Emir Ozeren

Silence Speaks in the Workplace: Uncovering the Experiences of LGBT Employees in Turkey

This chapter aims to explore the significance of employee silence from the viewpoints of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals based on their unique experiences in the workplace. Through discussions in focus group interviews with LGBT participants in the city of Izmir, this study analyzes the way in which LGBT employees experience silencing at work. The research represents one of the few empirical studies to challenge the silence around LGBT workers’ experiences in Turkey. LGBT participants choose to remain silent at work for a variety of reasons, such as the risk of being exposed to social isolation or exclusion, the fear of dismissal and career obstacles, as well as the fear of being an object of derision and stigmatized at work, bullying, prejudicial reactions and discrimination. The study addressed three major dimensions of employee silence (defensive, acquiescent, and pro-social) as being relevant and meaningful in explaining how LGBT individuals are silenced at work. The exploratory findings highlight the possible consequences of LGBT silence on work behavior. Additionally, the impact of sexual or gender minority status on perceived discrimination and the actual challenges faced by LGBT employees are discussed, as well as the differences between them. As a result, given the overwhelming cultural norms based on heteronormativity within Turkish society, the absence of legal protection and the relative lack of organizational inclusionary policies and practices, coupled with the absence of trade union support, contribute to silencing LGBT individuals at work.

Creating social value through orchestration processes in innovation networks: The case of “Garbage Ladies” as a social entrepreneurial venture

Purpose Social entrepreneurs innovatively exploit opportunities and create, in this way, social change and value by bringing together different resources to meet social needs and solve social problems. To achieve this, given their limited size and financial resources, the personal ties and social networks that social entrepreneurs build in this process play a crucial role in developing relationships and enabling their ventures to succeed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of network processes in innovative activities carried out by social entrepreneurs and to stress the importance of network processes rather than network structure/design for social innovation. Design/methodology/approach “Cop(m)adam” (Garbage Ladies), a social development project and business in Ayvalik, Turkey (which aims to provide opportunities for women who have never had the chance to work and earn regular salaries in the course of their lifetimes), was explored qualitatively as a case study within the framework of the network orchestration theory. In-depth, semi-structured interviews and observations were conducted. Relevant documents about Cop(m)adam were also collected at the time of the interview to provide the triangulation of reference material for thematic analysis and post-research inquiry. Findings It has been found that Cop(m)adam dynamically manages the network process in the course of realizing social innovation and builds a win-win environment that creates value both for the future of the social enterprise and for all the actors in the network by integrating the relationships among the actors it is in a relationship with. Originality/value In contrast to traditional studies dealing with the network theory, this research focuses on network processes rather than network structure. Also, since the literature provides evidence for profit-based organizations, the study differentiates into two main reasons. First, the authors adopt a case study approach in social entrepreneurship for social value creation, and second, based on the case study, the authors provide a conceptual enrichment through proposing the sub-categories of knowledge mobility, innovation appropriability and network stability in orchestration processes. This paper seeks to broaden the existing understanding of how social entrepreneurial processes and innovative outcomes are shaped by social networks and orchestration processes in a network-centric innovation from the viewpoint of a hub/focal firm by undertaking research on a less examined type of enterprise and context – namely, a social entrepreneurial venture in Turkey.

Vertical and Shared Leadership in Large Safety-Oriented Organizations. An Empirical Analysis

This article explores the relationship between leadership and safety-oriented culture, by analyzing the predictive role of vertical and shared leadership styles (and behaviors). Drawing on a sample of 68 managers from a safety-oriented organization, we develop a set of hypothesis in order to understand the different relationships between leadership styles (and behaviors) under prevention context as well as crisis situation. To test hypothesis we ran separate hierarchical regression analysis. Results highlight that vertical leadership variables account for a significant amount of variance in prevention context beyond the shared leadership variables, as well as the shared leadership variables account for a significant amount of variance over the vertical leadership styles under emergencies context. With respect to the existing literature, the paper contributes to the leadership literature and safety-oriented culture by showing how vertical and shared leadership (transformational and transactional) are related to prevention and containment processes and should be both considered in order to manage different contingencies that happen as ordinary and extraordinary events in the organization.

Entrepreneurial Intentions and Cultural Orientations. An Exploratory Analysis in Italian and Turkish Universities

The entrepreneurial intention (EI) framework is nowadays considered as a consolidated area of inquiry where different models can be used to understand what is behind an individual willingness to start a new venture in the future. Exploring entrepreneurial intentions of individuals represents a challenge not only for scholars but also for university education and policy-making aiming to monitor, contribute, and support entrepreneurial behaviours. We decided to join the EI scientific conversation through a two-country analysis. Our theoretical choices draw upon the Theory of Planned Behaviour applied to entrepreneurship emergence, which assumes that personal attitude, perceived behavioural control, and social norm influence the way an entrepreneurial career is perceived to be a possible choice. In our model, we originally decided to test for the effects of scenario-based cultural orientations. We administrate a cross-national questionnaire to two samples of students of belonging respectively to an Italian and a Turkish university. Data are finally analysed through PLS-SEM techniques. Our results suggest that variations in EI may be attributed to uncertainty avoidance and power distance. As well, an important role is played by entrepreneurship education.

Understanding the Identity Work of LGB Workers Using the Practice Theory Lens

Identity management of LGB (lesbian, gay, bisexual) workers is largely portrayed within the decision of (dis)closure in the scholarly literature. Given the multifaceted nature of identity management in everyday organizational life, the overemphasis on the disclosure decision of LGB workers reifies their identity management and cannot highlight how they enact their identity within everyday activities and interactions. Drawing largely on Schatzkian practice theory, this chapter conceptualizes the identity management of LGB individuals as an “identity work”. In this respect, we examine conceptually how they build, maintain and negotiate their identities within everyday work activities. Within this conceptualization, deciding simply whether to disclose or not disclose one’s sexual orientation does not adequately capture the complex, multifaceted and spontaneous nature of the phenomenon since it is rather lived and experienced within situated activities and interactions. The practice theory driven approach proposed in this chapter facilitates addressing the dynamics of everyday organizational life and also gives a detailed account of how situated work activities and interactions within the normative-affective aspects serve to construct LGB work identities.

Gaining insight into innovation culture within the context of R&D centres in Turkey

The aim of this article is to identify the major themes of innovation culture within the context of R%D centres. The research question formulated for this purpose is: What are the aspects of corporate culture that can support building an innovation culture? To address this research question, qualitative exploratory research design was employed and focus group methodology was adopted. The research was conducted on 38 enterprises out of 127 with official R%D centre certification in Turkey. This paper contributes to the existing literature based on eight dimensions (knowledge sharing, learning and development, social networks and cooperation, allocation of free time, tolerance of mistakes, rewarding and incentive system, managing differences and teamwork) that captures the interface between corporate culture and innovativeness. A unique definition of innovation culture was also proposed.

Knowledge management practices of manufacturing firms: a study from the Turkish Aegean Free Zone

Today, knowledge is one of the main resources of organisations and effective management of knowledge is one of the major concerns that organisations face. Given this fact, the main purpose of this article is to examine the knowledge management (KM) practices of manufacturing industry organisations of the Aegean Free Zone in Izmir, Turkey by adopting a survey method. The findings show that there is an association between the practices in use, reasons for using these practices and lastly the benefits that the participant organisations gain. Organisational performance and competitiveness could be increased by using KM practices effectively. Although an organisation’s size is not an obvious factor in KM usage, it was observed that the advantages of using KM practices in large sized organisations are either equal to or greater than those of small sized organisations.