Reframing knowledge brokering as a lever for dynamic capabilities: Early insights into a business process outsourcing company in Mauritius

The purpose of this study is to expand the current conceptualisation of knowledge brokering and consider how it can be used as a lever for dynamic capabilities within the specific context of a business process outsourcing company based in Mauritius. In spite of the increasing phenomenon, there is a lack of understanding around knowledge brokering and no established strategic approach to deploy knowledge brokering process across the functional areas of organisations. Though practiced haphazardly in organisations, managers and employees are unaware that they are engaged in knowledge brokering activities. The rationale of this study therefore lies in the exploration of the subject to better understand its key concepts so as to bring more lucidity and structure to knowledge brokering in organisations. This study begins with a critical review of the existing literature by unpacking the concepts of knowledge brokering and establishes its links to dynamic capabilities leading to the development of a conceptual framework which represent the main theoretical contribution of the study. The framework is used as an analytical lens to investigate knowledge brokering as a lever for dynamic capabilities in a business process outsourcing company in Mauritius. To this effect, a methodology rooted in social constructionism was developed and adopts a case-based approach to the empirical work. The methodology used for this study was represented in the form of triangulation over a range of qualitative methods and analytical techniques so as to have a more in-depth exploration and clearer understanding of the phenomenon surrounding knowledge brokering and dynamic capabilities leading to more robust set of results. A first round of unstructured interviews was carried out with eighteen knowledge brokers alongside the analysis of documentary evidence. The second phase consisted of semi-structured interviews with eight knowledge brokers to deepened understanding of some of the themes identified in Phase 1. The last phase of the multi method qualitative process took shape of a confirmatory focus group to validate the framework. The key findings suggested that sensing, the ability to identify opportunities and seizing these openings do not play a significant part of Ceridian HCM Inc. Mauritius, but rather that of North America. As much as technology supports the business in responding promptly to customers’ demands, it also acts as a disruptor constantly putting the employees and senior managers under stress. Ceridian’s Learning Academy has been able to keep at par with competition in developing the talent needed in general computing skills, however not very successful in the wake of artificial intelligence skills which is an imperative requirement for this industry. On the basis of the findings and conclusion, an operational framework has been developed so as to address the key issues arising from this research, thereby accounting for propositions to institutionalise knowledge brokering at Ceridian HCM Inc Mauritius. This thesis has contributed to theory by merging two standalone subjects into a conceptual framework which has been validated for operationalisation within Ceridian and similar business settings. This research also represents a premiere within the high middle-income countries in the southern hemisphere with focus in the outsourcing sector which has not been researched till date

Gendering the New Security Paradigm in Sri Lanka

This article points to the significant military turn that has taken place in Sri Lanka following the armed conflict between the Sri Lanka government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It is particularly concerned with the impacts on gender relations and how the lines between women's insecurity and militarised masculinity have been redrawn and reinforced. It argues that these gender relations can be seen in sharp relief in the country's Free Trade Zones, where young rural women in the garment industry and young rural men who join the military meet, and where features of transnational labour, violence against women, law and the state combine to reinforce globalisation and militarisation as the twin rationalities upon which national security regimes and the global order rest today. The article discusses resistances to this paradigm, and assesses their successes and failures in the context of how security is currently marketed as a public good and militarism as a path to the ‘good life’. It concludes by pointing to how these constructions have elicited consent on the part of a significant segment of Sri Lankan society to the militarisation of its society as a whole

Sectarian socialism: the politics of Sri Lanka's Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)

This paper explores the politics of Sri Lanka's Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in the post-1994 period, when it re-created itself as a mainstream parliamentary political party and came to play a critical role in the collapse of the 2001–2004 peace process. The fundamental analytical enigma of the JVP lies in explaining its hybrid Marxist/Sinhala nationalist persona, which enabled it to craft a highly effective campaign of opposition to the Ranil Wickremasinghe government's two-track agenda of peace with market reforms. This paper examines how the JVP's Marxism relates to its Sinhala nationalism, and how it fits within the Sri Lanka's Marxist tradition as a whole. It argues that the JVP's increasing emphasis on Sinhala nationalism post-1999 has occurred in the context of de-radicalisation and parliamentary habilitation, and discusses the relevance of its ideological orientation to the material basis of Sinhala nationalism and its relationship with the social democratic state

Taking liberties and making liberty: religious bounding and political violence in Sri Lanka

This paper argues that the relationship between religion and violent politics is best understood through a focus on religious practice. The case study of the Tamil Catholic Church within Sri Lanka’s civil war is presented against a back- drop of Buddhist monk participation in violent insurgency decades earlier. The discrete cases evidence a common preoccupation with management of physical borders and discursive boundaries as actors seek to reproduce themselves and their work as legitimately ‘religious’. Despite relying on remaining ‘pure’ from the dirty political realm, in practice religion is bound to social action and reproduced through the violent circumstances it engages