Do Women Perceive Organizational Culture Differently From Men?

With the increasing proportion of women in the workforce, need for effective management of gender-diversity is being felt. While much of the effort in gender-diversity management has been on representation of women in the decision-making bodies and processes, the most fundamental diversity issue for the organization remains practically untouched. Organizational culture has long been shaped and dominated by male orientations and therefore focus on change in the organizational culture can help in addressing the issue of discrimination and isolation of women in organizations. Any intervention strategy in this regard would require understanding of the attributes of organizational culture that give the feeling of discrimination to women employees resulting in their isolation from the mainstream, thereby hampering their performance. The present chapter aims at identifying the attributes of organizational culture in respect of which the perceptions of female employees differ significantly from those of male employees in State Bank of India.

Understanding Private and Public Partnerships

New public management organisations tend to import managerial processes and behaviour from the private sector, and have been doing so in the post-Keynsian era. Increasingly those economies that were nationalised for large collective rebuilding programs after the Second World War were being deregulated and new models of management based on private enterprise and monetary accountability became the norm. This chapter provides an overview and contextual commentary on the origins of the public and private, the current era of public management, describes the characteristics of public and private partnerships; the factors of partnership performance, the characteristics of success and limitations, and concludes with a contextual discussion of Public and Private Partnerships.

Indigenous Knowledge as Resource to Sustain Self-Employment in Rural Development

This chapter explores the ways African rural youths and women seek opportunities to innovate and adapt indigenous knowledge as a locally developed resource of community resilience in the attempt to reduce household poverty. The two case groups discussed in this chapter engaged in self-employment enterprises. They drew upon their ecological and cultural knowledge, enabling themselves through shoestring budgets to sustain their livelihood and community wellbeing. The chapter shows that unemployment affects young people and rural women from all occupations and ethnic groups, a situation that puts them in a vulnerable and precarious living condition. The analysis showed that for most of youth found on the Tanzania's streets and urban municipalities, a secondary education has not proven useful in practical knowledge, skills, values or attitudes necessary to enter the world of work or to become self-employed.

Student Acceptance of a Civic Engagement Graduation Requirement in an Urban Community College

Civic engagement is an essential part of a democratic society, though it has recently tended toward adversarial political conflict. Although many college administrators favor encouraging or requiring student civic engagement, little is known about whether students themselves would support this, and how student characteristics are related to acceptance. Past and present civic activities of 2,327 students at a large, very diverse urban community college were surveyed using the newly developed KCC Civic Engagement Scale. Results showed strong agreement that the college had a responsibility to develop civically engaged students, but that the term “civic engagement” is unclear to many. Principal components analysis revealed four distinct factors: general non-political civic engagement, and low-effort, high-effort, and unconventional political activities. Level of student participation in various activities is primarily determined by a student's time availability and secondarily by a complex assortment of personal characteristics, including residency status.

Fencism

Most twitter users supported either All Progressive Party (APC) or Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2015 Nigerian elections. In the midst of this, an unusual political alignment emerged which was called Fencism who neither supported any of the two political parties but claimed to be objective despite having a political opinion. This study investigated the definition and characteristics of Fencism using survey, quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The rational choice theory was the framework used in this study. Findings revealed that Fencism is a distinct political alignment and a manifestation of the rational choice theory. Yet there was no consensus on the definition owing to the irreconcilable ambiguity of remaining objective and but yet professing a bias.

Mediation Is the Message

In this chapter, the authors explore the deep level of ambiguities that characterizes the relationship between social media and capitalism, and the social, political economic context in which in several regions of world they operate. This reflection is provided in a particular moment of history in which media may have become at the same time the main “language” in order to decipher contemporary economics as well as the material terrain in which those economic activities develop. Yet, while social media seems to have been more and more integrated within the logic of capitalism, and capitalism has increasingly assumed the morphology of an informational dispersal, their relationship is not straightforward but defined by a series of deep rooted tensions.

NGOs, Civil Society, and Global Governance in the Era of Sustainability and Consolidation

The purpose of this chapter is to establish a robust and reliable reference framework on the ecosystem of NGOs and Civil Society for literature review in scholarly contributions and publications. Furthermore, we seek to clarify the position and scope of NGOs within the third sector and civil society. We position NGOs on the sphere of political influence where they negotiate agendas, form coalitions with local and international partners, mobilize constituencies for policy change, and ultimately engage in all stages of the policy process. Finally, we discuss their increased role as key players in times of severe financial constraints. Two voids are identified: the absence of a protective policy framework that can shield NGOs from economic contraction consequences, and the void in evaluation frameworks that can measure their quality of performance.

Framework for Enhancing Organizational Performance

The government departments in India need overhauling to improve effectiveness in providing services to citizens. The chapter proposes an organizational performance framework of Haryana State Government departments involved in providing services to citizens. The framework suggests dimensions which need improvement for enhancing organizational performance. This will help to improve efficiency and effectiveness in providing government services. The organizational performance framework has been suggested using responses collected from 150 government departments. A log linear regression analysis statistical technique is used to develop the framework. The framework can be used as a template for Government departments in similar other organizational settings.

Agriculture Livelihood Security

This chapter describes how through the prism of CSR, industry can take a stride in evolving its relationship with the stakeholders. Agriculture continues to remain the mainstay of livelihood for chunk of the population. The sector is drawn with the dual daunting challenges of producing more simultaneously without depleting natural resources. A pilot study is instituted to gain an insight into the CSR-agriculture initiative of the industry. This conceptual chapter has not attempted to triangulate the primary data, focusing on similar issues from other studies. However, the proposed 3D approach: “Diverse Dynamic Dignified,” is an outcome of FGD which provides a framework to take a broader view for wider replication by customizing it to the local conditions. This chapter contributes to the existing literature and advocates that the industry should prioritize agriculture livelihood security in their CSR endeavors.

Networked Protests

This chapter explores social movement theories and attempts to modernize and explain contemporary movements with consideration of the digital tools being utilized by citizens on the ground. The ability to transcend borders and traditional boundaries using digital media, to facilitate international participation and develop communication, and the dissemination of information and coordination among activist networks around the world is hugely important. This chapter asserts that modern contentious collective actions and contemporary movements have received an infusion of autonomy and grassroots energy fueled by digital technologies, and social networking platforms.