Making sense of mistakes in managerial careers

Purpose: The paper provides initial findings on the causes and consequences of problematic mid‐career work‐role transitions – self‐reported career mistakes described by individuals in terms of a mismatch between expectations and reality. Design/methodology/approach: This exploratory study uses in‐depth interviews based on critical incident technique (CIT) to elicit accounts of problematic work‐role transitions. Findings: Participants reported mismatches arose because their expectations were based on their prior experience, rather than upon information provided by the organisation during the course of the recruitment process. These mismatches stimulated very active sense making on the part of participants, largely focused on finding ways to make their continuation in the role tolerable. Research limitations/implications: The present study, which is exploratory in nature, involved a small sample size, and the use of retrospective accounts. The findings are therefore preliminary and may not be representative of mid‐career managers' experience with problematic work role transitions. However, they confirm the relevance of career mistakes to organisations and individuals and indicate a need for further research on the subject. Practical implications: The study suggested managers moving post in mid‐career bring to their new role a range of expectations based upon prior experience, rather than the recruitment process. Further study is needed, but these findings have significant implications for organisations, in that they suggest recruitment processes must provide information in a manner which might overcome or correct these prior assumptions. Originality/value: The subject of career mistakes has received little treatment in the organisational side of the careers literature, and yet is of everyday concern to organisations and individuals

“Hey GRINGO!”: the HR challenge of graduates in non‐graduate occupations

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the phenomenon of growing numbers of graduates in non-graduate occupations (GRINGOs), and to explore the HR issues and complexities that arise as a consequence. The article also suggests avenues for future research. Design/methodology/approach: A case study methodology was used to gather data from four companies employing significant numbers of graduates in non-graduate jobs. Findings: The case studies suggest that GRINGOs can bring significant benefits to organisations, but are also challenging to manage: organisations which cannot offer them opportunities for career development risk having an able but resolutely uncommitted group of staff. Research limitations/implications: The research is based on a relatively limited sample, and the respondents were in management, so the findings were not triangulated with the perceptions of GRINGOs within the organisations. There is a paucity of literature examining the consequences of the GRINGO and the challenges that they pose for organisations, and this paper seeks to explore these issues and prompts further research in this area. Practical implications: The paper suggests that organisations are not fully utilising the potential of their GRINGO staff, and identifies ways in which HR departments might respond to this issue. Originality/value: The article makes an original contribution to the literature on graduate under-employment, by examining the issue from an organisational perspective

What about leadership?; Comment on “cultures of silence and cultures of voice: The role of whistleblowing in healthcare organisations”

In their valuable discussion of whistleblowing in healthcare organisations Mannion and Davies highlight the importance of organisational culture in influencing whether people raise concerns, and whether these concerns are listened to and acted upon. The role of leadership in shaping organisational culture is well established and in this commentary we will examine the influence of leaders in creating cultures of silence or cultures of voice

Identity work in the transition from manager to management academic

The phenomenon of current practitioners moving into academia is generally welcomed in terms addressing recruitment problems and the perceived benefit of bringing practical experience into the academic setting. Yet the individual practitioner may encounter considerable difficulties with this career transition. This paper identifies the different sources and discourses of credibility – management experience versus academic knowledge – as particularly relevant, and considers the ways in which these “emergent management academics” manage their self‐identities in their day‐to‐day interactions

Lost in translation? Culture, language and the role of the translator in international business

Purpose: Issues of language in international business have been the focus of a growing body of theoretical and empirical work. This paper aims to contribute to this literature, focusing specifically on issues of translation. The role of translator will vary depending on the language strategy adopted, with strategies linked to differing perspectives on language in international business – mechanical, cultural and political. The paper examines these perspectives through the lens of a specific problem for transnational communication – “untranslatable” words and concepts. Design/methodology/approach: Interviews were conducted with professional linguists (translators and interpreters) to explore how they dealt with issues of untranslatable but cultural salient words in their day‐to‐day work with international businesses, using the problems of translating the Farsi word tarouf into English as a case in point. Findings: The linguists agreed that tarouf was an untranslatable word, and described their strategies to deal with this problem. The commonest strategy was avoidance, stemming from linguists' concern to maintain their professional standing with clients, a finding which reflects an emerging emphasis on the importance of context and relationships for understanding inter‐cultural communication. Practical implications: The study highlights the crucial role of the translator in international business, and draws attention to the potential for cross‐cultural communication problems arising from mutual lack of awareness of culturally‐salient but inherently untranslatable words or phrases. Social implications: Effective inter‐cultural communication is an issue of great importance to wider society, and business has historically been the commonest site of such communication. The study highlights an issue of considerable importance for improving inter‐cultural communications, contributing to a growing inter‐disciplinary literature in this area. Originality/value: Much of the research on language in international business has focused on the emergence of English as a lingua franca, but the present study focuses on specific issues of translation and does so in an under‐researched location, Iran. It draws attention to a problem of translation not widely discussed, and shows how important this issue can be for international business

External Whistleblowers’ Experiences of Workplace Bullying by Superiors and Colleagues

The purpose of this study was to investigate external whistleblowers’ experiences of workplace bullying by superiors and colleagues, and to analyze how the bullying was influenced by factors such as the support they received from government or NGOs, and whether colleagues understood the reasons for the whistleblower’s actions. For bullying by colleagues we also examined to what extent this was influenced by superiors’ behavior towards the whistleblower. We reviewed the relevant literature on workplace bullying and whistleblowers’ experiences of negative or retaliatory actions and developed three hypotheses, which we tested using data gathered from Korean external whistleblowers. Results revealed that external whistleblowers experienced work-related bullying by superiors and social relation-related and person-related bullying by colleagues more frequently, and found it more distressing, than other types of workplace bullying. Superiors’ bullying was a dominant factor affecting bullying by colleagues. Colleagues’ understanding of the reason for the whistleblower’s actions was significant in reducing bullying frequency while support from government and NGOs was not significant in reducing it. Based on these findings, practical implications are discussed

Narrative as an emotion-focused coping strategy in career

PhD ThesisThis thesis develops a theoretical framework for studying the impact of emotion on career, following Kidd's lament that emotion is `an absent presence in career theory' (Kidd, 1998). In the proposed framework, career is treated as a narrative construction (Bujold, 2004) and viewed as a significant component of an individual's identity (McAdams, 1995). Events which disrupt the career narrative will be experienced as disruptive to identity and to the achievement of the individual's goals, and will therefore stimulate emotion which in turn leads to sensemaking aimed at repairing the disruption (Weick et al, 2005). This sensemaking produces a revised career narrative, which the individual subsequently enacts. This proposition is explored through the use of autoethnographic case studies, and the use of this methodology is itself one of the major contributions of this thesis; autoethnography (Ellis, 2004) is an uncommon methodology in social science generally and its use is unheard of within organisational psychology. The case studies allow for theory development, though do not represent an empirical test of the framework, so following the autoethnographic analyses, a refined framework is outlined, together with proposals for research to test the framework. The thesis concludes that narrative coping is the dominant response to emotion in career, and outlines a number of implications for this proposition, including important directions for future research

Can we release the brake on the career re-entry of mothers? A UK perspective

While there are many reasons for career inequalities between men and women, becoming a mother is one of the most important life events affecting the career paths of women. In particular, decisions on whether, when and how mothers return to work have a significant influence on their later career development. Therefore, in this article, we review the literature regarding challenges and determinants of mothers’ return to work after a child-related career break. Subsequently, we compare the context of returning mothers in the UK and India and present the legal, infrastructural and cultural specificities of both countries to better understand the influence of context on decision making of mothers. Building on this, we turn toward mechanisms to reduce barriers of re-entry and provide recommendations how to support the transition of mothers back to work

Crowdsourcing for Sustainable Urban Logistics: Exploring the Factors Influencing Crowd Workers’ Participative Behavior

With crowd logistics becoming a crucial part of the last-mile delivery challenge in many cities, continued participation of crowd workers has become an essential issue affecting the growth of the crowd logistics platform. Understanding how people are motivated to continue their participation in crowd logistics can provide some clarity as to what policies and measures should be undertaken by the industry to support its further growth. Using the Push-Pull-Mooring (PPM) theory, we developed a research model to explain the factors influencing crowd workers' participative behavior. Survey data from 455 crowd workers were analyzed using SmartPLS3.0 software. The results show monetary rewards and trust have a significant positive impact on the willingness of crowd workers to continue participating in crowd logistics, while work enjoyment from previous work and entry barriers for work have a significant negative impact. Trust plays an intermediary role between monetary incentives and crowd workers' willingness to continue participating. Based on the findings of this study, we recommend that crowd logistics platforms should offer reasonable monetary incentives and keep these under constant review, build a high degree of trust and cooperation with their crowd workers, and initiate activities geared towards promoting satisfaction at work