Workshop co-sponsored by the Center for Organizational Research and the Urban Planning and Public Policy Department

“Writing and Reflexivity: A way Forward to Better and More Productive Writing in Academia”

Led by Professor Charlotte Cloutier, HEC Montreal, COR/UPPP visiting professor

Friday, March 16
10:00-11:30am
Social Ecology SEI 112

Coffee and pastries provided. Please RSVP to cor@uci.edu by March 13.

“Writing and Reflexivity: A way Forward to Better and More Productive Writing in Academia”

As academics, writing is integral to the work that we do. Our writing journeys begin with the writing of our doctoral dissertations, and continue as we later write research articles and conferences papers, books, and funding applications. Our identities and reputations as academics are largely formed on the basis of what and how we write. Many would argue that the fate of our careers rests more on our ability to write than on our ability to teach. And yet despite this, we spend very little time thinking about how we write. Most of us have received little, if any, formal instruction in academic or other forms of writing— probably because it is generally assumed that anyone undertaking graduate studies already “knows” how to write.
For these reasons and others, writing is something that most of us just “do.” This doing might come easily if we are blessed with a natural ability to write, or it might be difficult, if we are not. Most likely, our experience lies somewhere in between: moments when writing flows almost effortlessly punctuated by bouts of writing paralysis. Although we may be prompted to think about our writing at such times, the reality is that most of the time, we do not.
In this workshop, I offer students the opportunity to become more reflexive about their writing practice, by making their own writing habits and practices explicit and by contrasting these with the writing practices of known scholars in our field. We will consider the multi-faceted aspects of academic writing, and how each contributes to both writing quality and productivity and by so doing, expand our personal repertoire of practices and approaches for producing meaningful texts.

Charlotte Cloutier is currently Associate Professor of Strategy at HEC Montreal. Her main research focus is on understanding strategy processes as they unfold in pluralistic organizations (NGOs, trade associations, hospitals, universities, large and decentralized multi-national corporations, government ministries or agencies, etc.), notably from a strategy-as-practice perspective.  As a side hobby, she is also passionate about writing. She is the host of a blog on academic writing:  www.projectscrib.org ; has hosted and organized various workshops on academic writing and publishing and has written various articles on the topic.

DO UNTO OTHERS: DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A MEASURE OF MANAGERIAL INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

Colloquium with Professor Shaun Pichler, California State University, Fullerton, Mihaylo College of Business and Economics

Friday, March 9, 2018

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

SB1 5100 (Corporate Partners Executive Boardroom)

Abstract

It is no secret that employees leave their organizations because of bad managers- but what about the good ones? How can researchers and organizations differentiate managers in terms of their interpersonal skills? And how are these skills related to outcomes for employees—and for managers themselves? These are fundamentally important questions for management scholars and for organizations. With that said, there exists no widely accepted conceptual model, definition or measure of managerial interpersonal skills (MIPS). We sought out to address these questions by developing and validating a measure of MIPS through a multiphasic research program that included four studies: First, through structured interviews with practicing managers and executives; next, through two pilot studies; and finally, in a validation study with matched supervisor-employee data from a large healthcare organization. Results of our research program suggest that, at least among employee reports, MIPS is three-dimensional construct comprised of supporting, motivating and managing conflict, each indicating a higher-order latent MIPS factor. Results also indicate that MIPS predict job attitudes and performance among both employees and managers.

“Retention and Its Discontents: How Ideal Workers With Family Aspirations Navigate Career Decision-Making”

Professor Carrie Oelberger, University of Minnesota, Humphrey School of Public Affairs

Friday, February 23, 2018
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
SB1 5200 (Porter Colloquia Room & Executive Terrace)

ABSTRACT

Every career decision forces the worker to grapple with the possibility of realizing – or repressing – deeply held desires.  As such, career decisions are the fruit of protracted deliberation with high emotional stakes, not simply rational calculations of advancement. Moreover, modern careers provide nearly constant opportunities to engage in these reflections. Using interview and detailed career history data from 70 international aid workers, I examine the career decision-making process for people who are extremely devoted to work, enacting ideal worker norms, but who also desire a family. While resolving any work-family conflict is difficult, I find that people with family aspirations experience greater stress in decision-making than their family-rooted counterparts due to the uncertainty of their situation. I show how people navigate these crises by reflecting upon the possibility of transitioning their desires into realities, detailing how they consider the uncertainty of their situation, the breadth of options they perceive, and the temporal durability of those options. Even after a process of deep reflection, many people nonetheless choose to double down and prioritize work, suggesting that people who are devoted to work tend to fear the loss of meaning that it provides. As such, organizations may paradoxically retain employees who are devoted to work, but are personally discontented. These findings hold implications for research on work-family, labor market inequalities, and careers.