Nelarine Cornelius

The use of domination and legitimation in information systems implementation

In this paper, we present the results of a longitudinal case study on information systems (IS) implementation conducted in a community healthcare organization. Using structuration theory as a sensitizing framework, we highlight how the information technology (IT) Management improved their influence through gaining legitimation from other organizational stakeholders, and how the nature of this evolved over time. Our results highlight how an appropriate, sophisticated use of what Giddens refers to as the duality of structure contributed to the consolidation of the IT Managers credibility and authority. We also report on how the IT Management had most of their actions legitimated as an integral element of their actions. The results also highlight the distributed nature of power, such that even those at the lower end of organizational hierarchy were able to influence the success or failure of IS implementation.

The Careers of Senior Men and Women a Capabilities Theory Perspective

In this article we adopt a capabilities theory perspective to analyse 40 in-depth interviews (20 women, 20 men) exploring the careers of senior women and men in human resource management. Both groups felt driven by increasingly unconstrained demands of work, in the case of women paid and non-paid domestic work and for men primarily paid work, and perceptions of time autonomy (being able to exercise autonomy in allocating ones time) for both differed markedly. However, these senior women appeared to have negotiated a path which fitted with their realized functioning and quality of life goals and they measured success in their own terms. Senior mens working patterns and definitions of success remained largely traditional and for most the demands of work were dominant. However, there was evidence that male views were changing with some expressing a desire for a better balance with less time involved with work. Our findings highlight the importance of the family and we suggest that there is a need for the obligations of organizations in terms of their impact on the family unit to be stated and acted upon with the role of fathers as carers equally and explicitly expounded with that of mothers.

Building brand value online: exploring relationships between company and city brands

Purpose – The aim of this research is to investigate how local company web sites can contribute towards the value and characteristics of city brands online, particularly where post‐industrial cities are concerned, and to establish a predictive model for this.Design/methodology/approach – Interviews were conducted to gain an understanding of how post‐industrial city brands can be influenced by local companies, leading to the notion of a “constructed” city brand. An overarching brand model was developed based on the works of Christodoulides et al. and Merrilees and Fry and a survey of company web sites conducted. Structural equation modelling was then fitted to these data.Findings – Trustworthiness, responsiveness, online experience and emotional connection were confirmed as dimensions of company online brand value. It was further shown that company brand and constructed city brand are influenced by customer perceptions of brand value. Company brand was not, however, related to constructed city brand for th...

Four ‘domains’ of career success: how managers in Nigeria evaluate career outcomes

Using an exploratory qualitative approach based on in-depth interviews with 38 junior and middle managers, and informed by institutional theory, this article explores how Nigerian managers conceptualise career success. Results indicate that in contrast to some Western-based research, managers prioritise ‘objective’ (e.g. achieving financial stability) over ‘subjective’ (e.g. achieving work–life balance) career outcomes. Results also indicate that the well-applied dichotomy between objective and subjective measures is insufficient to capture the complexities and nuances observed in the Nigeria context. We thus propose four ‘domains’ of career success to include personal and relational dimensions in addition to the subjective/objective criteria. This we argue is a more comprehensive, integrative and contextually sensitive ‘frame’ for the analysis of career outcomes. Our findings suggest that scholars and multinational companies interested in expanding their operations to emerging economies need to incorporate these factors into their conceptualisations and management practices.

Enterprising Selves: How Governmentality Meets Agency

The project of the special issue came about as a result of an ESRC seminar series based around Alvesson and Willmott’s (2002) discussion regarding the regulation of identity. Subsequently, we were involved in organizing in 2006 an EGOS sub-theme group in Bergen, Norway concerned with enterprising selves, which generated a set of debates that Graeme Salaman and John Storey review in the fi rst part of this special issue. To date, there has been relatively little work exploring the impact of enterprise initiatives on individuals’ identities (Storey et al., 2005) so this special issue aims to help address this gap. Further, emerging from these developments is a suggestion of a new orientation to the study of governmentality. Salaman and Storey argue that many scholars have approached enterprise from the perspective of bureaucracy and discipline. However, they contend that much of such research has involved a ‘misuse’ of discourse, in over-emphasizing its role to the exclusion of all else. In its place, Salaman and Storey argue for more nuanced and empirically based work exploring the ways enterprise is understood, valued, interpreted and deployed within organizations which are committed to achieving enterprise. Tara Fenwick responds in this debate and reinforces this idea, concurring that there is a need for ‘careful empirical tracings of complex everyday interactions of people, objects, spaces and meanings, analysing specifi c movements and moments of enterprise and its multiple potential effects’ (p. 331).

An alternative view through the glass ceiling

Purpose – To introduce the reader to a new way of understanding how the glass ceiling, the informal mechanisms and structures that slow or prevent womens advancement, may be configured, using capabilities theory.Design/methodology/approach – Capabilities theory is used as an analytical lens to evaluate the nature of interaction between the senior womens “internal capabilities” (their readiness to act), and the external “work environment” (work and non‐work factors) that in combination with internal capabilities, constitute combined capabilities. In particular, we reflect on how the character of combined capabilities might effect senior womens perception of ambition and risk and the choices that are made during the “career journey”.Findings – From a capabilities perspective, it can be argued that the remit of HRM policy makers regarding the careers of women attempting to break through the glass ceiling needs to be broadened, particularly by those organisations not only wishing to enhance their corporate...

Managing Difference Fairly: An Integrated ‘Partnership’ Approach

This chapter reviews the current debate about the concept of diversity management in organisations and its relationship to equal opportunities. It is concerned with the role managers play in the management of diversity initiatives, why this involvement often fails to deliver permanent change in organisational culture, systems and structures and how managers might work in an integrated ‘partnership’ within their organisations to implement diversity successfully. In particular, we have drawn our ideas from the European and North American traditions and literatures on equal opportunities and diversity management. To highlight a number of our views, a case study from the railway industry is presented to illustrate key points. Our broad conclusions are that a multidisciplinary and multifunctional approach is most likely to sustain the long-term and deep-rooted changes necessary for successful diversity management.

From ethics 'by proxy' to ethics in action: New approaches to understanding HRM and ethics

In this paper we review recent UK literature on HRM and ethics and suggest that implicit in many accounts is a perception of a ‘moral hole’ appearing within the employee relations landscape which is based on external, reflective observations of HRM policies and practices. We argue that the investigation of HRM and ethics could be broadened by locating HRM and ethics research more explicitly within the social and cultural realities of organizations and their employees. Finally, we outline and illustrate what a social constructivist approach might add to research in this field and how it might provide insights that help bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Managerial characteristics, strategy and performance in local government

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate strategy at the functional level, in Dubai local government. Using Miles and Snows strategy typology, it seeks to concentrate on the relationship between the alignment of managerial characteristics with strategy type and performance.Design/methodology/approach – Senior executive managers were interviewed and a questionnaire developed, based on the extant literature and issues arising from the interviews. This was distributed to functional managers within Dubai local government, and sought information regarding their personal characteristics, perceptions of requirements for implementing strategic initiatives and actual implementation approaches used. All alignments with the strategy adopted, the strategy required, and managerial characteristics and independent assessments of performance were then analysed statistically to assess the extent of alignment and congruency with performance.Findings – Prospector managers have, on average, higher educational status than th...

Capabilities, urban unrest and social enterprise

Purpose – In this article, the aim is to explore the rise of the role of the social enterprise as a “force for good” in the context of social and economic regeneration. Building on the growing importance of the third sector to central government as part of its agenda to diversify the delivery of public services, the paper seeks to question the veracity of the view that social enterprises invariably enable the communities in which they operate.Design/methodology/approach – The authors have developed this conceptual paper by building on the application of Amartya Sens capabilities approach.Findings – It is concluded that where social enterprises are contracted to provide services to communities, including those that would previously have been provided by the public sector (within a carefully crafted statutory framework), should have a demonstrable remit for community wide action, as this, it is argued, is more likely to facilitate community wide benefits. Part of any assessment should include, first, the s...