Workplace bullying as sensemaking: An analysis of target and actor perspectives on initial hostile interactions

This study explores the micro-level processes sustaining hostile workplace behaviour at the level of interactions between targets and actors. Drawing on Weick's [1995. Sensemaking in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] sensemaking theory, the study examined how targets and actors of workplace bullying made sense of each other's behaviours during first occasions of hostility. An analysis of collective biography stories of hostility in academia showed that targets experienced destabilisation of identity, positioned actors as arbiters of adequacy, and engaged in self-undermining. Actors' stories revealed not only moral condemnation of targets, failure to recognise the injury caused, but also precarious emotions, which could have subverted harmful behaviours. Based on these findings, the authors argue that understanding target and actor sensemaking is vital since it appears to contribute to power differentials between the parties from the very onset of hostility, thus allowing it to escalate. The implications for the development of a sensemaking approach to workplace bullying and organisational intervention are discussed.     

Magic happens: Revisiting the spirituality and social work debate

Abstract

The social work profession is currently undergoing a resurgence of interest regarding the issue of spirituality in social work. This article attempts to summarise and explore the debate so far and to discuss the implications of this in a practice context. Current issues including definitions of spirituality and the key concerns in the areas of both practice and education are addressed. The article concludes with an overview of a model of spiritually sensitive social work practice, and poses options for further professional reflection on the place of spirituality in social work practice.     

The evolution of spirituality and religion in international social work discourse: Strengths and limitations of the contemporary understanding

ABSTRACT

As the profession’s interest in spirituality and religion has grown, new understandings of these two constructs have emerged. As in other areas of academic discourse, it is important to be informed about diverse understandings. Toward this end, the present article describes the emergence of the contemporary understanding of spirituality and religion in social work discourse and, perhaps more importantly, the strengths and limitations associated with the contemporary perspective. By illuminating some of the diverse arguments in favor of and against contemporary conceptualizations, the profession is better equipped to understand and work with these concepts in a professional and ethical manner.     

Ideological group influence: central role of message meaning

Social influence, in Asch’s famous analysis, depends on recipients’ interpretations of what issues mean. Building on this view, we showed that influence is a two-step process in which recipients first infer the meaning of a message based on the ideology of the source group. In the second step, recipients agree more with messages that support their own group ideologies. Supporting the causal sequence in the model, recipients’ attitudes changed when message meaning changed, but not when message meaning was held constant.     

State,profession, and religion: Reflecting on spirituality and indigenous social work in China in the Yushu Earthquake Relief

ABSTRACT

On April 14, 2010, a massive earthquake measuring 7.1M_s struck the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China. Its scale notwithstanding, it has received much less national and international attention than the also immense Wenchun quake of 2008 in Sichun Province. This field report discusses the contribution of religion and spirituality in postdisaster relief in Yushu. It also calls for critical reflection on the issue of homogenization in the discussion of indigenous social work in China, and perhaps in other multiethnic countries in the world.     

Childhood depression and spirituality: Insights for spiritually sensitive child-centred social work interventions

Based on a one-year longitudinal study of 1,769 children from schools across countries diagnosed with depressive symptoms, this randomized, controlled, trial-based research has investigated the influences and impact on childhood depression of two kinds of spiritual programs, customized and open-ended. Results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test showed that children had lower scores on depression scales and higher scores on the happiness scale post-intervention. Results of the logistic regression analysis and structural equation models specifically highlighted that boys, Christians, children from the middle class, and those who underwent the customized spiritual program were more likely to exhibit lower depressive symptoms and greater happiness, post-intervention. The implications of these findings for social work with depressed children have been discussed.     

Activism and the academy: losing the ideological and material battles

Abstract

In this article written in the summer of 2018 Professor Michael Oliver sought to convey a sense of urgency about the need to reinvigorate the relationship between disability, the academy and activism. In his usual clear unswerving style that is both liberating and enabling in its directness he calls upon all engaged with the journal to remember that the foundations of disability studies emerged out of democratic organisations of disabled people and must remain committed to placing the experiences of disabled people at the centre of academic and activist enterprise. He places emphasis on the original purpose of the journal to build on the social model of disability in order to produce real social change expressing frustration about what he saw as an increasing ineffectualness within the academic community to confront what is really happening to disabled people. He is forthright when describing his hope that disability activists and academics will strengthen the future of disabled people, and the future of disability studies too, by working ever more closely together.     

Contested milieux: Small firms,unionization, and the provision of protective structures

Three trends in the workplace point to the importance of considering work relations as well as governance structures for the development of protective benefits such as pensions. The increasing concentration of employment growth in smaller firms, the general decline of unionization, and the changing composition of the work force constitute the new exigencies of worker-employer contracts. The 1983 Current Population Survey Pension Supplement is used in conjunction with certification data from the National Labor Relations Board to examine the interaction between firm size and the influence, as opposed to the prevalence, of unionization in the provision of pensions. Unionization is found to be more influential in the provision of pensions for workers in small firms despite the established prevalence of unionization in larger firms. The implications of these trends for labor market theory are discussed.This is a revised version of papers that were presented at the annual meetings of the Gerontological Society of America, November 1988, and the American Sociological Association, August 1989.     

Stress and impact of spirituality as a mediator of coping methods among social work college students

ABSTRACT

This exploratory pilot study was conducted to understand the stress level and coping strategies of social work students, with the aim to develop strategies to help students increase their ability to manage stress. The study examined the levels of stress perceived by the students in a faith-based program, identified their coping methods, and explored the impact of spirituality on the perceived stress level. A significant association between students’ stress levels and their coping methods existed among all the measures. Adaptive coping methods, such as Active Coping, Positive Framing, and Religion, were significantly correlated with lower levels of stress, while maladaptive coping methods, such as Behavioral Disengagement, Self-Distraction, Denial, Substance Abuse, Venting, and Self-Blame were correlated with higher levels of stress. Spirituality had a greater buffering effect on the students’ ability to handle stress. The higher the level of student spirituality the less likely the students were to have higher levels of stress and the more likely they were to use adaptive coping methods rather than dysfunctional coping methods. This study discusses the important ramifications of reducing stress in college students especially in a faith-based program, as well as strategies for reframing how stress and coping methods are viewed so as to better help students for current and future social work education and practice landscapes.     

Uncertainty in the study of belief: the risks and benefits of methodological agnosticism

The study of religious and spiritual beliefs raises complex epistemological and methodological questions for interpretive social scientists concerning our ability to understand the everyday lifeworlds that belief-based communities inhabit. The primary focus of recent debates has been on the long-standing methodological insider/outsider dynamic, defined in terms of religious belief or affiliation, which intersects with other social categories such as gender or ethnicity. We contribute to this debate by considering a relatively neglected position, methodological agnosticism, which informs our study of religion and spirituality in the workplace. We argue that an agnostic position can be methodologically productive as a research strategy, but this must be counterbalanced by awareness of the fieldworker risks, which include emotional distress and identity threats. Agnosticism also encourages greater epistemological reflexivity as it implies ‘not knowing’ in relation to both metaphysics and social scientific knowledge construction. Through this, we highlight the productive nature of uncertainty in the study of belief as an epistemologically and methodologically constructive standpoint.     

Walk the Walk but Don't Talk the Talk: The Strategic Use of Color‐Blind Ideology in an Interracial Social Movement Organization

In this study, I examine the strategies interracial organizations use in the twenty‐first century, where color‐blind ideology dominates. Much theoretical work on racism examines how it has evolved during different historical periods, but this work does not address how these changing forms of racism affect social movement organizations, particularly those on the left. While the literature on color‐blind ideology has examined how it is expressed by African Americans and European Americans separately, my work investigates how color‐blind ideology operates when European Americans and people of color are working together in the same organizational setting. Studies of social movements have examined how organizational culture affects strategies but have neglected how external racist culture and color‐blind ideology impacts organizational strategies. Findings from 3 years of ethnographic data collected on an interracial social movement organization and its corresponding coalition suggest that activists in interracial organizations use racism evasiveness strategically to maintain solidarity. I conceptualize racism evasiveness as the action resulting from color‐blind ideology within a larger system of racism. While activists perceive advantages to these strategies, there are also long‐term negative consequences. Without explicitly naming and addressing racism, progressive organizations may be limited in their ability to challenge systemic racism.     

In search of popular management: Sensemaking,sensegiving and storytelling in the excellence project

Critical accounts of popular management have tended to caricature the authors of this literary genre and have, furthermore, made broad claims as to the nature and potential of the organizational storytelling which features in these texts. This paper re-examines such claims and proclivities. It argues that any attempt to explore the nature of popular management or to account for the organizing potential of its storytelling must be located within an account of storytelling practice. To this end, the paper offers a critical analysis of the excellence project that is situated within a review of Tom Peters’ storyworld. Acknowledging the extent to which popular management deploys organizational storytelling in its endeavours, we offer – uniquely – a longitudinal analysis of Tom Peters' storytelling practices. Noting a tension between organizational sensegiving and organizational sensemaking processes, we argue that the storyworld of the excellence project acts to obscure the frictions, stresses and dislocations associated with the pursuit of business excellence. Highlighting the persistence of local sensemaking processes within and between those forms of public speech fostered by popular management, however, we argue that the tales which constitute the excellence project are, when viewed in context, more diverse and yet less productive than previously imagined.     

Religion,spirituality & chronic illness: A scoping review and implications for health care practitioners

ABSTRACT

While the influence of institutional religion has decreased over the last 40–50 years, research suggests that a substantial proportion of those not attending religious services continue to engage in religious and spiritual practices on their own and refer to religion as a very important aspect in their lives, and as linked to more positive health outcomes, particularly for those living with chronic conditions. This article provides a scoping review to not only highlight the research that views religion and spirituality as valuable tools for coping with chronic illness conditions, but also to highlight research that explores those who may experience some religious/spiritual doubts or a gradual loss of religiosity or spirituality with the diagnosis of chronic conditions. Regardless of a clinician’s beliefs, the authors argue that some awareness training of the value of religion and spirituality for some patients, can be beneficial. In a society facing an increasing plurality of faiths, this is deemed to be an invaluable discussion. In the end, clinical implications will be discussed.     

The Systems Psychodynamics of a Joint Venture: Anxiety, Social Defenses, and the Management of Mutual Dependence

Joint ventures, mergers and other forms oforganizational alliances are rapidly becoming a businessnecessity. However, on an almost daily basis, experiencesuggests that such alliances often pose critical dilemmas for those entering into them. Centralamong these are collaborating across differences inorganizational cultures and forging a new organizationalidentity. At a deeper level, there are also often paranoid concerns and fantasies about thelong-term lack of equity in the transfer of knowledgeand capability. This paper, therefore, outlines asystems psychodynamic perspective on intergroup andinterorganizational relationships for developing an in-depthunderstanding of some common irrational and emotionaldifficulties alliance relationships face. It then goeson to describe an illustrative case and concludes with an appraisal of the advantages of a systemspsychodynamic conceptual perspective — taking bothstructure and process into account — which hasbeen neglected or minimized in the literature onorganizational alliances.     

Doing gender,modestly: Conceptualizing workplace experiences of Pakistani women doctors

Using the theoretical framework of inequality regimes, this article offers a reconceptualization of purdah as it is practised, lived and experienced by women doctors of Pakistan. Based on an ethnographic study of Pakistani women doctors, this research indicates that practising purdah in the workplace is perceived as doing femininity within the hegemonic masculine workplace culture of Pakistan. In Pakistani organizations, individual and institutionalized practices of purdah create a gendered substructure which marginalizes women doctors by dictating the norms of conduct, international ethics, organization of physical space and work allocation. Patriarchal interpretations of religious doctrines of modesty provide legitimacy to the existence of these inequality regimes. Based on this, the article argues for a system‐level theorization of purdah that accounts for both individual and institutional norms of veil. Such conceptualization contributes to our understanding of how religion intersects with gender, class and race to create complex systemic inequities in organizational structure.     

Rethinking industrial citizenship: the role and meaning of work in an age of austerity

T. H. Marshall in his famous tract Citizenship and Social Class wrote briefly about what he called ‘industrial citizenship’, a type of belonging rooted in the workplace. Here Marshall's ideas are developed alongside a consideration of Durkheim's Professional Ethics and Civic Morals together with research material from the Guinness Company. It shows the way the Company actively sought to create ‘Guinness citizenship’ within its London brewery. The article draws out the ways in which the significance and potential of work based citizenship for ameliorating the ills of industrial society are clearly articulated in mid‐twentieth century Britain and echo earlier neglected Durkheimian sociological ideas on work. These ideas have real potential to inform contemporary academic and policy debates about the nature of capitalism and the form and content of work now and in the future.     

Executive Leadership and Social Innovation in Direct-Service Nonprofits: Shaping the Organizational Culture to Create Social Change

Direct-service nonprofits have taken on increasing responsibility in creating social change (operationalized through the concept of social innovation) within local communities. Qualitative interviews were conducted with executive directors to determine the factors within the intra-organizational environment that support an orientation toward social innovation. Findings show that aspects related to staff engagement and development and direction by the executive leadership team are particularly important. The findings provide a conceptual model of the varying intra-organizational dynamics that support the development of a social innovation-oriented organizational culture. This research offers a focus for social work education programs to equip practitioners with the skills needed in contemporary practice.     

Getting by with a Little Help from Workplace Friends: Workplace Culture,Social Support,and Family Cohesion

Studies have shown a negative association between certain aspects of workplace culture and family functioning. Using a neo-institutional framework, we examine whether workplace social support moderates the influence of three features of workplace culture—time demands, work pressure, and work strain—on family cohesion. Analyzing survey data from 312 individuals in dual-earner relationships, we control for number of children, education, income, employment status, and occupational status. We find that workplace social support is directly associated with family cohesion but does not serve as a buffer between dimensions of workplace culture and family cohesion.     

Disorganization,disidentification and ideological fragmentation: Verbal and pictorial evidence from a British business school

Rather than focusing on organizing dimensions of society, one may conceptualize disorganization processes, where ideological values incongruence leads to disidentification and ideological fragmentation. Integrating discourse analysis and critical social psychology, I focus on professional organizations facing ideological, managerialist change to develop a typology of multiple‐identity organizations (MIOs) incorporating various degrees of disorganization, rather than the traditional ideographic–holographic dualism. I then apply a creative, visual method to explore how wider ideological tensions between managerial (utilitarian) and professional (normative) values shape lived experiences in a major British business school. Longitudinal verbal and pictorial discursive analysis shows a cacophony of images competing to construct and deconstruct organizational identity over a decade and a half. The organization tends towards disorganization, but somehow retains a sufficient sense of (multiple) identity to survive, suggesting it is myopic to ignore processes and structures that mark and contribute to the ideological fragmentation of MIOs.     

Arbiters,Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of Business School Reputations1

How are organizational reputations established? Expanding on recent work that emphasizes the construction of reputations rather than their cultural content, we explore how forces in the organizational environment define organizational reputation. Specifically, we demonstrate how two types of mediators—reputational arbiters and reputational entrepreneurs—influence the development of reputations by organizing and managing the information on which reputations are built. Buttressing our theoretical claims with 30 interviews of business school administrators, we find that these mediators play a central role in determining organizational reputations by engaging in three processes of information manipulation: synthesis, selection, and simplification. In addition to specifying the key role that the manipulation of information by outsiders plays in the development of reputation, this approach suggests the importance of the interrelationships among these mediators in the determination of reputational standing.