN HUMAN RELATIONS?
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Human Relations is an A* journal – the highest category of quality – in the Australian Business Deans Council (ABCD) Journal Quality List 2013. It is also ranked 4 in the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) Academic Journal Guide 2015 and included in the FT50 list of journals (effective from January 2017) used by the Financial Times in compiling the FT Research rank, included in the Global MBA, EMBA and Online MBA rankings.
Human Relations is a top 5 interdisciplinary social sciences journal (Source: 2015 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters, 2016):
2-year impact factor: 2.619 Ranked: 4/93 in Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary and 37/192 in Management
5-year impact factor: 3.544 Ranked: 2/93 in Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary and 40/192 in Management
Best wishes,
Claire Castle
Managing Editor, Human Relations
Tavistock Institute of Human Relations
Email: c.castle@tavinstitute.org
Twitter: @HR_TIHR
Website: www.humanrelationsjournal.org