scholarly journals Unpacking the foundational dimensions of work integration social enterprise

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Lysaght ◽  
Michael J. Roy ◽  
Jack S. Rendall ◽  
Terry Krupa ◽  
Liam Ball ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Development ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Response Scale ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Integration ◽  
The Uk

Purpose The aim of this exploratory, mixed methods study was to develop and test a tool that identifies foundational dimensions of work integration social enterprises (WISEs) for use in empirical studies and enterprise self-assessment. Construction of the initial prototype was based upon a review of the literature and prior qualitative research by the authors. Design/methodology/approach A 20-item question pool with a four-point response scale was constructed to explore WISE business and employment practices and strategies for worker growth and development. Three sequential field tests were conducted with the prototype – the first with 5 Canadian WISEs, the second with 14 WISEs in the UK and the third with 6 Canadian WISEs involved in an outcome study in the mental health sector. Each field test included completion of the questionnaire by persons with managerial responsibility within the WISE and evaluative feedback captured through questions on the applicability and interpretability of the items. Findings Testing of the prototype instrument revealed the inherent diversity in the field and the difficulty in creating questions that both embrace that diversity and produce unidimensional variables definable along a spectrum. A number of challenges with question structure were identified and have been modified throughout the iterative testing process. Research limitations/implications This study identified central domains for inclusion in a multi-dimensional WISE assessment tool. Further testing will help further refine scaling and establish psychometric properties. Originality/value This measure will provide a descriptive profile of WISEs across sectors and identify WISE core dimensions for research and organizational development.

Potential outcomes of work integration social enterprises for people who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, or transitioning out of homelessness

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Barton ◽  
Hayley Porter ◽  
Susanne Murphy ◽  
Rosemary Lysaght
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Social Enterprise ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Potential Outcomes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Integration

Purpose Social enterprise has the potential to serve as a mechanism of social and economic opportunity for persons experiencing homelessness. This paper aims to identify potential outcomes of work integration social enterprises (WISEs) for people who are homeless, at risk of homelessness, or transitioning out of homelessness. Design/methodology/approach Searches of 14 databases were completed using keywords and subject headings pertaining to homelessness, social enterprise and employment, respectively. These searches were then combined to identify literature concerning WISEs with homeless populations. The initial search yielded 784 unique articles. Through screening, 29 articles were selected and independently coded to establish themes. Findings The analysis identified the potential for WISEs to contribute positively to the lives of the target population in the areas of connection to the community, employment skill building, mental health, personal agency and empowerment, relationship-building, structure and time use, financial stability and housing. There were less positive and mixed findings regarding substance use, crime/delinquency, physical health and transition to mainstream employment. Future research should further explore causal relationships between WISE approaches and strategies and their potential implications for persons emerging from homelessness. Originality/value Prior to this research, there have not been any recent publications that synthesize the existing body of literature to evaluate the potential outcomes of WISE participation for homeless populations. This paper lays the groundwork for future empirical studies.

scholarly journals Knowledge management activities in social enterprises: lessons for small and non-profit firms

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 376-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria L. Granados ◽  
Souad Mohamed ◽  
Vlatka Hlupic
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
The Uk

Purpose This paper aims to explore what social enterprises (SEs) in the UK know and how they acquire, convert, apply and protect this knowledge. This will enable them to manage their knowledge effectively and, hence, improve their practices and maximise the creation of social, environmental and economic value. Design/methodology/approach This study follows a qualitative approach, comprising 21 interviews with founders and senior members of SEs in the UK. Findings The results show that the investigated SEs have knowledge management (KM) practices similar to the already identified in SMEs, associated with informality, reliance on external sources and focus on socialisation activities, but they have unique challenges on managing their knowledge related to their hybrid mission, to include social and economic objectives and their closed relationship with stakeholders. Research limitations/implications As there is limited research on KM practices in SEs; they were defined based on previous studies in large, private and public companies. Therefore, not all practices may be included. This research is a starting point in the study of KM in SEs. Practical implications This study identifies knowledge activities that enable the creation of social, environmental and economic value in SEs. This allows SEs, small firms and non-profit organisations to review their current practices and develop plans for their further improvement. Originality/value This paper is one of the first empirical studies exploring KM practices in SEs, highlighting their informal nature as well as their impact in and on the enterprise.

The reflexive turn in key account management

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (11/12) ◽  
pp. 2071-2104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Vanharanta ◽  
Alan J.P. Gilchrist ◽  
Andrew D. Pressey ◽  
Peter Lenney
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Key Account Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Account Management ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Key Account ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Uk

Purpose – This study aims to address how and why do formal key account management (KAM) programmes hinder effective KAM management, and how can the problems of formalization in KAM be overcome. Recent empirical studies have reported an unexpected negative relationship between KAM formalization and performance. Design/methodology/approach – An 18-month (340 days) ethnographic investigation was undertaken in the UK-based subsidiary of a major US sports goods manufacturer. This ethnographic evidence was triangulated with 113 in-depth interviews. Findings – This study identifies how and why managerial reflexivity allows a more effectively combining of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM practices. While formal KAM programmes provide a means to initiate, implement and control KAM, they have an unintended consequence of increasing organizational bureaucracy, which may in the long-run hinder the KAM effectiveness. Heightened reflexivity, including “wayfinding”, is identified as a means to overcome many of these challenges, allowing for reflexively combining formal with post-bureaucratic KAM practices. Research limitations/implications – The thesis of this paper starts a new line of reflexive KAM research, which draws theoretical influences from the post-bureaucratic turn in management studies. Practical implications – This study seeks to increase KAM implementation success rates and long-term effectiveness of KAM by conceptualizing the new possibilities offered by reflexive KAM. This study demonstrates how reflexive skills (conceptualized as “KAM wayfinding”) can be deployed during KAM implementation and for its continual improvement. Further, the study identifies how KAM programmes can be used to train organizational learning regarding KAM. Furthermore, this study identifies how and why post-bureaucratic KAM can offer additional benefits after an organization has learned key KAM capabilities. Originality/value – A new line of enquiry is identified: the reflexive-turn in KAM. This theoretical position allows us to identify existing weakness in the extant KAM literature, and to show a practical means to improve the effectiveness of KAM. This concerns, in particular, the importance of managerial reflexivity and KAM wayfinding as a means to balance the strengths and weaknesses of formal and post-bureaucratic KAM.

Achieving digital health sustainability: Breaking Free and CGL

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Ward ◽  
Glyn Davies ◽  
Stephanie Dugdale ◽  
Sarah Elison ◽  
Prun Bijral
Keyword(s):  
Free Group ◽  
Substance Misuse ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Behavioural Science ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
The Uk

Purpose Multiple challenges remain in achieving sustainability of digital health innovations, with many failing to realise their potential due to barriers to research, development and implementation. Finding an approach that overcomes these challenges is important if society is to derive benefit from these new approaches to healthcare. Having been commissioned by local authorities, NHS Trusts, prisons, charities, and third sector providers across the UK, Breaking Free Group, who in 2010 launched Breaking Free Online (BFO), a computer-assisted therapy programme for substance misuse, have overcome many of these challenges. This has been possible through close collaborative working with partner organisations, to overcome barriers to implementation and sustainability. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper synthesises findings from a series of qualitative studies conducted by Breaking Free Group in collaboration with health and social care charity, Change, Grow, Live (CGL), which explore barriers and facilitators of implementation and sustainability of BFO at CGL. Data are analysed using thematic analyses with findings conceptualised using behavioural science theory. Findings This partnership has resulted in UK wide implementation of BFO at CGL, enhanced focus on digital technologies in substance misuse recovery, and a growing body of published collaborative research. Originality/value Valuable lessons have been learnt through the partnership between Breaking Free Group and CGL, which will be of interest to the wider digital health community. This paper outlines those lessons, in the hope that they will provide guidance to other digital health developers and their partners, to contribute to the continued evolution of a sustainable digital health sector.

scholarly journals Corporate social disclosures: a user perspective on assurance

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 863-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renfred Wong ◽  
Andrew Millington
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Stakeholder Perceptions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Responsible Investment ◽  
Stakeholder Perspective ◽  
Stakeholder Preferences ◽  
Representational Faithfulness ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate corporate social disclosure (CSD) assurance from a stakeholder perspective within a study which encompasses both stakeholder preferences and demand drivers of CSD assurance. Design/methodology/approach – Stakeholder perceptions of and their demand for CSD assurance are examined through a questionnaire survey. The analysis is based on responses in an empirical study from 147 organisations which are investing, procuring and third-sector stakeholders. Findings – Overall, stakeholder comments suggest an emphasis on the importance of specialist environmental assurors and the role of trust. The demand for assurance is positively related to stakeholders’ assessment of the value of CSD and the use of information from information intermediaries such as responsible investment indices, and negatively related to stakeholder perceptions of CSD representational faithfulness. Research limitations/implications – This paper only draws on data from the UK. Similar research can be explored in a context outside the UK. Practical implications – Better understanding of stakeholder defined determinants of the demand for CSD assurance as well as their perceptions of CSD assurance will inform regulators and enable companies to better discharge accountability towards stakeholders. Originality/value – This is one of the few empirical studies that investigate CSD assurance and one of the first to focus on stakeholder perceptions of, and demand for, CSD assurance within a multiple stakeholder perspective, rather than practitioner or corporate perceptions of CSD assurance.

scholarly journals Exploring eudaimonia through meaningful work narratives within work integration social enterprises

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamara Bilbija ◽  
Jack Stout Rendall
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Meaningful Work ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Professional Workers ◽  
Professional Employees ◽  
Work Integration ◽  
New Evidence

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide new evidence on the different dimensions of well-being that can occur in work integration social enterprises (WISEs). This study aims to call for a future discussion on the role of meaningful work (MW) and its impact upon well-being beyond satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Explorative interviews were undertaken with professional workers and beneficiaries within a Spanish WISE. These interviews aimed to uncover similarities and differences across aspects of what makes work meaningful to them as workers. Both eudaimonic and hedonic dimensions of well-being were used to analyse the data. Findings Different groups of employees show that professional employees (those working in the WISE, not because of their disadvantages in the labour market) create their narratives based on MW experiences (eudaimonic well-being), whereas beneficiaries (those working in the WISE because of their disadvantages in the labour market) often describe how satisfied they are at work (hedonic). Originality/value The concept of MW within WISEs to achieve well-being for both beneficiaries and professional workers could be enhanced through discussion of the different types of well-being that are being realised in such settings. Engaging with the concept of “eudaimonia” helps the authors to achieve this aim.

Talent development: a systematic literature review of empirical studies

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 75-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Rezaei ◽  
Michael Beyerlein
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Organizational Development ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Talent Development ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Development Interventions ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Individual

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify and examine findings from empirical research regarding organizations’ talent development (TD) strategies, taking into consideration the countries in which the studies were conducted and the TD-approach organizations adopted, and recognize the positive outcomes of TD implementation, as well as potential issues and challenges. Design/methodology/approach This systematic literature review used Garrard’s matrix method to organize the review of publications. It identified 31 empirical articles from the total of 551 publications. Findings The findings indicate that a majority of the studies were conducted in countries other than the USA and that they were all published recently, after 2007. The results show that organizations have mostly applied organizational development interventions at the individual level for developing talented employees, followed by formal training and development. Additionally, managerial issues were identified as the most common issue on the way of implementing TD interventions. Research limitations/implications Trying to define TD as a discrete concept from HRD could be considered as both differentiating the current literature review and a limitation. Originality/value This article is among the first to identify TD interventions through a systematic literature review and provides a model of TD’s intervention antecedents and outcomes for the follow-up empirical works.

scholarly journals Social enterprise: a model of recovery and social inclusion for occupational therapy practice in the UK

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Joy Stickley ◽  
Kelly J. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Social Enterprise ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Occupational Therapists ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Methodology ◽  
The Uk

Purpose Occupational therapists are increasingly working in organisations outside of the public sector. UK government policy over the past decade has promoted health and social care provision by social enterprises. The purpose of this paper is to examine the compatibility of occupational therapy practice and a social enterprise environment, within the UK and questions if this approach may enhance experiences of social inclusion for people who use these services. Design/methodology/approach Case study methodology was used with eight social enterprises in the UK. Data were collected through: semi-structured interviews, formal organisational documents, and field visits and observations. Interviews were conducted with 26 participants who were occupational therapists, service users and social entrepreneurs/managers. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings Occupational therapists experienced job satisfaction, professional autonomy and were able to practise according to their professional philosophy. Service users valued support with: employment, routine, social relationships, and developing a sense of identity, particularly outside of a medical model definition. To a degree therefore, people using these services claimed socially inclusive benefits. Challenges with funding social enterprises, however, impacted occupational therapy delivery in some cases. Research limitations/implications The majority of social enterprise research is drawn from case study methodology; however, this was the most appropriate research design to gain greatest insight into a small but developing phenomenon. Further research into occupational therapy practice within social enterprises is required, particularly on the effectiveness of returning to work and social inclusion. Social implications Social enterprises can provide therapeutic environments to promote recovery and social inclusion which is also compatible with occupational therapy practice. Originality/value This is the first known national research into occupational therapy provision in social enterprises within the UK, which evidences a compatibility within occupational therapy practice within a social enterprise environment and the benefits of this.

Social enterprise in South Korea

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deok Soon Hwang ◽  
Wonbong Jang ◽  
Joon-Shik Park ◽  
Shinyang Kim
Keyword(s):  
Service Provision ◽  
Social Enterprise ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Enterprises ◽  
Social Goals ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Economic Background ◽  
Broad Array ◽  
Enterprise Models ◽  
Work Integration

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the socio-economic background and development of social enterprises in Korea and identify representative social enterprise models. Design/methodology/approachThe typology used in this study focuses on the interaction between civil society, the state and the market in their efforts to solve social problems. As a result, the typology is mainly related with social goals, although the organizational form is also taken into consideration when selecting representative social enterprises in each type so as to present a broad array of developmental histories. FindingsThis paper identified four types of social enterprises: work integration social enterprises; social service provision social enterprises; regional regeneration social enterprises; and alter-economy social enterprises. These types are not immutable; another form of social enterprise might emerge to address a new social issue and lead to a new strand of similar social enterprises. Originality/valueThis study found that the goals of social enterprises in Korea share common characteristics with those of social enterprises in European countries. Another outstanding feature of Korean social enterprises is that most social enterprises other than work integration social enterprises also regard work integration or job creation for the disadvantaged people as one of their important social missions.

Does OD practice within the HR profession in the UK reflect the academic rhetoric?

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Clare Gillon
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Development ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Exploratory Investigation ◽  
Job Advertisements ◽  
Preliminary Research ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to critically examine whether organizational development (OD), as described in academic writing on the topic, is reflected in practice in the Human Resources (HR) profession in the UK. This research aims to compare the results of an exploratory investigation to establish the main elements of OD practice in this professional group with academic definitions.Design/methodology/approachThe approach applied in this paper comprises a review of the academic literature on OD combined with an exploratory study by way of content analysis of job advertisements for OD professionals within the UK HR profession. Comparison between what the literature suggests companies should seek in the way of OD practice within the HR profession and the operationalisation of what they are actually requiring (deduced through the content of job advertisements) forms the basis of the methodology.FindingsWhile there are features of the academic definitions which do appear prominently in practice (in particular “change management”), there are also significant differences. In particular OD roles in practice in the HR profession appear to be much less likely to be of a consultancy orientation. Also striking is the apparent lack of emphasis on culture and behavioural issues. Within the UK HR profession, the lack of clarity in contemporary definition of OD may underpin the disparate use of terminology.Research limitations/implicationsThe data collected in the preliminary research are from a small‐scale investigatory study; therefore this limits the opportunity to draw robust generalised conclusions.Originality/valueDespite the increasing use of “OD” in the UK HR profession, there is no widely recognised description of what it encompasses within that community, while much of the “theorising” on OD to date has been descriptive/prescriptive. In this paper, a contrast between the academic rhetoric on OD and the reality of the practice within the HR profession has been presented, through comparing the literature with the findings from the preliminary research.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document