Remote working in the time of covid-19: developing a web-based community

The purpose of this article is to provide suggestions for the implementation of remote working under enforced lockdown as experienced in many countries facing the consequences of the covid-19 virus. The author addresses the singularities and challenges of implementing remote working as a consequence of lockdown. Several measures for organisations are proposed, like the technological implementation of the technology and the importance of maintaining a routine to provide continuity, but also the need to be flexible towards the employees, the need to keep and adapt quality standards and to trust the motivation of the employees to do a good job. From an employee perspective, there is the need to create a personal routine, to set rules and have a working space, to use the right tools to communicate with colleagues and show up for online meetings, remaining in a positive frame of mind

Opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence in recruitment and selection

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to contribute to the knowledge on the opportunities and risks in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment and selection by exploring the perspectives of recruitment professionals in a multicultural multinational organisation. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was used in this exploratory study. Face-to-face, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with ten professional recruiters who worked for a multinational corporation. Findings: The findings revealed that AI facilitates the effective performance of routine tasks through automation. However, the adoption of AI technology in recruitment and selection is also fraught with risks that engender fear and distrust among recruiters. The effective adoption of AI can improve recruitment strategies. However, cynicism exists because of the fears of job losses to automation, even though the participants thought that their jobs would continue to exist because recruiters should always be humans. Originality/value: This paper provides a unique exploration of the opportunities and risks in the adoption of AI for the recruitment and selection function in human resource management. The benefits are the delegation of routine tasks to AI and the confirmation of the crucial role of professional recruiters

Advancing international human resource management scholarship on paternalistic leadership and gender: The role of postcolonial feminism

This article aims to inspire international human resource management (IHRM) scholarship that incorporates postcolonial feminist theory, using the under-researched topic of paternalistic leadership and gender to illustrate the opportunities and challenges such an endeavour can present. Paternalistic leadership is an important and widely used indigenous framework for examining leadership in Chinese contexts, while postcolonial feminism holds the capacity to problematise the representation of non-western women in feminist theory as a universal, transhistorical category. As this article demonstrates, postcolonial feminist theory centralises cultural difference in theorising gender, strives toward shattering binaries reproduced by colonialism and imperialism (West/East, Western/Third World Woman) and generates indigenous, localised knowledge on non-western women. Three sites of enquiry are discussed: 1) Chinese feminisms and genders; 2) Chinese cultures and gender norms; 3) Voice, agency and the subaltern woman. This article provides research propositions for IHRM scholars to translate postcolonial femininst theory into research on paternalistic leadership and gender. Concluding, the article outlines implications for practice and sifts the discussion for the future avenues of research it signals

Influential factors in physician burnout in the United Arab Emirates

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors in physician burnout in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The goal was to identify the influential factors and their manifestations. The interrelated objectives were: 1) to determine physicians\u27 perceptions of work-life balance, medical specialty and national culture on burnout; 2) to explore their general and personal perspectives on the influential factors in the incidence and prevalence of physician burnout. This exploratory qualitative study used in-depth interviews with physicians working in the UAE. The study contributes to the literature by identifying and explicating the influential factors, such as personality, work culture and work-life balance, in physician stress in a new national context, the UAE

Post pandemic “revenge travel”: developing organizations to address staff shortage

Purpose: The purpose of this viewpoint is to discuss and provide solutions for the current staffing crisis facing tourism-related industries. Considering that staff shortages are prominent in most industries this article suggests organizational changes that are needed to address these problems Design/methodology/approach: This viewpoint unpacks the reason behind the shortage in staff and suggests potential solutions, based on organizational development Findings: The strategies offered here as potential solutions for human resources center on changing the image of the roles that are suffering shortages. This includes developing organizational practices to provide changes in the areas of recruitment, reward, and work-life balance. These strategies are contextualized with the transformation of other jobs due to the global pandemic and the feminized nature of the tourism-related industries. Originality/value: This viewpoint is particularly topical as it speaks to the current well-publicized crises in the staffing of airports and wider shortages of hospitality staff in developed nations. It is well positioned to spark discussion and future research on areas such as dignity at work in tourism-related industries, gendered work, and post-pandemic employment practices in services

Inside-Out Interviews: Cross-Cultural Research in China

© 2020 The International Association for Chinese Management Research. There is a paucity of research exploring the use of local facilitators in cross-cultural research in Chinese cultural contexts and the impact this may have on data generation and knowledge creation. Addressing this gap, this paper critically reflects on cross-cultural interviews in Hong Kong. The reflection is centred on the experience of interviewing as an outsider to the culture of the participants and later working alongside an insider. While insider and outsider positionalities are formed from a multitude of intersectional characteristics, both gender and nationality emerged as primary influencers in this context. This paper contributes to the methodologically oriented literature by making salient the complexities of deciphering the multitude of influences originating from the researcher\u27s positionality in relation to research others. Specifically, this paper highlights how both insider and outsider positionalities generate different, but complementary data through the exploration of participant\u27s responses. \u27It\u27s a Chinese thing\u27 or comments equating to it\u27s a woman\u27s thing were used by participants to either limit responses or expand and offer additional information, and the juxtaposition of these responses with those given to an insider help to highlight what this might mean for knowledge creation

Understanding paternalistic leadership: How to work with Chinese leaders

The last decade, Chinese companies began to venture beyond their borders and invest internationally. Some examples include Lenovo taking over the computer division of IBM and Huawei, soon to become the largest cell phone manufacturer, expanding relentlessly. As a result, many Westerners now effectively work for Chinese organizations but often face confusion due to little understanding of Chinese culture. Paternalistic leadership (PL) is the most common leadership style in China. It is deeply embedded in Chinese traditions and customs reflecting the culture and society (Wu and Xu, 2012). This article developed from both a review of the literature on PL and 45 in-depth interviews with Chinese leaders and their subordinates (Sposato, 2016). This systematic data collection is coupled with lived experience, as the author lived, worked, and studied in China for three years. The article’s aim is to make the academic literature on PL accessible and lend a practical application through advice for those unfamiliar with PL. An explanation of leadership style and leader behaviors is offered to foster cultural understanding, before suggestions of how to behave in these circumstances