'Sameness' and 'difference' revisited: which way forward for equal opportunity initiatives?

Article Abstract:

Recent interest in 'managing diversity' has reopened debates about forms of equality in the workplace. Approaches to equality developed in the 1970s and 1980s have been characterized as an attempt to ensure that if individuals bring the same abilities to work, or perform in the same way, they should receive the same access to jobs and employment benefits, regardless of social group membership. Managing diversity appears to be about a more positive valuing of difference. Benefits are seen to derive from different perspectives and approaches and these should be nurtured and rewarded rather than suppressed. Feminists have long argued about the extent to which women are the same as, or different from, men, and about the political consequences of adopting these positions. Recent theoretical developments have led to some novel solutions to this dilemma. These include asserting claims to both 'sameness' and 'difference', the deconstruction of 'difference', and the reconstruction of 'sameness' on women's terms. This paper explores approaches to equal opportunities through both established and novel theoretical perspectives. It argues that existing practice cannot be fitted neatly into the conventional distinctions between 'sameness' and 'difference', and explores the potential characteristics and strengths and weaknesses of equality initiatives based on the new theoretical perspectives. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Prevention, Affirmative action, Employment discrimination

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Technology and span of control: Woodward revisited

Article Abstract:

This study of production operations in 95 New Jersey manufacturing firms explains the widely replicated curvilinear relationship between first line supervisory span of control and Woodward's technological complexity scale. Revisiting Woodward led to the initial proposition that the relationship was a by-product of the differing degree of task variability among the major types of production operations. A subsequent literature review of administrative requirements suggested the importance of size, complexity and automaticity on supervisory span of control. Our data indicate that variations in the span of control of production operations classified according to Woodward's scale are attributable to the underlying effects of size and task complexity. Technology, whether operationalized as Woodward's production types or automaticity of machinery explained little variation in the span of control of first line supervisors. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Analysis, New Jersey, Production control, Supervisors, Industrial management

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From Dramaturgy to Theatre as Technology: The Case of Corporate Theatre

Article Abstract:

The article examines corporate theater as a technology rather than a metaphor, resource, or ontology. Discussion focuses on the imaginative participation encouraged via subtly suggested changes rather than direct confrontation.

Theatrical producers and services, Theater Arts, Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters, Management Training & Evaluation, Methods, Usage, Comparative analysis, Corporate culture, Management training, Theater

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