SCOS Update: April, part II
Three more items for April:
1) 20 PhD scholarships across a range of subjects offered at The University of the West of England.
2) From Greed to Sustainability? The Corporation in an Era of Responsibility
3) Call for Papers – Special issue of Organization, Sexuality and Organizational Analysis: 30 years on
1) 20 PhD scholarships across a range of subjects offered at The University of the West of England.
2) From Greed to Sustainability? The Corporation in an Era of Responsibility
3) Call for Papers – Special issue of Organization, Sexuality and Organizational Analysis: 30 years on
Item 1:
The University of the West of England (UWE) are offering 20 PhD scholarships across a range of subjects, if you know of someone looking for funding to complete a PhD, please direct them to the link below. The closing date for applications is 13th May 2012.
Please visit:
www.uwe.ac.uk/graduateschool
Item 2:
From Greed to Sustainability? The Corporation in an Era of Responsibility
A symposium and book launch organised by the Culture, Organisation and Markets Group, Keele University.
Thursday 31st May, 5-7pm
Claus Moser research Centre
Keele University
Wine reception 5-5.45pm
followed by talks and discussion 5.45-7pm:
Dr Gordon Pearson – Introduction: The Rise and Fall of Management (Gower, 2009) and The Road to Co-operation (Gower, 2012)
Professor Andrew Dobson – Commentary: Prosperity and Sustainability
The American Dream has clearly not delivered on its promises to everyone. Corporate greed seems to have run riot and the increasing concentration of wealth into the hands of the few has ultimately led to global financial meltdown. Risk and uncertainty has trickled down to result in widespread household poverty, job losses and the repossession of homes. The corporation itself has been described as a ‘pathological institution, a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and societies’ (Bakan, 2004: 2). This pathology embodies a short-termism which dominates the way our capital markets operate. In a systemic view Senge et al (2005) see global institutions as a new species increasingly colonising our world and setting the very conditions of our existence. The reach of this network is undoubtedly all pervasive shaping political and economic agendas, social priorities, and cultures in boardrooms, classrooms and around the kitchen table.
In this seminar we explore the contribution of two key texts written by Keele Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Gordon Pearson.
The Rise and Fall of Management: A Brief History of Practice, Theory and Context (Gower, 2009) records management’s practical development from the beginnings of industrialisation; its codification as a field of theory by the first American business schools with their aims to establish it as a high profession alongside the law and medicine; its subsequent development with empirically based knowledge and understanding of how organisations, and people in them, actually work. The corporation described by Bakan, with its destructive effects from which 99.9% of people have been victim, emerged from the dominance of neo-liberal economic theory according primacy to capital over all else, corrupting management and destroying much of the real economy. The academy might assist a revival of management’s virtue.
The Road to Co-operation: Escaping the Bottom Line (Gower, 2012) summarises some of fundamental flaws, errors, omissions and falsehoods contained in neoclassical economic theory, and indicates the damage done by the dogmatic application of absurd economic models, both to corporations and to the finite planet. The Anglo-American model of governance is the most destructive of all; alternative approaches, less dominated by economic theory, are shown to be broader in their concern, longer term in their perspective and less destructive in their effects. Practical steps towards such gains are identified with critical stakeholders, notably employees, sharing responsibilities with specific roles in future management and ownership.
Item 3:
Call for Papers – Special issue of Organization, Sexuality and Organizational Analysis: 30 years on
‘Sexuality is nothing if not complicated – but that is no excuse for ignoring it’
(Burrell, 1984: 113).
Gibson Burrell’s ‘Sex and Organizational Analysis’, published in Organization Studies in 1984, represented an important contribution to the then emergent field of critical management and organization studies, based upon a welcome application of insights from sociology, philosophy and social history to the study of sexuality at work. Thirty years on, while sexuality remains a relatively marginal topic in mainstream organizational analysis, a burgeoning body of ideas has emerged in more critical quarters representing a flourishing dialogue that has stretched across disciplinary boundaries. This has been inspired and influenced particularly by the impact of feminist theory and politics, as well as insights from queer theory, poststructuralism and postcolonialism. Alongside these important theoretical developments, the lived experiences of sexuality within organizations have changed considerably within the last three decades. Sexuality has arguably never been so controlled, commodified and commercialized. At the same time, protective legislation combined with changing social attitudes and political capacities mean that in some contexts, and for some groups, organizations have become more diverse, tolerant places than a generation or so ago. In many ways, and reflecting a ‘historical convergence of empirical, policy, political, theoretical, technological, spatial and indeed personal concerns’ (Hearn, 2011: 299), sexuality has never been so organized.
The dialectical emphasis on sexuality as a ‘frontier’ of control and resistance, advocated in ‘Sex and Organizational Analysis’, has been reflected in many subsequent attempts to make sense of the relationship between sexuality and organization through a series of interventions over the past thirty years or so that have sought to emphasize the centrality of sexuality to organizational power relations in all their many forms. As Fleming (2007: 239) has recently noted in this respect, ‘following Burrell’s landmark analysis of sexuality and organization, a good deal of the discussion has been couched in terms of power, control and resistance’. It is this complex melange of power and pleasure, control and resistance, exclusion and over-inclusion that continues both to fascinate and elude organizational scholars, and which means that sexuality remains a central if relatively neglected aspect of organizational lives and processes.
Inter-disciplinary and iconoclastic in its orientation, Organization has played a crucial role in expanding the field of organization studies, providing an often ground-breaking context within which to explore themes and ideas that have traditionally been neglected or negated by mainstream management studies, including a concern with the relationship between sexuality and organization. Continuing this tradition, this special issue seeks to provide a timely opportunity to reflect on developments in the study and lived experience of sexuality within organizations over the last three decades. It also seeks to provide a provocative forum in which to anticipate possible future developments in organizational forms, policies and practices, as well as to map out potential conceptual, methodological and theoretical directions in the study of sexuality and organizations.
With this mind, we invite empirical, conceptual, methodological and theoretical contributions to this special issue of Organization from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives. Possible areas for investigation might include (but need not be limited to) any of the following:
· Sexuality and organizational power, control and resistance; sexuality and surveillance.
· Sexual harassment, violence and violation within/through organizations.
· Organizational de/re-eroticization.
· Sex work and sexualized forms of labour.
· Physically, social and morally ‘dirty work’, abjection and sexuality.
· Sex, religion and organizational spirituality.
· Global organizations and sexuality; imperialism and neo-colonialism.
· Sexuality, art and organizational aesthetics.
· Sexual language, imagery and organizational culture.
· Sexuality, work and organizations in the mass media and popular culture.
· Information and communication technologies, virtuality and sexuality.
· Sexual commodification, co-optation and branding.
· Sexual identity, diversity and difference; sexuality as a human resource within organizations; the management of sexuality; legislative and institutional change.
· Intersectionalities between sexuality, age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, generation, ‘race’ and nationality; trans-gendering and trans-sexualities.
· Sexuality, corporeality and ethics; sexual communities.
· Sexuality, eroticism and leadership.
Submission:
Papers should be submitted electronically by 31st October 2012 to SAGETrack at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/organization
Papers must be no more than 8,000 words, excluding references, and will be blind reviewed in accordance with the journal’s standard review process. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the guidelines published in Organization and on the journal’s website: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?level1=600&currTree=Subjects&catLevel1=&prodId=Journal200981
For further information or to discuss a possible submission, please contact one of the guest editors: Jo Brewis (j.brewis@le.ac.uk), Albert Mills (albert.mills@SMU.CA) or Melissa Tyler (mjtyler@essex.ac.uk)
References
Burrell, G. (1984) ‘Sex and Organizational Analysis’, Organization Studies. 5(2): 97-118.
Fleming, P. (2007) ‘Sexuality, Power and Resistance in the Workplace’, Organization Studies. 28(2): 239-256.
Hearn, J. (2011) ‘Sexualities, Work, Organizations, and Managements: Empirical, Policy, and Theoretical Challenges’, in E. Jeanes, D. Knights and P.Y. Martin (eds) Handbook of Gender, Work and Organization. Chichester: Wiley, pp. 299-314.
The University of the West of England (UWE) are offering 20 PhD scholarships across a range of subjects, if you know of someone looking for funding to complete a PhD, please direct them to the link below. The closing date for applications is 13th May 2012.
Please visit:
www.uwe.ac.uk/graduateschool
Item 2:
From Greed to Sustainability? The Corporation in an Era of Responsibility
A symposium and book launch organised by the Culture, Organisation and Markets Group, Keele University.
Thursday 31st May, 5-7pm
Claus Moser research Centre
Keele University
Wine reception 5-5.45pm
followed by talks and discussion 5.45-7pm:
Dr Gordon Pearson – Introduction: The Rise and Fall of Management (Gower, 2009) and The Road to Co-operation (Gower, 2012)
Professor Andrew Dobson – Commentary: Prosperity and Sustainability
The American Dream has clearly not delivered on its promises to everyone. Corporate greed seems to have run riot and the increasing concentration of wealth into the hands of the few has ultimately led to global financial meltdown. Risk and uncertainty has trickled down to result in widespread household poverty, job losses and the repossession of homes. The corporation itself has been described as a ‘pathological institution, a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and societies’ (Bakan, 2004: 2). This pathology embodies a short-termism which dominates the way our capital markets operate. In a systemic view Senge et al (2005) see global institutions as a new species increasingly colonising our world and setting the very conditions of our existence. The reach of this network is undoubtedly all pervasive shaping political and economic agendas, social priorities, and cultures in boardrooms, classrooms and around the kitchen table.
In this seminar we explore the contribution of two key texts written by Keele Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Gordon Pearson.
The Rise and Fall of Management: A Brief History of Practice, Theory and Context (Gower, 2009) records management’s practical development from the beginnings of industrialisation; its codification as a field of theory by the first American business schools with their aims to establish it as a high profession alongside the law and medicine; its subsequent development with empirically based knowledge and understanding of how organisations, and people in them, actually work. The corporation described by Bakan, with its destructive effects from which 99.9% of people have been victim, emerged from the dominance of neo-liberal economic theory according primacy to capital over all else, corrupting management and destroying much of the real economy. The academy might assist a revival of management’s virtue.
The Road to Co-operation: Escaping the Bottom Line (Gower, 2012) summarises some of fundamental flaws, errors, omissions and falsehoods contained in neoclassical economic theory, and indicates the damage done by the dogmatic application of absurd economic models, both to corporations and to the finite planet. The Anglo-American model of governance is the most destructive of all; alternative approaches, less dominated by economic theory, are shown to be broader in their concern, longer term in their perspective and less destructive in their effects. Practical steps towards such gains are identified with critical stakeholders, notably employees, sharing responsibilities with specific roles in future management and ownership.
Item 3:
Call for Papers – Special issue of Organization, Sexuality and Organizational Analysis: 30 years on
‘Sexuality is nothing if not complicated – but that is no excuse for ignoring it’
(Burrell, 1984: 113).
Gibson Burrell’s ‘Sex and Organizational Analysis’, published in Organization Studies in 1984, represented an important contribution to the then emergent field of critical management and organization studies, based upon a welcome application of insights from sociology, philosophy and social history to the study of sexuality at work. Thirty years on, while sexuality remains a relatively marginal topic in mainstream organizational analysis, a burgeoning body of ideas has emerged in more critical quarters representing a flourishing dialogue that has stretched across disciplinary boundaries. This has been inspired and influenced particularly by the impact of feminist theory and politics, as well as insights from queer theory, poststructuralism and postcolonialism. Alongside these important theoretical developments, the lived experiences of sexuality within organizations have changed considerably within the last three decades. Sexuality has arguably never been so controlled, commodified and commercialized. At the same time, protective legislation combined with changing social attitudes and political capacities mean that in some contexts, and for some groups, organizations have become more diverse, tolerant places than a generation or so ago. In many ways, and reflecting a ‘historical convergence of empirical, policy, political, theoretical, technological, spatial and indeed personal concerns’ (Hearn, 2011: 299), sexuality has never been so organized.
The dialectical emphasis on sexuality as a ‘frontier’ of control and resistance, advocated in ‘Sex and Organizational Analysis’, has been reflected in many subsequent attempts to make sense of the relationship between sexuality and organization through a series of interventions over the past thirty years or so that have sought to emphasize the centrality of sexuality to organizational power relations in all their many forms. As Fleming (2007: 239) has recently noted in this respect, ‘following Burrell’s landmark analysis of sexuality and organization, a good deal of the discussion has been couched in terms of power, control and resistance’. It is this complex melange of power and pleasure, control and resistance, exclusion and over-inclusion that continues both to fascinate and elude organizational scholars, and which means that sexuality remains a central if relatively neglected aspect of organizational lives and processes.
Inter-disciplinary and iconoclastic in its orientation, Organization has played a crucial role in expanding the field of organization studies, providing an often ground-breaking context within which to explore themes and ideas that have traditionally been neglected or negated by mainstream management studies, including a concern with the relationship between sexuality and organization. Continuing this tradition, this special issue seeks to provide a timely opportunity to reflect on developments in the study and lived experience of sexuality within organizations over the last three decades. It also seeks to provide a provocative forum in which to anticipate possible future developments in organizational forms, policies and practices, as well as to map out potential conceptual, methodological and theoretical directions in the study of sexuality and organizations.
With this mind, we invite empirical, conceptual, methodological and theoretical contributions to this special issue of Organization from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives. Possible areas for investigation might include (but need not be limited to) any of the following:
· Sexuality and organizational power, control and resistance; sexuality and surveillance.
· Sexual harassment, violence and violation within/through organizations.
· Organizational de/re-eroticization.
· Sex work and sexualized forms of labour.
· Physically, social and morally ‘dirty work’, abjection and sexuality.
· Sex, religion and organizational spirituality.
· Global organizations and sexuality; imperialism and neo-colonialism.
· Sexuality, art and organizational aesthetics.
· Sexual language, imagery and organizational culture.
· Sexuality, work and organizations in the mass media and popular culture.
· Information and communication technologies, virtuality and sexuality.
· Sexual commodification, co-optation and branding.
· Sexual identity, diversity and difference; sexuality as a human resource within organizations; the management of sexuality; legislative and institutional change.
· Intersectionalities between sexuality, age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, generation, ‘race’ and nationality; trans-gendering and trans-sexualities.
· Sexuality, corporeality and ethics; sexual communities.
· Sexuality, eroticism and leadership.
Submission:
Papers should be submitted electronically by 31st October 2012 to SAGETrack at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/organization
Papers must be no more than 8,000 words, excluding references, and will be blind reviewed in accordance with the journal’s standard review process. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the guidelines published in Organization and on the journal’s website: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?level1=600&currTree=Subjects&catLevel1=&prodId=Journal200981
For further information or to discuss a possible submission, please contact one of the guest editors: Jo Brewis (j.brewis@le.ac.uk), Albert Mills (albert.mills@SMU.CA) or Melissa Tyler (mjtyler@essex.ac.uk)
References
Burrell, G. (1984) ‘Sex and Organizational Analysis’, Organization Studies. 5(2): 97-118.
Fleming, P. (2007) ‘Sexuality, Power and Resistance in the Workplace’, Organization Studies. 28(2): 239-256.
Hearn, J. (2011) ‘Sexualities, Work, Organizations, and Managements: Empirical, Policy, and Theoretical Challenges’, in E. Jeanes, D. Knights and P.Y. Martin (eds) Handbook of Gender, Work and Organization. Chichester: Wiley, pp. 299-314.