Regendering of dynamic managerial capabilities in the context of binary perspectives on gender diversity

Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Purpose: The interplay between gender and dynamic managerial capabilities is not well studied in the extant literature. This paper aims to explore how dynamic managerial capabilities, as prized qualities in the job market, are framed in gendered ways and how the gendering process disadvantages female and male workers for different reasons and harms the organisations, which use the managerial capabilities approach without proofing it for gender biases. Design/methodology/approach: An extensive literature review was conducted and a framework that offers a new gender perspective was offered. Findings: A number of ways dynamic managerial capabilities may be proofed for gender biases and how a gender-balanced framing of dynamic managerial capabilities may be achieved are identified. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the development of a new gender perspective, which is called regendering of dynamic managerial capabilities, which frees the concept from its binary frames of gender, assumptions of gender neutrality, with a view to capture gender diversity in a way which is closer to its nature in theory and practice of dynamic managerial capabilities

The high stakes use of language proficiency tests as illusio and pyramid scheme: An evaluation of their social aspects, validity, and reliability

There is a growing trend in using high stakes standardised test scores to evaluate individuals' academic and professional language proficiency. Although these tests determine the fates of millions of students and job seekers across the world, several aspects of these tests such as their design, ethical implementation, procedural fairness, and validity and reliability are questioned by many linguists. This chapter aims to evaluate the mostly criticised social and technical aspects of high stakes language tests from a pyramid scheme perspective. In order to achieve this aim, a number of empirical studies from the extant literature are reviewed, and some comments are provided in the conclusion section

The cultural impact of hidden curriculum on language learners: A review and some implications for curriculum design

With reference to theory and research, this chapter discusses the hidden curriculum of language textbooks and other teaching materials where culture, gender, race, or other topics associated with equality, diversity, and representativeness were presented in biased ways. Hidden curriculum may describe, present, or elicit stereotypes and reproduce cultural, gender, and racial bias in subtle ways; sometimes even teachers may not notice what the curriculum refers to or they may perceive stereotyping as harmless. This makes sociolinguistic problems with regard to use of a purist and monolithic cultural content more salient than ever. Yet, the new sociolinguistic landscape of language teaching where changing needs of language learners might not be accurately represented in teaching materials require the revision of current curricula and pedagogical practices. Therefore, this chapter draws conclusions from empirical studies on the topic and provides some implications for teaching and materials design

Social innovation in managing diversity: COVID-19 as a catalyst for change

Abstract Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse impact on workforce diversity internationally. While in the Global North, many countries have sophisticated laws and organizational mechanisms and discourses to deal with such adverse impacts on workforce diversity, such structures of diversity management are either ceremonial or poorly developed in the Global South. The global pandemic disproportionately impacted the Global North and Global South increasing the existing gap due to vaccine rollout inequality and divergence in recoveries. We explore social innovation as a possible option for responding to the challenges induced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: The study draws on interviews with 26 distinctive organizations operating in various industries in Turkey. We have adopted a qualitative design to explore how social innovation helps to respond to diversity concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: We demonstrate that social innovation presents a viable option for a country with a poorly regulated context of diversity management. Social innovation could help overcome the challenge of the absence of supportive legislation, discourses and practices of diversity in poorly regulated contexts. Originality: The field study revealed several distinct forms of social innovation for diversity management, which emerged as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We demonstrate that in the absence of supportive diversity management structures and frameworks, social innovation in diversity management at the organizational leve

Passing as resistance through a Goffmanian approach: Normalized, defensive, strategic, and instrumental passing when LGBTQ+ individuals encounter institutions

Data availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Passing and coming out are two divergent individual strategies historically associated with the LGBTQ+ community as they struggle to fit in with normative expectations at work and in life. While coming out has gradually become more common in organizations and national contexts that offer safeguards for LGBTQ+ individuals, passing remains an option where no such measures are available. Drawing on interviews with working-class LGBTQ+ individuals in a country with an adversarial context, that is, Turkey, we identify how varieties of passing, defined as acting and appearing to fit with the dominant sexual orientation and gender identity norms, are used as strategies of coping with institutional norms. Working-class LGBTQ+ individuals are an important group to study as many draw their pride, power, and identity from their engagement with work and the labor market. Transcending the monolithic accounts of passing, we illustrate four variants of passing (i.e., normalized, defensive, strategic, and instrumental passing) that LGBTQ+ individuals deploy at work. Reflecting on the field study findings, we explicate how and why LGBTQ+ individuals choose to pass at work in each case

Does voluntarism work for the workplace inclusion of individuals with disabilities in a country with limited equality structures?

Purpose: The study explores measures designed explicitly to manage people with disabilities in a context where diversity interventions are incorporated voluntarily. Furthermore, it examines global organizations’ approaches to marginalized groups, such as people with disabilities, in a context where there is an explicit lack of state regulation on diversity measures. Design/methodology/approach: An abductive approach was adopted for the exploratory nature, which sought to understand how global organizations in a developing country utilize diversity management mechanisms to manage people with disabilities. Findings: The findings reveal that human resources departments of international organizations operating in a neoliberal environment demonstrate two distinct perspectives for individuals with disabilities: (i) inclusiveness due to legal pressures and (ii) social exclusion. Originality/value: We explored global organizations’ approaches to marginalized groups, such as people with disabilities, in the context of an explicit lack of state regulation on diversity measures and showed that the absence of coercive regulation leads to voluntary actions with adverse consequences. The paper expands theories that critique the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in untamed neoliberal contexts and explains how the responsibilization of institutional actors could enhance what is practical and possible for the workplace inclusion of individuals with disabilities. Without such institutional responsibilization, our findings reveal that disability inclusion is left to the limited prospects of the market rationales to the extent of bottom-line utility

Moving from intersectional hostility to intersectional solidarity: Insights from LGBTQ individuals in Turkey

Purpose: Treatment of intersectionality in empirical studies has predominantly engaged with individual categories of difference. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that there is utility in exploring intersectionality at the intersection of individual and institutional levels. As such the authors move beyond the polarised take on intersections as either individual or institutional phenomenon and tackle intersectionality as a relational phenomenon that gains meaning at the encounter of individuals and institutions in context. Therefore, the authors explicate how intersectionality features as forms of solidarity and hostility in work environments. As such the authors posit that not only individuals but also the institutions should change if inclusion is aimed at societal and organisational levels. Design/methodology/approach: A thematic analysis on qualitative interview data of a purposive- and snowball-selected sample of 11 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer working adults in Turkey was used. Findings: This paper finds evidence to support the existence of a multidimensional model of intersectionality, where conflicting and complementary individual and institutional intersections create four intersectional typologies in the form of intersectional hostility, intersectional struggle, intersectional adjustment and intersectional solidarity. Originality/value: The extant literature offers rich insights into individual intersectionality but sheds very little light on institutional intersectionality and its interaction with individual intersectionality. This paper attempts to fill in this gap by investigating intersectional encounters as interactions between the individual and institutional intersections

Importance of Strategic Flexibility on the Knowledge and Innovation Relationship: An Emerging Market Study

Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). This study seeks to explore the impact of strategic flexibility on the relationship between knowledge management and innovation performance. In order to achieve this, a self- administrated questionnaire was conducted on a sample of 187 firms from different industries in Turkey and a couple of hypotheses were tested. The two way interaction of knowledge management and strategic flexibility was associated more strongly with innovation performance than the direct and single relationship of knowledge management and innovation performance. Therefore, it was found that the effectiveness of knowledge management leading to innovation performance is contingent on strategic flexibility

The interplay of corporate social responsibility and corporate political activity in emerging markets: The role of strategic flexibility in non-market strategies

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate political activities are complementary, and the coordinated management of corporate social responsibility and corporate political activities may lead to better firm performance. However, corporate social responsibility and corporate political activities should be aligned carefully to utilize this complementarity. Strategic flexibility, which is the ability of a firm to adapt to changes in the external environment and make necessary organizational modifications quickly, can help firms to align their corporate social responsibility and corporate political activities. This paper empirically investigates the political dimension and the interactive dimension which describes interactions between corporate social responsibility and corporate political activities together with strategic flexibility and their effects on firm performance through a study of 142 firms in Turkey using moderated multiple regression methods. The results show that, while the political dimension had an inverted U-shaped effect on firm performance, indicating that only a moderate level of corporate political activities may improve financial performance, the interactive dimension had positive but limited implications for performance. Finally, it was found strategic flexibility plays a positive moderating role on the relationships between the interactive dimension and firm performance. It is concluded that complementarity between corporate social responsibility and corporate political activities which may result in better performance is contingent on strategic flexibility

Exploring the interplay between deviance and loneliness at work

Deviance and loneliness at work are two constructs, the public interpretation of which locates them as social and economic problems that risk wellbeing and productivity at work. In line with the dominant framing of these two concepts, the authors first examine the overlap between them, explicating how and why deviance and loneliness may be similar. Through exploration of academic evidence and framing of both concepts, they provide a typology of deviance and loneliness that flesh out both destructive and constructive interpretations of the two concepts with a view to identify behavioral patterns at their intersection