The inclusive strengths of a diverse cluster: EDI in Organisational Behaviour / Human Resources Management (OB/HRM).
Dr Simona Spedale, Associate Professor of OB/HRM, Divisional Research Director, Nottingham University Business School.
Dr Spedale’s research focuses on key aspects of power, social interaction, age-related issues and institutional processes and her research in innovation management (particularly team dynamics, leadership and decision making) is supported by a BA/Leverhulme Small Grant. She was keen to present the EDI research strengths of the Division through the lens of a cluster of complementary activity, rather than just her own.
The NUBS OB/HRM Division is home to a group of researchers who, from a variety of perspectives (e.g. sociological, psychological, socio-material) and research methods (quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods) share an interest in EDI issues. As a distinctive feature, EDI research within the OB/HRM Division is characterised by a broadly shared ‘critical’ approach to management and policy. At a general level, this means that all researchers aspire to develop and co-produce high-quality, impactful research aimed at: (a) identifying what is progressive, emancipatory and empowering in designing and managing organizations; and, (b) changing policies and practices accordingly.
At a more practical level, this means that EDI research within the OB/HRM Division is especially oriented towards developing an in-depth understanding of how individuals experience work, the workplace and, more generally, organisational life in the everyday, and how different types of inequality regimes shape and affect this experience. This understanding constitutes the basis for a critical analysis and evaluation of organisational and managerial practices (meso-level), as well as of policies and policymaking (macro-level), in the context of wider societal challenges and developments.
The primary dimension of EDI research within the OB/HRM Division is gender with a specifically intersectional approach whereby gender interacts with other regimes of inequality such as age, class and ethnicity in the maintenance of, and indeed the challenge to, discrimination. Examples of EDI research within the OB/HRM Division include:
• Cohen, L. (2014), Imagining Women's Careers, Oxford University Press.
• Georgiadou, A., Metcalfe, B.D. and Rimington, C. (2019), "Let women take the lead: Insights from the UK defense industry", Academy of International Business Insights, Vol.19(4), 12-15.
• Nolan, J. and Scott, J. (2009), "Experiences of age and gender: Narratives of progress and decline", International Journal of Aging and Human Development, Vol.69 (2), 133-157.
• Spedale, S., Coupland, C., and Tempest, S. (2014), "Gendered ageism and organisational routines at work: The case of day-parting in television broadcasting", Organization Studies, Vol.35 (11), 1585-1604, Special Issue 'At a Critical Age'.
• Warren, T. and Lyonette, C. (2018), "Good, bad and very bad part-time jobs for women?: re-examining the importance of occupational class for job quality since the ‘Great Recession’ in Britain", Work, Employment and Society, Vol.33(4), 747-767.
This research cluster addresses gender and age inclusivity in the workplace, key Government priorities.