Climbing out of organisational depression: culture change project after a toxic leadership episode

The thesis aims to offer a culturally sensitive analysis of a culture change intervention undertaken in a Polish subsidiary of a North American Pharmaceutical corporation. This is achieved by first of all examining the context in which the initiative was undertaken and subsequently the many facets of its development and implementation. More specifically, the thesis investigates the underlying assumptions of the cultural intervention, its design and implementation, as well as the experiences and perceptions of different organisation members regarding it. The findings come from a longitudinal qualitative study. The data collection methods comprise eighty five semi-structured interviews, photo and word collages, observation and documentary analysis. Based on a constructivist ontology and interpretivist epistemology, the study pays special attention to the storied version of organisational reality as narrated by different participants. The study extends the previous work on the topic by offering insights into a relatively under-explored context of a traumatised Eastern European organisation which attempted to climb out of organisational depression by reinvigorating and promoting its long standing values. The study illustrates how the local situateness of the organisation, such as the communist history of the country, and the changes in the Polish political arena, affected the way participants perceived attempts at cultural manipulation. Furthermore, the thesis discusses how cultural interventions can perpetuate organisational delusion without necessarily leading to the desired behavioural changes. Finally, the findings highlight the instrumentality with which the espoused organisational values are approached and responded to by different organisational actors. To this end, the thesis puts forward the notion of the political reengineering of values to discuss how organisation members, both the agents and targets of change, can creatively engage in the official discourse to promote their individual or group interests

Interlingual translation and the transfer of value-infused practices: an in-depth qualitative exploration

Against the background of a marked lack of studies exploring the role of language and more particularly interlingual translation in the travel of ideas and practices across organisational contexts, this article provides an analysis of an attempt by a group of managers to translate a set of corporate values into Polish from English. The findings reported serve to demonstrate the relevance of such translation processes to the transfer of knowledge and practices within multinationals. By prompting sensemaking around a value-laden text, the studied translation exercise is shown to have encouraged discussions around understandings of local needs and preferred meanings which served to trigger debates and reflections around local identity and affinities with the parent company. In doing so, it provided a ‘situated platform’ through which participants exercised a collective agency aimed at establishing what were perceived to constitute appropriate and productive accommodations between local and extra-local pressures. At the same time, the translation is shown to have been very much shaped by material interests and priorities, notably the performance expectations embedded in the subsidiary’s relationship with its parent. As a result, care needs to be taken not to overstate the role of such translations in facilitating locally driven cultural adaptations

Micropolitical dynamics of interlingual translation processes in an MNC subsidiary

An analysis of the process whereby a Polish subsidiary of a North American pharmaceutical company translated a set of corporate values into Polis

Implementing the equality, diversity, and inclusion agenda in multinational companies: A framework for the management of (linguistic) diversity

Advancing, both conceptually and practically, the equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) agenda, which is notoriously difficult to implement, this paper addresses the under-researched area of global diversity management (GDM) in multinational companies (MNCs). Drawing on Harrison and Klein’s (2007) conceptualisations of diversity (separation, variety, and disparity) and two core concepts (fluidity and reciprocity) that reflect recent developments in the EDI literature, we propose a two-step framework for implementing the EDI agenda through GDM. We argue that to achieve inclusion, we first need to think differently about diversity and differences (i.e. view diversity in a positive light and recognise and appreciate diffe­rences as fluid), in order to act differently (i.e. promote reciprocal effort to leverage diversity). We illustrate our framework with the specific case of linguistic diversity, a diversity dimension that is particularly salient, but also often neglected in MNCs, and discuss the implications of the proposed framework for EDI theory as well as HRM policies and practice

Ethics in qualitative research

In this chapter, we explore a number of ethical questions and ethical dilemmas that can arise at different stages of the research process. Rather than attempting to provide an answer to these or a full overview of the ethical issues encountered by researchers, we aim to sensitize the reader to some of the complexities involved in trying to do qualitative research in an ethically sensitive manner. We see ethics not as a uniform set of rules or a formal institutional requirement but rather as an integral element of research praxis. We therefore consider a number of ethical questions that are likely to arise at different stages of the research process and alert the reader to some ethically important moments that they might encounter. We start by looking at some ethical questions linked to the research design. We then turn to discussing ethical challenges associated with negotiating access, trying to obtain informed consent from participants as well as maintaining and managing relationships with them. We conclude by discussing ethical issues in relation to data presentation

The micropolitical dynamics of interlingual translation processes in an MNC subsidiary

Drawing on a deep single case study of a Polish subsidiary of a US‐headquartered pharmaceutical multinational company (MNC), the paper contributes to the study of power and politics in international business (IB) by advancing understanding of the interactional and processual dynamics of micropolitics in MNCs, which supplements the current dominant actor‐centred approach. The paper advances understanding of translation in IB by demonstrating how interlingual translation can be deliberately used as a management tool to pre‐empt resistance and promote managerially desired attitudes and behaviours at the subsidiary level. It highlights how hitherto largely ignored processes of interlingual translation provide an important internal forum for the exercise of power and micropolitics. The paper puts forward an emergent model of the micropolitical dynamics of interlingual translation and demonstrates how subsidiary managers can use interlingual translation to support and oppose the views of both corporate and local managerial colleagues, and thereby influence how HQ‐level decisions will be received by subsidiary‐level employees

Specyfika zajęć umuzykalniających dla studentów kierunków pedagogicznych

The author deals with the phenomenon of aesthetic education in pedagogy with a special focus on education through music. By describing musical education for pedagogy students she emphasises the role of singing as the simplest form of music. She considers the acquisition of the skill of playing musical instruments as developing musical abilities and making the classes more attractive. Movement to music is treated as a multi-functional education helping also in a better perception of a musical piece. Improvisation is treated as a means of developing musical imagination and as a form which shows the students’ potential in the best way and, hence, enables the teacher to treat students individually. The article contains a number of suggestions and conclusions concerning the ways of conducting classes. There are also practical tips for students as well as for teachers

Inspiracje folklorem w twórczości Jana Gawlasa : charakterystyka wybranych utworów

The following paper is devoted to Jan Gawlas – an instrumentalist, teacher, social activist, and, first and foremost, a composer. The author focuses on his artistic achievements inspired by folklore. Tracing his sources of interest with this sphere of music, she points to the composer’s multi-aspectual links with the Cieszyn region (mainly) and Upper Silesia. She analysed selected pieces of music written for an a cappella mixed choir in terms of their melodic-rhythmic, harmonic and textual structure. She identified folk sources and showed the extent to which the artist drew on these while developing his own composing technique. Finally, she compiled and summed up his vocal and vocalinstrumental works based on folklore