Fiona Hurd - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Fiona Hurd

Management Learning

Academic well-being is increasingly being eroded by the ever-shifting demands of the neoliberal u... more Academic well-being is increasingly being eroded by the ever-shifting demands of the neoliberal university. As stressed early-career research-path academics, we both experienced an acutely depleted sense of well-being within this context. While our struggles were neither unusual nor remarkable, they exposed the difficulties inherent in blending academic work and life outside academia. Through embarking on a process of sharing our experiences with each other, we challenged the traditional silence about stress in academia. We created a shared narrative that interwove a process of writing individual vignettes, longitudinal diarising and critical reflexive questioning. Turning a critical gaze upon our struggles was a powerful means of opening up spaces of self-care within our academic practices. Here, we present the collaborative reflexive process that we used to nurture spaces of well-being in our own academic lives and thus, draw attention to the way reflexive practice can be understo...

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential to develop a shared understanding ... more Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential to develop a shared understanding of systemic discrimination and the complexity of equality and an appreciation for the range of interventions designed to redress inequality within the context of business school curricula. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative material was gathered over a four-year period through written reflections of student interpretations of equality. Participants were enrolled in a human resource management course critically examining systemic gender discrimination, women's organisational experiences, gendered employment outcomes, and the range of interventions designed to redress gendered employment outcomes. Threshold concepts framed the analysis of participant reflections. Findings: The paper shows that while the participants developed a shared understanding of systemic gender discrimination, their interpretations of equality and appreciation for the range of interventions available to redress inequality differed. These differences were shaped by 1) the extent to which participants integrated their understanding of systemic discrimination with their interpretations of equality and 2) the extent to which the interventions to inequality transformed, upheld or challenged participant agendic self-identity and world view. Practical implications: The differences in interpretations have implications for the way educators introduce discussions of equality within the business school classroom. Originality: The paper demonstrates that developing a shared understanding of systemic discrimination does not always lead to developing a shared understanding of the complexity of equality or appreciation for the many forms of interventions available.

Journal of Asia-Pacific Business

Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal

Purpose Although the process of fieldwork is often characterised by disorder, the requirement to ... more Purpose Although the process of fieldwork is often characterised by disorder, the requirement to adhere to a tightly defined methodology and produce timely research outputs often leads the authors to present the findings as though the research has been the product of a linear process. The purpose of this paper is to unmask this paradox, by documenting the disorder and development of a research project 15 years (so far) in duration. Design/methodology/approach The approach used in this paper is one of auto-ethnographic reflection, drawing on aspects of Boje’s living story approach, incorporating not only the “linear” narrative of the research process, but also fragments of ante-narrative, themes running above and below the dominant. Within the study, the authors are reflecting on, a range of qualitative methods, including interview, focus groups, memory-work, and living story (ante-narrative) methods, which are employed within a critical management research methodology. Findings The ...

Academy of Management Learning & Education

'What's going on?' Within the context of our critically-informed teaching practice, we see moment... more 'What's going on?' Within the context of our critically-informed teaching practice, we see moments of deep learning and reflexivity in classroom discussions and assessments. Yet, these moments of criticality are interspersed with surface learning and reflection. We draw on dichotomous, linear developmental, and messy explanations of learning processes to empirically explore the learning journeys of 20 international Chinese and 42 domestic New Zealand students. We find contradictions within our own data, and between our findings and the extant literature. We conclude that expressions of surface learning and reflection are considerably more complex than they first appear. Moreover, developing critical reflexivity is a far more subtle, messy, and emotional experience than previously understood. We present the theoretical and pedagogical significance of these findings when we consider the implications for the learning process and the practice of management education.

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 2017

Purpose Communities of work are a phenomenon closely associated with government social and indust... more Purpose Communities of work are a phenomenon closely associated with government social and industrial policy, and can be tracked in contemporary examples globally alongside industrial development. The purpose of this paper is to explore community identity within a town which was previously single industry, but has since experienced workforce reduction and to a large degree, industry withdrawal. Design/methodology/approach Using an inductive approach, the researchers interviewed 32 participants who had resided (past or present) within the instrumental case study town. A thematic analytical framework, drawing on the work of Boje (2007) was employed. Findings A significant theme to emerge from the participants was the public assertion of social cohesion and belonging. However, what was interesting, was that beneath this unified exterior, lay accounts of multiple forms of demarcation. Drawing on Benedict Anderson’s (1983) notion of the imagined community, and Bauman’s (2001) identity in...

Gender and Education, 2016

We examine student perceptions about feminists and feminism, and the willingness to claim a femin... more We examine student perceptions about feminists and feminism, and the willingness to claim a feminist identity and engage in collective activism, as stated at the beginning and end of a Women's Studies course. Course participation simultaneously fostered more positive views towards feminists and feminism and entrenched the unwillingness to claim a feminist identity and engage in activism. These contradictory outcomes stemmed from the critical capacity to recognise that structural inequality is reproduced through disciplinary relationships. Thus, unwillingness was entangled with feelings of fear and vulnerability in relation to the national context whereby neoliberalism guides the governance of the self, and where gender equality has presumed to be achieved. The article highlights that developing the willingness to identity and act is intimately shaped and constrained by the socio-political context and personal relationships. We consider the implications of this insight in relation to pedagogical assumptions about developing feminist knowledge in the classroom.

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 2010

International Journal of Work Innovation, 2012

Through a deconstruction of the taken-for-granted assumption of the 'transformation of work', I a... more Through a deconstruction of the taken-for-granted assumption of the 'transformation of work', I argue that the nature of this transformation is largely discursive, underpinned by enduring assumptions of economic imperative and the control of worker subjectivities. Predominated by discourses of mutual benefit and innovation/knowledge work, there appears to be a significant disconnect between the promises of these discourses, and the experiences of most workers. I explore whether new forms of work may be examples of an emancipatory transformation of work. I question whether the polarity in outcomes might be seen as an emancipation for the 'chosen', rather than meaningful transformation of the workplace for all workers.

New Zealand Sociology, 2011

Many small industry towns have faced restructuring and downsizing of the major employer over the ... more Many small industry towns have faced restructuring and downsizing of the major employer over the past twenty years, leading to reduced employment in the township and population decline. Yet little is known about how New Zealand community members perceive ...

International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2004

ABSTRACT This paper uses panel data from New Zealand from the years 1995 and 1999 to examine the ... more ABSTRACT This paper uses panel data from New Zealand from the years 1995 and 1999 to examine the impact on those organizations, size fifty and over, that engaged in repeat downsizing during this period. It was found that, during the panel period, approximately 20 per cent of the 322 organizations in the survey had engaged in the permanent reduction of their workforce in both periods. When compared with organizations in the survey that had not engaged in downsizing in both periods, it was found that the repeat downsizers exhibited characteristics that were little different from those that had downsized only in the later period, who reported the greatest decline in performance. However, those who had downsized only in 1995 had, by 1999, largely recovered from the initial negative effects. The repeat downsizers appear to have created a long-term concession climate that is associated with negative workplace performance.