Value creation through appreciation? An exploration of the perception of diversity management in a transnational aviation group

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolai Scherle
Keyword(s):  
Value Creation ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Flight Attendants ◽  
Success Factor ◽  
Qualitative Social Research ◽  
The Face ◽  
Methodological Principles ◽  
Tourism And Hospitality ◽  
Diversity Strategy

In view of certain socio-cultural and economic meta-processes, workforce diversity or diversity management become an increasingly important entrepreneurial success factor. Yet, the scholarly examination of diversity in the tourism and hospitality sector is still in its infancy; a fact that applies to qualitative studies in particular. This paper addresses the perception of diversity and diversity management within one of the world’s leading aviation corporations, the Lufthansa Group. Following the methodological principles of qualitative social research, this study reports the results of a survey of Lufthansa flight attendants, a stakeholder group that interacts like no other in the area of overlap between the corporation and its customers. Specifically, the survey focuses on Lufthansa’s diversity strategy – based on the principle of ‘value creation through appreciation’ – and how it is perceived by representatives of the cabin crew, in an attempt to identify potential conflicts and prejudices that may arise in the face of employee heterogeneity.

VALUE CREATION THROUGH APPRECIATION? AN EXPLORATION OF THE PERCEPTION OF DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN A TRANSNATIONAL AVIATION GROUP

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Value Creation ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Flight Attendants ◽  
Success Factor ◽  
Qualitative Social Research ◽  
The Face ◽  
Methodological Principles ◽  
Tourism And Hospitality ◽  
Diversity Strategy

In view of certain socio-cultural and economic meta-processes, workforce diversity or diversity management become an increasingly important entrepreneurial success factor. Yet, the scholarly examination of diversity in the tourism and hospitality sector is still in its infancy, a fact that applies to qualitative studies in particular. This paper addresses the perception of diversity and diversity management within one of the world’s leading aviation corporations, the Lufthansa Group. Following the methodological principles of qualitative social research, this study reports the results of a survey of Lufthansa flight attendants, a stakeholder group that interacts like no other in the area of overlap between the corporation and its customers. Specifically, the survey focuses on Lufthansa’s diversity strategy – based on the principle of ‘value creation through appreciation’ – and how it is perceived by representatives of the cabin crew, in an attempt to identify potential conflicts and prejudices that may arise in the face of employee heterogeneity.

scholarly journals Theorising ‘Good Personhood’ in Rural Kosovo: Inconspicuous Coexistence and Local Serb Responses to Security and Identity Dilemmas

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Trupia
Keyword(s):  
Social Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Qualitative Social Research ◽  
Local Responses ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Creative Solutions ◽  
The Face ◽  
Surrounding Landscape ◽  
Kosovo War

This paper explores the everyday experiences, perceptions, and practices of Kosovo Serbs residing in the rural fabric of Southeast Kosovo with regard to security-related issues. Building on previous qualitative social research conducted in Central Kosovo, it particularly investigates how local responses of ordinary Serbs reflect a certain pragmatic performativity in the face of Kosovo Albanians. In-depth interviews and focus groups were held with locals, while field observation was conducted to construct locally nuanced knowledge about the relations between ordinary Serbs, their identity, and the surrounding landscape. Similar to the Central Kosovo study’s findings, the results confirm that in Southeast Kosovo, local Serbs neither displayed nor unfolded forms of vernacularism or disloyalty toward Kosovo Albanians. Conversely, they were found reflecting on potential creative solutions for tackling poverty and underdevelopment in the hope of avoiding replications of post-1999 Kosovo War ideologies emanated by respective national media coverages and political rhetoric. Moreover, it is argued that security experts have de facto overlooked untapped processes of present-day interethnic coexistence and resilience between Serbs and Albanians in the rural fabric by largely giving salience to the tense atmosphere in the Serb-majority urban clusters of North Kosovo. In fact, results also show that Kosovo Serbs pragmatically perform an account of quotidian practices for restoring a sense and self-image of ‘personhood’ in the eyes of the ‘ethnic other’. Employing a research approach that aimed at avoiding unnecessary ethnicisation, this paper sheds light on a peace potential and true civic responsibility that emerged spontaneously from Kosovo Serb voices. Overall, the paper lays the ground for debating the notion of ‘personhood’ as a lens through which to unravel inconspicuous yet present interethnic coexistence in post-conflict Kosovo.

Arts-Based Research: Merging Social Research and the Creative Arts

2020 ◽  
pp. 600-632
Author(s):  
Gioia Chilton ◽  
Patricia Leavy
Keyword(s):  
Social Research ◽  
Mixed Media ◽  
Assessment Criteria ◽  
Creative Arts ◽  
Arts Based Research ◽  
Poetic Inquiry ◽  
Public Scholarship ◽  
Literary Forms ◽  
The Future ◽  
Methodological Principles

Arts-based research (ABR) is a rapidly growing methodological genre. Arts-based research adapts the tenets of the creative arts in social research to make that research publicly accessible, evocative, and engaged. This chapter provides a retrospective and prospective overview of the field, including a review of some of the pioneers of arts-based research, methodological principles, and robust examples of arts-based research in different artistic genres. We include literary forms such as poetic inquiry and fiction, performative forms such as playbuilding, ethnodrama, ethnotheater and film, and visual forms such as photography, collage, art journaling, and mixed media. We note researches also use multiple art forms, and evolving and innovative forms of art. We provide suggestions for (contested) assessment criteria, such as utility, aesthetics, authenticity and valuing participatory and transformative approaches. The chapter closes with our thoughts regarding the future of the field, which includes ABR’s potential to improve public scholarship.

scholarly journals Et Al.: New Voices in Arts Management

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Shimshon-Santo ◽  
Genevieve Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Social Research ◽  
Ethical Challenge ◽  
Arts Management ◽  
Cultural Management ◽  
Qualitative Social Research ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Research Stream ◽  
Business As Usual ◽  
Pragmatic Strategies

Et Al. imagines kaleidoscopic possibilities for the stewardship of culture and land as decolonizing practices. Culture and the arts can enhance society by strengthening our connections to each other and to the earth. This arts management book was born during a racial reckoning and accelerated by a global pandemic. What exactly is the business of no-business-as-usual? The ethical challenge for arts management is far more complex than asking how to get things done; we must also ask who gets to do things, where, and with what resources? Our task is to generate cultures that refuse to annihilate themselves or each other, much less the planet. Et Al. contributes to the conversation about arts and cultural management by providing rare, behind-the-scenes insights on justice-centered arts management praxis — ideas tied to action. The book makes space for people to publicly reflect, write, and share insights about their own ideas and ways of working. Its polyphonic voices speak to pragmatic strategies for arts management across cultures, genres, and spaces. Its stories are told from the perspective of individuals and families, micro businesses, artist collectives, and civic institutions. As a digital publication, the platform lends itself to multi-media knowledge objects; the experiences documented within it include ethnographies, qualitative social research, personal and communal manifestos, dialogues between peers, visual essays, videos, and audio tracks. This open source, multimedia book is structured into six streams which are numbered for their exponential powers: Stream¹ : Center is Everywhere; Stream² : Gathering Community; Stream³ : Honoring Histories; Stream⁴ : Shifting Research; Stream⁵ : Forging Paths; Stream⁶ : Generative Practice. The book discusses imaginative ways of generating cultural equity in praxis, and is an invitation for further imagination, conversation, and connection. Et Al. presents an interactive landscape for readers, thinkers, and creators to engage with multimedia and intergenerational essays by Amy Shimshon-Santo, Genevieve Kaplan, Gerlie Collado, Abraham Ferrer, Julie House, Britt Campbell, Delia Xóchitl Chávez, Sean Cheng, Yvonne Farrow, Allen Kwabena Frimpong, Kayla Jackson, Erika Karina Jiménez Flores, Cobi Krieger, Loreto Lopez, Cynthia Martínez Benavides, Christy McCarthy, Janice Ngan, Cailin Nolte, Michaela Paulette Shirley, Robin Sukhadia, Katrina Sullivan, and Tatiana Vahan.

Diversity management across borders: the role of the national context

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Almina Bešić ◽  
Christian Hirt
Keyword(s):  
Transition Economies ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Context Specificity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Relational Framework ◽  
Diversity Strategy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the question how context-specific diversity management (DM) is and whether it is transferable by organisations. Design/methodology/approach – The authors explore context specificity and transferability of DM with the example of an Austrian company in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based on the relational framework for the transfer of DM practices the authors empirically examine differences between headquarters and subsidiaries. Findings – The empirical analysis reveals challenges for the transferability of DM and thus different approaches in the analysed company. The authors do not identify a significant transfer of DM practices. The findings are in line with the relational framework and suggest that headquarters must be treated separately from foreign subsidiaries, which theoretical models should take into account. Research limitations/implications – Future studies would benefit from a more holistic design not only based on the managements’ perceptions. A comparison with the situation in other companies in transition economies would further increase generalisability. Practical implications – The authors underscore the need for diversity as a strategic approach to management. Organisations benefit from considering context specificity and should be aware that DM practices in headquarters must not be transferable to subsidiaries. Although theoretical models are useful to identify diversity motives and strategies, their application in practice needs consideration of the context. Originality/value – The paper tackles the issue of context specificity and considers motives and strategies for DM. The case study sheds light on the link between headquarters’ diversity strategy and practice in a subsidiary and contributes to deficient research for transition economies.

After method? Ethnography in the knowledge economy

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Mills ◽  
Richard Ratcliffe
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Quantitative Measurement ◽  
Social Research ◽  
New Economy ◽  
Social Anthropology ◽  
Qualitative Social Research ◽  
Accounting Practice ◽  
Anthropological Research ◽  
Economic Expectations

In this article we argue that the knowledge economy is reshaping anthropological research and popular understandings of ethnography. Interviews with British social anthropologists working in, and outside, academia provide insights into how the practices and meanings of ethnography are being reworked. UK policy expectations that research (and its impact) can be measured, monitored and accounted for in monetary terms place particular demands on qualitative social research. To make our case, we focus on the prominence of the business metaphor of the ‘value chain’ in contemporary accounting practice and its use in the quantitative measurement of social research. Within social anthropology this new economy of measurement can be seen in debates over fieldwork practice. We show that as anthropology departments harden their methodological allegiances to fieldwork, very different understandings of ethnography are being developed beyond the academy. We conclude that methods, and debates over methods, are prisms through which to understand the changing social and economic expectations placed upon qualitative research.

scholarly journals Co-Interviewing in Qualitative Social Research: Prospects, Merits and Considerations

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 160940692110549
Author(s):  
Stefania Velardo ◽  
Sam Elliott
Keyword(s):  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Qualitative Social Research ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Unique Approach ◽  
Asking Questions

In this paper, we seek to open a dialogue about the approach of co-interviewing, which, to our surprise, has not received much attention in the realm of qualitative social research. The co-interviewing approach stands apart from ‘multiple’ interviewing, in which two or more researchers are tasked with conducting interviews in a single research study. Instead, this approach involves two researchers actively taking part in the same interview. In a qualitative grounded theory study that sought to explore doctoral students’ emotional well-being, we adopted the approach of co-interviewing each of our participants. This process involved us sharing the responsibilities of asking questions, probing, note taking and making observations. Our experience has led us to critically examine this unique approach to interviewing, and here, in this paper, we offer insights about its potential to enhance the generation of data and the research process. In doing so, we draw on literature, whilst reflecting on key concepts including power, reflexivity and well-being, by considering the positions of participants and researchers alike.

scholarly journals Producing Knowledge in Self-Organized Artistic Settings through Performative Research and Artistic Intervention

2015 ◽  
Vol IX (1) ◽  
pp. 114-130
Author(s):  
Hanne Seitz
Keyword(s):  
Social Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Cultural Participation ◽  
Art Making ◽  
Artistic Creativity ◽  
Qualitative Social Research ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Embedded Knowledge ◽  
Creative Solutions ◽  
Artistic Interventions

The following article presents the Young Tenants, a project that gave young Berlin adults the opportunity to use vacant spaces for art and culture­related purposes. Through organizing and participating in activities in these spaces they discovered their artistic creativity and craftsmanship, practiced cultural participation and engaged with the community. In contrast to what they typically experienced in school or in out-of-school education, the project emphasized self­organization and an environmental approach towards learning. The accompanying research called for a different logic of enquiry than in the usual discursive mode of qualitative social research. The tenants were regarded as co­researchers, capable of finding creative solutions for the problems that arose while working towards the goals they had set for themselves. They produced knowledge through their art making, which was expanded, transformed and renewed through a practice-based action research process. At the same time, since understanding is not always reducible to language, we focused on their actions as expressions of embedded knowledge and considered the project to be a practice-led performative research. Additionally, we unlocked further potential though artistic interventions that served to enrich their activities, deepen reflection, and challenge the knowledge generated.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document