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1 – 10 of 16Claartje J. Vinkenburg, Carolin Ossenkop and Helene Schiffbaenker
In this contribution to EDI's professional insights, the authors develop practical and evidence-based recommendations that are developed for bias mitigation, discretion…
Abstract
Purpose
In this contribution to EDI's professional insights, the authors develop practical and evidence-based recommendations that are developed for bias mitigation, discretion elimination and process optimization in panel evaluations and decisions in research funding. An analysis is made of how the expectation of “selling science” adds layers of complexity to the evaluation and decision process. The insights are relevant for optimization of similar processes, including publication, recruitment and selection, tenure and promotion.
Design/methodology/approach
The recommendations are informed by experiences and evidence from commissioned projects with European research funding organizations. The authors distinguish between three aspects of the evaluation process: written applications, enacted performance and group dynamics. Vignettes are provided to set the stage for the analysis of how bias and (lack of) fit to an ideal image makes it easier for some than for others to be funded.
Findings
In research funding decisions, (over)selling science is expected but creates shifting standards for evaluation, resulting in a narrow band of acceptable behavior for applicants. In the authors' recommendations, research funding organizations, evaluators and panel chairs will find practical ideas and levers for process optimization, standardization and customization, in terms of awareness, accountability, biased language, criteria, structure and time.
Originality/value
Showing how “selling science” in research funding adds to the cumulative disadvantage of bias, the authors offer design specifications for interventions to mitigate the negative effects of bias on evaluations and decisions, improve selection habits, eliminate discretion and create a more inclusive process.
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Dagmar Daubner-Siva, Claartje J. Vinkenburg and Paul G.W. Jansen
The purpose of this paper is to adopt a paradox lens for dovetailing the human resource management sub-domains of talent management (TM) and diversity management (DM), in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to adopt a paradox lens for dovetailing the human resource management sub-domains of talent management (TM) and diversity management (DM), in the attempt to create closer alignment between the two.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors review paradox theory, TM and DM literatures and formulate a paradox that becomes apparent when considering TM and DM simultaneously.
Findings
The authors coin this tension as the “exclusion-inclusion paradox,” highlighting that TM and DM reflect contradictory, yet interrelated principles: organizations promote exclusion through a TM architecture that focuses on the identification and development of a few selected employees, while simultaneously, organizations promote inclusion, in the attempt to minimize existing inequalities for traditionally marginalized groups.
Practical implications
Once uncovered, the exclusion-inclusion paradox enables organizational actors to make choices on whether to respond actively or defensively to the paradox. The authors argue for active responses in order to work through the paradox.
Originality/value
This is the first paper adopting a paradox lens in order to interweave the DM literature with TM literature in the attempt to explain how DM and TM constitute contradicting yet interrelated principles.
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Dagmar Daubner-Siva, Sierk Ybema, Claartje J. Vinkenburg and Nic Beech
The purpose of this paper is to provide an inside-out perspective on the practices and effects of talent management (TM) in a multinational organization.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an inside-out perspective on the practices and effects of talent management (TM) in a multinational organization.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts an autoethnographic approach focusing on the experiences of the first author during her employment in a multinational organization. This approach contributes to the literature by providing an insider talent perspective that thus far has not been presented in TM research.
Findings
Applying autoethnography as a means to address the inside-out perspective in TM reveals a tension. The authors label this phenomenon the “talent paradox,” defined as the mix of simultaneously occurring opportunities and risks for individuals identified and celebrated as a talent.
Originality/value
The paper may be of value to TM scholars and practitioners, as well as to employees who have been identified as high potentials or talents in their organizations. In contrast with the TM literature’s optimism, the findings illuminate that being identified as a talent may paradoxically produce both empowerment and powerlessness. Attending to personal aspects of TM processes is relevant for organizations as well as for individuals as it enables reflection and sensemaking.
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Carolin Ossenkop, Claartje J. Vinkenburg, Paul G. W. Jansen and Halleh Ghorashi
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the complex relationship between ethnic diversity, social capital, and objective career success in upward…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of the complex relationship between ethnic diversity, social capital, and objective career success in upward mobility systems over time. The authors conceptualize the underlying process of why intra-organizational career boundaries are more permeable for dominant ethnics compared to minority ethnics.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conceptually explore and model this relationship by elaborating on three mechanisms of social capital return deficit proposed by Lin (2000), building the argument based on four underlying principles (stereotype fit, status construction, homophily, and reciprocity).
Findings
Based on a proposed reciprocal relationship between social capital and objective career success, the authors suggest the development of an upward career spiral over time, which is continuously affected by ethnic group membership. Consequently, the authors argue that dominant ethnics do not only advance to a higher level of objective career success, but that they also advance exponentially faster than minority ethnics.
Research limitations/implications
The conceptualization provokes the question to what extent the permeability of intra-organizational boundaries constrains careers of some, while enabling careers of others.
Originality/value
The contribution lies in the exploration of the relationship between social capital and objective career success over time, of the permeability of intra-organizational career boundaries, and how both are affected by ethnic group membership.
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Annick Y. van Hattem, Carolin Ossenkop, Josje S.E. Dikkers and Claartje J. Vinkenburg
Even though both values and life roles are intensively studied topics, limited research has been conducted regarding the association between the two. In the context of the Dutch…
Abstract
Purpose
Even though both values and life roles are intensively studied topics, limited research has been conducted regarding the association between the two. In the context of the Dutch public sector, this study therefore examines how life roles and values relate to each other. Moreover, the possible role of gender within these associations is explored. Thereby, the study extends the literature in this domain and increases the understanding of how values and life roles affect the behavior. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzed cross-sectional survey data of 114 employees of the Dutch public sector. Values were operationalized according to the Dolan et al.'s dimensions: emotional-developmental; ethical-social; pragmatic-economic; life roles were measured as “parental” and “occupational”.
Findings
The paper found no direct association between life roles and values. However, the paper found a gender differences suggesting that the more parental role oriented a woman is, the less occupational role oriented she is. In addition, the paper found a negative association between emotional-developmental values and ethical-social values.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing literature on life roles and values by examining their mutual association. The paper found that the two concepts – although theoretically related – can be empirically distinguished. For organizations within the public sector, it is relevant to know which and how values and life roles affect their employees. Thereby, organizations can design their strategies, training and development policies, and recruitment activities in order to attract and retain (potential) employees.
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Inge L. Bleijenbergh, Marloes L. van Engen and Claartje J. Vinkenburg
In the context of research on the career advancement of women and men in academia, this paper aims to reflect on how deans at six schools of a Dutch arts and a Dutch…
Abstract
Purpose
In the context of research on the career advancement of women and men in academia, this paper aims to reflect on how deans at six schools of a Dutch arts and a Dutch sciences‐based university construct the image of the ideal academic, and on how these images are gendered.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an inductive approach, the study analyzed the transcripts of semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with six deans (all men) from two different Dutch universities on the career advancement of men and women at their school.
Findings
It was expected that the images of the ideal academic would be more gendered in the sciences than in the arts university, considering the stronger male domination in the sciences university. The images of the ideal academic, while fundamentally different, regarding the expertise, the applicability of knowledge, and the visibility needed to be considered successful, were equally gendered in assuming that practicing science leaves little room for caring obligations outside work; in both places science was considered an omnipresent and greedy calling. Moreover, deans at both universities to a similar extent expected women academics not to fit to this standard. Paradoxically, in the arts university deans construct an image of women academics that in some aspects reflects a mirror image of women academics in the sciences university and vice versa.
Research limitations/implications
The paper suggests that in this construction the process of “othering” women academics is more constant than the content of the ideal academic. They contribute to theories on the ideal worker in the field of science by arguing the construction of the ideal academic is fluid rather than fixed. Further research could investigate how the image of the ideal academic changes within the same discipline across different countries with a higher representation of women among full professors, as the findings are limited to The Netherlands.
Practical implications
The paper argues that the fluidity of the ideal academic norm offers space for renegotiating such norms by making it more inclusive for women, which will have positive consequences for women's career advancement in academia.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is that constructions of the ideal academic are fluid rather than fixed, while dominant actors in organizations seem to attribute universal value to these images. The “otherness” of women relative to the image of the ideal academic is more constant than the characteristics of these images themselves.
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Josje Dikkers, Marloes van Engen and Claartje Vinkenburg
This study sets out to examine how gender and ambition are related to work hours and the utilization of other flexible work‐home arrangements, and how this use is – in turn …
Abstract
Purpose
This study sets out to examine how gender and ambition are related to work hours and the utilization of other flexible work‐home arrangements, and how this use is – in turn – associated with career‐related outcomes (i.e. job level, and career satisfaction).
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 212 Dutch working parents from different organizations participated in a questionnaire survey. Underpinned by an inter‐disciplinary theoretical framework, hypotheses were developed on the associations of gender, ambition, work‐home arrangements and career‐related outcomes.
Findings
It was found that ambitious parents made more use of flexible work‐home arrangements and worked more hours per week than less ambitious parents. This relationship was especially strong for mothers. Furthermore, parents' work hours and utilization of flexible arrangements were positively related to their job level and career satisfaction. Finally, the association of ambition with career‐related outcomes was mediated by work hours.
Practical implications
Employers should support their working parents in using flexible work‐home arrangements, thereby simultaneously assisting them in balancing work with care‐giving responsibilities, preventing them from losing their ambition, and promoting their career success.
Originality/value
The study made a pioneering effort to conceptualise and operationalise career‐related ambition. By showing that utilization of flexible work‐home arrangements is positively related to career success, the study also adds to the business case for these arrangements. Moreover, the study challenges the popular assumption that Dutch women's ambition vanishes into thin air once they become mothers.
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Josje S.E. Dikkers, Paul G.W. Jansen, Annet H. de Lange, Claartje J. Vinkenburg and Dorien Kooij
This paper sets out to examine proactive personality in relation to job demands, job resources and engagement.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper sets out to examine proactive personality in relation to job demands, job resources and engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study employed a two‐wave complete panel study among 794 Dutch government employees. Based upon the Job Demands‐Resources (JD‐R) model, previous studies, job crafting theories, and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, hypotheses on the associations of proactive personality with job demands, resources, and engagement were developed.
Findings
Analyses revealed that proactive personality was associated with an increase in engagement 18 months later. Moreover, proactive employees perceiving high social support reported the highest levels of engagement over time.
Research limitations/implications
A first shortcoming is that proactive personality was only measured at one point in time, which restricted the testing of causal relationships of proactive personality with engagement. Second, this study only measured engagement as outcome measure and third variables may have affected the associations of proactive personality with job demands and resources and engagement. Third, only small effect sizes of proactive personality (and job demands and resources) on engagement over time were found. With regard to theoretical implications, this study suggests a refinement of the JD‐R model by perceiving proactive personality as a personal resource which coincides with job resources such as social support and/or is triggered by (low) external job demands in increasing engagement.
Practical implications
Since this study's findings suggest that proactive personality is a personal resource with beneficial effects on employees' levels of work‐related engagement, employers are advised to promote the behavior expressed by proactive employees. When employees are under challenged due to a low level of quantitative job demands or when they want to optimize their work environment in case of high job demands, proactive personality may have a positive impact on their engagement over time, in particular when combined with high levels of support from their colleagues and supervisor.
Originality/value
This study's value consists of its innovative effort to relate proactive personality to engagement 18 months later. In addition, the longitudinal design of this study made it possible to examine the associations of proactive personality, job demands and resources with engagement over time.
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Maria Caprile, Mina Bettachy, Daša Duhaček, Milica Mirazić, Rachel Palmén and Angelina Kussy
Universities are large, complex and highly hierarchical organisations with deeply engrained gendered values, norms and practices. This chapter reflects on the experiences of two…
Abstract
Universities are large, complex and highly hierarchical organisations with deeply engrained gendered values, norms and practices. This chapter reflects on the experiences of two universities in initiating structural change towards gender equality as supported by the TARGET project. A common aspect thereby is the lack of a national policy in higher education and research providing specific support for implementing gender equality policies. The process of audit, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the first gender equality plan (GEP) in each of these universities was conceived as a first step in a long journey, providing a framework for engaging different institutional actors and fostering reflexive, evidence-based policy making. The analysis deals with reflexivity and resistance and seeks to draw lessons from bottom-up and top-down experiences of GEP implementation. It is the result of shared reflection between the GEP ‘implementers’ in the two universities and the team who provided support and acted as ‘critical friends’.
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