The potty parity problem: Towards gender equality at restrooms in business facilities

In business facilities such as theaters, restaurants, stadiums, and etc., anecdotal evidences suggest that waiting lines for women's restrooms are longer than those for men's. Respectively, there have been growing concerns on ensuring restrooms in business facilities to be equally convenient for both women and men. This issue not only relates to gender equality, but also relates to business performance, since restroom experience directly affects performance efficiency (e.g., revenues, repeat sales, asset turnover, service times, and etc.). Nonetheless, current codes and legislations for designing restrooms in business facilities are not based on objective analyses but on the survey of experts that may be male biased. In this study, we develop a quantitative model using queueing theory and simulations to evaluate the waiting time for restrooms. Using our model, we compare the waiting times between women and men to examine if the current codes and legislations provide equal access. Our analysis reveals that the current standard specified by the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) still fails to achieve equal access. The methods demonstrated in this study may serve as a basis for design of restrooms in business facilities and improve both gender equality and performance efficiency in business facilities.     

Managing Challenging Organizational Change: Introducing active labour market policies in Italian public employment agencies

Abstract

Managing organizational change in the public sector is extremely challenging when adverse conditions hamper the introduction of novel organizational practices. This study builds on the case of the implementation of active labour market policies in in Italy, in an attempt to help explain the process of managing organizational change in the public sector. The case study shows how, despite contrary conditions that originate from the political context, the interplay between designed policy interventions, initial conditions, and features of the policy process can result in effective change of employment service practices.     

Organizational adaptation to disruptions in the natural environment: The case of climate change

Dynamic and intensified changes in the global ecosystem result in significant disruptions to the natural environment. One of the most prominent examples of this is climate change and the resulting natural disasters. As firms are embedded within the natural environment, they need to adapt to any environmental disruptions that transpire. Using Swiss and Austrian electric utilities as case studies, this paper empirically explores the underlying organizational capabilities necessary to enable adaptation to climate-related disruptions to a firm's resource supply, production processes, and product distribution. Through a case- and literature-based iterative process of analytical induction, three organizational capabilities are derived: climate knowledge absorption as an essential information generating and internalizing capability, climate-related operational flexibility as a short-term adjustment capability, and strategic climate integration as a long-term, innovation-focused capability.     

Supply structure: The pendulum in action

Using an in-depth longitudinal case study based on an “historical retrospective”, this article focuses on how some factors (“drivers”) set into motion the pendulum of change in supply structures, a research theme neglected in the supply field. It examines, over a 20-year period, the changes made to the supply structure of a well-known organization. The data comes mainly from: (a) semi-structured interviews with 21 managers and professionals within eight operating units, and (b) documentary analyses of the archives. This article shows how to map structural changes of the supply function, while explaining the nature and the causes of these changes. Understanding the pendulum movement from one supply structure to another can be very valuable, as well for academics as for managers.     

The gender pay gap in the transition from communism: some empirical evidence

This short paper investigates the gender pay gap in a number of former communist countries of eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The main findings are that, in general, the gender pay gap has not exhibited an upward tendency over the transitional period to which available data relate. Most of the gender pay gap is ascribed to the ‘unexplained’ component using conventional decompositions and this may partly be attributable to the proxy measure for labour force experience used in this study. Quantile regression analysis indicates that in all but one country, the ceteris paribus gender pay gap rises as we move up the wage distribution.     

On the role of policy interventions in structural change and economic development: The case of postwar Japan

In this paper, we study the structural change occurring in Japan's post-World War II era of rapid economic growth. We use a two-sector neoclassical growth model with government policies to analyze the evolution of the Japanese economy in this period and to assess the role of such policies. Our model is able to replicate the empirical behavior of the main macroeconomic variables. Three findings emerge from our analysis. First, neither price and investment subsidies to the agricultural sector, nor industrial policy plays a crucial role in the rapid postwar growth. Second, had there existed a labor migration barrier, the negative long-run level effect on output would have been substantial. Finally, TFP in non-agricultural sector is mostly responsible for the rapid growth of Japan in the post-war period.     

The take-up of business support by minority ethnic enterprises: The experience of South Asian businesses in England

This research contributes to a greater understanding of minority ethnic business (MEB) needs and practices and helps identify the support needs of minority ethnic firms in relation to existing support provision. The aims are, therefore, to examine the take-up of support by minority ethnic enterprises focusing mainly on the South Asian community with some representation from the African-Caribbean and Korean communities. Fifty minority ethnic businesses across South West London were contacted and semi-structured interviews took place with the owner/owner managers. The findings suggest that policy makers need to appreciate the diversity of MEBs and policies aimed at these businesses should reflect that diversity.     

Performing catharsis: The use of online discussion forums in organizational change

Online discussion forums have been used to both support and resist organizational change. Our empirical study examined how employees in one organization used an online forum to help them deal discursively with changes that they perceived as threatening to their identity. In particular, we found that the postings of one key individual were central in framing the organizational changes in a way that had powerful cathartic consequences for employees’ feelings of anger and loss of face. Paradoxically, however, we also found that such use of the online forum had the contradictory consequence of helping to facilitate the very changes that employees perceived to be problematic.     

Affection not affliction: The role of emotions in information systems and organizational change

Most IS research in both the technical/rational and socio-technical traditions ignores or marginalizes the emotionally charged behaviours through which individuals engage in, and cope with the consequences of, IS practice and associated organizational change. Even within the small body of work that engages with emotions through particular conceptual efforts, affections are often conceived as a phenomenon to be eradicated – an affliction requiring a cure. In this paper, I argue that emotions are always implicated in our lived experiences, crucially influencing how we come to our beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong. I draw from the theoretical work of Michel Foucault to argue for elaborating current notions of IS innovation as a moral and political struggle in which individuals’ beliefs and feelings are constantly tested. Finally, I demonstrate these ideas by reference to a case study that had considerable emotional impact, and highlight the implications for future work.     

The persistent link between growing talent and growing the top line: lessons from fast-growing firms in the COVID-19 recession

We examined Fortune Magazine’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies of 2018 and found 32 firms still listed in Fortune’s updated 2019 list. The "Persistent 32" are still growing in the first half of 2020, as the COVID-19 recession continues. As a whole they have added to headcount over the long expansion (2013–2019) and continue to hire aggressively. We focus on how a commitment to building talent and growth sets them apart in this pandemic, how they represent a focus on human capabilities; how their investments contribute to organizational change and renewal; and how the leader plays new roles as marketplace insight visionary and chief safety officer. We draw lessons from the "Persistent 32" and outline steps top teams can take now to build talent and grow the firm.