Diana Winstanley

Stakeholding: Confusion or Utopia? Mapping the Conceptual Terrain

The paper has three main objectives. The first aim is to examine and clarify the burgeoning stakeholder literature that currently seeks to inform management practice, corporate governance and public policy with particular emphasis on the UK. We do this by continuing the process of clarification started by Donaldson and Preston (1995), focusing mainly on the political and practitioner literature generated within the UK. We begin this task by setting out a critique of stakeholding and develop this by using four key themes of enquiry. First, we examine stakeholdings conceptual confusion; second, we outline and develop criticism of its underlying pluralist assumptions; third, we consider the problems of implementation; and finally, we assess some of the key arguments concerning its potential impact on business performance and competitiveness. The second aim is to develop and examine the central criticisms of stakeholding from both the neo-liberal and Marxist/radical perspectives. By so doing we identify the key theoretical and practical issues which stakeholder proponents must address if they are to convince sceptics of the models validity. The third aim is to develop a conceptual framework capable of illustrating the different stakeholder perspectives and assumptions on which they are based. This consists of five continuums: the first locates authors on a left-right political continuum; the second distinguishes between those authors who use stakeholding primarily for analysis and those who use it to formulate and prescribe specific courses of action; the third differentiates between intrinsic (good in itself) and instrumental (means to an end) motives; the fourth identifies the various levels of proposed intervention; and the fifth illustrates the different degrees of enforcement advocated. We believe that this framework provides a clear illustration of our arguments and serves as a useful instrument for clarifying the stakeholder concept. In addition, it is used to position or map the work of key authors within the stakeholder debate and we believe it may provide a more coherent basis for future research and debate.

The Absent Presence: Negative Space within Discourse and the Construction of Minority Sexual Identity in the Workplace

Sexuality and the experience of sexual minorities in the workplace are under-researched areas. The research reported here - a case study in one government department in the UK - utilizes a discursive research method to uncover a theme that is at the centre of this experience - silence. In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with individuals eliciting their stories on their experience as lesbians and gay men in the workplace, and these stories were then used to promote more general discussion within focus groups. Understanding silence in the research process with relation to both the researcher and the respondent was found to be vital for research in this area, and the article raises issues to do with uncovering previously silenced voices. Silence also emerged as a recurrent theme in the research and found that there were many ways in which this silence can play an integral role in organizational discourse and the creation of social identity. We have therefore suggested that silence could be referred to metaphorically as ‘negative space’, as this term helps to emphasize the multifaceted nature of silence. The research highlighted reactive silence and the absence of response, silence as a form of suppression, of censorship and of self-protection and resistance. It also concludes that silence, in all its changing forms, influences and contributes to the creation of social reality and gay identity for lesbians and gay men in the workplace.

Policing performance: the ethics of performance management

Challenges traditional models and approaches to performance management and presents an alternative methodology for developing performance objectives and managing performance. Argues that existing approaches generally do not succeed in meeting their objectives, are flawed in implementation, act to demotivate staff, and are often perceived as forms of control which are inappropriately used to “police” performance. Suggests that the alternative approach utilized in the case study organization, the British School of Osteopathy, is particularly appropriate for professional staff in the not‐for‐profit sector. Attempts to incorporate ethical concerns over performance management and, using a stakeholder approach, involves those affected in a dialogue over the design of performance measures and methods for performance improvement. Addresses four main ethical principles, namely: respect for the individual, mutual respect, procedural fairness and transparency of decision making.

Ethical issues in contemporary human resource management

PART ONE: THE ETHICAL CONTEXT FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Introduction D.Winstanley & J.Woodall The Ethical Context of HRM: the Ethical Organisation in the Boundaryless World K.Legge PART TWO: AREAS OF ETHICAL INQUIRY IN HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT What Ethics in the Employment Interview? L.Spence Occupational Testing and Psychometric Instruments: an Ethical Perspective B.Baker & J.Cooper Ethics and Equality: Reconciling False Dilemmas S.Liff & L.Dickens HRM and Employee Well-Being: Raising the Ethical Stakes N.Doherty & S.Tyson Winning Hearts and Minds: Ethical Issues in Human Resource Development J.Woodall & D.Douglas Flexible Working Patterns C.Stanworth Presenteeism and the Impact of Long Working Hours on Managers in the UK R.Simpson The New Pay: Risk and Representation at Work E.Heery Conditions of Worth and the Performance Management Paradox D.Winstanley Employee Participation and Involvement T.Claydon PART THREE: ETHICAL INTERVENTION IN PRACTICE Conducting a Social Audit: Lessons from the Body Shop Experience M.Sillanpaa & C.Jackson Staff Charters: A Framework for Identifying the Rights and Responsibilities of Employers and their Staff P.Taylor & P.Jones Whistleblowing D.Lewis Concluding Comments: Ethical Frameworks for Action J.Woodall & D.Winstanley

Business ethics and human resource management: Themes and issues

Reports on the conference on Ethical Issues in Contemporary Human Resource Management, held in April 1996. Notes concerns raised at the conference relating to a lowering of employment standards. These included factors such as: insecurity and risk, transfer of risk and surveillance and control. Suggests a number of alternative ethical frameworks useful in an analysis of HRM, including such elements as: basic human, civil and employment rights, universalism and community of purpose. Considers methods of defending such an ethical focus from charges of utopianism, and suggests that ethical HRM will be a developing theme over the next few years.

When the pieces don't fit: A stakeholder power matrix to analyse public sector restructuring

This article provides a broad overview of the changes taking place in public service organization and presents a model for investigating these changes. The analysis focuses on the concept of stakeholder power. The approach described provides insights which will increase understanding of these changes, and will help in identifying and resolving problems in practice.

Sexuality and the city: exploring the experience of minority sexual identity through storytelling

This article explores the discursive construction of sexual identity through organizational storytelling, in the London office of a global investment bank, InvestCo. Work on the identity of sexual minorities in work organizations is rare, and even more so in the context of an institution such as a bank. Minority sexual identities have largely been ignored by the organizational studies and diversity literatures, but organizations and the researchers who study them, are starting to turn their attention to this previously silenced population. A major difficulty for researchers in this area, and one which has been well researched and documented in other areas of identity construction, is how to access and research this area. This article puts forward the idea that storytelling is an effective way of exploring this still sensitive topic. The results of the research are presented according to different ways in which minority sexual identity is constructed in organizations. This includes a discussion of social i...This article explores the discursive construction of sexual identity through organizational storytelling, in the London office of a global investment bank, InvestCo. Work on the identity of sexual minorities in work organizations is rare, and even more so in the context of an institution such as a bank. Minority sexual identities have largely been ignored by the organizational studies and diversity literatures, but organizations and the researchers who study them, are starting to turn their attention to this previously silenced population. A major difficulty for researchers in this area, and one which has been well researched and documented in other areas of identity construction, is how to access and research this area. This article puts forward the idea that storytelling is an effective way of exploring this still sensitive topic. The results of the research are presented according to different ways in which minority sexual identity is constructed in organizations. This includes a discussion of social identities, displayed and hidden identities, changing identities, accepted and castigated identities and finally congruent and incongruent identities. The article also identifies themes which emerge from the stories about the stories themselves; themes of hidden identities, mistakes, victimhood and resistance. Although of relevance to those interested in the experience of sexual minorities in organizations, the storytelling discursive approach opens up the subjects experiences to a wider audience interested in diversity, discourse theory, ethnography and organizational life in general. The level of access is unusual and the double level story telling research approach could be of use in other areas.

Managing new product development: Some alternative ways to organise the work of technical specialists

There is an increasing amount of management literature about how to manage the product development process. By‐and‐large this concentrates on organisational and management techniques to be applied within the enterprise. Based on a piece of empirical work carried out in a number of engineering‐based companies, this paper suggests a range of organisational and managerial options extending beyond the boundaries of the firm. For those firms engaged in product developments which require the expertise of technical specialists choices have to be made about how much occupational control these specialists exert; how much managerial control should be exercised over them; how much of this expertise should be available in‐house and how much bought‐in; and what relations there should be with government in the training and development of these technical experts. This paper explores these options in the context of a study of engineering designers.

Don't frighten the horses: emotive issues in researching sexual orientation at work

This paper provides a personal account of carrying out one particular research project focusing on issues of sexual orientation in the workplace. In so doing, we identify and discuss issues associated with three different emotional communities in the research process: the respondents (the emotions of the storytellers and the reactions of others); the researchers (levels of comfort and discomfort during the research process) and the academic audience (emotional reaction of reviewers and colleagues to the research).

Transforming the National Health Service

Claims that, for the 1990s, images of careers are multidimensional and individualistic. Notes that employees are encouraged to take responsibility for their own self‐development, incorporate horizontal as well as vertical moves, and forge careers based on “employability”, i.e. learning, networking and reputation. Bases its arguments on the findings of a study into senior executives in the NHS, and explores the consequences of organizational restructuring for the careers of clinical, general and functional managers. Suggests that organizational and professional barriers exist to undermine the notion of the multidimensional career. Argues that prescriptive approaches to career self‐development need to take account of organizational context and that, to meet the challenges of careers in the 1990s, both the organization and the individual need to become more willing to take risks.