Singing with Dignity

Adding Social Quality to Organization Studies on Aging

in The International Journal of Social Quality
Author:
Prabhir Vishnu Poruthiyil Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli (IIMT) vishnu@iimtrichy.ac.in

Search for other papers by Prabhir Vishnu Poruthiyil in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Restricted access

Abstract

Scholars of organization studies are right to be concerned with the limited contributions the field has made to public policy despite the societal relevance of the insights it contains. The combination of bulkiness and of insulated pockets of specialization could help explain the relative isolation from policy making that tends to require a combination of speed and multifaceted application. The social quality (SQ) approach is simultaneously an analytical tool and a political project to secure dignity of precarious individuals. The multilevel framework adopted by SQ can effectively channel the wide range of contributions from organization studies in the service of public good. Using an ethnography of music lessons followed by older adults in a cultural institution facing imminent closure because of austerity measures, the article connects SQ work to contributions from organization theory, which can shed light on organizing principles critical to well-being of older persons.

Contributor Notes

Prabhir Vishnu Poruthiyil is Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli (IIMT). He holds a PhD from the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR). He secured his MA in public policy and management from the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) at EUR. His research and teaching research focus is on business ethics, a field of applied ethics encompassing the range of scholarly attempts to formulate morally justified roles for business enterprises in meeting the demands of social justice. Email: vishnu@iimtrichy.ac.in

  • Collapse
  • Expand

The International Journal of Social Quality

(formerly The European Journal of Social Quality)

  • Aaltio, I., A. J. Mills, and J. H. Mills. 2017. “Introduction: Why to Study Ageing in Organisations?” In Ageing, Organisations and Management, ed. I. Aaltio, A. J. Mills, and J. H. Mills, 316. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Adams, K. B. 2004. “Changing Investment in Activities and Interests in Elders’ Lives: Theory and Measurement.” International Journal of Aging and Human Development 58 (2): 87108.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Adams, K. B., S. Leibbrandt, and H. Moon. 2011. “A Critical Review of the Literature on Social and Leisure Activity and Wellbeing in Later Life.” Ageing and Society 31 (4): 683712.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Adler, P. S. 2012. “Perspective: The Sociological Ambivalence of Bureaucracy—From Weber via Gouldner to Marx.” Organization Science 23 (1): 244266.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Adler, P. S., and J. Jermier. 2005. “Developing a Field with More Soul: Standpoint Theory and Public Policy Research for Management Scholars.” Academy of Management Journal 48 (6): 941944.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ainsworth, S., and C. Hardy. 2007. “The Construction of the Older Worker: Privilege, Paradox and Policy.” Discourse and Communication 1 (3): 295313.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ainsworth, S., and C. Hardy. 2008. “The Enterprising Self: An Unsuitable Job for an Older Worker.” Organization 15 (3): 389405.

  • Alvesson, M., and H. Willmott. 1992. “On the Idea of Emancipation in Management and Organization Studies.” Academy of Management Review 17 (3): 432464.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Alvesson, M., and H. Willmott. 2002. “Identity Regulation as Organizational Control: Producing the Appropriate Individual.” Journal of Management Studies 39 (5): 619644.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Bowman, D., M. McGann, H. Kimberley, and S. Biggs. 2017. “‘Rusty, Invisible and Threatening’: Ageing, Capital and Employability.” Work, Employment and Society 31 (3): 465482.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Baars, J. 2000. “Time, Age, and Autonomy.” European Journal of Social Quality 2 (1): 927.

  • Banerjee, S. B., and A. Prasad. 2008. “Introduction to the Special Issue on ‘Critical Reflections on Management and Organizations: A Postcolonial Perspective.’” Critical Perspectives on International Business 4 (2–3): 9098.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Beck, W., L. J. G. van der Maesen, and A. Walker. 2001. “Theorizing Social Quality: The Concept’s Validity.” In Social Quality: A Vision for Europe, ed. W. Beck, L. J. G. van Der Maesen, and A. Walker, 307360. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Chapman, S. A. 2006. “A ‘New Materialist’ Lens on Aging Well: Special Things in Later Life.” Journal of Aging Studies 20 (3): 207216.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Collinson, D. L. 2003. “Identities and Insecurities: Selves at Work.” Organization 10 (3): 527554

  • Contu, A. 2008. “Decaf Resistance: On Misbehavior, Cynicism, and Desire in Liberal Workplaces.” Management Communication Quarterly 21 (3): 364379.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Contu, A., and H. Willmott. 2005. “You Spin Me Round: The Realist Turn in Organization and Management Studies.” Journal of Management Studies 42 (8): 16451662.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Courpasson, D., D. Arellano-Gault, A. Brown, and M. Lounsbury. 2008. “Organization Studies on the Look-Out: Being Read, Being Listened To.” Organization Studies 29 (11): 13831390.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Czarniawska-Joerges, B. 1995. “Narration or Science? Collapsing the Division in Organization Studies.” Organization 2 (1): 1133.

  • De Cock, C., and C. Land. 2005. “Organization/Literature: Exploring the Seam.” Organization Studies 27 (4): 517535.

  • Ekerdt, D. J. 1986. “The Busy Ethic: Moral Continuity between Work and Retirement.” Gerontologist 26 (3): 239244.

  • Eman, J. 2012. “The Role of Sports in Making Sense of the Process of Growing Old.” Journal of Aging Studies 26 (4): 467475.

  • Estes, C. L. 2000. “From Gender to the Political Economy of Ageing.” European Journal of Social Quality 2 (1): 2846.

  • Fineman, S. 2014. “Age Matters.” Organization Studies, 35(11): 17191723.

  • Graham, C. 2014. “The Calculation of Age.” Organization Studies 35 (11): 16271653.

  • Harvey, D. 2007. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • Herrmann, P. 2006. “Social Quality: Opening Individual Well-Being for a Social Perspective.” European Journal of Social Quality 6 (1): 2749

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Janke, M., and A. Davey. 2006. “Implications of Selective Optimization with Compensation on the Physical, Formal and Informal Leisure Patterns of Adults.” Indian Journal of Gerontology 20 (1–2): 5166.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Jermier, J. 1998. “Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Organizational Control.” Administrative Science Quarterly 43 (2): 235256.

  • Jones, C., and R. Munro. 2005. “Organization Theory, 1985–2005.” Sociological Review 53 (1): 115.

  • Katz, S. 2000. “Busy Bodies: Activity, Aging and the Management of Everyday Life.” Journal of Aging Studies 14 (2): 135152.

  • Kunisch, S., J. M. Bartunek, J. Mueller, and Q. N. Huy. 2017. “Time in Strategic Change Research.” Academy of Management Annals 11 (2): 10051064.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Lang, F. R., N. Rieckmann, and M. Baltes. 2002. “Adapting to Aging Losses: Do Resources Facilitate Strategies of Selection, Compensation and Optimization in Everyday Functioning?Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences 57B (6): 501509.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Leonard, P., A. Fuller, and L. Unwin. 2017. “A New Start? Negotiations of Age and Chrononormativity by Older Apprentices in England.” Ageing and Society 38 (8): 16671692.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Lin, K. 2011. “The Prototype of Social Quality Theory and Its Applicability to Asian Societies.” International Journal of Social Quality 1 (1): 5769.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Lin, K., P. Ward, and L. J. G. van der Maesen. 2009. “Social Quality Theory in Perspective.” Development And Society 38 (2): 201208

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Lin, K., L. J. G. van der Maesen, D. Gasper, and D. Mao. 2011. “Editorial.” International Journal of Social Quality 1 (1): 13.

  • Liu, H. 2017. “The Masculinisation of Ethical Leadership Dis/embodiment.” Journal of Business Ethics 144 (2): 263278.

  • March, J. G. 2007. “The Study of Organizations and Organizing since 1945.” Organization Studies 28 (1): 919.

  • Martinson, M., and J. Halpern. 2011. “Ethical Implications of the Promotion of Elder Volunteerism: A Critical Perspective.” Journal of Aging Studies 25 (4): 427435.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Minkler, M. and M. B. Holstein. 2008. “From Civil Rights to … Civic Engagement? Concerns of Two Older Critical Gerontologists about a ‘New Social Movement’ and What It Portends.” Journal of Aging Studies 22 (2): 196204.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mir, R. and A. Mir. 2013. “The Colony Writes Back: Organization as an Early Champion of Non-Western Organizational Theory.” Organization 20 (1): 91101.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Moore, K. D and D. J. Ekerdt. 2011. “Age and the Cultivation of Place.” Journal of Aging Studies, Special Section: Age and the Cultivation of Place 25 (3): 189192.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Mumby, D. K. 2005. “Theorizing Resistance in Organization Studies: A Dialectical Approach.” Management Communication Quarterly 19 (1): 1944.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Riach, K. 2007. “‘Othering’ Older Worker Identity in Recruitment.” Human Relations 60 (11): 17011726.

  • Riach, K., and L. Cutcher. 2014. “Built to Last: Ageing, Class and the Masculine Body in a UK Hedge Fund.” Work, Employment and Society 28 (5): 771787.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Riach, K., N. Rumens, and M. Tyler. 2014. “Un/doing Chrononormativity: Negotiating ageing, Gender and Sexuality in Organizational Life.” Organization Studies 35 (11): 16771698.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Scheuer, C. L., & Mills, A. J. (2017). Reifying Age-Related Employment Problems Through the Constructions of the “Problematic” Older and Younger Worker. In Aaltio I., Mills A., Mills J. (eds) Ageing, Organisations and Management (pp. 4163). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Newton, T., S. Deetz, and M. Reed. 2011, “Responses to Social Constructionism and Critical Realism in Organization Studies.” Organization Studies 32 (1): 726.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Phillips, D. 2011. “The Individual and the Social: A Comparative Study of Quality of Life, Social Quality and Human Development Approaches.” International Journal of Social Quality 1 (1): 7189.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Phoenix C., B. Smith, and A. C. Sparkes. 2010. “Narrative Analysis in Aging Studies: A Typology for Consideration.” Journal of Aging Studies 24 (1): 111.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Prasad, P., and A. Prasad. 2000. “Stretching the Iron Cage: The Constitution and Implications of Routine Workplace Resistance.” Organization Science 11 (4): 387403.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Reed, M. 2005. “Doing the Loco-motion: Response to Contu and Willmott’s Commentary on ‘The Realist Turn in Organization and Management Studies.’” Journal of Management Studies 42 (8): 16631673.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Rubenstein, A. L., D. G. Allen, and F. A. Bosco. 2017. “What’s Past (and Present) Is Prologue: Interactions Between Justice Levels and Trajectories Predicting Behavioral Reciprocity.” Journal of Management, first published online 29 August. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206317728107.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Simpson, M., M. Richardson, and E. Z. Theodore. 2012. “A Job, a Dream or a Trap? Multiple Meanings for Encore Careers.” Work, Employment and Society 26 (3): 429446

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Sutton, R. I. 1987. “The Process of Organizational Death: Disbanding and Reconnecting.” Administrative Science Quarterly 32 (4): 542569.

  • Thomas, R., C. Hardy, L. Cutcher, and S. Ainsworth. 2014. “What’s Age Got to Do with It? On the Critical Analysis of Age and Organizations.” Organization Studies 35 (11): 15691584.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Tsoukas, H., and R. Chia. 2002. “On Organizational Becoming: Rethinking Organizational Change.” Organization Science 13 (5): 567582.

  • Walker, A. 2000. “Public Policy and the Construction of Old Age in Europe.” Gerontologist 40 (3): 261308.

  • Walker A. 2009. “The Social Quality Approach: Bridging Asia and Europe.” Development and Society 38 (2): 209235

  • Walker, A. 2011. “Social Quality and Welfare System Sustainability.” International Journal of Social Quality 1 (1): 518.

  • Walker, A. 2018. “Why the UK Needs a Social Policy on ageing.” Journal of Social Policy 47 (2): 253273.

  • Walker, A., and L. J. G. van der Maesen. 2003. “Social Quality and Quality of Life.” Paper presented at the ESPA-NET Conference, Copenhagen, 1315 November.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Ward, P., P. Redgrave, and C. Read. 2006, “Operationalizing the Theory of Social Quality: Theoretical and Experiential Reflections from the Development and Implementation of a Public Health Programme in the UK.” European Journal of Social Quality 6 (2): 918.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Whetten, D. A. 1980. “Organizational Decline: A Neglected Topic in Organizational Science.” Academy of Management Review 5 (4): 577588.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Willmott, H. 2008. “Critical Management and Global Justice.” Organization 15 (6): 927931.

  • Zald, M. N., and M. Lounsbury. 2010. “The Wizards of Oz: Towards an Institutional Approach to Elites, Expertise and Command Posts.” Organization Studies 31 (7): 963995.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Zanoni, P. 2011. “Diversity in the Lean Automobile Factory: Doing Class through Gender, Disability and Age.” Organization, 18(1): 105127.

    • Crossref
    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 4021 3210 900
Full Text Views 31 6 0
PDF Downloads 34 4 0