Despite what has been historically recognized as the masculinity of the credentials required for successful business life, contemporary managers now face new challenges. They are required to be caring and relationshiporiented. The traditional masculine/feminine hierarchy of logic/emotion is being reshaped by the imperative to be 'passionate' in the workplace. This article argues that a new gendered truth plays an important part in the 'regime of truth' (Foucault, 1980, p. 131) that shapes current organizational life. This truth, championed by feminists to distinguish women's contribution to social life, forms part of our understanding of what it means to be a successful manager. To achieve success in the current environment managers must be, not just rational, but passionate about their work. The article provides readings of a range of texts to establish the centrality of gender and its relationship to contemporary postmodern discourses about change and difference in management practice. The article articulates both some of the new freedoms and constraints for managers. It also elaborates some of the mechanisms whereby this gendered truth reconfirms the traditional masculine/feminine hierarchy.
The paper responds to the growing interest in genealogical method as a means of inquiry in education research. The three authors bring together their collective understandingof the nature and purpose of genealogy as a method deriving from the work of Michel Foucault. The authors then indicate how such understandings were applied by each of them to a particular scholarly task. In elaborating the uses and the pitfalls of genealogical approaches by this means, the writers make it clear that there is no blueprintfor genealogical use. Rather, working through genealogical methods demands from the researcher a strong grasp of the epistemological and theoretical tensions involved in asking how our present educational practices function as they do.New methodologies have their tensions, and genealogical method is no exception. In this paper, we explore tensions inherent in enacting genealogical method as a nontraditional research tool. The diµ culty of using a set of methodological techniques which has only marginal status within the eld of educational research is, quite obviously, one signi cant tension. Concern arises because, while genealogy is an increasingly popular methodology in the social sciences, it is often misunderstood, sometimes misrepresented, and has still to achieve broad acceptance. Another concern, based more pragmatically on the question of tense, is getting our grammatical timing right. This occurs because genealogy is a '' history of the present '' (Foucault in Dreyfus & Rabinow, 1982, p. 118) with all the ambivalence around timing that is implied by such a phrase. These are but two of the tensions addressed in this paper ; others are identi ed and illustrated through research instances which we have included from our own work in genealogy.We proceed rst by elaborating the nature of a genealogy and arguing for its importance as a method of educational inquiry. We then move to three research narratives in order to demonstrate how each of us in our writing has struggled to get our textwork under control. Particular pieces of text are used as exemplars of the scope o ¶ ered by the genealogical method as well as some of the traps it sets up for the experienced researcher and the novice alike.
Purpose -The purpose of this research is to present the findings of a longitudinal case study into the professionalisation of public relations practices and the institutionalisation of corporate social responsibility as a legitimate social and business arrangement. In doing so, there are implications for the dynamic relationship between practices and the professionalisation of public relations. Design/methodology/approach -A qualitative longitudinal study is used to examine the social construction of social responsibility in the Australian banking industry from 1999-2004 across two levels of analysis -societal expectations as institution, and practices of banking and public relations as action.Findings -The study shows that the case organisations shifted their public relations and communication practices during the period of the study. In response to the demands of publics, there was a central shift from a one-way perspective where organisations sought to influence and persuade publics of the appropriateness of their actions towards a two-way perspective where organisations needed to consult, negotiate and engage with publics. In doing so, this study suggests that there was a shift in the profession of how public relations was practiced, but also highlighted the changes to institutional arrangements about the legitimacy of social responsibilities of large organisations.Research limitations/implications -The study uses an interpretive perspective to understand the role and impact of public relations practice on societal change. Practical implications -This research examines the role of public relations practice in achieving longer term changes for organisations and society. This contributes a first step towards developing a theoretical understanding of the contribution of public relations practice to organisational success and therefore evaluation. Originality/value -This paper makes two central contributions. Firstly, institutional theory and the social construction of societal and business standards of legitimacy are used in a public relations context. Secondly, this paper shows the effects of the micro-level of analysis of public relations practices on the macro-level of the profession.
At any given time in the field of early childhood, there are discourses at play, producing images of children, and these ways of seeing children might be competing, colliding and/or complementing each other. It is fairly widely accepted that in many countries there are versions of dominant discourses that shape and are shaped by current practices in the field of early childhood. These include (1) romantic notions of children running free and connecting with nature and (2) the 'Bart Simpson' version of the naughty, cute or savage child, untamed and in need of civilising. These are far from being the only two discursive constructions of children present in current policies and practices. If early childhood professionals are to be active in shaping and implementing policies that affect their work and workforce, it is important that they are aware of the forces at play. In this article, we point to another powerful discourse at play in the Australian context of early childhood education, the image of children as economic units: investments in the future. We show how a 'moment of arising' in contemporary policy contexts, dominated by neoliberal principles of reform and competition, has charged early childhood educators in Australia with the duties of a 'broker', ensuring that young children are worth the investment. In this article, we begin with (1) a key policy document in early childhood education in Australia and examine the discursive affordances which shape the document. Next, (2) we pinpoint the shifts in how the work of child care is perceived by interrogating this key policy document through a methodology of Downloaded from Gibson et al. 323discursive analysis. We then turn attention (3) to the work of this policy document along with other discourses which directly affect images of children and the shaping role these have on the work of educators. We conclude with (4) a consideration of how the work of early childhood professionals has come to be shaped by this economic discourse, and how they are being required to both work within the policy imperatives and likely to resist this new demand of them.
Women's empowerment is a central aim of feminist action research. However, due to the many contradictory discourses of empowerment, it has become a contested concept. Drawing on poststructuralist theories of power-knowledge, discourse and subjectivity, this article critically analyses the discourses identified in an Australian feminist action research project involving rural women, academics and industry partners. This project aimed to empower women to discuss and use interactive communication technologies (ICTs). This analysis highlights the contradictory effects of the egalitarian and expert discourses that were identified, and the multiple, often conflicting, subject positions that were taken up by the researchers and participants. Our analysis suggests that discourses of empowerment and disempowerment intersect and interpenetrate one another, and highlights some of the dangers and contradictions associated with feminist participatory action research. We argue that a poststructuralist approach to analysis and critical reflexivity can lessen the `impossible burden' on academic feminists engaged in emancipatory research.
The paper explores the call to use the emotions more fully in the interests of excellent leadership, through understanding why and how they have become desirable in the performance of educational work. The analysis that is presented seeks neither to endorse nor reject out of hand the new forms of leaderliness that are evoked through the call to be more in touch with the emotions. Rather, it elaborates the 'making up' of this demeanour, and how it links to broader shifts in organizational culture. The paper probes this new leaderliness as a historically situated search for distinction, one that is rendered both visible and desirable through multiple forms of knowledge production. The analytic presented raises questions about the 'fine tuning' processes of self-audit as a central aspect of this knowledge production, including the ways in which the desire to be a warm and passionate leader is acquired and promulgated.
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