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1 – 3 of 3Rana Haq, Alain Klarsfeld, Angela Kornau and Faith Wambura Ngunjiri
The purpose of this paper is to present the diversity and equality perspectives from the national context of India and introduce a special issue about equality, diversity and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present the diversity and equality perspectives from the national context of India and introduce a special issue about equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in India.
Design/methodology/approach
This special issue consists of six articles on current EDI issues in India. The first three of the contributions are focused on descriptions of diversity challenges and policies regarding caste and disabilities, while the remaining three papers address gender diversity.
Findings
In addition to providing an overview of this issue's articles, this paper highlights developments and current themes in India's country-specific equality and diversity scholarship. Drawing on the special issue's six papers, the authors show the relevance of Western theories while also pointing to the need for reformulation of others in the context of India.
Research limitations/implications
The authors conclude with a call to further explore diversity in India and to develop locally relevant, culture-sensitive theoretical frameworks. Religious and economic diversity should receive more attention in future diversity management scholarship in the Indian context.
Originality/value
How does India experience equality and diversity concepts? How are India's approaches similar or different from those experienced in other countries? How do theoretical frameworks originated in the West apply in India? Are new, locally grounded frameworks needed to better capture the developments at play? These questions are addressed by the contributions to this special issue.
Alain Klarsfeld, Lena Knappert, Angela Kornau, Faith Wambura Ngunjiri and Barbara Sieben
The purpose of this paper is to further restore diversity and equality to its national contexts by presenting new and so far less visible perspectives from under-researched…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to further restore diversity and equality to its national contexts by presenting new and so far less visible perspectives from under-researched countries.
Design/methodology/approach
This special issue consists of five articles representing four countries and one country-cluster: Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Korea and the English-speaking Caribbean. Three of the contributions are focused on gender diversity, while the remaining two are more general descriptions of diversity challenges and policies in the respective countries (namely, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the English-speaking Caribbean).
Findings
In addition to providing an overview of this issue’s articles, this paper highlights developments and current themes in country-specific equality and diversity scholarship. In particular, drawing on the special issue’s five papers, and building on the main threads that weave the special issue together, the authors show both the relevance of (some) western theories while also pointing to the need for reformulation of others.
Research limitations/implications
The authors conclude with a call to further explore under-researched contexts and especially to develop locally relevant, culture-sensitive theoretical frameworks.
Originality/value
How do smaller and less developed countries experience equality and diversity concepts? How are their approaches different from those experienced in already researched countries, or, on the contrary, what commonalities can be found found among them? How do theoretical frameworks originated in the West apply (or not) in these less studied countries? Are new, locally grounded frameworks needed to better capture the developments at play? Such are questions addressed by the contributions to this special issue.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explicate spiritual leadership lessons of beneficence, courage, hope and ubuntu/humanness that are derived from the experiences of women leaders in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explicate spiritual leadership lessons of beneficence, courage, hope and ubuntu/humanness that are derived from the experiences of women leaders in Kenya. The paper seeks to connect African data with existing literature on spiritual leadership, to demonstrate where African spiritual leadership is similar to, or different from, western conceptualizations of spiritual leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
The study from which this paper is derived employed qualitative methods, specifically interviews with supplemental archival data and observations. Four major themes are explored: beneficence, courage, hope/forbearance and ubuntu/humanness as emerging from the women's leadership stories. These four themes are compared and contrasted against existing literature on spiritual leadership.
Findings
It is found that beneficence, courage, and hope are comparable to existing western conceptualizations, whereas ubuntu is unique to the African context.
Research limitations/implications
The paper and the larger study were derived from interviews with 16 participants; as such, generalization was not a goal. The paper provides a deeper understanding of spiritual leadership as enacted by African women, with implications for the need for increased research on non‐western, non‐white perspectives on the phenomenon.
Practical implications
Readers may relate to the women's stories and be both informed and inspired towards their own social justice leadership.
Originality/value
Whereas the paper is derived from field research conducted in 2005 and published variously in other sources as cited, this paper takes an original perspective in comparing and contrasting African and western understandings of spiritual leadership, and expanding the understanding of the same in a novel way not done in previous publications.
Details