Advancing careers through ‘merit’: a rationalized-sensemaking narrative in hierarchical organizations

ABSTRACT

This contribution provides an in-context exploration of how middle-managers make sense of their career progress, and particularly focuses on ‘merit’ to understand how careers are driven in a hierarchical organization. The study exposes ‘merit’ as a fragmented and individualized construction that links back to the participants’ broader life ambitions and identity footprint. It also shows a tendency for maintaining trust in ‘merit’ above other circumstantial and opportunity factors, even in face of events which undermine the application of the merit-based principle. ‘Merit’ is hence portrayed to be a rationalized narrative in careers’ trajectory; a marker used by participants to make sense of events in a coherent manner, consequently experiencing self-efficacy and reducing uncertainty. The findings add complexity to the ‘meritocracy’ debate, calling for new critiques which address its underlying inequality dimension while also contemplating the individual psychological purpose driving ‘merit’ beliefs.     

Mother Tongues

SUMMARY

As women make their first journeys into motherhood, their relationships and discussions with other women, especially other mothers, can be of vital importance. I argue that as women journey into motherhood, they also journey into what might be called a culture of motherhood-a discursive and symbolic realm shared by all mothers. Through interactions among mothers, information, resources, and advice are shared; hierarchies of authority within the community of mothers are established; and women are given opportunities to discursively explore and construct their maternal identities, for example, through the sharing of birth stories. These symbolic, ritualistic, and communicative dimensions of the journey into motherhood can differ between lesbian-identified and heterosexual-identified women. Lesbian mothers can be suspect or marginalized and, at times, feel the need to be circumspect in their interactions. On the other hand, coupled lesbians make the journey into motherhood, into maternal identity, and into the community of mothers, together as a couple. This is not the same for heterosexual women whose most intimate female companions on the journey tend to be friends, sisters, and mothers. Based on research with 53 Canadian mothers, I compare the journeys into motherhood of lesbian and heterosexual women.     

The Sweat Lodge Ceremony for Spiritual Healing

Abstract

Of the many Indigenous ceremonies that have a spiritual component, few are as immediate and powerful in restoring a balance of spiritual, emotional, mental and physical well-being as the sweat lodge. Sweat lodges are often incorporated into healing programs that serve Aboriginal people, and are also available to non-Indigenous people. Their appeal across cultural and religious traditions stems from a nondoctrinal view of spirituality. A preliminary study of effect of the sweat lodge ceremony indicated measurable changes in spirituality. Additional analysis of the data suggests that existential coherence among participants increases as a result of the ceremony. The sweat lodge ceremony may help participants to increase their sense of spirituality and connection to each other.     

Social Work Student Views on Palliative Care Learning Resources

Abstract

Many social workers are expected to work with individuals and families who are dealing with life-limiting illnesses, yet during their university education they may not have been exposed to materials that address issues related to death and dying. The Social Work Department of University of New England in Armidale, Australia designed and delivered a palliative care teaching and learning session using publicly funded online materials. Themes emerging from questionnaire and focus group data analysis included appreciation for the importance and emotional demands of the materials, sensitivity and flexibility among educators who ideally have work experience in the field, expanding presence of social work philosophy in curriculum materials and exploring spirituality, and examining culture-informed practice in greater depth. Among the implications is the need for concerted efforts to teach about death and dying using high quality accessible materials, while ensuring social work values and approaches are reflected in the content.     

“It is just SICKENING”: Emotions and discourse in an anti-immigrant discussion forum

ABSTRACT

Following 9/11, organizations advocating for stricter immigration policy grew across the United States. This study examines the Web site and online discussion forum of Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), a group identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as nativist extremist. While forum participants are geographically dispersed, social media provide them a space to interact with like-minded people. Results show that ALIPAC members provide shared accounts that construct positive moral identities. Forum participants promise positive emotions of pride and power for joining the group, despite the perception that outsiders perceive them as racists. Drawing from tenets of patriotism, participants construct virtual identities and reject the racist stigma by turning them on immigrants, civil rights organizations, and politicians. Participants claim their emotional responses are rational and morally superior to those of the perceived opposition. Failing to share their anger, sense of injustice, and disgust is framed as irrational.     

Anxiety in the organisational context: Experiences of consultancy

Abstract

This article explores some of the theoretical ideas found useful when attempting to make sense of complex organisational phenomena in order to offer consultancy to people experiencing difficulties in their work settings.

A combination of insights drawn from psychoanalytic theory and the social sciences appeared most relevant. The use of these ideas is illustrated by describing some recent “process consultation” in two very different organisations.     

Enhancing Gerontology Education

Abstract

Co-learning opportunities for elders and students may enhance the ability to make course information “real” for traditional students and provide elders with new relationships that can reduce stereotypical thinking about younger people. A Human Development and Aging course taught at Kansas State University in the Spring of 2003 brought eighteen young adult students and eighteen auditors from a retirement community together to explore their understanding of aging issues. Based on evaluations through focus groups and written surveys, older and younger participants alike experienced changes in their attitudes toward persons of age groups other than their own.     

A Journey Through the Prism of Race: An Evolution of Generational Consciousness

SUMMARY

Race consciousness is examined over the life course of three social work professors of color during different generations. This narrative method illustrates their journey through self-affirming families and communities that served as protective factors against hostile individual, community, and institutional forces that attempted to marginalize, subjugate, and oppress their will. Each experienced similar bouts with racism, albeit in less blatant forms, while all benefited from earlier leaders who served as ladders. Implications for diversity, social justice, and social work education are discussed.     

Meeting Families Where There Are

SUMMARY

This article focuses on families in general, both those we as social workers and other mental health professionals work with and those within which we live. Specifically, the focus is on ways that growth may be facilitated as family members operate according to the principles of acknowledging connectedness, suspending judgment, trusting the universe, creating realities, and walking the path with heart. The ramifications for individuals, families and society of the choice to pursue soul healing, or to undertake consciously a journey toward wholeness, also is discussed.     

The Effect of Stepfamily Status on Impressions of Children's Report Card Information

Abstract

This study was designed to compare university students' perceptions of stepchildren to perceptions of children from intact, biological families. Two hundred and eleven participants were asked to view an 8-year-old child's report card. Participants were given background information that indicated that the child lived with his mother and father (or mother and stepfather). The participants were then asked to rate their first impressions of the child's scholastic, social, and emotional functioning, and make predictions about the child's behaviour in school. The results indicated that male (but not female) participants rated stepchildren less positively than biological children with respect to their social and emotional functioning. Scholastic functioning was not influenced by family status information, nor was the child's predicted behaviour in school. The results are discussed in relation to their implications for stepchildren in today's society.     

Working with burns survivors: A social work approach

Abstract

Adjustment to a major burn may be a prolonged and demanding journey for patients, families and staff working with this client group. As well as recovering physically, patients must wok towards a psychological recovery by confronting a complex range of emotional responses to their injury. We outline the psychosocial impact of burn injury and suggest ways in which the social worker can assist in the adjustment process during the hospital admission both in the acute and the rehabilitation phases, including a case-management approach and the establishment of a support group for survivors.     

Motivators and Barriers to Participation of Ethnic Minority Families in a Family-Based HIV Prevention Program

Summary

Involving low-income, ethnic minority families in lengthy HIV prevention programs can be challenging. Understanding the motivators and barriers to involvement may help researchers and practitioners design programs that can be used by populations most at risk for HIV exposure. The present study discusses motivators and barriers to involvement in the Collaborative HIV Prevention and Adolescent Mental Health Project (CHAMP), using data from a sample of 118 families that participated at varying levels in the twelve sessions of the program. Most participants chose motivators that reflect their perceptions of individual and/or family needs (“CHAMP might help me, mine, and other families”), and of characteristics of the program, such as CHAMP staff were friendly, CHAMP was fun. Among barriers to involvement, respondents expressed concerns about confidentiality, and about being judged by program staff. Respondents also reported experiencing many stressful events in their families (e.g., death and violence in the family) that may have been barriers to their involvement. Knowing these motivators and barriers, researchers and practitioners can enhance involvement in HIV prevention programs.     

Toward a Competent Child Welfare Service Delivery System for Gay and Lesbian Adolescents and Their Families

SUMMARY

Analogous to the child welfare delivery system deficits that have been documented for people of color communities, the problems encountered by gay and lesbian adolescents and their families are frequently ignored and largely unrecognized by the majority of child welfare professionals. An understanding of the impact of societal stigmatization of gay and lesbian individuals and their families is crucial to the recognition of, and response to, the needs of this population. This paper posits that the development of competence in this area holds promise for preserving and supporting families and for the establishment of appropriate gay/lesbian-affirming child welfare services for these young people and their families.     

Chapter 5 Lonesome in the Saddle

Abstract

Older people create a sense of self through the decisions they make about their sense of place in the world. Through a series of ethnographic life-stories, drawn from the lives of retired people in an upstate New York community, consideration is given to the meanings that mature men and women attach: to leaving work; to choosing to stay in or leave the home or residence that they have been living in; and to weighing the options of remaining in or moving from their community. The meaningfulness of family, home, possessions, travel, community, and ties to the land, all emerge from these accounts. In negotiating these issues, people also have to deal with a number of conflicting American values, including the tensions between freedom and responsibility, autonomy and rootedness, and adventure and security. The classic American images of the “settler” and the “cowboy” help to convey some of these contradictions.     

Collaborative Family Work in Youth Justice

ABSTRACT

A number of studies have found that working with family groups can be successful in improving outcomes for young people and their families. This article reports on a study in New South Wales in which juvenile justice staff offered collaborative family work interventions to young people as part of the routine offerings of a juvenile justice service. The primary objective of this study was to examine the extent to which young people who completed the family work had lower recidivism rates compared to three control groups. The methods included a comparison of recidivism rates between young people who completed the intervention, those who failed to complete, those who declined, and a matched sample of young people who were not offered the intervention. The results of the study indicated that many young people and their families were agreeable to be involved in the intervention and the completion rates were high, particularly if the work was undertaken in the family home. The young people who completed the intervention also had lower recidivism rates than young people in each of the control groups.

IMPLICATIONS

• Collaborative family work can be offered successfully by juvenile justice services to young offenders and their families.

• Collaborative family work can reduce recidivism rates for those who complete the intervention.

• It is preferable to conduct the work in the family home where completion rates are likely to be higher.

     

It All Starts Now! Gay Men and Fatherhood in Sweden

ABSTRACT

This article investigates how Swedish gay men pursue and understand fatherhood, using a qualitative, semi-structured methodological approach. We are interested in how practical issues and different fatherhood arrangements are understood and handled by the fathers; how the construction of “rainbow families” is understood in relation to legal issues; parental responsibilities; and thoughts regarding gender-equal and gender-neutral relationships within Swedish society and culture. The results show that the trajectory of gay men toward fatherhood is shaped by a variety of mediating factors such as interactions with agencies, clinics, attorneys, and the state. There are some significant legal, social, financial, and cultural obstacles to realizing gay parenthood. There are also cases where study participants talked about a sense of intolerance expressed toward gay parents within a gay community. Although there are still strong normative dimensions involved in the construction of modern parenthood, the grip of heteronormative views on family life and sexuality is changing; the narratives presented also represent a questioning of the hegemonic image of fatherhood in Sweden. Consequently, it is possible to discern different attempts at transgressing and changing the cultural landscape of fatherhood and the ways people build families today.     

An Evaluation of Mental Health Services for the Culturally Diverse

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this project was to examine the needs of multicultural populations in the mental health system, and see how these needs get addressed in current policies. As a social worker in the mental health system, I wanted to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of service providers in their ability to meet the needs of diverse populations. In doing this research, I hoped to make a space for people whose families have had to deal with mental health services, and explore the experiences of those who have not had the opportunity to discuss them. In addition, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to a body of increased knowledge on how the mental health system treats people who belong to a cultural minority.     

Diana Gittins. The Child in Question. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. 231 Pages

Abstract

Does occupation-level information reflect what people actually do at work and thus influence individuals? I examine whether there is an effect of occupation-level complexity on individuals' sense of personal control, and if there is, whether the effect is a proxy for the actual work people do on their jobs. I analyze a national probability sample of 1,450 employed persons interviewed by telephone in 1995. Without adjustment for worker's reports of autonomy, creativity, authority, and social interaction in their daily work, an index of DOT occupational complexity of work with data and people correlates with the sense of personal control. Adjustment for job-level autonomy, creativity, authority, and social interaction renders the occupation-level measure insignificant and shows significant effects of autonomous work, creative work, and social interaction at work on the sense of personal control.     

Coping with Compulsion: Women's Views of Being on a Community Treatment Order

Abstract

An interview-based study of 42 people with serious mental illness was undertaken in New Zealand during the early 2000s. Of the 42 people, 10 were women. The women were either currently on a Community Treatment Order or had been recently discharged from a long period of being on a Community Treatment Order. Analysis of the original interview data revealed how these women experienced both benefits and limitations under conditions of compulsory community treatment. The women's key workers, clinicians, and nominated family members were also interviewed. The findings indicate that women considered the overall advantages of Community Treatment Orders to outweigh the disadvantages. Advantages included: greater access to treatment and respite care in hospital; and an increased sense of safety and reassurance for women and their families. Disadvantages included: some restrictions, such as where women resided; feelings of stigma; and having to comply with treatment with the threat of being returned to hospital if they did not. Overall, Community Treatment Orders made a significant impact on the lives of the 10 women but they also allowed the women to remain out of hospital long enough to rebuild their lives and maintain their close relationships.