Mary Runte

Cold War, chilly climate: Exploring the roots of gendered discourse in organization and management theory

Prior to the mid-1970s, gender was virtually absent from theories of management and organization (OMT), particularly within the North American context. In recent years, four strands of research have brought gender into management theory - gender and organizations, women in management, work-family conflict, and diversity management - but largely in ways that reinforce the masculinist project. With the exception of the more critical gender and organizations approach, gender continues to be discussed in OMT in ways that privilege masculinity and problematize femininity. This is particularly true of the work-family conflict literature and, to a lesser extent, the women in management literature. In this article, we are interested in the root of the gendered discourse within OMT. Through a feminist hermeneutic excavation of the development of modern OMT in post-war USA, we conclude that the continued masculinist project owes much to Cold War discourses of family and work

Paying the toll: a feminist post‐structural critique of the discourse bridging work and family

On the surface, the modern workplace and home life appear to stand in sharp contrast to one another. The workplace seems to epitomize the modern concern with bounded time and the necessity of effective ‘use time’ (e.g., efficiency, effort, organizational commitment, speed‐up). Home life, on the other hand, is characterized by idealized images of emotionality and relief from the pressures of work. Yet numerous reported experiences of working people seem to belie this supposed duality. For many, home life is experienced as an appendage of the workplace, with its demands on time‐effort balance. Nonetheless, we continue to act as if there are two separate spheres of life that can ultimately be balanced and reconciled. This has been reinforced over the years by a growing discourse of work‐family conflict. Deconstruction of the discourse suggests that far from unraveling the ‘problem’ its characterization as a ‘work‐family’ conflict serves to privilege the dominant themes of use‐time and speed.

Cause‐Related Marketing from the Nonprofit's Perspective: Classifying Goals and Experienced Outcomes

This research examines the cause‐related marketing (CRM) experience from a nonprofit (NPO) perspective, using qualitative and quantitative methods. U.S. NPO managers with direct CRM experience (n = 154) participated. Results demonstrate that NPOs have both first order (immediate financial support) and second order (less tangible, longer term) goals when undertaking CRM, and that they generally realize these outcomes, though not always. NPOs primarily seek event support, networking opportunities and public awareness, followed by funding opportunities, with less emphasis on gaining business expertise. This research extends the framework of Gourville and Rangan (2004) by offering a more precise, differentiated model.

Corporate Support for Employee Volunteerism Within Canada: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Company support for employee volunteerism (CSEV) is one mechanism whereby businesses meet the escalating expectation for corporate social responsibility (CSR). Institutional theory is applied to examine patterns of convergence and divergence in CSR programs cross culturally, with a particular focus on intra-country cultural differences. Using a national (Canada) survey of businesses, we examine cross-cultural differences regarding CSEV in two regions of Canada—French Canada (Quebec) and English Canada. Our results suggest that cultural differences, rooted in historical conditions, may shape CSEV program implementation in Canada. Quebec companies are less likely to engage in CSEV. If they do encourage employee volunteerism, they may exclude certain cause types from support and appear to focus more on the external benefits of CSEV, such as community perception, than do firms in English Canada. Recognizing that no nation is culturally homogenous, our study illustrates that CSR and CSEV may vary significantly whenever or wherever cultural differences occur. Businesses and nonprofit organizations need to consider culture as an important variable when implementing corporate volunteer programs.

Personal and corporate volunteerism: employee motivations

A nationally representative sample of Canadians was surveyed regarding their experience with and perceptions of corporate volunteer initiatives. The motivations for volunteer engagement by those employees who have engaged both in personal volunteerism (PV), activities during personal time undertaken without employer involvement or direction, and company-initiated and supported volunteerism (CV) were assessed. The rankings of motivational factors were similar under each condition with the principle motivators for CV and PV being the desire to help a cause and the motivation to ‘feel good’ about the behaviour. The relative importance of each motivational factor, however, varied significantly. Employees were motivated more by each of the assessed intrinsic motives (desire to help cause, to escape own troubles, to gain knowledge, to feel good and to forge social contacts) when engaging in PV than when engaged in CV. Personal volunteering was less motivated by a desire to help one’s career, an extrinsic motivator, compared to CV volunteering.

Cause-Related Marketing from the Nonproft’s Perspective: An International Comparison: An Abstract

Cause-related marketing (CRM) is a partnership between a not-for-profit organization (NFP) and a company, intended to benefit both parties. This research examined perceptions of CRM for NFPs that do not participate in the practice. NFPs in France, where the practice is less established, were compared to NFPs in North America, where the practice is deeply established.