Mainstream Organizations Research Articles

Funding Black-led micro-organisations in England

This article presents an approach aimed at dealing with the difficulties faced by Black-led micro-organisations in England when accessing longer-term funding. The experiences of Black-led micro-organisations working in partnership with a mainstream organisation and a mid-level minority ethnic organisation are reported in the article. The participants of the research attributed the Black-led micro-organisations’ difficulties in accessing funds to institutional racism. To overcome this, the micro-organisations received targeted funding through a partnership that not only makes funding more accessible, but also builds the capacity of the Black-led micro-organisations. This was because a micro-organisation on its own or as a group of micro-organisations would not have been successful in a funding application. The formation of the three-tier partnership came with many challenges, but ultimately with the building of trust by skilled leadership and the right individuals, the Black-led micro-organisations were able to access sustainable long-term funding.

Enhancing equitable inclusion for the Pasifika diaspora in mainstream Australia, using Pasifika methodologies within higher education and community settings

PurposeThis paper identifies the value of Indigenous processes in developing a reciprocal working relationship between a Pasifika grass roots community organisation, Pasifika Church and an Australian university. The focus is on the capacity of Indigenous methodologies to authentically attain equity, diversity and inclusion, during the development of stakeholder partnerships, particularly when there are power and resource imbalances between parties.Design/methodology/approach This paper is about the process of how Pasifika methodologies, namely talanoa, e-talanoa and teu le va, were used to create positive reciprocal relationships in a culturally grounded manner. The outcome was an agreement of the three stakeholders, the Pasifika Church, the Pasifika organisation and a tertiary institute to work together on a community educational and training project.Findings The agreement by all parties to adopt Indigenous methodologies from inception enabled the process to be community-led in a culturally safe manner. Critically, these cultural processes established a foundation of trust, expanding possibilities for shared work and projects. For migrant communities, the advocacy and employment of cultural methodologies can empower them through negotiations to maintain their sovereignty over their Indigenous knowledge and priorities. Similarly, it is important for universities and mainstream organisations not only to acknowledge power imbalances and to support community-led priorities but also to cede power around processes of negotiation and discussion.Research limitations/implications This is an experience of four organisations working together. It is uncertain whether the same outcome could be attained with other organisations, personalities and cultural groups.Practical implications The same principles may be harnessed for other migrant communities, allowing for their cultural practices to inform the ways in which stakeholders work together as opposed to the often-dominant euro-centric practices of the West. It is a deliberate effort that privileges Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing.Social implications Migrant communities that perhaps may be subject to the more Western dominant environment are empowered to use their cultural frameworks to create an equal ground with government, tertiary and not-for-profit stakeholders.Originality/value This article is one of the first in Australia to document how talanoa, e-talanoa and teu le va were used to develop a working partnership in a culturally grounded manner to uphold the sovereignty of grassroots Indigenous organisations. This strengthens relationships between migrant communities and mainstream organisations. It outlines Pasifika protocols and successful use of equitable decision-making, led by a grassroots community organisation, a Pasifika Church, whilst liaising with a multi-campus university.

Celebrating organizational history triggers social identity threat among Black Americans

Many mainstream organizations celebrate their historical successes. In their history, however, they often marginalized racial minorities, women, and other underrepresented groups. We suggest that when organizations celebrate their histories, even without mentioning historical marginalization, they can undermine belonging and intentions to join the organization among historically marginalized groups. Four experiments demonstrate that Black participants who were exposed to an organization that celebrated their history versus the present showed reduced belonging and intentions to participate in the organization. These effects were mediated by expectations of biased treatment in the organization. Further, when organizations had a history of Black people in power, celebrating history was no longer threatening, highlighting that the negative effects of celebrating history are most likely when organizations are or are assumed to be majority-White and have treated Black Americans poorly. Taken together, these findings suggest that emphasizing organizational history can be a source of social identity threat among Black Americans.

Stakeholder exclusion practices of responsible leaders: an investigation into the application of responsible leader values in stakeholder inclusion and exclusion

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to explore the stakeholder exclusion practices of responsible leaders.Design/methodology/approachAn interpretive multiple case analyses of seven responsibly led organisations was employed. Twenty-two qualitative interviews were undertaken to investigate and understand perceptions and practice of responsible leaders and their approach to stakeholder inclusion and exclusion.FindingsThe findings revealed new and surprising insights where responsible leaders compromised their espoused values of inclusivity through the application of a personal bias, resulting in the exclusion of certain stakeholders. This exclusivity practice focused on the informal evaluation of potential stakeholders’ values, and where they did not align with those of the responsible leader, these stakeholders were excluded from participation with the organisation. This resulted in the creation and continuity of a culture of shared moral purpose across the organisation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study focussed on responsible leader-led organisations, so the next stage of the research will include mainstream organisations (i.e. without explicit responsible leadership) to examine how personal values bias affects stakeholder selection in a wider setting.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that reflexive practice and critically appraising management methods in normative leadership approaches may lead to improvements in diversity management.Originality/valueThis paper presents original empirical data challenging current perceptions of responsible leader inclusivity practices and indicates areas of leadership development that may need to be addressed.

An Unlikely Rights Revolution: Legal Mobilization in Scandinavia Since the 1970s

ABSTRACT Why have civil society groups in Scandinavia increasingly turned to legal mobilization in recent decades? In Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, a legal-political culture based on parliamentary supremacy, deferential judiciaries, strong-state corporatism, and jurisprudential scepticism towards rights talk supposedly discourages groups in civil society from seeking societal change through litigation. Yet, in all three countries, diverse groups and organizations in civil society have increasingly adopted litigation strategies for a broad range of causes. In this paper, we seek to account for how and why this shift has occurred. Drawing on socio-legal mobilization theory, we compare Denmark, Norway, and Sweden across three episodes from the 1970s to today. Litigation has gradually moved from the political margins to the mainstream. Our findings suggest that while European law, domestic institutional reforms, and a proliferating human rights discourse have opened new ways for resourceful groups and entrepreneurial individuals to challenge the status quo, parliamentary and corporatist channels remain often viable and preferred alternatives for mainstream organizations. The paper thus contributes to the emerging literature on how civil society groups in Scandinavia employ litigation strategies by offering a comparative and historical assessment and contributes to knowledge about the factors that shape legal mobilization by civil society groups.

Racialized Organizations and the Interest Divergence Dilemma1

This essay makes three points on the contemporary racial backlashes' impact on racialized organizations. First, Derrick Bell's notion of interest convergence—which argues that diversity policies did not spring from the goodness of white people's hearts but were a face‐saving political necessity—helps to explain why the current assault on racially ameliorative policy has been so effective and why the retreat from diversity may worsen. Conservative activists are attempting to force interest divergence, as the historical conditions leading to affirmative action and diversity policy have disappeared. Second, Powell's decision in Regents of University of California versus Bakke, which made diversity orthodox, was facilitated by interest convergence. Diversity emerged as a deeply reformist organizational strategy designed to manage civil rights activists' revolutionary calls for a fully inclusive society. Third, interest divergence and the retreat from diversity have major implications for deepening racial inequality in organizations. By attempting to ensure interest divergence, contemporary right‐wing movements hope to make the currently implicit white dominance of mainstream organizations (Ray 2019b) explicit again.

비합법 이민과 멕시코계 미국인 조직의 노선 변화, 그리고 역사적 전환

This study is to explore the background, process, and meaning of the changes in the stance of Mexican American mainstream organizations such as LULAC regarding undocumented immigration in the 1970s. Traditionally such organizations supported the governmental policy for immigration restriction and control and maintained a clear demarcation between Mexican Americans and immigrants, or citizens and non-citizens. But the rise and radicalization of the Chicano movement with its emphasis on Chicano ethnic identity and solidarity affected Mexican American mainstream organizations to change their traditional stance for rigid immigration control. Besides, in struggling for civil rights, Mexican Americans were awakened to the fact that regardless of being citizens and non-citizens or legal and illegal/undocumented, their interests could not be divided. And they began to criticize the governmental reform plan for undocumented immigration and to tear down the barrier between ‘us’ and ‘them’. This signalled the historical changes of the Mexican American community which has long been divided upon the issues of Mexican immigration.

Towards retail innovation and ambidexterity: insights from a Swedish retailer

PurposeIncumbent retail organisations need to develop new capabilities to adapt with the increasingly competitive retail landscape. Despite the growing relevance of innovation in retail practice, the strategic management of innovation in retailing is still vastly under-researched. This explorative study thus aims to investigate how incumbent retail firms can organise for innovation from an organisational ambidexterity perspective.Design/methodology/approachA single-case study of an established Swedish retail firm was conducted from December 2016 to July 2018 and followed up in June 2021. The authors followed the process of implementation of organisational changes aimed to increase innovation in the company, particularly the introduction of a digital marketing initiative and a corporate innovation hub. Data collection was based on nine semi-structured interviews and participant observations and unstructured interviews from 13 meetings and workshops. An abductive approach to data analysis was followed, iteratively comparing theoretical concepts and empirical data using open, axial and selective coding to distil findings into aggregated themes.FindingsGiven the inherently limited formalisation of innovation processes in most retail organisations, structural ambidexterity appears to be necessary when the aim is radical, strategic retail innovation. Structural mechanisms are able to safeguard the space and resources to focus on long-term research and projects with higher risk and uncertainty; however, integration of innovation activities to the mainstream organisation is critical. Pursuing contextual ambidexterity, wherein instead of structural solutions, employees are empowered to divide employees' time between innovation-related and efficiency-related tasks, is more likely related to retail innovations that are incremental and operational.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the emerging topic of strategic management of innovation in retailing, by explicating how incumbent retailers can organise for innovation depending on the type of innovation that is aimed for, using organisational ambidexterity as a novel perspective.

Privileged but not in Power: How Asian American Tech Workers use Racial Strategies to Deflect and Confront Race and Racism

Research on tech workers has often focused on racial inequalities within the industry but has failed to seriously consider Asian American professionals as racialized subjects. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by centering Asian Americans as workers whose racial identity impacts their career trajectory and professional experiences in the high-tech industry. Based on 57 interviews with Asian American tech professionals, I find that Asian Americans use four main racial strategies to deflect or confront racism in the workplace Three of these racial strategies—racial maneuvering, essentializing, distancing— intentionally remove Asian Americans from the glare of racism. The fourth racial strategy, dissenting, acknowledges racism; workers using this racial strategy are often so frustrated by the white power structure of the high-tech industry that they find no other choice but to leave mainstream organizations. Several of these racial strategies are reinforced by local racial politics and the historical influence of Asian immigrant workers that helped shape both Silicon Valley and Asian American culture in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Responsible innovation as transformational entrepreneurship by disabled people

ABSTRACT Responsible innovation (RI) has emerged as a powerful idea concerning the effective governance of science, technology and innovation. While much attention has been devoted to understanding and promoting RI within science and research policy addressing grand challenges, far less is known about the nature and implications of RI for business. This paper marshals qualitative insights from UK-based disabled entrepreneurs to examine how comparatively ordinary innovations arising in a ‘bottom-up’ manner can respond more inclusively to otherwise overlooked societal needs. The entrepreneurs initiate three specific innovation types to positively transform the lives of their intended beneficiaries: (1) transforming inaccessible practices within mainstream organisations; (2) enhancing personal powers of disabled people; and (3) changing mainstream societal attitudes towards disability. The paper demonstrates how RI principles can be realised through transformational entrepreneurship, highlighting a myriad of niche and distributed entrepreneurial activities, quite different from high-tech, big science innovations conventionally discussed in RI studies.

Civil Rights in Black and Brown: Histories of Resistance and Struggle in Texas ed. by Max Krochmal and J. Todd Moye

Reviewed by: Civil Rights in Black and Brown: Histories of Resistance and Struggle in Texas ed. by Max Krochmal and J. Todd Moye Steven Rosales Civil Rights in Black and Brown: Histories of Resistance and Struggle in Texas. Edited by Max Krochmal and J. Todd Moye. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2021. Pp. xiv, 469. Paper, $35.00, ISBN 978-1-4773-2379-3; cloth, $105.00, ISBN 978-1-4773-2378-1.) Coalitional politics is a complicated and sometimes messy undertaking laden with varying degrees of rivalry, defensiveness, and hierarchy. Such complications have arguably assumed a new level of significance in the partisan politics of the modern day and in the efforts to interrogate the nation's past more critically. This anthology steps into this turmoil, and this Chicano historian of Chicanx history is impressed. The state of Texas, with its dual southern and southwestern identities, is a logical place to demonstrate the overlapping nature of "everyday acts of resistance" and institutionalized racism (p. 61). An overarching subdivision does exist in this volume, with African Americans in the spotlight for Part 1, followed by Chicanx struggles in Part 2. Coalitions in metropolitan areas become the focal point in Part 3. A fourth and final installment highlights the statewide Civil Rights in Black and Brown Oral History Project (CRBB), from which this work stems. Indeed, the power of oral history and its ability to capture moments often unseen and unheard through documentary evidence are clearly on display. Over five hundred video narrations were collected over two summers, with interviewers and other logistical support provided by multiple institutions throughout the state. The result is a "people's history" of statewide civil rights activism digitized using clever and modern methods on a website accessible to a wider general audience (p. 306). The CRBB and this anthology are a veritable dream for anyone involved in public history, oral history, and the digital humanities. A quick overview of the first two sections offers powerful examples of variance (rural versus urban, "leaders" versus everyday folk, and so on), with individual chapters tackling a variety of topics including segregation, student movements, and racialized violence within both communities. An additional [End Page 806] significant point for me is the willingness to tackle the legacy of Dr. Hector P. García and his off and on leadership of the American GI Forum, a post–World War II civil rights organization largely composed of Mexican American veterans. The literature surrounding both García and the organization is vast and hagiographic, and the determination to confront the long shadow of García and his many complexities is long overdue and refreshing. It is the third section where the theme of coalitional politics and behavior is confronted most vigorously, with the cities of San Antonio and Austin offering the most compelling examples. Young Black and Brown radicals in San Antonio forged ties of solidarity that included biracial support for Angela Davis, César Chávez and the United Farm Workers' grape boycott, as well as electoral cooperation to promote a mixed platform of Black and Brown candidates for city offices. Biracial efforts in Austin also included young radicals as well as formal legal efforts by more mainstream organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund to sue for local redistricting to promote better electoral representation. My fear, however, is that the few examples of intersectionality found within the third section are structurally overwhelmed by the first two sections, which clearly illustrate separate trajectories of civil rights activism that seldom overlapped. Moreover, obvious sources of tension, such as the embrace of whiteness by some in the Mexican American community, a powerful point of debate within Chicanx historiography, need a fuller examination than what is offered here. Furthermore, the present-day context of these struggles in the wake of George Floyd's murder, including vocal elements of the Black Lives Matter movement that posit Black emancipation as the source of emancipation for all marginalized communities, could have been addressed. All of this is to say that on a case-by-case basis Black and Brown intersectionality did (and does) exist...

Covering COVID: Changes in Work Routines and Journalists’ Well-being in Singapore

ABSTRACT Guided by the transactional theory of stress and coping, this study documents and examines how journalists in Singapore experienced covering the COVID-19 pandemic. Through an interview with 22 journalists, this study finds a variation in how journalists experienced covering the crisis, and how changes in their work routines shaped such experiences. Forced to work from home, many journalists experienced a blurring of work and home boundaries. An important determinant of their experience is how well they were are able to cope, and the interviewees underscored the importance of organizational support in their coping process. These experiences and coping processes, however, were also shaped by their work status. While those working for mainstream organizations received sufficient support, freelancers and those affiliated with small media startups had a different experience, as COVID-19 magnified pre-existing disparities among journalists.

How the ‘Culture’ in ‘Culturally and Linguistically Diverse’ Inhibits Intersectionality in Australia: A Study of Domestic Violence Policy and Services

ABSTRACT In Australia, policy and services addressing gendered violence are increasingly taking up ‘intersectionality’ as a concept to better include refugee and migrant women’s needs and interests. Drawing on critical policy analysis and interviews with front-line workers from domestic violence, refugee resettlement, and migrant-specific services, this article examines intersectionality in policies and services. It shows that so far, most policies and practices fail to acknowledge racism and other structures that exclude refugee and migrant women. We argue that the way culture is defined and deployed in policy and practice contributes to racism and exclusion, and inhibits intersectionality. Specifically, the category of ‘Culturally and Linguistically Diverse’ (CALD) erases the experiences and needs of refugee and migrant women, and shores up the power of white-dominated mainstream organisations, views and processes. We show that via CALD, culture is essentialised, racialised, and conflated with difference. For intersectionality to gain traction, current notions of culture and diversity need to be rethought, and racism and white privilege need to be addressed.

Healing journeys: experiences of young Aboriginal people in an urban Australian therapeutic community drug and alcohol program.

Disproportionately high numbers of Aboriginal young people access residential alcohol and other drug programs in Australia. While demand is high, these programs often have low numbers of Aboriginal staff. Residential programs, however, generally offer supports that reflect features of Aboriginal health care - holistic, group-based, connected to local communities, and addressing determinants of health. The qualitative research outlined in this paper was a collaboration between a mainstream residential therapeutic community program and two Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, and Aboriginal young people and researchers, with Aboriginal research leadership. It used an Aboriginal healing framework to understand the experiences of 12 young Aboriginal people in the program, triangulated with 19 key informant interviews. This provided an opportunity to understand how Indigenous knowledge about healing related to mainstream programs and the experiences of Aboriginal young people. This moves beyond individualist and deficit-focused conceptions of youth alcohol and drug use and centres Aboriginal cultures as healing. Findings point to the need for critically self-reflective mainstream organisations, a larger Aboriginal workforce with leadership roles, partnerships with Aboriginal Elders and organisations, and an investment in Aboriginal community-controlled alcohol and other drug services.

Supporting Social Inclusion in Neighbourhoods of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities: Service Providers' Practice Experiences.

Deinstitutionalisation has increased the likelihood of adults with intellectual disabilities residing in neighbourhoods either in staff-supported accommodation or in their family home. However, it raises the question of whether national policies on disability have translated into practice actions by service providers that result in positive social inclusion outcomes for individuals. This study examined the practice initiatives supporting social inclusion in neighbourhoods in specialist state-funded service providers for adults with intellectual disabilities. Using a mixed methods design, CEOs/service leaders of 40 organisations completed an online survey. Follow-up interviews were completed with a randomised sample. Shifting towards new service models and strategic links with mainstream organisations were most often mentioned as furthering social inclusion goals. A wide range of service initiatives were reported, with positive outcomes alongside a range of challenges. Service providers play an important role in providing individualised supports that foster local engagement. However, the service context is complex and service leaders have reported many challenges that may impede progress on social inclusion.

Learning from indigenous youth to build relations and earn trust in policing

As part of a local police service’s larger organizational change initiative, this study explored trust in policing. A cultural safety lens was used to hear Indigenous youths’ truths and experiences. Methods comprised three focus groups with 19 participants (age 18-30 years) in the spring of 2019. Researchers employed a three-phase procedure to code and analyze the data. Findings highlight factors that led to participants’ mistrust and perceptions of biased policing. Participants also recommended four ways for police to gain their trust through education, community engagement, respectful relations, and accountability. Implications for practice ensure a culturally safe approach for police and other mainstream organizations to follow for institutional changes that promote trust and reconciliation. Conclusions and next steps follow for an iterative, dialogical process for cultural safety.

The Politics of Trust: How trust reconciles autonomy and solidarity in alternative organizations

In this paper, we explore the politics of trust in alternative organizations, understood as counter-hegemonic collectives characterized by an equal commitment to individual autonomy and collective solidarity. Although trust is rarely theorized in studies of alternative organizations, it is frequently claimed to be the glue that holds such collectives together. The main purpose of the paper is to substantiate this claim theoretically. Drawing eclectically on Niklas Luhmann and Ernesto Laclau, we argue that trust serves at least two functions in alternative organizations. First, trust serves as an object of identification for people who long for an alternative to the current state of affairs. Such identification rests on the creation of an antagonistic frontier between the organization and its constitutive outside. Here, trust is understood as a way of establishing alternatives by providing space for individual autonomy. We refer to this as the political function of trust. Second, trust serves as a mechanism that renders possible the reconciliation of otherwise irreconcilable interests and identities. Trust fulfils this function by suspending the temporal distance between present and future, thereby creating an extensive ‘moment of undecidability’ in which competing interpretations of what it means to be alternative may coexist. Here, trust is understood as a way of maintaining alternatives by cultivating solidarity between diverse individuals. We refer to this as the depoliticizing function of trust. Combined, these two functions allow people to be ‘different together’, which is often claimed to be the sine qua non of alternative organizing. In conclusion, we hypothesize that both functions of trust may be operative in mainstream organizations as well, although the depoliticizing function is clearly more prevalent.

Sufism in the Eyes of Muslim Elites in South Sumatra, Indonesia: A Comparison Between Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama

This study aims at examining the variety of understanding and implementation of sufistic values among elite members of Islamic mainstream organizations, namely Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, in South Sumatra. It uses a field research method and a descriptive-qualitative analysis. This research finds that elite members of two mainstream Islamic organizations in South Sumatra similarly consider the importance of sufistic values, such as faqr, sabr, tawakkal, ikhlas, and ihsan, for perfecting the self. However, they have differed in how these values are implemented. If the former comfortably practices the substantive forms of sufistic teachings, the latter tends to observe sufistic teachings via the route of tarekat (sufi orders). Such difference has led to the variety of Islamic practices and dakwah programs organized by both organizations.

Developing youth justice policy and programme design in Australia

AbstractThe national Closing the Gap reform provides a mandate for mainstream organisations to undergo structural transformation to better address the needs and concerns of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. In the criminal justice sector, the reform resonates strongly with ongoing discussions about how both policy and practice can address the significant over‐representation of Aboriginal people across the criminal justice system. One way that structural transformation can occur is through the genuine involvement of Aboriginal knowledge holders and communities in policy development. This study illustrates how this might happen in relation to youth justice policy and programme design. Eighteen Aboriginal community members from a town in rural New South Wales participated in a series of interviews relevant to the Closing the Gap target. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify four key themes relevant to the development of justice policy: supporting cultural identity in a post‐colonial context; articulating strengths and resources which can be mobilised in the community; the centrality of poverty to offending; and responding to intergenerational trauma. The study illustrates how non‐Indigenous policymakers and practitioners might approach the task of engagement and consultation by identifying Aboriginal knowledge as a legitimate epistemic resource that they can draw upon to guide the ongoing development of evidence‐based policy and programmes.

News in the Digital Age: A Case Study of CITE as a Digital Public Sphere in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT There is growing scholarship on how social media are shaping the practice and performance of mainstream media organisations. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter provide journalists with information and sources on issues happening across the globe. Journalists and news organisations are appropriating social media tools to generate story ideas and interact with audiences. Concerns about the quality of information circulated on these platforms and the growing misinformation and disinformation remain, affecting the reputation of mainstream media and digital start-ups. This study investigates the Centre for Innovation and Technology (CITE), a digital start-up in Zimbabwe, focusing on its role as a digital public sphere in the country’s news ecosystem thus contributing to understandings of the role and importance of the digital public sphere in the Zimbabwean context. Drawing upon the digital public sphere and social constructionism as frameworks for conceptualising digital tools and journalism practice, this research interrogates the role of this digital start-up. We argue that CITE has appropriated and adopted digital tools to transform its news making practice in ways that provide a platform for excluded and marginalised communities.