FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W3087907887> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W3087907887 endingPage "442" @default.
• W3087907887 startingPage "439" @default.
• W3087907887 abstract "The central argument of Banu Özkazanc-Pan's book is that insights and concepts from transnational migration studies can offer an alternative and much more nuanced understanding, not only of transmigrants, but also of work and organizations, than the concepts in the mainstream management and organizational literature. Transmigrants, people on-the-move, are a specific category of migrants. The author defines them in more detail as “people whose sense of self is derived from their mobile experiences and active engagement within socio-cultural, economic and/or political realms that span scales” (p. 40). Their mobile experiences are however, as Banu Özkazanc-Pan argues, neglected in the mainstream literature, even in research inspired by critical perspectives. In order to allow for a full understanding of transmigrants' agency (which is also important for change and social/organizational justice), transmigrants' mobile experiences need to become a focus for management and organizational research. Although Banu Özkazanc-Pan informs readers from the very beginning that the inspiration for her book lies in the fact that she herself is a transmigrant, this book is not, however, based on autobiography. Yet, there is no doubt that the author's own transmigrant experiences have impacted her professional life as a researcher. As she was unable to find concepts that fit with her own experiences within the field of management and organizational studies (MOS), she initiated a search for alternatives. Each chapter of the book starts with a detailed analysis and critique of mainstream MOS studies of diversity and cross-cultural experience, and then continues by suggesting her alternative view, inspired by the field of transnational migration studies. Banu Özkazanc-Pan argues that earlier studies are based on ontological assumptions about the natural order of the social world and on static epistemologies (i.e., in relation to identities based on race and ethnicity). The research based on these ontological and epistemological assumptions views workplaces, for instance, as “static containers for different groups of people” (p. 59) and attends to difference “by focusing on the (only) psychological dimensions” (p. 64). The implications of these assumptions for theorizing and studying difference are the neglect of the history, context, and practices associated with the movement of transmigrants and their own experiences. The comparative methodologies commonly in use in the MOS and cross-cultural management field cannot, therefore, adequately capture the complexity of transnational migration, its dynamic, as well as its implications for work and organizations. In order to obtain a more complete and nuanced understanding, it is, according to Özkazanc-Pan, necessary to adopt a different ontological perspective. This alternative ontological perspective should, according to the author, be based on assumptions of mobility, where the focus, as the author suggests, should be on understanding conditions from which and to which subjects move and live their personal and professional lives. The alternative epistemology should be based on the assumptions that the social world is always in a state of “becoming versus finality.” In an attempt to capture such subtleties, the author suggests using mobile methodologies, such as life stories, shadowing, and biography. The book is divided into three parts and has nine chapters. In the first part of the book (consisting of Chapters 1 and 2), the author introduces the main ideas and starting points for the book. She briefly reviews and criticizes existing MOS approaches to the study of difference. Already in Chapter 1 the author proposes transnationalism as an alternative lens, which provides dynamic and relational ways for studying mobility and differences. Chapter 2 is organized around three concepts that the author draws from transnational migration studies: (1) a multiscalar global perspective (e.g., a focus on various social fields that captures different kinds of inequalities and power relations, as well as shows sensibility and awareness of increased “diversity”); (2) (moving beyond) a methodological nationalism (e.g., methodologies that allow contextualization and examination of the historic transformations across sociocultural, technological, economic, and political spheres—as well as implications of these transformations); and (3) historical global conjunctures (which provide better understanding of how mobility conditions have arisen over time). These become the central concepts used throughout the book to support the reasoning and proposals for new directions in studies of diversity and differences in MOS and the international management literature. When introducing each of these concepts, the author also relates them to some other similar concepts and emphasizes their difference from previously and commonly used ideas. For instance, when introducing the concept of multiscalar global perspective, the author compares it to known concepts such as power and inequality, and superdiversity—by emphasizing the previous lack of attention to the fact that existing inequalities are usually the reason for people to move. In the second part of the book (Chapters 3–5), Özkazanc-Pan focuses on three further concepts derived from transnational migration studies: transmigrants, hybrids, and cosmopolitans. In Chapter 3, the author provides a detailed analysis and critique of the mainstream literature on diversity, focusing as well on some critically oriented diversity studies. Instead of focusing, as many others have done, on diverse identities, she suggests paying attention to history, socioeconomic and political structures, as well as micro-level interactions, by giving voice to different people and exploring their encounters. These voices and potential tensions that may result from these encounters (rather than from diverse identities), can reveal which narratives of being and belonging are prioritized and which are marginalized, which in turn allows for a more nuanced understanding of how workplaces are organized. Chapter 4 focuses on the concept of hybrids, defined as novel sociocultural transformations, combinations, and mixings. Since hybrids take shape at the moment of cross-cultural encounters, it is important to acknowledge guiding assumptions around the historic context of such cross-cultural encounters. Therefore, Banu Özkazanc-Pan suggests rethinking our understanding of workplaces. Instead of theorizing and perceiving them as static and unchangeable (as in the MOS literature), she argues that we need to re-conceptualize them as sites of encounters between different transnational social communities. More specifically, through a hybridity lens, workplaces are not viewed as static, but rather as places that are shaped depending on who inhabits them, which in turn allows scholars to capture potential changes and then analyze the consequences of such transnational workplace encounters. Chapter 5 focuses on cosmopolitanism and cosmopolitans. These notions have been theorized in various ways. From the author's point of view, previous theorizing of these notions in the international and cross-cultural literature has been limited by focusing predominantly on the psychological dimensions and viewing cosmopolitanism as static. This approach to theorizing leads to an almost exclusive focus on the business case underlying the principle for motivating workforce diversity in the MOS literature, in which employees’ productivity is given a central place. This view of differences alters any other sense of being and belonging people may have. Instead, the author suggests an alternative perspective on cosmopolitanism that addresses various structural, political, and sociocultural dimensions that increase or diminish the ability of people to move. More specifically, studying cosmopolitanism for Banu Özkazanc-Pan means placing a focus on mobility, which can capture changes in selves, ideas, and practices accompanying movement (including, for instance, why employees may/may not/want to leave workplaces and organizations that treat them only as resources). Part III of the book, consisting of Chapters 6–8, is focused on multiculturalism, inequality, and mobile methodologies. As in the previous two parts of the book, the author provides both critique and new directions for the MOS and cross-cultural management field, through the lenses of the transnational perspective. In Chapter 6, the author argues that societies and organizations transform through migration, but that these transformations cannot be adequately captured through the theoretical lens of multiculturalism, which is based on a static concept of culture. She argues that this approach does not allow consideration for the ways transnational aspects of migration (such as when, why, and how subjects move and the conditions under which mobility is undertaken) have impacted organizations and work. In particular, she suggests that when it comes to practices of organizing, the focus of research should be on “historic formations and their present-day manifestations in relation to the possibilities of subjectivity: what kinds of selves are possible for whom and under what conditions in organizations” (p. 92). Chapter 7 focuses explicitly on inequality. Banu Özkazanc-Pan suggests that researchers should listen to the voices of Others. Others’ experiences of inequality/ies in organizations can capture changing forms of inequality, through the movements of people across different contexts. In Chapter 8, the author continues to emphasize the importance of transnational lenses and suggests alternative methodologies that attend to mobile subjects. She argues that such mobile methodological approaches should provide not only insights as to the different experiences of migration, being, and belonging, but also better understanding of practices of organizing and managing. From her perspective, the locally grounded and most often silent aspects of professional life experiences (e.g., related to power relations, hierarchies, and inequalities) should be put into a broader socio-historical context in order to recognize and capture their dynamics and changing nature. In Chapter 9, Banu Özkazanc-Pan summarizes the main new directions that she believes MOS research on differences should espouse. She proposes that future research on differences should recognize a world on-the-move, in which differences are perceived as in a constant state of becoming. Mobile subjectivities should be recognized and explored in ways that capture their historical formation, as well as ongoing transformations, taking place as they travel through different contexts. The most important contribution of this book, for me, is its analysis of mainstream diversity research. The author clearly reveals its limitations both in general and in particular when it comes to transmigrants. This analysis is absolutely necessary in order to contribute to what the author perceives as the basic goal, which is “to remake the whole enterprise of research on diversity, culture, and difference in the context of management and organization studies” (p. 119). This is a very ambitious goal and, if achieved, it might indeed lead to more emancipatory practices of organizing. It may be argued that understanding and criticism of what is now taking place in the MOS literature combined with a list of alternative possibilities, which the author has elaborated on in this book, is one of the preconditions for such emancipatory changes. But is this enough? The author herself seems to be of the opinion that a full achievement of this emancipatory goal requires a long and uncertain process of transformation. I share her belief that, notwithstanding all difficulties, this is not impossible. There are many ways to promote this goal. One possibility, not mentioned in the book, is to mobilize the dialectical approach (see, e.g., Benson, 1977; Seo & Creed, 2002). This view, like that put forward by the author, considers the mutuality between social productions (e.g., of transmigrants) shaped by social context, and by contradictions (Özkazanc-Pan calls them tensions). The dialectical approach also emphasizes the potentialities of these contradictions to stimulate critique and the development of alternatives (something which is well-articulated and argued in this book). However, beyond the questioning of existing social arrangements (such as those in the MOS literature, as in this book), and beyond the search for and elaboration on alternatives (such as transnational perspectives), the dialectic approach suggests the need for an active moment, in the form of human praxis oriented towards mobilization and collective action." @default.
• W3087907887 created "2020-10-01" @default.
• W3087907887 creator A5073893139 @default.
• W3087907887 date "2020-10-08" @default.
• W3087907887 modified "2023-09-23" @default.
• W3087907887 title "Transnational migration and the new subjects of work: Transmigrants, hybrids and cosmopolitans" @default.
• W3087907887 cites W1965455598 @default.
• W3087907887 cites W4255037556 @default.
• W3087907887 doi "https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12542" @default.
• W3087907887 hasPublicationYear "2020" @default.
• W3087907887 type Work @default.
• W3087907887 sameAs 3087907887 @default.
• W3087907887 citedByCount "0" @default.
• W3087907887 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W3087907887 hasAuthorship W3087907887A5073893139 @default.
• W3087907887 hasBestOaLocation W30879078871 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConcept C127413603 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConcept C144024400 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConcept C18762648 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConcept C48189365 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConcept C59822182 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConcept C78519656 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConcept C86803240 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConceptScore W3087907887C127413603 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConceptScore W3087907887C144024400 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConceptScore W3087907887C18762648 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConceptScore W3087907887C48189365 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConceptScore W3087907887C59822182 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConceptScore W3087907887C78519656 @default.
• W3087907887 hasConceptScore W3087907887C86803240 @default.
• W3087907887 hasIssue "1" @default.
• W3087907887 hasLocation W30879078871 @default.
• W3087907887 hasOpenAccess W3087907887 @default.
• W3087907887 hasPrimaryLocation W30879078871 @default.
• W3087907887 hasRelatedWork W2043971687 @default.
• W3087907887 hasRelatedWork W2047758159 @default.
• W3087907887 hasRelatedWork W206670748 @default.
• W3087907887 hasRelatedWork W2086327410 @default.
• W3087907887 hasRelatedWork W2328208343 @default.
• W3087907887 hasRelatedWork W2342250906 @default.
• W3087907887 hasRelatedWork W2370847481 @default.
• W3087907887 hasRelatedWork W2383905953 @default.
• W3087907887 hasRelatedWork W2748952813 @default.
• W3087907887 hasRelatedWork W868242806 @default.
• W3087907887 hasVolume "28" @default.
• W3087907887 isParatext "false" @default.
• W3087907887 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W3087907887 magId "3087907887" @default.
• W3087907887 workType "article" @default.