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Article
Publication date: 19 September 2023

Melissa Yoong and Nourhan Mohamed

While past research has explored how opting-out enables mothers to break free from masculinist organizational cultures, less attention has been given to how they resist…

Abstract

Purpose

While past research has explored how opting-out enables mothers to break free from masculinist organizational cultures, less attention has been given to how they resist disciplinary power that constitutes and governs their subjectivities. This paper aims to add to the discussion of opting-out as a site of power and resistance by proposing the concept of “constructive resistance” as a productive vantage point for investigating opted-out mothers' subversive practices of self-making.

Design/methodology/approach

This Malaysian case study brings together the notion of constructive resistance, critical narrative analysis and APPRAISAL theory to examine the reflective stories of eighteen mothers who exited formal employment. These accounts were collected through an open-ended questionnaire and semi-structured email interviews.

Findings

The mothers in the sample tend to construct themselves in two main ways, as (1) valuable mothers (capable, tireless, caring mothers who are key figures in their children's lives) and (2) competent professionals. These subjectivities are parasitic on gendered and neoliberal ideals but allow the mothers to undermine neoliberal capitalist work arrangements that were incongruent with their personal values and adversely impacted their well-being, as well as refuse organizational narratives that positioned them as “failed” workers.

Originality/value

Whereas power is primarily seen in previous opting-out scholarship as centralized and constraining, this case study illustrates how the lens of constructive resistance can be beneficial for examining opted-out mothers' struggles against a less direct form of power that governs through the production of truths and subjectivities.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 2 March 2023

Teresa Almeida, Nelson Ramalho and Francisco Esteves

Follower's individual differences have been receiving increased attention in studying destructive leadership because followers may enable or disable it. One of these yet…

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Abstract

Purpose

Follower's individual differences have been receiving increased attention in studying destructive leadership because followers may enable or disable it. One of these yet under-researched features is the role of followers' leadership coproduction beliefs (a role construal) in explaining their resistance to destructive leaders. Departing from the proactive motivation theory, this paper explores the robustness of coproduction beliefs by testing its ability to predict followers' resistance to destructive leaders across four situations – abusive supervision, exploitative leadership, organization directed behaviors and laissez-faire.

Design/methodology/approach

With a sample of 359 participants that answered a scenario-based survey, the present study tests the relationship between coproduction beliefs and resistance behaviors in the four mentioned groups, while controlling for alternative explanations. A multigroup analysis was conducted with PLS-SEM.

Findings

Constructive resistance is always favored by coproduction beliefs independently of the leader's type of destructive behavior. Dysfunctional resistance, however, is sensitive to the leader's type of destructive behavior.

Originality/value

This paper extends knowledge on the role of coproduction beliefs as an individual-based resource against destructive leaders.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 44 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 October 2021

Mahdi Aghaei, Ali Nasr Isfahani, Amineh Ghorbani and Omid Roozmand

This study aims to adopt a follower-centric approach in leadership and ethics research by investigating the impact of implicit followership theories (IFTs) on followers’…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to adopt a follower-centric approach in leadership and ethics research by investigating the impact of implicit followership theories (IFTs) on followers’ constructive resistance to leaders’ unethical requests. Specifically, it analyzes the mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior in the relationship between IFTs and constructive resistance. Indeed, this study aims to examine whether followers with more positive beliefs about the characteristics that a follower should have IFTs are more likely to resist unethical leadership and whether this relationship is mediated by organizational citizenship behavior as volunteering acts that exceed the formal job requirements.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed hypotheses were tested using survey data from 273 employees working in a steel manufacturer company in Iran. The variance-based structural equation modeling technique was used to analyze data.

Findings

The results show that followership antiprototype negatively affects both follower’s constructive resistance and organizational citizenship behavior. Furthermore, organizational citizenship behavior mediates the relationship between IFTs and follower’s constructive resistance. Also, both followership prototype and organizational citizenship behavior have a positive effect on follower’s constructive resistance.

Originality/value

Contrary to the dominant leader-centric approach in leadership and organizational ethics research, few studies have examined the role of followers and their characteristics. The results of this study provide important insights into the role of followers in resistance against the leader’s unethical request.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 31 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1998

Dianne Waddell and Amrik S. Sohal

Traditionally, resistance has been cast as adversarial ‐ the enemy of change that must be defeated if change is to be successful. While it is apparent that classical management…

54587

Abstract

Traditionally, resistance has been cast as adversarial ‐ the enemy of change that must be defeated if change is to be successful. While it is apparent that classical management theory viewed resistance in such a manner, recent literature contains much evidence that suggests resistance may indeed be useful and is not to be simply discounted. Present day suggestions and prescriptions for managing resistance have evidently disregarded this research and left little room for utility in resistance. This paper argues that the difficulty of organisational change is often exacerbated by the mismanagement of resistance derived from a simple set of assumptions that misunderstand resistance’s essential nature. It is suggested that management may greatly benefit from techniques that carefully manage resistance to change by looking for ways of utilising it rather than overcoming it.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 36 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2005

Ian Smith

This paper's purpose is to examine the nature of resistance to organisational change – why and how it occurs and the importance of effective response.

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper's purpose is to examine the nature of resistance to organisational change – why and how it occurs and the importance of effective response.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper argues that change resistance may in some circumstances be a hindrance and an obstacle to achieving effective organisational change.

Findings

The paper reveals that, if understood and dealt with effectively, change resistance may also form a constructive part of the process of organisational change management. The importance of a clear understanding of the reasons underlying change resistance and appropriate and effective responses is emphasised.

Originality/value

This paper provides useful information for those wishing to implement organisational change.

Details

Library Management, vol. 26 no. 8/9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 May 2022

Ahmad Abras and Kelum Jayasinghe

This paper examines the historical evolvement of competing institutional logics (i.e. religion, profession, state, market and community) underpinning Islamic accounting…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines the historical evolvement of competing institutional logics (i.e. religion, profession, state, market and community) underpinning Islamic accounting standardisation projects and power relations between internal actors representing these logics.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts a case-study approach and analyses two Islamic accounting standardisation projects implemented at the national and international levels. Documentary review and semi-structured interviews are used for data collection. Analysis is informed by the “Institutional Logics Perspective” and Bourdieu's notion of “power as capital in a field”.

Findings

Research findings illustrate how some local actors pre-dispose themselves in promoting strict compliance to IFRS, while others endeavour to ensure compliance to “Islamic Sharia requirements” in financial reporting. In this power dynamic, there is an ongoing “constructive resistance” actively exerted by the latter group against the former, preserving the existence of religion-based reporting demands in Islamic accounting standardisation approaches. The paper also highlights chronological “dynamic” accounts that explain the evolvement of institutional logics prevailing in these projects over different historical stages at both national and international levels.

Originality/value

This paper's findings contrast and challenge the existing assumption that the “epistemic community” promoting IFRS agenda always faces “passive responses” from local actors. Moreover, the paper's offering of a dynamic view to institutional logic mapping extends the previously used “static analyses” of logics prevailing in Islamic accounting standardisation projects.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 36 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 May 2023

Renato Silva Nicoletti, Tawan Oliveira, Alex Sander Clemente de Souza and Silvana De Nardin

In the analysis of structures in a fire situation by simplified and analytical methods, one assumption is that the fire resistance time is greater than or equal to the required…

Abstract

Purpose

In the analysis of structures in a fire situation by simplified and analytical methods, one assumption is that the fire resistance time is greater than or equal to the required fire resistance time. Among the methodologies involving the fire resistance time, the most used is the tabular method, which associates fire resistance time values to structural elements based on minimum dimensions of the cross section. The tabular method is widely accepted by the technical-scientific community due to the fact that it is safe and practical. However, its main criticism is that it results in lower fire resistance times than advanced thermal and thermostructural analysis methods. The objective of this study was to evaluate the fire resistance time of reinforced concrete beams and compare it with the required fire resistance time recommended by the tabular method of NBR 15200 (ABNT, 2012).

Design/methodology/approach

The fire resistance time and required fire resistance time of reinforced concrete beams were evaluated using, respectively, numerical models developed based on the finite element method and the tabular method of NBR 15200 (ABNT, 2012). The influence of the following parameters was investigated: longitudinal reinforcement cover, characteristic compressive strength of concrete, beam height, longitudinal reinforcement area and arrangement of steel bars.

Findings

Among the evaluated parameters, the covering of the longitudinal reinforcement proved to be more relevant for the fire resistance time, justifying that the tabular method of NBR 15200 (ABNT, 2012) being strongly and directly influenced by this parameter. In turn, more resistant concretes, higher beams and higher steel grades have lower fire resistance time values. This is because beams in these conditions have greater resistance capacity at room temperature and, consequently, are subject to external stresses of greater magnitude. In some cases, the fire resistance time was even lower than the required fire resistance time prescribed by NBR 15200 (ABNT, 2012). Both the fire resistance time and the required fire resistance time were not influenced by the arrangement of the longitudinal reinforcements.

Originality/value

The present paper innovates by demonstrating the influence of other important design variables on the required fire resistance time of the NBR 15200 (ABNT, 2012). Among several conclusions, it was found that the load level to which the structural elements are subjected considerably affects their fire resistance time. For this reason, it was recommended that the methods for calculating the required fire resistance time consider the load level. In addition, the article quantifies the security degree of the tabular method and exposes some situations for which the tabular method proved to be unsafe. Moreover, in all the models analyzed, the relationship between the span and the vertical deflection associated with the failure of the beams in a fire situation was determined. With this, a span over average deflection relationship was presented in which beams in fire situations fail.

Details

Journal of Structural Fire Engineering, vol. 15 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-2317

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 February 2023

Carlos César de Oliveira Lacerda, Ana Sílvia Rocha Ipiranga and Ulf Thoene

The city of Fortaleza, capital of the state of Ceará in the north-east of Brazil, presents a paradox as a present-day tourist destination, while also marked by features and…

Abstract

Purpose

The city of Fortaleza, capital of the state of Ceará in the north-east of Brazil, presents a paradox as a present-day tourist destination, while also marked by features and processes characteristic of cities in the Global South, such as high levels of social inequality with fragmented urban margins and vulnerabilities. This research problematizes the idea of “historical ruins” proposed by Walter Benjamin as a viable way to understand how the organization process of today's city margins can be “denaturalized” by the past. The objective of this research is to assess how the urban margins of the city were organized as a history of resistance.

Design/methodology/approach

In theoretical terms, this research links critical urban studies with critical approaches to organizational history (COH) based on Walter Benjamin's philosophical concepts of “ruins” and “progress”. The historical and archival methodology, consisting of 193 documents, suggests the existence of a philosophical–historical nexus that helps explain the spatial fragmentation of the city, and especially the urban margins in the western region of Fortaleza.

Findings

The Benjaminian notion of “historical ruins” has been exemplified by the Brazilian government practices confining migrants fleeing drought in internment camps on the margins of the city of Fortaleza in three waves beginning in 1877, 1915 and 1932 respectively. The effects of such confinement policies put into practice in the name of “progress” influenced the organization of large urban spaces on the city's margins, whereas on the other hand, the analyses advanced in this research reflect on alternatives to re-frame the history of the organization of the margins of Fortaleza through a set of practices of resistance.

Originality/value

Based on the concept of “denaturalization”, and through re-activation of the memory of a circumstantial past, the gaze of the “ruins”, as represented by the belief in “progress” addressed in official reports of government confinement policies, spaces of resistance have emerged where new possibilities for the future of the city can be imagined.

Details

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5648

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 1998

Fevzi Okumus and Nigel Hemmington

The aims of this paper are to investigate the barriers and the sources of resistance to change in hotel firms and to evaluate the change in strategies adopted in seeking to…

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Abstract

The aims of this paper are to investigate the barriers and the sources of resistance to change in hotel firms and to evaluate the change in strategies adopted in seeking to overcome these barriers. Primary data were gathered through in‐depth semi‐structured interviews in nine hotels in the UK. The findings indicate that the cost of change, financial difficulties and the pressure of other priorities are the main barriers to change in hotel firms. The findings also indicate that hotel companies use multiple change strategies in overcoming barriers to change. Finally, the limitations of the research are discussed and opportunities for further research are identified.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 10 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2002

The recent spate of acquisitions, redundancies and CEO casualties ensure that change is an inevitability for many organizations. However, nearly two‐thirds of major change…

4862

Abstract

The recent spate of acquisitions, redundancies and CEO casualties ensure that change is an inevitability for many organizations. However, nearly two‐thirds of major change programs prove unsuccessful, and, according to Fortune 500 executives, the primary reason for this is not a lack of skill or resources, but resistance

Details

Strategic Direction, vol. 18 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0258-0543

Keywords

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