Theoretical Tensions Research Articles

Shared Leadership in Commercial Organizations: A Systematic Review of Definitions, Theoretical Frameworks and Organizational Outcomes

AbstractThe importance of context has been well established in studies of leadership (Bryman, A. and Stephens, M. (1996). The importance of context: qualitative research and the study of leadership. Leadership Quarterly, 7, pp. 353–371; Pettigrew, A. and Whipp, R. (1991). Managing Change for Competitive Success. Oxford: Blackwell). However, recent reviews of shared leadership have tended to merge findings across commercial and non‐commercial settings, disregarding contextual differences in these distinctive domains. Acknowledging that the challenges of leadership may vary in different organizational contexts, this paper argues that a focused review of shared leadership in commercial organizations (COs) is needed. The authors thus systematically review findings from over twenty years of empirical research on the practice of shared leadership in commercial organizations, critically reviewing definitions, theoretical dispositions and measurement approaches adopted in the field, before evaluating the impact of shared leadership on performance in this context. Findings from commercial and non‐ commercial organizations are then compared, highlighting significant differences in the conceptualization of shared leadership in these distinct settings. Contributing to theory in this field, a framework is developed, mapping the landscape of current research in commercial contexts, revealing critical gaps in our present understanding of shared leadership processes. Consequently, a model summarizing a proposed research agenda for future studies is provided, highlighting the need for such research to focus on the interactions of individuals as they share in the leadership of their team.

Brexit and the perils of ‘Europeanised’ migration

ABSTRACTMoving beyond short-term public opinion accounts for Brexit this article considers how Britain's historic policy and political dynamics on migration led to the outcome of the EU referendum and how the latter is likely to transform current immigration policies. To do so, we explore historic and theoretical tensions in UK migration policy and politics over the last six decades. We show how these unresolved tensions allowed Eurosceptics to harness negative attitudes to the increasingly salient issue of immigration. We argue that a sufficient proportion of the UK's elite and electorate proved unable and unwilling to subordinate its desire for entirely domestic ‘control’ over immigration to the EU's right-based regime, let alone see fellow EU citizens in the UK as anything other than immigrants, ultimately giving Leave victory. The referendum process and outcome exposed the debate about free movement and migration to much wider public scrutiny and so raised more profound questions about the future of the British economy and the political model necessary to sustain it. We argue that, with the Brexit negotiations under constant public scrutiny a new, largely immovable parameter was set by the EU referendum result for the medium term that seems likely to lead to a decline in ‘Europeanised’ migration policy in the UK.

Tensões na atuação do Intérprete Educacional: função técnica ou pedagógica?

Apresenta-se um recorte da pesquisa intitulada “Representações Sociais de educandos surdos sobre a atuação do Intérprete Educacional no Ensino Superior”, na qual se analisa as representações sociais de educandos surdos sobre a atuação do Intérprete educacional, buscando identificar as implicações destas representações na aprendizagem e no processo de inclusão educacional dos educandos surdos. Esta investigação teve por base a teoria das representações sociais de Moscovici. Neste estudo o objetivo é identificar as tensões teóricas sobre a atuação do intérprete educacional em termos de ser uma função técnica ou pedagógica. Trata-se de uma pesquisa, pautada em autores como Bakhtin (1992, 1997), Lacerda (2007), Lima (2006), Freire (2005), entre outros.
 
 Palavras-Chave: Representações Sociais; Intérprete educacional; Libras; Interpretação Técnica e Pedagógica.

Huang Zongxi as a Republican: A Theory of Governance for Confucian Democracy

Confucianism has been historically intertwined with authoritarianism in general and monarchy in specific. Various contemporary attempts to reconcile Confucianism with democracy have yielded controversial results mostly due to the theoretical tension between the authoritarian character of the former and the liberal one of the latter. This article seeks to develop an alternative route to Confucian democracy by drawing from Huang Zongxi’s 黃宗羲 Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince (Mingyi Daifang Lu 明夷待訪錄). In this well-known work, Huang argues for a form of limited government that is built upon laws, political protection of academic freedom, good institutional designs, and separation of governmental powers. While these features seem to qualify Huang only as a defective liberal, this article argues that they are in much coherence with the insights of republicanism concerning good governance. This article will argue that the republican themes embodied in Waiting for the Dawn can justify and support a particular form of Confucian republican democracy.

Bioethical communication: shared decision-making and relational empathy

ABSTRACTBackground: Theoretical tensions in shared decision-making (SDM) exist among bioethical principles, patient autonomy, and evidence-based medicine. Scholars in biomedicine have looked to empathy as a component of SDM that may assist in decreasing these conflicts.Method: This article outlines a theoretical foundation for incorporating relational empathy in SDM. Informed by interpersonal communication theory and bioethics, relational empathy becomes an intrinsic component in the initial phase of SDM.Results: Healthcare providers should consider developing relational empathy with their patients before they address treatment options. Relational empathy, especially in the context of values elicitation and clarification, may increase patient participation and provide more symmetrical communication opportunities. Relational empathy also assists in developing relational autonomy, which shifts the emphasis in SDM from the traditional bioethical view of the autonomous individual to a definition of autonomy that describes a person in relation with others.Conclusion: Increased opportunities for relational empathy through interpersonal communication may provide a more ethical communication context for SDM.

What factors affect the choice of accounting as a career? The case of Romania

This paper aims to examine the motivations of choosing accounting as a profession in Romania. The paper is motivated by the recent interest at the international level in understanding the trends in the accounting profession. The theoretical tension arises from the Romanian context given the significant challenges for the profession triggered by the transition from communism to a market-based economy. We use a survey-based approach. The sample consists of 112 students undertaking accounting courses both for Bachelor’s Degree or Master Courses at two Romanian universities and 125 professionals belonging to The Body of Expert and Licensed Accountants of Romania. We find that the most important group of factors in choosing the accounting career includes the intellectual motivation, followed by relational and financial incentives. There are a few significant differences between men and women, and between students and professionals. When differences occur, women manifest a lower level of motivation, and professional accountants a higher level of motivation. The results show the driving forces behind the composition of the accounting profession and inform the sociology of the profession, of interest for both academia and practice. Our study contributes to an emerging national and international literature investigating the accounting profession by providing concrete information about the motivations of choosing it in Romania.

Pedagoški aspekti primene koncepta ishoda učenja u visokoškolskoj nastavi

U radu se razmatra problematika definisanja, planiranja i upotrebe ishoda učenja u visokoškolskoj nastavi, kao jednog o ključnih aspekata nastavnog rada. Koncept ishoda učenja posebno je aktuelizovan Bolonjskim procesom i predstavlja značajan alat za planiranje nastavnog rada i kreiranje kurikuluma kao i za prepoznavanje stečenih znanja i veština studenata. Analizirani su relevantni dokumenti u okviru reforme visokog obrazovanja kojima se ističe značaj ishoda učenja za usaglašavanje različitih sistema visokog obrazovanja u okviru Evrope. Akcenat je stavljen na pedagoške implikacije upotrebe ishoda učenja i na njihov značaj za nastavni rad, posebno iz perspektive pristupa usmerenog na studenta. Dat je prikaz konkretnih uputstava i smernica za kreiranje i definisanje ishoda učenja. Prikazana je SOLO taksonomija kao jedna od značajnijih taksonomija za pisanje ishoda učenja u visokom obrazovanju i za procenjivanje usvojenih znanja i veština studenata. Rezultati ukazuju na to da ishodi učenja predstavljaju konstrukt koji omogućava nastavnicima efikasno planiranje i organizovanje nastave, kao i procenjivanje stečenog znanja i kompetencija studenata. Sa druge strane, studentima omogućava mobilnost na druge univerzitete, priznavanje stečenih kvalifikacija, priznavanje prethodnog učenja i dr. Zaključuje se da adekvatna implementacija ishoda učenja u nastavnu praksu, studijske programe i predmete u značajnoj meri utiče na kvalitet obrazovanja.

Analytik des Interfacing. Zur Materialität technologischer Verschaltung in prototypischen Milieus robotisierter Pflege

In Science & Technology Studies and Media Studies, materiality has been predominantly conceptualized as a stabilizing factor in processes of social ordering. Here, Karen Barad’s agential realism offers a different notion of materiality emphasizing the open, eventful, and potentially destabilizing effects of matter. With regard to this theoretical tension the present article argues that especially the case of social robotics in elderly care renders visible the fragility of technological interconnecting, thus requiring a new conceptualization of materiality within thoroughly technologized society. In order to achieve this, the article proposes an ‘analytics of interfacing’ accounting for the eventful material conditions of technological interconnecting. By synthesizing Barad’s account of ‘intraaction’ and Gilbert Simondon’s notion of ‘disposability’ such an analytics focuses on the procedural modalities by which techno-scientific regimes render hetergeneous entities disposable for one another, thus interfacing them. This is demonstrated by the case of prototypical user experiments of roboticized care within the context of European innovation politics.

Institutional constraints or voluntary deference? Marginalized critical news content, spiked stories, series and careers subjected to the Buzzsaw

This article focuses on all reported post-Cold War instances of several antidemocratic phenomena that occur within the US news media industry: the spiking of news stories and investigations with critical inclinations, demotions to enterprising journalists or editors, cancellations of TV programs due to critical content and forced resignations of journalists, independent and wire-based stories being overlooked by mainstream media, and investigative series whose story follow-ups are being marginalized out of existence or spiked. The reported occurrences are based on a plethora of evidence and documentation: testimony by journalists and/or their newsroom colleagues, audio-recorded conversations between editors and journalists, documented pressure by advertisers and powerful public officials, and documented meetings between editors and high-powered officials that led to spiked stories and/or follow-up reporting. This evidence shows a clear pattern of institutional constraints that result in varying forms of censorship. The focus on these repressive occurrences is of significant theoretical importance and is not only an attack on journalists but an attack on democracy as a whole. The most important theoretical tension between two models of media analysis – the indexing and propaganda models – is a conflicting attribution of culpability for poor media performance and the subsequent lack of news media independence. This article represents an attempt to unveil and subsequently address this underlying theoretical tension by criticizing the disproportionate fault attributed to journalists themselves by the indexing model as well as the underestimation by the propaganda model of the role of ‘crude intervention’ resulting from institutional constraints.

The English School and the Laws of War: A Taxonomy for Examining State Practice

Though the laws of war have taken on increasing prominence in public discourse, a review of the scholarly literature shows that this branch of international law remains under-theorized. This research note proposes a comprehensive theoretical model for examining the laws of war based on the English School tradition of international relations. I first examine theoretical tensions associated with the English School, including the tripartite classification (international system, international society, and world society) and pluralism and solidarism. I argue that the English School provides a nuanced and dynamic perspective for examining the laws of war. Next, this paper proposes a taxonomy based on the English School which places laws of war concepts and examples of state practice into theoretical perspective. Included are historical and contemporary examples of laws of war practice. Finally, potential avenues for future research are proposed. Ultimately, this paper aims to stimulate discussion regarding the potential role of the English School in theorizing the laws of war.

(Un)happy Endings? Exploring the Crossover Effects of Operational and Relational Failures

This paper reconciles a theoretical tension between conflicting perspectives regarding the impact of operational failures on organizational outcomes. It does so by forwarding the possibility that failures play a dual role, one that is more harmful and one that promotes positive outcomes. Departing from the traditional research in this domain that focuses prevalently on how individual organizations respond to failures, we explore whether and how failures experienced by one organization influence organizations that maintain exchange relationships with the stricken organization. Findings show that experience with major operational failures will produce negative impacts that extend beyond the boundaries of the stricken organization eventually leading its partners to depart from existing alliances. Yet, this process of preferential detachment does not occur in the face of minor operational failures. Interestingly, the paper also finds support for the possibility that stricken organizations may derive positive ...

Host Market Corruption, Subsidiary Strategies and Market Exit

We study the relationship between host market corruption pervasiveness, the subsidiary localization strategies implemented by MNEs and the likelihood of host market exit. We assume that the pervasiveness of corruption in the host market threatens to undermine the legitimacy of foreign-investing firms in the host market environment. In this context, the strategic insights proffered by resource dependence theory (RDT) and institutional theory (IT) are characterized by distinct spatial orientations. RDT predicts that subsidiaries will implement proximal (or, host market-oriented) localization strategies in which host country partners and employees are hypothesized to be best-suited to efforts to enhance the subsidiary’s legitimacy and reduce the likelihood of host market exit. Conversely, IT suggests that distal (or, home market-oriented) localization strategies, in which subsidiaries prefer to engage home country partners and employees in the subsidiary investment, are better-suited to reducing the likelihood of exit from increasingly corrupt host market environments. Leveraging this theoretical tension, we investigate the relative efficacy of these strategies by developing competing hypotheses with respect to the moderating impact of proximal and distal localization strategies upon the likelihood of market exit in increasingly corrupt host market environments. Testing the hypotheses with a sample of 1,239 subsidiary investments in 31 countries during 1998-2005, we find that a proximally-oriented partnering strategy heightens the likelihood of market exit under conditions of more pervasive host market public corruption, but not more pervasive private corruption. Conversely, a distally-oriented expatriate staffing strategy increases the likelihood of market exit under conditions of both more pervasive public corruption and private corruption.

“I will not hate myself because you cannot accept me”: Problematizing empowerment and gender-diverse selfies

ABSTRACTWhile selfies of beautiful cisgender women are declaimed by mainstream media as narcissistic and facile, some body-positive feminists and queer theorists argue that selfies can be empowering. They claim self-representation by traditionally stigmatized people can challenge normative presentations of beauty and gender. This article problematizes “empowerment” as a definitive and/or productive frame and argues instead for observation and analysis of “privilege” in situated practice. In this article I combine analysis of a collection of online cultural artifacts (including nonbinary selfies on Tumblr) and interviews with a small group of trans* social media storytellers to explore theoretical tensions between gender fluidity and identity fragmentation across multiple social media sites and practices. Gender-diverse digital self-representation encompasses both “consistent” androgyny, nonbinary, agender, and so on, and “emergent” presentations-in-flux. I assert that the ongoing iteration of self across social media—implied by self (re)presentation—can have simultaneous and contradictory political significance. I conclude that networked interpersonal complications frame understandings of empowerment, as perhaps they always have done.

Decolonising the Rainbow Flag

The aim of the article is to explore the location and the meaning given to the rainbow flag in places outside the hegemonic center. Through three case studies in the global North and South, held together by a multi-ethnographic approach, as well as a certain theoretical tension between the rainbow flag as a boundary object and/or a floating signifier, we seek to study where the flag belongs, to whom it belongs, with particular focus on how. The three case studies, which are situated in a city in the Global South (Buenos Aires), in a conflict war zone in the Middle East (the West Bank) and in a racialised neighbourhood in the Global North (Sweden), share despite their diversity a peripheral location to hegemonic forms of knowledge production regimes. Central to our analysis is how the rainbow flag is given a multitude of original and radical different meanings that may challenge the colonial/Eurocentric notions which up to a certain extent are embedded in the rainbow flag.

Affective recognition and social freedom - the psychoanalytic and normative-reconstructive logics of grounding social critique in Axel Honneth’s work

The task of this paper is the following: how should one explain and solve the theory-immanent tension in Honneth?s recent works, i.e. the tension that reflects the difference between the concept of social freedom (a concept grounded in Hegel?s social philosophy methodologically articulated through normative reconstruction) and the concept of ?affective recognition? (which has replaced the earlier normative concept) - in other words: is there a certain logically-factually grounded path from the question of subjective-individual recognition to the intersubjective recognition of free (legal) subjects in society? My thesis is the fol?lowing: this supposed tension is a pseudo-tension. It loosens up - without completely resolving itself - as soon as we combine the two logics of grounding critique that we find in Honneth. However, unrelated to my claim about the pseudo-nature of the mentioned tension, the psychoanalytic mode of grounding critique is erroneous, since one cannot directly arrive at collective components of society starting from the empirical constellation of individual consciousnesses. The relation between subjective individuality and objective (intersubjective) generality is an objective contradiction (as opposed to a purely theoretical tension). If we still decide to pursue this path of grounding critique, we inadvertently introduce a psychologistic approach into social theory. Such an approach can be found in Honneth?s theory of intersubjective (normative) recognition as well.

Frontline Safety: Understanding the Workplace as a Site of Regulatory Engagement

The concept of frontline safety encapsulates an approach to occupational health and safety that emphasizes the “other side of the regulatory relationship”—the ways in which safety culture, individual responsibility, organizational citizenship, trust, and compliance are interpreted and experienced at the local level. By exploring theoretical tensions concerning the most appropriate way of conceptualizing and framing frontline regulatory engagement, we can better identify the ways in which conceptions of individuals (as rational, responsible, economic actors) are constructed and maintained through workplace interactions and decision making as part of the fulfillment of the ideological and constitutive needs of neoliberal labor markets.

El debate jurídico entorno a la tensión del principio de confianza legítima y la prevalencia del interés general.

En este artículo de reflexión se expone de manera teórica la tensión existente en el plano jurídico entre el principio de confianza legítima y el principio de prevalencia de interés general. Así pues, se analizan los diferentes criterios de interpretación que ha utilizado la Corte constitucional para su resolución, en casos tan especiales como el de ocupación del espacio público por parte de vendedores estacionarios.

Strategic Renewal: Past Research, Theoretical Tensions and Future Challenges

AbstractStrategic renewal has become a prominent theme in a variety of organization and management research domains in recent years. It refers to the process that allows organizations to alter their path dependence by transforming their strategic intent and capabilities. With contributions from an increasing range of theoretical perspectives and research contexts, the strategic renewal literature has become fragmented and lacks common definitions and conceptual clarity, which prevent cross‐fertilization and harm further development. This study systematically reviews the various literature streams on strategic renewal to provide a more integrative perspective. The authors identify three key theoretical tensions at the heart of strategic renewal research, namely learning vs. resource, induced vs. autonomous, and co‐alignment vs. co‐creation. By exploring these key tensions, the authors define strategic renewal's conceptual core, identify gaps in the past literature, and provide guidance for future research.

Non-marketizing agents in the study of markets: competing legacies of performativity and actor-network-theory in the marketization research program

ABSTRACTOne line of criticism leveled against studies of markets inspired by the economization research program [Çalışkan, K. & Callon, M. (2009) ‘Economization, part 1: shifting attention from the economy towards processes of economization’, Economy and Society, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 369–398 and Çalışkan, K. & Callon, M. (2010) ‘Economization, part 2: a research programme for the study of markets’, Economy and Society, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 1–32.] is that their analytical priorities reflect an economics-centric perspective: they prioritize the study of market exchange itself and of agents promoting market framing, while leaving non-economic agendas and the broader contexts of markets both understudied and undertheorized. This weakness tends to be attributed to contingent analytical priorities, which can be remedied by extending the program’s focus without changing its theoretical tenets. This article, in contrast, suggests that these analytical priorities stem from a theoretical tension within the program, which is caused by the complete, instead of a selective adoption of the theoretical tools of the performativity agenda in the marketization program. As a result, while the program promotes the inclusion of non-marketizing agents through the notion of co-performation, its call to focus on those phenomena that agents qualify as ‘economic’ and on the making of market exchange delimits the analysis of non-marketizing agents to their helping/hindering effects on market framing. The solution proposed is to reassess some of the performativity-inspired tools of the program in favor of a more ANT-inspired approach to markets.

Modern post-colonial approaches to citizenship: Kwame Nkrumah’s political thought on Pan-Africanism

This project of critical citizenship studies and comparative political theory utilizes a framework of multiple modernities in order to deeply explore the ontological foundations and complexities of a non-Western conception of citizenship and nationhood: political pan-Africanism. It does so through a study of the political thought of Kwame Nkrumah, a deeply influential political theorist and actor, in the context of the Gold Coast’s struggle for independence and in the initial years of Ghanaian post-colonialism. How did Nkrumah conceive of Pan-Africanist citizenship and nationhood in political and ontological terms? How does this relate to both modern conceptions of citizenship as tied to the nation-state and traditional Ghanaian conceptions of citizenship and belonging? After considering these questions, this paper explores how Nkrumah’s vision of Pan-Africanism was influenced by, yet contradicted central tenets of, Western political thought and modernity. It explores the theoretical and practical tensions inherent between this non-Western conception of the nation and the dominance of aspects of ‘Western’ modernity. Exploring these questions through the lens of Nkrumah’s political thought offers an Afrocentric study in an effort to strengthen African historical agency and to deparochialize citizenship studies and political theory.