Research Identities: Reflections of a Contract Researcher

This paper examines the institutional identity formation of contract research staff in the context of the Taylorisation of research knowledges. The author has been a contract researcher for many years, after initially training and practising as a Probation Officer. She makes links between her social work training, and her current practice as a qualitative researcher. Drawing on her experience of working on a variety of different projects, at a number of different institutions, and providing illustrative examples from projects in sociology, social policy, health, and education, she reflects on the implications of the current social organization of academic research both for professional research practice and for researcher identity. There is a paradox in the way that contract research staff accrue a wealth of experience of how research is organised and conducted in different contexts, a repertoire of skills, and a vast volume of various kinds of \'data\', whilst remaining vulnerable and marginalized figures within the academy, with few opportunities for professional development and advancement. She outlines a number of strategies she has employed in the preservation of the \'research self\', and concludes by suggesting that the academy has much to learn about the effective management of \'waste\', as embodied by researchers\' selves and their data, consequent upon the Taylorisation of research work.Taylorisation; Academic Work; Identities; Qualitative Research; In-Depth Interviews; Reflective Practice

Theories of managerial action and their impact on the conceptualisation of executive careers.

In this paper I outline one of the developments in the social sciences and macro organizational theory that could be of special profit for academic work on careers. I argue that a theory of action perspective is timely because its assumptions fit extremely well with the heterogeneity and lability of today’s structures and the plurality and unpredictability they bring to careers. I suggest there are two basic potential contributions of theories of action to the field of careers. First, they endorse the relevance of the shift in the basic image of managers’ careers, from the analogy of an ascendant trajectory of positions, to that of an idiosyncratic sequence of experiences loosely related to an organisational architecture. Second, they reinforce Weick’s arguments (1996) that careers cannot be conceived of merely as a dependent variable, as just “following” structures. Both contributions spring from a notion of management work in theories of action as essentially local, tactical, and pragmatic, with enacting or social constructionist effects on structure and organizations.executive careers; structure; organizations;

Time, space and constructive capabilities. Translating paradoxical innovation requirements into comprehensive organizational arrangements: a socio-cognitive perspective.

When innovating, interaction is beneficial for (1) exploring problem definition spaces and (2) exploiting them. The social processes in which both activities unfold, display paradoxical characteristics which can be addressed by introducing space and time as (organizational) design variables. Complementary arrangements that connect space and time are needed in order for such organizational forms to be sustainable. Propositions in this respect, which build directly on the specific nature of knowledge creation processes, are elaborated.Characteristics; Design; Innovation; Knowledge; Processes; Requirements; Space; Time; Variables;

Let's Get Organised: Practicing and Valuing Scientific Work Inside and Outside the Laboratory

Over the past thirty years there has been a significant turn towards practice and away from institutions in sociological frameworks for understanding science. This new emphasis on studying \'science in action\' (Latour 1987) and \'epistemic cultures\' (Knorr Cetina 1999) has not been shared by academic and policy literatures on the problem of women and science, which have focused on the marginalisation and under-representation of women in science careers and academic institutions. In this paper we draw on elements of both these approaches to think about epistemic communities as simultaneously practical and organisational. We argue that an understanding of organisational structures is missing in science studies, and that studies of the under-representation of women lack attention to the detail of how scientific work is done in practice. Both are necessary to understand the gendering of science work. Our arguments are based on findings of a qualitative study of bioscience researchers in a British university. Conducted as part of a European project on knowledge production, institutions and gender the UK study involved interviews, focus groups and participant observation in two laboratories. Drawing on extracts from our data we look first at laboratories as relatively unhierarchical communities of practice. We go on to show the ways in which institutional forces, particularly contractual insecurity and the linear career, work to reproduce patterns of gendered inequality. Finally, we analyse how these patterns shape the gendered value and performance of \'housekeeping work\' in the laboratory.Women, Science, Laboratory, Epistemic Community, Organisation, Value, Work, Career, Housekeeping

Moving on in academia : exploring the career experiences of professors at a UK university

This study was aimed at providing a better understanding of academic socialisation. Informed by a biographical research approach, the study explored the career experiences of 12 professors from 12 academic departments at a UK university through a series of indepth, semi-structured qualitative interviewing interviews, documentary analysis and a literature review. It set out to highlight how the academics in the study reflexively construct their academic identities and to provide some answers to the question: What is the history of how people have come to be professors? This study suggests that the transformation of these individuals' identities as academics was the outcome of active participation in various communities of practice throughout their careers. Academics continuously learn to position themselves within the various communities of practice that they choose to participate in. The professors' career stories reveal how they make sense and negotiate their identities as academics through accommodating with the power relations, ideology, cultures and ways embedded within the communities of practice of which they are members. Instead of looking at academics as passive participants, the findings provide evidence of individuals' voluntarism and agency in constructing their academic identities. This study contributes to the continuing discussion on academic socialisation through describing the experiences of academics moving through different stages in their careers. The in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviewing approach offers a fuller appreciation of the challenges and opportunities involved in academic socialisation. Demystifying the career experiences of academics may benefit others in academia in navigating their future career undertakings

Employability and career identity: Chilean male middle-aged middle managers' narratives of career

The dynamism and unpredictability of current social and economic conditions present a particular challenge for mature workers who tend to consider work as one of the main sources of their identity. The challenge is perhaps even more profound for those, such as managers, who are expected to be active agents in managing their own careers.The relationship between the self and organisations in the changing work context is the main focus of this study. The concept of career identity is explored and its relationship with employability discussed in light of evidence from a study of middle-aged, middle managers in three industries in Chile.A mixed methods approach commenced with an initial mapping of the objective aspects of career by means of a questionnaire survey. This was followed by interviews using a narrative approach which allowed access to the sensemaking process individuals develop to construct and inform their identities at work.The findings indicate that Chilean middle-aged middle managers' careers tend to unfold in single organisational settings, with high tenure and low expected mobility. Age and mobility are related to both perception of employability and the attitudes and behaviours leading to employability. Mature workers with stable careers appear less employable than younger and more mobile workers. The dominant narrative or 'career script' in the population studied, is the traditional one that stresses notions of continuity and progression in a more or less predictable sequence of stages leading to positions with higher status and social recognition.In this study, career identity is conceptualised as a dynamic aggregate of descriptors that individuals ascribed to themselves at work. A complex identity that includes a large set of characteristics, a variety of future possible selves and different objects of identification in a flexible interplay, closer to personal identities and to processes rather than to groups, seems to be a key antecedent of the career behaviour leading to employability. Work history, specifically diversity of work experience and social connections, plays a significant role in complexity of career identity.Since participants tend to stress collective values, work stability and the membership to social groups, such as industries and firms, there might be a risk of narrow career identity, reduced mobility real and expected, and low employability. However, a new notion of career is just emerging which decouple identity from organisations and promote independence in the labour market.A typology of four career stories was constructed, which depicts a particular configuration of career identity and sensemaking of careers. Their implications in career behaviour are explored.Current work conditions open up new opportunities to exercise choice, however, in the light of the current findings they might imply also lack of references and sense of insecurity for an important group of the working population. The potential implications of these findings for middle-aged workers' employability are explored and propositions for both theory and practice are suggested

Making sense in testing times : a narrative analysis of organisational change & learning

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Future school services, 'Global Solutions' : ESRC Seminar 4 Proceedings

Publisher PD

Managing spoiled identities: dirty workers' struggles for a favourable sense of self

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how a group of dirty workers, that is, exotic dancers employed in a gentlemen's club, engage in identity construction amidst various macro, meso and micro considerations. Design/methodology/approach – This study adopts a social constructivist approach in exploring the stories of a group of 21 dancers employed at a chain of exotic dancing clubs in the UK, For Your Eyes Only. Findings – Identity construction is a complex process whereby dancers struggle to secure a positive sense of self among the various resources they encounter. The findings focus upon the processes of distancing through projecting disgust upon clients, other dancers and other clubs. Dancers do this to minimize the stigma associated with their own identities and position themselves in a more favourable light to others. In doing this, dancers construct a variety of identity roles for themselves and “others.” This process of distancing also results in the construction of a hierarchy of stigmatization whereby dancers categorize motivations for dancing, type of dancing and type of clubs to rationalize the work they perform and manage their spoiled identities. Practical implications – The stories of these dancers illustrate the messy nature of identity construction for dirty workers. In turn, it also illuminates how a better understanding of the complexity of identity construction for exotic dancers can offer insights transferable to other dirty work occupations and organizations in general. Originality/value – The paper provides an indepth look at an occupational site that is relatively unexplored in organization studies and thus makes a unique empirical contribution. It also offers a more comprehensive theoretical lens for understanding identity construction and dirty workers

Organisational practices and social inclusion:Inclusionary place‐making in the library

Social psychology has long been concerned with social exclusion. Much of this interest has focused on people's negative intergroup attitudes and how these may be changed through individual-level interventions. In this paper we explore a different level of intervention – one that targets the routine organisational practices that communicate who is welcome and able to draw on the organisation's services. Specifically, we investigate how a public-facing organisation—a library service—engaged in a process of self-reflection on its routine social practices with the aim of making people experiencing various forms of exclusion (e.g., job seekers, benefit claimants, ethnic minorities) more welcome. Our data arise from interviews (N = 19) with staff concerning their attempts to transform the practices that constitute the library as a distinctive public place. Throughout, we explore how they reflected on their everyday organisational practices, how these may unintentionally exclude, and how they could be modified to facilitate social inclusion. Moreover, we pay particular attention to our participants' understanding of the challenges involved in changing organisational culture and creating a social space in which diversity is accepted