Employability and involuntary occupational transitions management : an explorative research with workers on unemployment benefit

Fragmented nature of current careers has placed at the centre of attention the concept of employability. This paper presents an explorative study aimed at analysing employability during the occupational transition of dismissed workers. In the light of the psychosocial approach suggested by Fugate and colleagues, the principal goal was to explore the relationship between dispositional employability and two crucial aspects of outplacement, re-employment and physical and mental health, hypothesizing a mediating role of perceived employability and perceived utility of outplacement services. The research involved pharmaceutical workers on unemployment benefit. Our analysis confirmed that dispositional employability can be considered as a latent multidimensional construct which sparingly summarizes three latent dimensions (self-efficacy in managing work changes; social capital; work career proactivity). Results highlighted that dispositional employability has a fairly direct impact on physical and mental health, but it is not associated with reemployment. Moreover perceived employability mediates the relationship between dispositional employability and perceived utility of outplacement services, while it doesn\u2019t have a direct connection with psychophysical health. Implications on career counselling are discusse

(Un)doing diversity : the management of workforce diversity in Lombardian firms, between something and nothing

It is more than 15 years that in Anglo-Saxon countries the discourse on Diversity Management has been under investigation but we can still see a confusing frame of the matter and a divided scientific community. Academics have not reached a shared definition of diversity management, named by some as an open-ended ness concept, (nevertheless a diversity management approach suggests some general characteristics: diversity is recognised, respected and valued and is part of organisational mission and values; each employee is seen as a relevant asset for the organisational competitive advantage. It is claimed that diversity management is a proactive long-term organisational approach that: \ub7 needs to be integrated with business strategy; \ub7 asks for a mutual cultural change \ub7 aims to create an inclusive environment in which information are shared and everyone feels valued and can use their full potential; \ub7 needs a committed management that support diversity values and policies; \ub7 requests a continue audit of all organisational processes and systems to eliminate discrimination and to create fair processes. Hence we can distinguish two main approaches: Managing Diversity, an Individualistic approach rooted on a Resource based view, focused on \u201cbusiness case\u201d and Diversity Management, a more collectivistic framework rooted on a Stakeholder view, that combines the \u201cbusiness case\u201d and \u201csocial justice\u201d concerns. The academic community appears split between the outcomes that diversity management can achieve for organisations and employees. Critics are mainly focused on costs , intra-inter group conflicts, difficulties in communications, \u2018rhetoric\u2019 of solutions. On the other hand those supportive focus on benefits in terms of organisational outputs such as: reduction of costs; increased team creativity, problem-solving capabilities and flexibility; better understanding of customer needs; enhancement of organisational reputation and image; improved ability in attracting the \u2018best employees\u2019; all benefits that however, are more declared than empirically proved. The increase in labour workforce diversity, the alighted international attention on anti-discrimination and equal opportunity solutions, together with the promulgated positive effects of diversity management on organisational legitimation and reputation, along with the increasing number of studies that show the connection between HRM and organisational outcomes have clearly fostered research interest and discourses on diversity management even if the field can be labelled as a mass of unclear approaches. If there is conceptual confusion around diversity management in the countries where it is most utilised (e.g. Anglo American), the situation is exacerbated in country contexts such as Italy where the concept and practice of diversity management is still extremely under-investigated. In fact, Italy tends to be a copy-cat country, but if what is to be copied is currently unclear, the probability is that Italian firms will prefer to wait for more clarity. However this is problematic because despite a lack of attention to date to the issues, the presence of a diverse workforce is a reality in Italy, and, as O\u2019Leary and Weathington (2006) underline, despite the lack of conceptual consensus or clarity it is nevertheless important to investigate how firms deal with the diversity that they have. Through my PhD research I want to begin to fill a gap in current understanding in the field in terms of exploring what Italian firms are doing, or most probably \u2018un-doing\u2019, in relation to the management of workforce diversity. I have focused my \u201cwork in progress\u201d study on Lombardy, as it is the most populated and economic advanced Italian Region, supposing that, if Italian organisations are doing something in relation to diversity, it is in such a Region that the most interesting solutions are likely to be found. This paper\u2019s aim is to set the contextual scene of diversity management in Lombardy. I firstly analyse general information on businesses associations\u2019 episodic or programmatic activities related to diversity management. Secondly, I present initial results from an email and web-based questionnaire survey sent to a sample of Lombardy\u2019s medium-large size firms. This includes data on workforce diversity composition, on firms\u2019 approaches to diversity and on the kind of solutions that organisations are implementing to manage workforce diversity. At this stage the management of workforce diversity in Lombardy firms, appears to be in an initial phase, so that they can be considered to be \u2018non-doing\u2019 diversity through a set of conceptual understandings and policy actions that is still between something and nothing

La gestione consapevole delle diversit\ue0 delle persone in impresa : una soluzione strategica ancora da scoprire in Italia

Una delle caratteristiche pi\uf9 rilevanti del mercato del lavoro attuale \ue8 il progressivo incremento di diversit\ue0 nella forza lavoro che porta le imprese a registrare un aumento di eterogeneit\ue0 interna. L\u2019eterogeneit\ue0 del personale non rappresenta di per s\ue9 un elemento positivo o negativo per le imprese, la sua positivit\ue0 o negativit\ue0 dipender\ue0 dal modo in cui viene gestita: \ue8 la "gestione consapevole delle diversit\ue0 delle persone" (diversity management) che diventa fonte di vantaggio competitivo per le imprese. Tenendo conto che in Italia, al contrario di quanto accade nei Paesi Anglosassoni e Nord Europei, la gestione delle diversit\ue0 resta ancora un tema estremamente inesplorato, la presente ricerca si propone di analizzare "se e come le imprese in Italia stiano affrontando la gestione delle diversit\ue0 delle persone". Riconoscendo che non esiste una one best diversity strategy, la letteratura fornisce numerose indicazioni di possibili logiche strategiche alla gestione delle diversit\ue0, senza, tuttavia, proporre una classificazione che le illustri attraverso due dimensioni: 1. la tendenza dell\u2019impresa a ritenere significativa -ai fini organizzativi- l\u2019esistenza di diversit\ue0 nelle persone; 2. l\u2019inclinazione dell\u2019impresa a considerare la gestione delle diversit\ue0 come costo/problema o, all\u2019opposto, come risorsa/opportunit\ue0. Lo schema concettuale prodotto dalla combinazione di queste due dimensioni, e utilizzato in fase di analisi dei dati, identifica quattro possibili logiche strategiche alla gestione delle diversit\ue0, denominate: Elusiva, di Analisi, Reattiva, di Valorizzazione. Per iniziare a comprendere "se e come le imprese in Italia stiano affrontando la gestione delle diversit\ue0 delle persone" \ue8 stata realizzata una ricerca a carattere esplorativo su 93 imprese operanti in Italia, di ogni settore e dimensione, utilizzando il concurrent mixed method con prevalenza di analisi qualitativa. Dall\u2019indagine emerge che all\u2019interno del campione la gestione delle diversit\ue0 delle persone \ue8 ancora in una fase iniziale: la maggior parte delle imprese non si occupa del tema e fra le poche imprese che attuano interventi di gestione delle diversit\ue0 prevalgono quelle che adottano una logica strategica di Valorizzazione del tipo Azioni Positive realizzando interventi diretti per lo pi\uf9 a gestire il genere e il ruolo professionale. Pur nella consapevolezza di non poter generalizzare i risultati ottenuti, lo studio fornisce indicazioni utili per guidare azioni future di analisi ed approfondimento sul tema della gestione delle diversit\ue0 delle persone in Italia

Gestione delle diversit\ue0 : un fattore strategico chiave ancora da scoprire

Da tempo nei paesi anglosassoni i riflettori sono puntati sulla gestione delle diversit\ue0 in impresa; in Italia, invece, l\u2019interesse per questo argomento sembra aver raggiunto solo un numero limitato di imprese. La poca chiarezza in merito a cosa \u201cgestione delle diversit\ue0 del personale\u201d voglia dire e cosa la sua reale applicazione comporti, la difficile attuazione di comportamenti copy-cat che poco si adattano a questo tipo di gestione in cui non esiste una one best way, la ritrosia ad investire laddove i ritorni arrivano nel medio lungo periodo, sono fra le principali cause di questa \u2018disattenzione\u2019 all\u2019argomento. Ma allora come viene affrontata la gestione delle diversit\ue0 nelle imprese italiane? Quali sono gli interventi attuati e le sfide ancora aperte? Queste sono alcune delle domande a cui questo articolo vuole rispondere

Utilizing a New Human Relations Framework to Leverage Workforce Diversity

In a global society, leveraging people\u2019s diversities is one of the major challenges faced by organizations of any size in developed countries. Factors such as demographic changes, international and national anti-discrimination measures, globalization, service-economy shifts, stakeholder pressures on organizational commitment to corporate social responsibility, and technological advances are heightening the international attention paid to the increase in people\u2019s diversities, thereby fostering discussion on their management in organizations. Although since the end of the 1980s professionals and academics have been debating how to devise efficient, effective and equitable ways to manage workforce diversity in organizations, they have produced neither a shared definition of diversity management nor a general accepted assessment on the outcomes that diversity management can deliver for organizations and persons. The aim of this chapter is to expand the understanding of diversity management by systematizing it on the basis of McGregor\u2019s new human relations framework

Shedding light on the Italian way to diversity management : an empirical analysis

The increase in labour force diversity is one of the most important labour market characteristics of developed countries in the last decades. People\u2019s diversity is not good or bad per se, its positivity or negativity relies on the way companies manage it: it is the conscious management of people\u2019s diversity that can become a source of competitive advantage. Deeming that in Italy workforce diversity is by now a reality and recognising that there is an evident lack of information about diversity management practices in this country, the paper purpose is to show how diversity management is assessed and handled within a sample of Italian based companies. The paper, which uses a new-human relation framework, has important implications for the field of equality and diversity in organisational studies. In fact, it firstly systematises the concept of diversity management and, on the basis of this, it then sheds light on the Italian way to diversity management through an explorative and descriptive analysis on a sample of 93 Italian based companies

Facing the Diversity Management Challenge: a Planned Process of Change

Nowadays, companies all over the world are facing a very difficult moment: they have to find out the way to come out from this economic global crisis. A key element to afford this challenge are persons with their specificities in terms of knowledge, capabilities, inclinations, motivations, life cycle phase as well as gender, age, culture, physical and mental abilities, religion, sexual orientation, dependents and needs. People\u2019s diversities are neither good nor bad for companies but they need to be managed (Guest, 2002). Since the beginning of the 1990s academics and professional have been debating on how to manage people\u2019s diversities in a strategic, efficient, effective and equitable way so introducing the matter of Diversity Management. Diversity Management is a strategic organizational approach that, in order to achieve better organizational results, focuses the organization\u2019s attention on the person and her/his specificities and needs by promoting and fulfilling a cultural and an organizational process of change so as to create an inclusive work environment where people\u2019s diversities are recognized, respected, enhanced and integrated, and the individual\u2019s potential expression is fostered (Ricc\uf2, 2012). Forasmuch as it doesn\u2019t exists a best diversity strategy, it not so easy for companies to translate the Diversity Management concept into practices, they need operational guidelines which are sufficiently detailed to accompany human resource and organizational development professionals step by step in applying diversity management principles but, at the same time, which are explained in a flexible manner so they can be adapted and personalized for the specific organisation. This paper presents and explains a planned process of change to afford the Diversity Management challenge, made up of eight phases, that affects the company at the strategic, tactical and operative level (Shen et al., 2009). At the strategic level the change that the company faces lies in analyzing and revisiting its vision to include people\u2019s diversities and theirs management as sources of competitive advantage, also explaining \u201cWhy\u201d the company sees them as influent factors for its success. At the tactical level the change that the company faces lies in defining \u201cWhat\u201d diversities will be managed in a differentiated way, \u201cWhen\u201d they will be managed (conditions), \u201cWhere\u201d they will be managed (in the all company, only at national level or, instead, only within defined departments), \u201cHow\u201d they will be managed (strategies, policy and connected solutions) and \u201cWho\u201d is concerned in the diversity management process. At the operative level the change lies in implementing, communicating, monitoring, assessing and, eventually, revisiting the diversity management vision, policy and solutions defined at the strategic and tactical level arriving to rethink the whole process on the basis of the changed situation of the context, the company and the persons in the company. The paper presents and discusses the above cited phases, providing specific examples for each of them and advancing potential avenues for future research

La responsabilit\ue0 sociale d\u2019azienda e le scelte organizzative suggerite dalle nuove tecnologie

Nei Paesi ad economia avanzata si sta assistendo ad un profondo cambiamento nei valori che guidano la societ\ue0 nel suo complesso e i singoli individui che la compongono portando a riconoscere sempre pi\uf9 importanza a valori non connessi a bisogni materiali quali emozioni, identificazione personale, auto-stima e fiducia oppure riconducibili a forme di democrazia quali giustizia, uguaglianza, libert\ue0 di espressione e rispetto (Carrasco, 2007). Questa tendenza viene osservata anche con riferimento alla crescente porzione di consumatori che realizza i propri acquisti valutando non solo la qualit\ue0, la differenziazione e il prezzo dei beni e dei servizi offerti, ma anche il rispetto di fattori etici quali giustizia, rispetto dei lavoratori, qualit\ue0 della vita, rispetto ambientale e solidariet\ue0 nei processi seguiti da parte delle aziende produttrici e fornitrici. All\u2019interno di un siffatto contesto sempre pi\uf9 imprese, spinte da motivazioni a carattere strumentale o morale, oppure da una loro combinazione (Munilla, Miles, 2005), riconoscono di avere una responsabilit\ue0 sociale (Sacconi, 2005) che le porta a dover ottemperare ad obbligazioni nei confronti di una molteplicit\ue0 di soggetti che direttamente o indirettamente influenzano, o sono influenzati, dall\u2019attivit\ue0 dell\u2019azienda (stakeholder). Rifacendosi alla stakeholder theory (Freeman, 1984; Donaldson, Preston, 1995), si pu\uf2 dire che un\u2019azienda agisce in modo socialmente responsabile quando le sue decisioni e le sue azioni soddisfano gli interessi dei diversi stakeholder bilanciandoli fra loro. Fra gli stakeholder un ruolo di particolare rilevanza va riconosciuto ai lavoratori, risorsa chiave per qualsiasi forma di attivit\ue0 produttiva e/o di servizio. In un\u2019ottica di responsabilit\ue0 sociale di impresa, lo sviluppo di nuove tecnologie che permettono la comunicazione, l\u2019accesso e la condivisione di dati a distanza ha reso possibile l\u2019introduzione di forme di organizzazione del lavoro quali il remote working (telelavoro) che cambiano profondamente le modalit\ue0 e le relazioni di lavoro all\u2019interno dell\u2019azienda stimolando l\u2019utilizzo di un modello di Direzione delle Risorse Umane micro-fondato attraverso cui sviluppare una rinegoziazione del contratto psicologico fra lavoratore ed organizzazione (Solari, 2004)

A relation-based approach to social enterprise: the role of psychological contracts

Social enterprises are economic actors that while operating within traditional markets do not comply to the classic capitalistic goal (i.e. profit maximization) but on the contrary pursue non-profit goals such as collective needs contentment or protection of general interests. Inside social enterprises, due to these characteristics, people hold a central role. For this reason, the nature of relations between the organization and its constituents, particularly employees and volunteers, plays a major role. We adopt the psychological contract framework to show how social enterprises might be apt at extracting additional effort on the part of collaborators, when they ground their management styles in micro-relational and diversity management approaches