Diversity statements for leveraging organizational legitimacy

European companies are increasingly putting “diversity statements” on corporate websites. Websites are important because they are used by members of the public, especially the younger generation, to seek information about companies. Legitimacy theory is often cited as one explanation for having good diversity policies, but we found no research in the diversity, HRM or social accounting literature with empirical evidence of different types of legitimacy associated with diversity. We examined on-line diversity statements from 174 top European companies for evidence of legitimacy-enhancing messages, and coded them by type of legitimacy. We show that diversity statements are presented in ways associated with two different types of legitimacy (pragmatic exchange and moral). International differences are also highlighted. These findings will help practitioners to design diversity statements based on a better understanding that legitimacy is a multi-faceted construct, and help them avoid the dangers of empty discourse, i.e. inconsistency between words and reality.À travers leurs sites Internet, les grands groupes tendent à multiplier les discours sur la diversité. Les sites Internet sont devenus des outils de communication importants tant ils sont utilisés par le grand public, ou appréciés par la jeune génération pour la recherche d’informations. La théorie de la légitimité est souvent citée pour expliquer le fait d’avoir une bonne politique en matière de diversité. Cependant, aucune recherche ne stipule de quels types de légitimité il s’agit. Notre analyse de 174 sites Internet des grands groupes à travers l’Europe souligne deux types de légitimités (pragmatique et morale) fréquemment associées à ces messages sur la diversité. Des différences entre pays sont mises en exergue. Des préconisations sont également formulées pour mieux appréhender la légitimité comme une notion multi-faces et éviter de construire des messages vides de sens, inconsistants vis-à-vis de la réalité.A través de los sitios de Internet, las empresas europeas tienden a multiplicar los discursos sobre la diversidad. Los sitios de Internet se han convertido en importantes herramientas de comunicación tanto para el público en general como para las nuevas generaciones que realizan sus búsquedas de información en estos. La teoría de la legitimidad es citada frecuentemente para explicar la existencia de políticas en materia de diversidad. Sin embargo, ninguna investigación estipula de qué tipos de legitimidad se trata. Nuestro análisis de 174 páginas Web de grandes empresas europeas subraya dos tipos de legitimidad (pragmática y moral) frecuentemente asociada a estos mensajes sobre la diversidad. Se enfatizan las diferencias entre países. Estos descubrimientos ayudarán a los profesionales a diseñar fórmulas para comprender mejor la legitimidad como noción multifacética y evitar la construcción de mensajes carecientes de sentido y la inconsistencia entre las palabras y la realidad

A qualitative examination of the importance of female role models in investment banks

A number of practitioner surveys across a range of industries have cited the lack of senior female role models as a barrier to career progression. There is very little academic literature to explain this at a senior organizational level. An initial review of the extant role model literature led to the inclusion of two further related areas – organizational demographics, as a contextual factor affecting the availability of role models, and work identity development as a link between the lack of senior female role models and the lack of career progression. In seeking to answer the question of why and then how female role models are important for senior women, this study fills an identified gap in the comprehension of the concept of role models and their importance in the workplace. It addresses a need to understand both the key elements of the concept and the mechanism by which they come into play. The research uses qualitative methods, specifically in-depth semi-structured interviews. These were conducted with a senior group of 33 female directors from six global investment banks, in order to elicit their experiences of role models in demographically imbalanced work contexts. Analysis of interview data considered all three areas of role models, demographic context and work identity development. As the women forged their identities in the male-dominated context of global investment banks, what became clear was that who they are and have become was informed by the critical relationships they have had. Whilst clearly some of the women had found male role models with whom to develop these critical relationships, there were some identity issues, particular salient to women, which could not be addressed by men. Thus the findings demonstrated the utility of female role models. This thesis has a number of contributions to make on varying levels: On a conceptual level, this study adds to our understanding of the value of role models, particularly detailing the affective or symbolic value. It has added to the conceptualization of role models, detailing what were the core attributes of individuals chosen to be role models, who they were in relation to the women, how the women used them and why they were important. It has combined the three literature areas of role models, organizational demographics and work identity development in a way not previously done, and has shown empirically that they are related and explain each other. Organizational demographics affect the availability of role models. And it is suggested that the relatively new theory of relational identification is the mechanism that explicates how the presence of positive female role models is a key influence on women’s work identity development. It has clarified the value of role models in extreme gender demographic contexts, and how and why they are important to senior women’s professional development, thereby adding to the theory of role modelling. Practically, the study explains why women in surveys may have been citing the lack of female role models as such a prominent issue, and suggests what some of the issues are that organizations should pay heed to in trying to address this.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

An investigation into the experiences of managers who work flexibly

This thesis explores the experiences of managers who work flexibly. Flexible working policies are prevalent in all organizations in the UK because of the legislation giving specific groups of parents and carers the right to request flexible working. Many organizations extend the policies to all employees, yet the take-up is not as high as expected, particularly among staff at managerial levels. This thesis explores how managers construe and experience flexible working arrangements while successfully fulfilling their roles as managers of people. The exploratory study consisted of interviews with eight managers with unique flexible working patterns. Analysis of the interview transcripts identified concepts of consistency and adaptability. Consistency refers to meeting fixed needs from the work and non-work domains, and adaptability refers to the adjustment of schedules to meet the changing demands from those domains. The concepts of consistency and adaptability were further explored in the main study which is based on interviews with 24 women and 10 men who held managerial positions and had a flexible working arrangement which reduced their face time in the workplace. The research offers three main contributions to the literature. At a theoretical level, I propose a model which demonstrates how individuals use consistency and adaptability to meet the fixed and changing demands from the work and non-work domains. This model extends understanding of the complexity of the segmentation/integration continuum of boundary theory, explaining how and why managers use flexible working arrangements as a means of managing boundaries and achieving desired goals in both domains. Four distinct clusters emerged among the managerial participants in terms of the type and direction of adaptability, indicating the range of strategies used by managers to ensure the success of their flexible working arrangements. A detailed description of managers’ flexible working experiences is provided, adding to what is known about the role of manager through the exploration of the enactment of that role when working flexibly.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

An investigation into the experiences of managers who work flexibly

This thesis explores the experiences of managers who work flexibly. Flexible working policies are prevalent in all organizations in the UK because of the legislation giving specific groups of parents and carers the right to request flexible working. Many organizations extend the policies to all employees, yet the take-up is not as high as expected, particularly among staff at managerial levels. This thesis explores how managers construe and experience flexible working arrangements while successfully fulfilling their roles as managers of people. The exploratory study consisted of interviews with eight managers with unique flexible working patterns. Analysis of the interview transcripts identified concepts of consistency and adaptability. Consistency refers to meeting fixed needs from the work and non-work domains, and adaptability refers to the adjustment of schedules to meet the changing demands from those domains. The concepts of consistency and adaptability were further explored in the main study which is based on interviews with 24 women and 10 men who held managerial positions and had a flexible working arrangement which reduced their face time in the workplace. The research offers three main contributions to the literature. At a theoretical level, I propose a model which demonstrates how individuals use consistency and adaptability to meet the fixed and changing demands from the work and non-work domains. This model extends understanding of the complexity of the segmentation/integration continuum of boundary theory, explaining how and why managers use flexible working arrangements as a means of managing boundaries and achieving desired goals in both domains. Four distinct clusters emerged among the managerial participants in terms of the type and direction of adaptability, indicating the range of strategies used by managers to ensure the success of their flexible working arrangements. A detailed description of managers’ flexible working experiences is provided, adding to what is known about the role of manager through the exploration of the enactment of that role when working flexibly.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The impact of gender demography on male and female role interpretations and contributions : a qualitative study of non-executive directors of Icelandic boards

This thesis, submitted for the Cranfield DBA programme, examines and explores the impact of gender demography on male and female director’s role interpretations and contributions. The study was inspired by the scarcity of females on corporate boards and a desire to seek an understanding of how women and men contribute to boards. The study brings together the literature on females on boards, and on board roles and processes, revealing that both bodies of literature could benefit from more in-depth understanding of board processes. The thesis reports the results of two empirical studies based on in-depth interviews with male and female non-executive directors on Icelandic corporate boards. The first study of non-executives of male dominated boards supported many of the findings reported in earlier studies. Females were found to be active in critical questioning and pushing for better decision making. Males on the other hand stressed the importance of informal interactions. The study offered an understanding of the exclusion and low social and power status of females on male dominated boards. The second study, conducted two years later, on non-executives on both male dominated as well as gender integrated boards and an all female board, revealed in much more detail the nature of traditional board interactions and the benefits of a more balanced composition or even an all female composition. Males on gender integrated boards adopted the valuable role of questioning and holding management accountable, previously found to be mainly adopted by females. In addition, a shared understanding of roles and purpose between males and females was found to prevail on those boards. The gender integrated boards and the all female board possessed a much higher degree of openness, interaction and trust, resembling to a large extent the description of exemplary boards found in the literature, and the females on those boards were found to be quite confident. Finally, the findings question if the importance of informal relationships can be generalised, as those were found to have no relevance on gender integrated and all female boards. The study adds to the growing body of literature on board roles and processes, and the female board literature, and has significant implications for practice. It reveals the shortcomings of male dominated boards and challenges them to fundamentally change the ways they act and perform. It demonstrates how female non-executive directors bring valuable contributions and that a better gender balance can positively affect the dynamics of the board.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Steady-state thermal analysis of an innovative receiver for linear Fresnel reflectors

The study of the performance of an innovative receiver for linear Fresnel reflectors is carried out in this paper, and the results are analyzed with a physics perspective of the process. The receiver consists of a bundle of tubes parallel to the mirror arrays, resulting on a smaller cross section for the same receiver width as the number of tubes increases, due to the diminution of their diameter. This implies higher heat carrier fluid speeds, and thus, a more effective heat transfer process, although it conveys higher pumping power as well. Mass flow is optimized for different tubes diameters, different impinging radiation intensities and different fluid inlet temperatures. It is found that the best receiver design, namely the tubes diameter that maximizes the exergetic efficiency for given working conditions, is similar for the cases studied. There is a range of tubes diameters that imply similar efficiencies, which can drive to capital cost reduction thanks to the flexibility of design. In addition, the length of the receiver is also optimized, and it is observed that the optimal length is similar for the working conditions considered. As a result of this study, it is found that this innovative receiver provides an optimum design for the whole day, even though impinging radiation intensity varies notably. Thermal features of this type of receiver could be the base of a new generation of concentrated solar power plants with a great potential for cost reduction, because of the simplicity of the system and the lower weigh of the components, plus the flexibility of using the receiver tubes for different streams of the heat carrier fluid

Immunogenicity and protection against Mycobacterium caprae challenge in goats vaccinated with BCG and revaccinated after one year

Vaccination has been proposed as a supplementary tool for the control of tuberculosis in livestock. The long-term immunogenicity elicited by bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and the efficacy of revaccination were investigated in thirty goat kids distributed into three groups: unvaccinated controls, BCG (vaccinated at week 0) and BCG-BCG (vaccinated at weeks 0 and 56). Sixty-four weeks after the first vaccination, all animals were challenged with Mycobacterium caprae and examined post-mortem (pathology and bacterial load) at week 73. Antigen-specific interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release was measured throughout the experiment. At week 59, peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stained for CD4, CD45RO and IFN-γ to determine the presence of antigen-specific cells secreting IFN-γ. The BCG-BCG group showed reductions in rectal temperatures, M. caprae DNA load in pulmonary lymph nodes (LN), the volume of lesions in pulmonary LN, mineralization in lungs, and higher weight gains compared to unvaccinated controls. IFN-γ responses were undetectable from 32 weeks after primary vaccination until revaccination, when the BCG-BCG group showed detectable IFN-γ production and a greater percentage of antigen-specific CD4+CD45RO+IFNγ+ and CD4-CD45RO+IFNγ+ cells compared to the BCG and control groups, which may be an indicator of the mechanisms of protection. Thus, re-vaccination of goats with BCG appears to prolong protection against infection with M. caprae.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Immunogenicity and protection against Mycobacterium caprae challenge in goats vaccinated with BCG and revaccinated after one year

Vaccination has been proposed as a supplementary tool for the control of tuberculosis in livestock. The long-term immunogenicity elicited by bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and the efficacy of revaccination were investigated in thirty goat kids distributed into three groups: unvaccinated controls, BCG (vaccinated at week 0) and BCG-BCG (vaccinated at weeks 0 and 56). Sixty-four weeks after the first vaccination, all animals were challenged with Mycobacterium caprae and examined post-mortem (pathology and bacterial load) at week 73. Antigen-specific interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release was measured throughout the experiment. At week 59, peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stained for CD4, CD45RO and IFN-γ to determine the presence of antigen-specific cells secreting IFN-γ. The BCG-BCG group showed reductions in rectal temperatures, M. caprae DNA load in pulmonary lymph nodes (LN), the volume of lesions in pulmonary LN, mineralization in lungs, and higher weight gains compared to unvaccinated controls. IFN-γ responses were undetectable from 32 weeks after primary vaccination until revaccination, when the BCG-BCG group showed detectable IFN-γ production and a greater percentage of antigen-specific CD4+CD45RO+IFNγ+ and CD4-CD45RO+IFNγ+ cells compared to the BCG and control groups, which may be an indicator of the mechanisms of protection. Thus, re-vaccination of goats with BCG appears to prolong protection against infection with M. caprae.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evaluation of P22 antigenic complex for the immuno-diagnosis of Tuberculosis in BCG vaccinated and unvaccinated goats

Current eradication strategies of tuberculosis (TB) in goats mainly rely on the single intradermal tuberculin test (SIT) and single intradermal cervical comparative tuberculin tests (SICCTs). TB vaccination has been proposed as a cost-effective option in high-prevalence herds or countries where economic compensation for the slaughter of positive animals is not affordable. However, TB vaccination compromises the efficiency of tuberculin-based diagnostic tests. In this study, the performance of a new diagnostic platform, based on the P22 antigenic complex, was assessed for skin test (ST), interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA), and serology under different TB scenarios. The sensitivity (Se) of diagnostic tests was assessed in TB-infected goats from the same farm (herd A, N = 77). The specificity (Sp) was assessed in two TB-negative farms (both vaccinated against paratuberculosis): one TB unvaccinated (herd B, N = 77) and another vaccinated with bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) (herd C, N = 68). The single (s) P22-IGRA showed the highest Se among IGRA tests (91%), and the comparative (c) P22-ST showed the highest Sp (100% in herd B and 98% in herd C). Combined interpretation of techniques enabled the best diagnostic performances. Combining the SICCT + sP22-IGRA improved Se (97%) compared to SICCT + tuberculin-based IGRA (95%), with a reduction of Sp (95 and 100%, respectively). Besides, combination of P22-ELISA with cP22-ST or SICCT elicited a similar performance in the non-vaccination context (Se: 94 and 95%; Sp: 95 and 95%, respectively), but Sp was significantly higher for the combination with cP22-ST compared to SICCT in the TB vaccination context (95 and 79%, respectively). The combination of serological tests based on P22 and MPB83 showed higher complementarity and improved 13 percentage points the Se of P22-ELISA alone. These findings suggest that either cell-mediated or antibody-based diagnostic techniques, using the P22 antigen complex, can contribute to improve the immunodiagnostics of TB in goats under different TB control strategies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio