Search

While there is evidence that organizations are not permanent, scholars and practitioners often treat them as active or completely defunct. We build a theory of organizational dormancy as an alternative organizational state that involves organizations pausing some or all of their operations following adversity to make sense of it and adapt their capabilities with an aspiration to resume functioning. We introduce resilience as a mechanism for understanding how dormancy represents a type of subtractive change that can enable organizations to overcome adversity. Lastly, we introduce a model that explicates the processual dynamics of entering, enduring, and overcoming organizational dormancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This symposium brings together ongoing research projects on work, occupations, and inequality. Inequality is one of the grand challenges of our time. This symposium seeks to create new knowledge about how work and occupations contribute to patterns of inequality. The projects adopt qualitative and mixed methods and explore different "stages" of work and occupations, covering occupational emergence, access to established occupations, work allocation on the job, and how day-to-day work can unintentionally recreate patterns of inequality. Specifically, these projects discuss how pressures for occupational closure and inclusion can be managed during the professionalization process to maintain openness for different perspectives and practices; how class signals enable and constrain access to established occupations based on intersecting social group memberships; how the racialization of work affects task distribution within the workplace; and how managing tensions between competing imperatives can help individuals cope in their day-to-day work but unintentionally recreate inequality. This symposium, which is both relevant and topical, will yield interesting insights for researchers and practitioners looking to address patterns of social inequality. We hope that this symposium will provide a forum for discussion about what we can learn from these projects and provoke insights into future directions for research. Pluralism Without Anything Goes: The Inclusive Professionalization of Visual Practice Author: Chelsea Lei; Boston College Author: Curtis Kwinyen Chan; Boston College Getting into Silicon Valley: The Interplay of Cultural Capital and Race in Big Tech Hiring Author: Sharon Koppman; U. of California, Irvine Author: Melissa Mazmanian; U. of California, Irvine Author: Christopher Bauman; U. of California, Irvine Author: Christopher James Lam; UC Irvine The Ideal Race-Typed Worker Author: Sandra Portocarrero; Columbia Business School To Care or To Cream: Leveraging Competing Imperatives in Reentry Work Author: Audrey Holm; HEC Paris Author: Kimberly Rocheville; Creighton U. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At any moment, organizations may face a range of crises, from global pandemics and economic depressions to business catastrophes -- all of which can strain operational processes and performance (Wright et al., 2020; Williams et al., 2017). Research suggests that crises can also engender positive organizational growth, learning, and identity (Fink et al., 1971), which may trickle down to the group and individual levels. However, the dynamics underpinning the interplay of organizational-, group-, and individual-level shifts in meaning of work amidst "a backdrop of change and 'outside' elements" (Cheney & Thompkins, 1987: 5) remain largely underexplored. Research that addresses meaning of work in times of crisis and change not only helps to close this gap, but also enables scholars to understand when and why thriving (vs. decline) amidst crisis occurs. This symposium brings together five field-based investigations to focus on the interplay of individual, group, and organizational dynamics around the meaning of work in the context of crisis. First, Jiang and Cho quantitatively examine the macro effects of a societal level crisis and how a societal crisis can trigger a personal one in terms of individuals' meaning of work; in particular, they uncover that one's meaning of work can be temporarily unsettled by an external, societal-level crisis. Second, Gorges explores people's experiences of downshifting--defined as a voluntary long-term change to spend less time on work and more time on leisure--following a large global crisis, namely, the COVID-19 pandemic. Third, Eun examines how callings are expressed in crises, such as the COVID-19 crisis, illuminating not only the prevailing prosocial nature of callings, but also revealing work orientations as an important input to crisis behaviors. Fourth, Sala considers the effects of occupational level threats and how they affect individuals' sense of self and meaning. Finally, Rocheville and colleagues unpack the effects of individual-level crises in illuminating how workers in chronic pain create and/or sustain a positive meaning of work. Sally Maitlis, a distinguished scholar of how people make sense of challenges and trauma at work in meaningful ways, will serve as the discussant to highlight both theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions. Crisis within a Crisis: The Destabilizing Effect of Societal Crises on Individual Work Orientation Author: Winnie Jiang; INSEAD Author: Yuna Cho; HKU Business School, The U. of Hong Kong Downshifting: A Voluntary Career Shift to Reduce Work Hours Author: Megan Gorges; Harvard Business School Putting Callings to the Test: Prosocial Behaviors in a Crisis Associated with Calling Orientations Author: Eunice Eun; Yale School of Management Out of Service? Individual Experiences of an Occupational Identity Existential Threat Author: Gabriel Robert Sala; Northeastern U. Chronic Pain as a Crisis: The Role of Work-Body Ideologies in Sustaining Positive Meaning of Work Author: Kimberly Rocheville; Creighton U. Author: Elana Feldman; UMass Lowell Author: Beth Schinoff; Boston College Author: Njoke Thomas; Boston College [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans have a fundamental need to belong and to be a part of a community, yet the changing nature of work offers limited opportunity to create the social glue that binds us together, and thus exacerbates social disconnection. Putting the workers front and center inspires us to acknowledge workers' needs and calls our attention to explore how community experiences can be cultivated within and beyond organizational boundaries. Our panel symposium brings together diverse panelists who are leaders in community research to spark generative, interactive conversation about new frontiers of community experiences at work. Together we'll explore (1) how community experiences emerge in crisis situations, (2) unpack the practices employees and leaders can engage in to seed and nurture community experiences in organizations and (3) explore how cultivating community experiences can be achieved in hybrid, remote work settings and non-traditional work contexts. Considering ways by which community experience can transcend far beyond the organizational boundaries, we'll examine how organizations can best partner with external actors to unlock community organizing that can tackle grand challenges of our society and explore how corporate-community co-development can create synergistic settings to cultivate prosperity and social sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As recent research shows, grief is an integral part of organizational life as well as the experience which spills over from one domain to another. Nevertheless, we know relatively little about: (1) the processes involved in experiencing life-related and work-related grief, (2) the impact such grief has on a griever as well as their colleagues, (3) what circumstances make this experience lighter or harder, and (4) how colleagues, leaders, and organizations can best help to grieving employees as they move through grief towards recovery. Thus, our symposium includes qualitative and quantitative research that enriches the understanding of the phenomenon of a grieving employee, provides research-based recommendations for organizations in managing and interacting with a grieving colleague, and, therefore, strongly contributes to the Academy of Management's conference theme "Creating a Better World Together". The symposium includes five papers showcasing the impact of personal and professional grief on employees' work and non-work lives. Together with discussion, led by Dr. Sally Maitlis, the papers aim to provide insight into the consequences of grief and mourning for employees, their colleagues, and organizations, build an emerging community of scholars focused on issues related to grief and the work-life interface, and generate a strong program of future academic research. * From Grieving to Career Change: How a Personal Grief-Inducing Event Affects Professional Identity * Presenter: Lidiia Pletneva; ESSEC Business School * Ambivalence in the Early Stages of Compassion: The Relational Process of Noticing Suffering * Presenter: Ashley Elizabeth Hardin; Washington U. in St. Louis * Presenter: Liza Yasemin Barnes; U. of Colorado, Boulder * Presenter: Kristina Marie Workman; Cornell U. * Presenter: Kira Franziska Schabram; U. of Washington * The Vicious Solitude of Grief in the Work and Non-work Lives of Police Officers * Presenter: Kimberly Rocheville; Creighton U. * Keeping Mom and Pop Alive: Collective Mourning and Continuity during Rapid Organizational Growth * Presenter: Hilary Hoyt Hendricks; U. of Michigan * "Fake it till you make it?" On surface acting and depression following the loss of a loved one * Presenter: Hadar Freidin; Tel Aviv U. * Presenter: Sharon Toker; Coller School of Management, Tel Aviv U. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the core of "creating a better world together" is being able to work side by side, acknowledging our differences and embracing the strengths and challenges of a diverse and inclusive workplace. Recent events have shown how important diversity and inclusion is to societies and organizations: one can still hear the voices echoing in the growing social movements related to #BlackLivesMatter, #TimesUp, #MeToo, and others reminding us that the work of diversity and inclusion is only beginning. Events in the last several years alone have forced organizations to rethink diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, leading in some cases to radical policy and practice changes. Our symposium has two goals: investigate differences in sources of diversity through a set of theoretical and empirical papers; and discussing the possible connections and overlaps between findings to push the boundaries of the diversity and inclusion literature. * Ideal workers and ideal bodies: How workers in pain navigate stigma in an able-bodied workplace * Presenter: Kimberly Rocheville; Creighton U. * Presenter: Elana Feldman; UMass Lowell * Understanding the experiences of formerly incarcerated jobseekers with employment reentry programs * Presenter: Audrey Holm; Boston U. * 'Talking about my Generation': Generational labels and Meaningful work * Presenter: Gabriel Robert Sala; Boston College * Presenter: Greg Fetzer; U. of Liverpool * A Proud Struggle? Alternative Pathways to Professional Dignity Amidst Occupational Inequality * Presenter: Tomi Koljonen; U. of Liverpool * Presenter: Joona Koistinen; Aalto U. School of Business [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The symposium includes four empirical papers that explore how police officers think and feel about their work and their identities. These studies address the implications of traumatic incidents at work on mental health, how work and parenthood interact to increase stress for individuals, how training can influence ones' professional identity, and perceptions of one's occupational identity and its implications for workers' behaviors. Each study is qualitative, exploring meaning making processes as they are subjectively experienced in context. Creating safe relational spaces for emotional processing in police work. Presenter: Kimberly Rocheville; Boston College. From brave enforcer to trusted protector: Role evolution and procedural justice training. Presenter: Rodrigo Canales; Yale U. Presenter: Jessica Zarkin; Cornell U. Presenter: Lluvia Gonzalez; Innovations for Poverty Action. Canadian Police mothers and the boys club: Implications of the combined challenges of work and home. Presenter: Debra Langan; Wilfrid Laurier U. Presenter: Carrie Sanders; Wilfrid Laurier U. Police officers' occupational divide. Presenter: Elizabeth Hood; Boston College. Presenter: Jacqueline N Hood; U. of New Mexico. Presenter: Lyndon Earl Garrett; Boston College. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]