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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
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The Marginalized, the Marginalizing and the Quest for Legitimacy The Marginalized and the Marginalizing
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Organizer: Christopher Klinghardt, U. of Edinburgh business school
Organizer: John Matthew Amis, U. of Edinburgh
Discussant: Paul Tracey, U. of Cambridge
Presenter: Bryant A. Hudson, IÉSEG School of Management
Presenter: Laura Claus, U. College London
Presenter: Emily S. Block, U. of Alberta
Presenter: Karen Diane Walker Patterson, U. of New Mexico
Presenter: Jo-Ellen Pozner, Santa 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------------------------------
John Amis
Professor of Strategic Management & Organisation
University of Edinburgh Business School
E-mail:
john.amis@ed.ac.uk------------------------------