The academic game: Compliance and resistance in universities

This article draws on the sociology of Bourdieu to explore how academics respond to managerialist imperatives. Bourdieu’s metaphor of the game is applied to a case study of a regional Australian university, which underwent significant changes in 2007, the most notable being the introduction of performance appraisals. In-depth interviews (N=20) reveal evidence of symbolic violence: staff compliance with and complicity in the changes. This is evident in the way that the interviewees, mostly early career academics, chose to play the game by concentrating their efforts on increasing their capital within the new order. To further support this argument, signs of resistance to the new regime were explored. Findings show that vocal resistance was sparse with silence, neglect and exit being the more realistic options. The article concludes that it is academics’ illusio, their unwavering commitment to the game, which neutralizes resistance by pitting colleagues against each other

Playing the game: academics have bought into the competition and become complicit in their exploitation

The managerialist logic that has permeated universities has had a clear impact on academic work. To Senia Kalfa, Adrian Wilkinson and Paul J. Gollan, academia has become like a game, with academics competing with each other for just a handful of permanent positions and focused completely on accumulating the capital (publications, grant income, etc.) needed to secure one. Rather than resisting the demands placed upon them, academics have primarily complied and in doing so become complicit in their own exploitation. This raises significant questions about resistance in the academy; unions may not be powerful enough to subvert the managerialist logic, highlighting a need for other avenues for facilitating challenging voices

Financial cost of lymphedema borne by women with breast cancer

Psycho-Oncology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Objective: Our study examines the financial cost of lymphedema following a diagnosis of breast cancer and addresses a significant knowledge gap regarding the additional impact of lymphedema on breast cancer survivors. Methods: An online national survey was conducted with 361 women who had either breast cancer without lymphedema (BC) (group 1, n = 209) or breast cancer with lymphedema (BC+LE) (group 2, n = 152). Participant recruitment was supported by the Breast Cancer Network Australia and the Australasian Lymphology Association. Results: Both breast cancer and lymphedema result in significant out-of-pocket financial costs borne by women. Of patients with BC+LE, 80% indicated that their breast cancer diagnosis had affected them financially compared with 67% in the BC group (P \u3c .020). For patients with lymphedema, over half (56%) indicated that this specific additional diagnosis to their breast cancer affected them financially and that costs increased with lymphedema severity. The cost of compression garments formed a large proportion of these costs (40.1%). The average number of attendances to a therapist each year was 5.8 (range, 0-45). Twenty-five patients (16.4%) had an episode of cellulitis in the past year. The incidence of cellulitis was 7.7% in 91 patients with subclinical or mild lymphedema compared with 29.5% of 61 patients with more extensive lymphedema (P \u3c .001). The average out-of-pocket financial cost of lymphedema care borne by women was A$977 per annum, ranging from A$207 for subclinical lymphedema to over A$1400 for moderate or severe lymphedema. Conclusions: This study identifies an additional detrimental effect of lymphedema on women in terms of financial costs

Voices unheard : employee voice in the new century

The concept of employee voice has attracted considerable attention in research since the 1980s primarily in the fields of Employment Relations/Human Resource Management (ER/HRM) and Organisational Behaviour (OB). Each of these disciplines focuses on different aspects of employee voice, the former examining the mechanisms for employees to have \u27a say\u27 in organisational decision-making (Freeman, Boxall, & Haynes, 2007; Gollan, Kaufman, Taras, & Wilkinson, 2015; Wilkinson & Fay, 2011) and the latter considering voice as an \u27extra-role upward communication behaviour\u27 (Morrison, 2014, p. 174) with the intent to improve organizational functioning. The purpose of voice is seen by each of these disciplines in a different way. ER/HRM perspectives are underpinned by the assumption that it is a fundamental democratic right for workers to extend a degree of control over managerial decision-making within an organisation (Kaufman, 2015; Wilkinson, Gollan, Lewin, & Marchington, 2010). Thus, everyone should have a voice and a lack of opportunities to express that voice may adversely affect workers\u27 dignity. In contrast, OB perspectives are underpinned more by a concern with organisational improvements, therefore leaving it much more to managerial discretion to reduce or change existing voice arrangements due to, for example, an economic downturn (Barry & Wilkinson, 2016)

Senia Kalfa

Staff record for Research Data Managemen

Conceptualizing Responsible Return to Work: Corporate Social Responsibility in Relation to Employee Return to Work After Cancer

Demographic change, improvements in medical screening and treatment, evolving patterns of work, and eroding social security systems are contributing to greater numbers of seriously and chronically ill employees within the workforce. This study builds upon research in CSR and return to work (RTW) to conceptualize responsible return to work (RRTW). The study draws upon first-hand accounts of Australian women breast cancer survivors to inductively theorize the factors influencing RRTW practices. RTW practices that accommodate illness as required by law and regulation are found to be insufficient to meet employees’ needs and expectations and significant challenges for RTW are caused by this frame of reference and the distinction between medically certificated and non-medically certificated leave. Interactions between the economic case for creating mutual benefit through cooperation between employer and employee and the moral case for on-going tailored workplace adaptations as part of RRTW are critically evaluated

Conceptualizing Responsible Return to Work:Corporate Social Responsibility in Relation to Employee Return to Work after Cancer

Demographic change, improvements in medical screening and treatment, evolving patterns of work, and eroding social security systems are contributing to greater numbers of seriously and chronically ill employees within the workforce. This study builds upon research in Corporate Social Responsibility and return to work (RTW) to conceptualize responsible return to work (RRTW). The study draws upon first-hand accounts of Australian women breast cancer survivors to inductively theorize the factors influencing RRTW practices. RTW practices that accommodate illness as required by law and regulation are found to be insufficient to meet employees’ needs and expectations and significant challenges for RTW are caused by this frame of reference and the distinction between medically certificated and non-medically certificated leave. Interactions between the economic case for creating mutual benefit through cooperation between employer and employee and the moral case for on-going tailored workplace adaptations as part of RRTW are critically evaluated.</p

Illusio in the game of higher education : an empirical exploration of interconnections between fields and academic habitus

25 page(s

Employability, managerialism, and performativity in higher education : a relational perspective

26 page(s

Cultural capital in business higher education : reconsidering the graduate attributes movement and the focus on employability

This article examines the increased interest being shown by Australian business faculties in the development of students' employability skills. Many universities have demonstrated their commitment to translating such interest into practice by elaborating lists of ‘graduate attributes’ in order to enable the development of generic skills and by encouraging their staff to adopt specific pedagogical tools for such ends. This approach is underpinned by the assumption that the acquisition and transferability of such skills can enhance students' human capital and, therefore, their employability. The aim in this article is to identify the limitations of this perspective and to present a conceptual framework that overcomes them. To this end, the article draws on various concepts elaborated by Bourdieu as a means to encompass the multiple stakeholders involved in the field of tertiary education and to investigate the adoption of teaching methodologies designed to enable the development of generic skills.16 page(s