David Knights

Torkild Thanem

Disembodied research erects false dichotomies between flesh and reason, and between the corporeal and the social. By contrast, Torkild Thanem and David Knights engage with approaches and practices that exploit the body’s capacity to generate knowledge, craft lively accounts, and create fleshy concepts. These approaches enrich our understanding of how people live, work, and interact with their bodies within the social world. Thanem and Knights discuss methods, practices, and personal experiences which involve bodies in the research process – in generating and analysing empirical material, reflecting on the work they do as researchers, and turning research into written text. Embodied Research Methods is an important and practical resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students across the social sciences, and a thought-provoking read for researchers in these areas.

Embodied Research Methods

Emma Jeanes

Patricia Yancey Martin

This work of reference represents a remarkably complete, detailedand extensive review of the field of gender, work and organizationin the second decade of the 21st century. Its authorsrepresent eight countries and many disciplines includingmanagement, sociology, political science, and gender studies. Thechapters, by top scholars in their areas of expertise, offer bothreviews and empirical findings, and insights and challenges forfurther work. The chapters are organized in five sections:Histories and Philosophies; Organizing Work and the GenderedOrganization; Embodiment; Globalization; and Diversity. Theoretical and conceptual developments at the cutting edge ofthe field are explicated and illustrated by the handbook’sauthors. Methods for conducting research into gender, work andorganization are reviewed and assessed as well as illustrated inthe work of several chapters. Efforts to produce greater gender equality in the workplaceare covered in nearly every chapter, in terms of past successes andfailures. Military organizations are presented as one of thedifficult to change in regards to gender (with the result thatwomen are marginalized in practice even when official policies andgoals require their full inclusion). The role of the body/embodiment is emphasized in severalchapters, with attention both to how organizations disciplinebodies and how organizational members use their bodies to gainadvantage. Particular attention is paid to sexuality in/andorganizations, including sexual harassment, policies to alleviatebias, and the likelihood that future work will pay more attentionto the body’s presence and role in work andorganizations. Many chapters also address “change efforts” thathave been employed by individuals, groups, and organizations,including transnational ones such as the European Union, the UnitedNations, and so on. In addition to its value for teachers and students within thisfield, it also offers insights that would be of value to policymakers and practitioners who need to reflect on the latest thinkingrelating to gender at work and in organizations.

Handbook of Gender, Work and Organization

Hugh Willmott

Part of a series of books based on papers delivered at the annual UMIST-Aston conference, combined with specially commissioned contributions, this text examines the labour process, focusing on the white-collar/non-manual sector of the work force.

The Non-Manual Labour Process

White-Collar Work

The Reengineering Revolution reviews the significance of the Business Process Reengineering trend for management practice since the early 1990's. Combining empirical and theoretical perspectives, David Knights and Hugh Willmott show how both term and practice shaped the recent widely adopted policies of `downsizing', restructuring and emphasis on `process' rather than task. Well-known contributors analyze the impact of Business Process Reengineering in a number of settings: supermarkets and the food chain; the public sector; banks. The theoretical history of Business Process Reengineering is also detailed in relation to ideas about bureaucracy, hierarchy, transformation

Critical Studies of Corporate Change

The Reengineering Revolution

A review of the contribution of labour process theory to the study of work organization, by authorities in this field. The volume explores the theoretical foundations of labour process analysis and suggests new directions for its development.

Labour Process Theory

Here is a story about a tiny but beautiful planet called Kelper186F and how, once upon a long time ago, it was almost destroyed by the people who lived there. Now, don't be scared; I said 'almost'! Kelper186F is still around today somewhere way out in the Triangulum Galaxy about 582 light years from Earth. Kelper was a very beautiful planet and the people who lived there were called humtuns. For a while all was well, however, it did not stay that way, let me tell you the story of what happened.

Kelper 186F

This work of reference represents a remarkably complete, detailed and extensive review of the field of gender, work and organization in the second decade of the 21st century. Its authors represent eight countries and many disciplines including management, sociology, political science, and gender studies. The chapters, by top scholars in their areas of expertise, offer both reviews and empirical findings, and insights and challenges for further work. The chapters are organized in five sections: Histories and Philosophies; Organizing Work and the Gendered Organization; Embodiment; Globalization; and Diversity. Theoretical and conceptual developments at the cutting edge of the field are explicated and illustrated by the handbook’s authors. Methods for conducting research into gender, work and organization are reviewed and assessed as well as illustrated in the work of several chapters. Efforts to produce greater gender equality in the workplace are covered in nearly every chapter, in terms of past successes and failures. Military organizations are presented as one of the difficult to change in regards to gender (with the result that women are marginalized in practice even when official policies and goals require their full inclusion). The role of the body/embodiment is emphasized in several chapters, with attention both to how organizations discipline bodies and how organizational members use their bodies to gain advantage. Particular attention is paid to sexuality in/and organizations, including sexual harassment, policies to alleviate bias, and the likelihood that future work will pay more attention to the body’s presence and role in work and organizations. Many chapters also address “change efforts” that have been employed by individuals, groups, and organizations, including transnational ones such as the European Union, the United Nations, and so on. In addition to its value for teachers and students within this field, it also offers insights that would be of value to policy makers and practitioners who need to reflect on the latest thinking relating to gender at work and in organizations.

David Knights

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