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Showcase Symposium AOM Annual Meeting: The Marginalized, the Marginalizing and the Quest for Legitimacy

  • 1.  Showcase Symposium AOM Annual Meeting: The Marginalized, the Marginalizing and the Quest for Legitimacy

    Posted 07-02-2019 14:32
    Please join us...

    Session Type: Showcase Symposium
    Program Session: 1277 | Submission: 12412 | Sponsor(s): (OMT, ODC, SIM)
    Scheduled: Monday, Aug 12 2019 1:15PM - 2:45PM at Boston Hynes Convention Center in 306

     

    The Marginalized, the Marginalizing and the Quest for Legitimacy
    The Marginalized and the Marginalizing

    Organizer: Christopher KlinghardtU. of Edinburgh business school

    Organizer: John Matthew AmisU. of Edinburgh

    Discussant: Paul TraceyU. of Cambridge

    Presenter: Bryant A. HudsonIÉSEG School of Management

    Presenter: Laura ClausU. College London

    Presenter: Emily S. BlockU. of Alberta

    Presenter: Karen Diane Walker PattersonU. of New Mexico

    Presenter: Jo-Ellen PoznerSanta Clara U.

     

     

    Finalist for the OMT Division Best Symposium Award

     

    This symposium invites consideration of the ways in which organizations interact with marginalized groups and to what effect. While such groups are, by definition, shunned by parts of society, there is growing recognition that organizations can play a transformative role in reintegrating them into communities. While there are strong moral and often commercial reasons for organizations engaging in such activities, there are also potential threats to the organizations involved. Our objective with this symposium is to open up discussion about the potential impact that organizations can have on those who are disadvantaged, and in so doing also uncover some of the organization processes, practices and outcomes that may be influenced through the engagement in such activities. To date, organizational and institutional arrangements that can reduce social exclusion have been under-investigated by management theorists. This is unfortunate because organizations and institutions are heavily implicated in the marginalization of individuals and groups (e.g., Amis, Munir, Lawrence, Hirsch & McGahan, 2018; Tharchen & Garud, 2017). We explore ways in which organizations not only contribute to such mechanisms of exclusion but also how they may be able to erode them through the challenging of widely held beliefs and rules that help shape social life. At an individual level, we are interested in the processes through which individuals that engage with organizations can develop in ways that allow them to overcome their social exclusion, for example through triggered identity work that changes self-perceptions (Ashforth, Kreiner, Clark & Fugate, 2007; Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999). Such organizations can help individuals to revisit and reconstruct a positive sense of self that is re-aligned with audience expectations through the (re)association with mainstream morals and values (Stenger & Roulet, 2018; Gioia, Schultz & Corley, 2000).This in turn can lead to broader community support and subsequent reintegration of previously excluded individuals. At an organizational level, we explore the ways in which organizations manage their interactions and associations with marginalized groups. In addition to looking at the structures and systems that are developed, it is also necessary to consider organizational outcomes. In this respect, it is important to recognize that organizations that work with marginalized groups and address socially sensitive issues can be marginalized themselves (Tracey & Phillips, 2016; Hampel & Tracey, 2015). The association with marginalized groups can result in a threat to legitimacy that can generate stakeholder disapproval often leading to greater scrutiny and diminished financial performance (Meyer & Rowan, 1977; Jeong and Kim, 2018). We thus also examine the ways in which organizations defend themselves and regain social approval among relevant audiences in order to sustain legitimacy, a problem that has recently been raised in the institutional literature (Hampel & Tracey, 2015; Jeong and Kim, 2018).

     

     

    Contact for enquiries regarding the symposium:

    Chris Klinghardt s1573947@sms.ed.ac.uk

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    John Amis

    Professor of Strategic Management & Organisation
    University of Edinburgh Business School
    E-mail: john.amis@ed.ac.uk
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