Interpersonal dynamics: a communitarian perspective

Conventional theories of power within organisations focus on the extent to which one party can impose their will on others through social influence. Discussion of the way that same-sex and opposite-sex attraction impacts on the workplace is rarely theorised either because it is considered uncivilised or taboo. Investigations are also hampered by resistance amongst research participants even when care is taken to establish mixed groups from different organisations. As a result, holistic theories of management control that take account of sexual behaviour remain rare. This paper examines empirical data from an 18-month critical ethnography to present new theory on interpersonal dynamics, socialisation and identification. A grounded theory is developed that suggests social decisions are closely linked to the psychology of giving and getting attention and assistance. As relationships develop, patterns of giving and receiving create economic and social dependencies that evolve into the tacit rules of social life and affect the bonds between people. Sharp conflicts occur when one party wants to change the relationship and the other party resists. The process of renegotiation affects the stability of directly and indirectly affected relationships and can change patterns of influence and bases of social power. Individuals’ commitment and health can be affected. Decision-making and impacts are affected by the state of other relationships, past experiences, social and economic dependency and the aspirations of both parties. Findings are reviewed against existing theories of power to offer a radical perspective that power has two-faces, the ability to influence and the ability to resist influence. Authoritarian behaviours can be activated by perceptions of powerlessness rather than a sense of power. The implications for handling conflicts and harassment claims are discussed, together with comment on gender theory and its relationship to corporate governance.</p

Cooperative social enterprises: company rules, access to finance and management practice

Objectives: In light of the faster than expected take up of the Community Interest Company (CIC) in the UK, this paper revisits findings from a study undertaken in 2000 on the impact of asset-locks on the longevity, growth and management styles in co-operative social enterprises. Prior Work: The co-operative and employee-ownership movements played a leading role in the establishment of Social Enterprise London and the Social Enterprise Coalition. The heritage of the UK co-operative movement, however, differs from its continental counterpart in placing a much stronger emphasis on common ownership that inhibits the transfer of capital and assets to private interests. Approach: This paper is both conceptual and empirical. It examines different worker co-operative traditions and develops a meta-theory that explains underlying assumptions in different forms of co-operative social enterprise. Using empirical data from 5 common ownership co-operatives and 5 equity-based co-operatives, this exploratory study found differences in management style, access to finance and growth prospects both within and between the two groups. Implications: Devolution of management responsibilities was more prevalent in co-operatives permitting both individual and collective ownership, as opposed to common ownership. Access to external finance was less problematic for organisations where individuals had made investments. Despite this, it was not established that organisations with external equity or loan finance grew quicker or faired better over the longer term. Value: The value of the paper lies both in the development of a meta-theoretical framework for differentiating forms of worker co-operative, as well as empirical evidence on the impact of asset-locks in the management and development of social enterprises. The study suggests that the CLS version of the CIC, or abandonment of the CIC in favour of an appropriately structured CLS or IPS model, may be appropriate for social enterprises wishing to grow, but makes little difference in small service oriented social enterprises.</p

Gendering, courtship and pay equality: developing attraction theory to understand work-life balance and entrepreneurial activity

Objectives: This paper examines one of the most intractable problems of the last 40 years: the difficulty in closing the pay inequality gap. Current wisdom is that the pay gap exists because of men's power to control the workplace, and men's dominant position in society generally. This paper examines an emergent literature on matriarchal power structures and proposes Attraction Theory as a holistic framework. Prior Work: This paper acknowledges a range of feminist literature that examines the underlying social relations and power structures that impact on pay differentials. This is critiqued on the basis of findings from courtship research as well as studies emerging from liberal / progressive writers in the men's movement. Approach: This paper is conceptual, using an inter-disciplinary understanding of social processes to critically appraise both the dominant discourse on equal pay and its emergent alternative. Attraction Theory is presented as a framework for exploring a complex discourse that unequal pay exists both because of men's power to control the workplace and women's power to control courtship and family life. Implications: Tackling pay inequality and work-life balance issues by focussing on power sharing in the workplace represents only a partial policy solution. Further progress depends on power-sharing in parental rights through academic recognition and political action to tackle negative stereotypes that impact on men during romantic courtship, conception, birth and divorce. Value: The value of the paper lies in the originality of the analysis and the range of insights that Attraction Theory provides into societal dynamics that impact on equal pay. The identification of paradoxes in the dominant discourse opens up new avenues for research and policy development on work-life balance. Whether these will close the pay gap is unclear, but it would advance equality and diversity goals by creating confidence that consensual choices rather the institutional inequalities perpetuate any remaining inequalities reported in statistics.</p

Social enterprise as a socially rational business

What is the goal of social enterprise policy? Is it the creation of a ‘not-for-profit’ or ‘more-than-profit’ business movement? In institutional policy circles, arguments are shaped by the desire to protect assets for the community, while entrepreneurial discourses favour a mixture of investment sources, surplus sharing and inclusive systems of governance. This article uses data from a critical ethnography to offer a third perspective. Human behaviour is a product of, and support system for, our socio-sexual choices. A grounded theory of social and economic capital is developed that integrates sexuality into organisation development. This constructs business organisations as complex centres of community-building replete with economic and social goals. By viewing corporate governance from this perspective social enterprise is reconceived as a business movement guided by social rationality with the long-term goal of distributing social and economic capital across stakeholder groups to satisfy individual and collective needs.</p

Contradictions in social enterprise: do they draw in straight lines or circles?

This paper provides a critical perspective on the discourse surrounding the concept of social enterprise. The paper shifts the lens away from numbers to consider how actors see themselves as social enterprises. The authors make sense of the foundations upon which the concept of social enterprise and entrepreneurship is ‘drawn’ – quite literally – by considering linear models and diagrams that analyse social enterprise on a continuum between non-profit (mission) and profit (market) orientation. A great deal has been made of the success and growth of social enterprise. The imagery in the literature reflects an emphasis on growth resulting from ‘the rising tide of commercialisation of non-profit organisations’ (Dees, 1998) with the result that the CBI now includes over 50,000 organisations in a social enterprise sector (SBS, 2005). Despite reports of rapid growth, there is awareness that ‘take-up of social enterprise model … is patchy and fails to reflect the enthusiasm with which it is discussed’ (Stevenson in Westall &amp; Chalkley 2007). We ask why? A methodological approach involving visual drawings by actors reveals stories and sensemaking experiences of social enterprises. Open conversations enabled the researchers to gain deep insights that would not have been as insightful through a quantitative approach. The key findings suggest: Firstly, participants report tensions when pursuing social and economic goals simultaneously. Secondly, whilst some welcome opportunities that are emerging, others perceive substantive threats to the third sector. Thirdly, Social enterprise emerges as a diverse and heterogeneous movement located at the boundaries of public, private and voluntary sectors. At each boundary, different constitutional forms and practices are seen. In conclusion, it is argued that the linear perspective itself gives the impression that there is a ‘patchy’ take up of social enterprise. A heterogeneous perspective reveals that theory and policy development is patchy, rather than social enterprise practices. The unique contribution this research paper offers is within the depth of enquiry and insight into the actual practices provided from those within the field. The critical perspective is taken from the literature and discussed in the settings of the actors in the field which provides practitioners, business support agencies and academics with a different level of empirical investigation that captures an originality and narrative that has barely been explored before.</p

Dispersion and the electron-phonon interaction in a single heterostructure

We investigate the electron-phonon interaction in a polar-polar single heterostructure through the use of the linear combination of hybrid phonon modes, considering the role of longitudinal optical, transverse optical and interface modes, using a continuum model that accounts for both mechanical and electrical continuity over a heterostructure interface. We discuss the use of other models for such systems, such as the bulk phonon (3DP) and dielectric continuum (DC) models, using previously developed sum-rules to explain the limitations on their validity. We find that our linear combination (LC) model gives an excellent agreement with scattering rates previously derived using the 3DP and DC models when the lattice dispersion is weak enough to be ignored, however, when there is a noticeable lattice dispersion, the LC model returns a different answer, suggesting that interface modes play a much greater part in the scattering characteristics of the system under certain conditions. We also discuss the remote phonon effect in polar/polar heterostructures

Hot phonon effects on high field transport in GaN & AlN

We have studied the effects of hot phonons on the high-field transport in GaN & AlN. The dynamics of the non-equilibrium electron-LO phonon system is studied via an ensemble Monte-Carlo code. We find that under steady-state conditions the hot-phonons cause the randomization of the electron momentum and increase their mean energy leading to diffusive heating. Average electron energies of three and two times those in the equilibrium phonon cases are found for GaN and AlN at applied fields of 100 kV/cm and 350 kV/cm respectively. The electron velocity is reduced compared to the case with equilibrium phonons at the lattice temperature. In the transient regime peak velocities reached at overshoot are reduced when non-equilibrium phonons are taken into account

Seeing social enterprise through the theoretical conceptualisation of ethical capital

Objectives: Current conceptualisations of social enterprise fail to fully satisfy an understanding of the movement. A focus on the economic implies a business model where deep tensions lie. A focus on social capital offers a different frame of reference, yet both these conceptualisations fail to fully identify the phenomena that is social enterprise. The objective of this paper seeks to fill that gap. Ethical capital is offered here as the missing conceptualisation in the field of social enterprise. Prior work: Pearce (2003) describes social enterprises as part of the third system, closer to the first system (private business), than the second system (public provision), yet primarily social and secondly a business. Social Enterprises are described as trading organisations in a market (Pearce 2003). A focus and operationalisation for social enterprises to be ‘business-like’ and ‘entrepreneurial’ is well documented (Leadbeater 1997; Dees 1998; Nicholls 2006b). Approach: Yet, if as part of the third sector, social enterprises are as Dart (2004) suggests; ‘blurring the boundaries between non-profit and profit’, but what blurs? What is compromised? What exactly is lost (or gained)? What challenges are there for social enterprises? And is a managerialist ideology taking precedence over the social? This paper provides a conceptual paper that seeks to outline the arguments on the table and develop an ethical capital conceptualisation of social enterprise. Results: This paper very much aims at starting the process of intellectual debate about the notion of ethical capital in social enterprises. The conclusions of this paper outline further research questions that need to be addressed in order to fully develop this concept. Implications: The current ideology of the neo-classical economic paradigm it is argued in the paper pursues interests towards the self and towards the erosion of the moral basis of association. The outcome leaves society with a problem of low ethical virtue - the implications of this paper are that social enterprises maximise ethical virtue beyond any other form of organisation and as such hold great value beyond their missions and values. Value: This paper offers great value in the understanding of social enterprise through fresh insight into the conceptualisation. A critical perspective to the current literature is taken and discussed but though the introduction of ethical capital this paper takes our understanding of the value of the sector into another light, providing practitioners, business support agencies and academics alike with a different level of conceptualisation that has not been explored before.</p

Population inversion in optically pumped asymmetric quantum well terahertz lasers

Intersubband carrier lifetimes and population ratios are calculated for three- and four-level optically pumped terahertz laser structures. Laser operation is based on intersubband transitions between the conduction band states of asymmetric GaAs-Ga(1 – x)Al(x)As quantum wells. It is shown that the carrier lifetimes in three-level systems fulfill the necessary conditions for stimulated emission only at temperatures below 200 K. The addition of a fourth level, however, enables fast depopulation of the lower laser level by resonant longitudinal optical phonon emission and thus offers potential for room temperature laser operation. © 1997 American Institute of Physics

Communitarian governance: the development of management, governance and ownership models

The purpose of corporate governance as the protector of shareholder interests is a view that is still widely held. Recently it has been subject to repeated challenge. A new conception of governance that recognises a plurality of interests, particularly those of employees, has received both theoretical attention and practical examination. This paper examines the connection between liberal and communitarian philosophy in the recent debate about corporate governance. Empirical evidence from a critical ethnography is used to show how communitarian ideas can influence the governance model of a medium-sized company, and also how social influences constrain and frustrate the application of these ideals. The result is a formal statement of culture built through a process of consultation, and institutionalised in contractual rights and responsibilities. The company leaders have been drawn towards models of control and ownership found in the employee-owned and co-operative sectors. These are perceived to increase participation and involvement, and give voice to more people in the enterprise. During debate and discussion, however, the management group reduced the powers initially proposed for the governing body, and empirical data suggests this was partly to win support from those sceptical about the proposals, partly to protect decision-making powers, and partly to protect the company from the inexperience of non-executives.</p