Globally distributed teams (GDTs) have become essential tools for organisations to expand, quickly adapt and restructure to remain competitive in the current economic climate. The theoretical ...literature has been discussing the advantages, but also the barriers, limitations and challenges in GDTs’ internal practices and processes. However, scholars have not yet sufficiently examined empirically the implications of cultural differences when teams operate in virtual contexts. To address this gap, this study aims to explore how different cultures interact and stimulate work collaboration in GDTs. Following the acquisition and merger of Volvo and Renault, we conducted a qualitative study of the collaborative work of GDTs located in Brazil, Sweden and France during the creation of Volvo Group’s VM truck. Our results highlight that the interaction of the three involved national cultures led to better collaboration between members of a GDT. Furthermore, as a managerial contribution, this study suggests that culture can be understood as an agent of transformation to facilitate or improve the collaboration process.
Purpose
The 17 United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) represent a powerful guide to foster actions to achieve a more sustainable planet. This paper aims to analyze the challenges and ...opportunities of SDGs based on an interview conducted with climate scientist Dr Carlos Nobre. In this interview, Nobre addresses the opportunities and challenges of the SDGs. More broadly, the aim is to raise awareness among scholars, policymakers and citizens about what is considered to be the most important societal questions of the times.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze the interview conducted with this prominent and experienced climate scientist through academic lenses of interpretive approach. Further, the authors are bringing important reflections from this interview and linking it to Rasche et al.’s (2017) model, which cut across different levels and take into consideration the individual, organizational and societal levels in the relationship for SDG.
Findings
The interview reveals that all SDGs are interlinked and are of equal importance. However, the authors discuss three important challenges and opportunities addressed by Dr Nobre regarding the implementation of the SDGs. These are education, climate change and peace.
Originality/value
To better understand the challenges and opportunities of SDGs and how to act on them as citizens and management scholars, the authors believe that it is imperative to consider the viewpoint of climate scientists who, through their knowledge on earth science, have been contributing globally to the United Nations SDGs agenda at global and local levels. In this paper, the authors analyze the challenges and opportunities of SDGs based on an interview conducted with climate scientist Dr Carlos Nobre. In this interview, Nobre addresses the opportunities and challenges of the SDGs.
Abstract
Drawing on narrative accounts of French business school staff and faculty about their experiences and observations of actions taken by different organizational actors in response to a ...trigger event, we theorize the intricate connections between organizational practices conducive to sexism and the persistence of silence around such practices. Specifically, empirical investigation demonstrates how managerial practices such as the allocation of organizational tasks and valorization of individual contributions prompt organizational members to assume a variety of stances toward gender issues. The enactment of these stances in various interactions provokes organizational counteraction in the form of sanctions, the establishment of a hermetic and formulaic communication regime, and public reinforcement of meritocratic narratives. This results in silence around organizational sexism manifesting as a collective and individual
inability
and
unwillingness
to react. This study contributes to a broader and rapidly developing literature on sexism in academic settings and the phenomenon of silencing in organizations by shedding light on the mechanisms of its persistence.
In this article, we interrogate vergonha alheia (shame on behalf of others; or “vicarious embarrassment”), which is experienced when viewing an embarrassing action from the outside. We question if ...shame—associated with the worst of human behavior brought about and made visible by the COVID‐19 pandemic—can ignite a new kind of cultural sensitivity to the pain of others. Turning to the work of several feminist scholars, we reveal the generative power of shame in artistic and political mobilization. We study examples of artistic activism (i.e., artivism) during the COVID‐19 pandemic, as presented by two Brazilian women—Adriana Calcanhotto and Debora Diniz. By intimately engaging with their work and situating it in the context of the popular feminist struggle in Brazil—that is, a luta (the struggle), we discern two performative patterns articulated through distinct symbolic utterances: indignação and declaração corporal (indignation and bodily declaration). We contend that these utterances help overcome individual apathy, summon radically different forms of sensitivity and meaning making that may initiate potentially transformative shifts in public perceptions of social justice. We conclude with our reflections on how feminist artivism in Latin America not only questions the validity of the , universal, and modern human being but also reveals new frames of progress.
In this article, we adopt a non‐conventional approach to investigate the experiences and existential postures of women who, as residents of Brazilian favelas, find themselves at the frontline of a ...struggle for survival—and dignity—amid the COVID‐19 pandemic. We reveal this struggle through the voice of Dona Josefa—a 66‐year‐old, former domestic care worker and resident of Ocupação Esperança (Occupation Hope), a feminist favela on the outskirts of São Paulo. We interweave our reflections with those of Dona Josefa, who acts as representative of one of the many disenfranchised communities that are confronting one of the worst crises in recent history, in one of the most inequitable countries in the world. Connecting our discussion with feminist writers and calling attention to a more collective stance in feminism, overall, we offer a shift from knowledge gleaned from institutional and privileged spaces in the Global North to knowledge gained by observing individual struggles in the favelas of the Global South.
Drawing from women's testimonials in The Guardian and from contributions of feminist writers, Virginia Woolf, Julia Kristeva, and Margaret Mead, we start a conversation on the positive and energizing ...aspects of menopause in the workplace. We propose a social interpretation of menopause that challenges a pervasive perspective of medical decline: A theorization of “the dialectic of zest,” as inspired by the writings of Margaret Mead. By problematizing the experiences of women going through this transition in the workplace, we reveal how well‐intentioned awareness campaigns can lead to further stigmatization. We thus encourage organizations to not only favor an approach of “education for all” but also extend their social imaginaries beyond medicalized perspectives and coping views. Organizations can then embrace the potential of “zest,” a positive side of menopause that remains largely unknown. We argue that organizations, inspired by a holistic view of menopause in the workplace, can creatively support the professional progressions and ambitions of not only women but also all employees.
In this paper, we offer a collective, multi‐vocal reflection on using poetry for research purposes. These were reflections on an online sub‐plenary session organized as a workshop, which was held at ...the European Group for Organization Studies conference in 2021. During this workshop, the first three authors presented a step‐by‐step method for doing poetic inquiry and invited participants to apply it to their own empirical data or research praxis. The method was created in response to the marginalization of affect and embodiment in mainstream research in organization studies. Poetic inquiry aims to formulate specific practices of “writing differently” that assist researchers in their attempts to analyze and articulate their findings in embodied and affective ways. In this paper, we describe the method and bring together multi‐vocal reflections from the participants and organizers of the workshop on the affects of poetic inquiry and the (ethical) questions that it poses.
We investigate the role of community organizing in connecting business activities and biodiversity conservation. We draw from a unique setting in the Brazilian Amazônia Legal (Legal Amazon)—the ...traditional community of quebradeiras de coco do babaçu (babassu nut breaking women), or quebradeiras—to show how this community connects the subsistence activity of breaking babassu palm tree nuts with local and global value chains (GVCs) in the cosmetics industry. As a consequence of multidimensional community organizing and local/global business connections, we show not only the ways in which biodiversity conservation has been realized in a large area of the Amazon but also how the quebradeiras have developed organizational activities that address persistent social, economic, and environmental challenges. Through community organizing, the quebradeiras maintain a traditional activity, connect with GVCs, and protect the biodiversity of the regional ecosystem. We thus call attention to the impact of business on strengthening community organizing and fostering biodiversity conservation.
PDF
