Item 1:

Culture and Organization soon ready to begin accepting submissions via ScholarOne Manuscripts
We are delighted to inform you that Culture and Organization will shortly be ready to begin accepting submissions via our new electronic submission and review system, ScholarOne Manuscripts (formerly Manuscript Central).

As you undoubtedly know, ScholarOne Manuscripts is an Internet-based application that facilitates online submission and peer review. The system is entirely web-based meaning it can be accessed via any web browser, on any internet-ready PC, anywhere in the world without the hassle of downloading software.

From November 1st 2012 all our work will be undertaken using the ScholarOne Manuscripts system which brings with it a number of significant advantages: making it even easier to submit your paper, or to review for us, and track the progress of an MS through peer review. ScholarOne Manuscripts eliminates postal delays and streamlines the peer review process, making it more transparent and a great deal easier for authors, reviewers and editors alike.

Of course, electronic systems can seem impersonal, but we have tried to build good relationships with our authors and reviewers and we intend to remain a friendly, approachable journal.

Unless you are an existing reviewer or have a manuscript currently under consideration for the journal, in which case you will shortly be contacted separately about the new system, please ensure that all submissions to Culture and Organization on or after the 1st November 2012 are made via our ScholarOne site at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/gsco. You will have to sign up for an account before you are able to submit a manuscript.

We look forward to your continued support of the journal, and to receiving your resubmitted manuscript as outlined above.

All the very best,
Jo Brewis and Damian O’Doherty, co-editors
Rene ten Bos, Sarah Dempsey and Janet Sayers, associate editors
John Doherty, editorial assistant


Item 2:

An experiment in critical friendship
Organizers: VIDA, the Critical Management Studies Women’s Association
CMS conference, Manchester 2013

“A critical friend can be defined as a trusted person who asks provocative questions, provides data to be examined through another lens, and offers critiques of a person’s work as a friend. A critical friend takes the time to fully understand the context of the work presented and the outcomes that the person or group is working toward. The friend is an advocate for the success of that work.” (Costa and Kallick, 1993: #5)

The often masculinist tenor of academic writing and debate in Critical Management Studies – the tendency to machismo, incredulity, one-upmanship and acidity, as well as the continuing reliance on what one brand of feminism calls the Dead White European Men - can be regarded as a particular challenge for female scholars (Grey and Sinclair, 2006). So can the low numbers of senior female role models in academic institutions of all kinds. Equally, women who are fortunate enough to find sympathetic male mentors may end up on the receiving end of a variety of sexist judgements about their relationships with these men. And all of this is made yet more complicated and yet more persistent by the ways in which women (ourselves included) just as much as men enrol in the discourses which produce and reproduce these problematic effects. It is also important to acknowledge not only the “monotonous similarity” of academic gender relations, but also their “endless variety” (Rubin, 1975: 160) – cut across as they are by race, ethnicity, age, (dis)ability, sexuality, national origin and a whole host of other differences.

Two decades after the term ‘Critical Management Studies’ was originally coined (Alvesson and Willmott, 1992), following a wave of critical commentary on CMS itself and given the commitment of the CMS movement – however diverse – to changing oppressive social praxis, VIDA feels the time is ripe to challenge gender relations in the critical management academy and its cognate disciplines. One aspect of this challenge is to create collective spaces for reflection, connection, mutual support and knowledge formation and exchange. For us such practical interventions can enrich not only the theoretical resources available to scholars interested in gender, but also provide safe havens from which new collaborations, partnerships and friendships can emerge amongst women scholars.

This experiment in critical friendship is one such intervention, inspired in part by Ann Cunliffe’s observation that “We need to be much better at mentoring doctoral students and junior faculty, particularly outside Europe where only a few isolated ‘critical’ communities exist and where many find themselves the lone critical scholar in their institution. Let’s build on the annual and bi-annual CMS meetings by offering ongoing support and mentoring throughout the year. It makes a difference when you have someone to talk to about how to do ‘good’ critical research, how to orient and write critical work, and how to get it published.” (Cunliffe, 2008: 938)

Although precise details will be finalized as we draw nearer to CMS 2013, our plans for the experiment are as follows. Please note: participation in the experiment is limited to women:

1. Any female scholar - at whatever level - who is seeking constructive, friendly and supportive criticism from other women can submit a working paper in advance.

2. This paper could be anything from a set of preliminary notes and a sketchy outline all the way through to something which is almost ready to submit to a journal. It could equally be a paper which the applicant plans to present in one of the other streams at CMS 2013, or at any other conference. Draft chapters from doctoral theses are also very welcome.

3. The only criteria which will be used in terms of selecting the papers for our experiment will be the time, rooms and numbers of critical friends we have available. We will select papers on a first come, first served basis if we are not able to accommodate all submissions.

4. Women whose papers are discussed in the experiment can expect forty five minutes’ feedback/ discussion of their work. They do not need to present the paper and there will be no formal discussants or respondents. Instead there will be a round-table, collegiate and egalitarian engagement with the author’s ideas. The experiment is intended as a dialogue between peers: conventional academic hierarchies will not be in play.

5. All those attending the stream will be expected to have read the papers in advance and to come prepared to comment. Papers will be pre-circulated by e-mail and as such we ask those who are simply interested in attending to register that interest with us. This is an experiment which very much depends on generosity, because those attending and not submitting a paper will not get anything ‘tangible’ from the sessions.

6. The experiment will end with a session where participants reflect on the experience, the kind of space we have created, the type of dialogue involved, the extent to which we have succeeded in leaving conventional academic practices of peer review ‘elsewhere’, the balance between criticality and friendship we have managed to achieve and so on. Our hope is that we will be able to produce a reflective piece authored by everyone involved on this basis – as both a record of the experiment and a platform for future interventions of this and other kinds.

7. After the workshop, the discussion about and feedback on each paper will be written up and sent to the authors. If they desire, authors can also engage in a continuing dialogue with one of our critical friends about its progression.

Built into all of the above are the core VIDA values of equity, democracy, support, friendship, collectivism, challenge and intervention, amongst women, by women and for women. We are very much running this as an experiment, so it will be a trial and error process, but one we hope will proceed throughout according to these values.

To submit an abstract, please email Jo Brewis at j.brewis@le.ac.uk, by 31st January 2013. Please keep them fairly minimal: 500 words maximum and shorter if possible. We will then ask for (selected?) full papers by 15th April 2013. Again please note that this deadline is earlier than in the originally circulated call. It is also possible to submit a full paper for consideration by the later deadline without having submitted an abstract in advance, although we will be operating a principle of first come first served as we indicate above.

Those who would simply like to attend as critical friends are also asked to email Jo at the same address by 15th April 2013 to confirm this. (once again this deadline is earlier than in the originally circulated call).

The organizers of this experiment, on behalf of VIDA, are Alessia Contu, Sadhvi Dar, Carole Elliott, Jo Brewis, Martyna Sliwa, Sarah Robinson and Kiran Trehan.


Item 3:

ACSCOS 2012 Conference on MEMORY
A final reminder that the ACSCOS 2012 Conference on MEMORY is in its final stage of preparation. But before we nail down the final programme we would like to invite the undecided to consider a trip down to beautiful Melbourne and join a very nice group of people who have already registered and are now looking impatiently towards our gathering.

Registration is still open (http://www.swinburne.edu.au/business/ACSCOS/)and we encourage you to join us for a vibrant and challenging meeting.

Melbourne promises to be lots of fun, the Metropole Hotel is located just out of the city and in the heart of the Brunswick Street/Smith Street bar and restaurant precinct. The Melbourne Museum is also close by.
Below are some links that may be of interest.

http://www.metropole.org/
http://everguide.com.au/melbourne/calendar/this-month/
http://www.brunswickstreet.com.au/
http://www.smithstreet.org.au/
https://littlecreatures.com.au/

Let us celebrate together and in great spirits a successful 5th ACSCOS Conference at the Metropole Hotel in Melbourne.

Warm regards

The ACSCOS 2012 Team
memoryconference@swin.edu.au


Item 4:

Call for Papers: Special issue of Organization – Sexuality and Organizational Analysis: 30 years on

‘Sexuality is nothing if not complicated – but that is no excuse for ignoring it’
(Burrell, 1984: 113).

Gibson Burrell’s ‘Sex and Organizational Analysis’, published in Organization Studies in 1984, represented an important contribution to the then emergent field of critical management and organization studies, based upon a welcome application of insights from sociology, philosophy and social history to the study of sexuality at work. Thirty years on, while sexuality remains a relatively marginal topic in mainstream organizational analysis, a burgeoning body of ideas has emerged in more critical quarters representing a flourishing dialogue that has stretched across disciplinary boundaries. This has been inspired and influenced particularly by the impact of feminist theory and politics, as well as insights from queer theory, poststructuralism and postcolonialism. Alongside these important theoretical developments, the lived experiences of sexuality within organizations have changed considerably within the last three decades. Sexuality has arguably never been so controlled, commodified and commercialized. At the same time, protective legislation combined with changing social attitudes and political capacities mean that in some contexts, and for some groups, organizations have become more diverse, tolerant places than a generation or so ago. In many ways, and reflecting a ‘historical convergence of empirical, policy, political, theoretical, technological, spatial and indeed personal concerns’ (Hearn, 2011: 299), sexuality has never been so organized.

The dialectical emphasis on sexuality as a ‘frontier’ of control and resistance, advocated in ‘Sex and Organizational Analysis’, has been reflected in many subsequent attempts to make sense of the relationship between sexuality and organization through a series of interventions over the past thirty years or so that have sought to emphasize the centrality of sexuality to organizational power relations in all their many forms. As Fleming (2007: 239) has recently noted in this respect, ‘following Burrell’s landmark analysis of sexuality and organization, a good deal of the discussion has been couched in terms of power, control and resistance’. It is this complex melange of power and pleasure, control and resistance, exclusion and over-inclusion that continues both to fascinate and elude organizational scholars, and which means that sexuality remains a central if relatively neglected aspect of organizational lives and processes.

Inter-disciplinary and iconoclastic in its orientation, Organization has played a crucial role in expanding the field of organization studies, providing an often ground-breaking context within which to explore themes and ideas that have traditionally been neglected or negated by mainstream management studies, including a concern with the relationship between sexuality and organization. Continuing this tradition, this special issue seeks to provide a timely opportunity to reflect on developments in the study and lived experience of sexuality within organizations over the last three decades. It also seeks to provide a provocative forum in which to anticipate possible future developments in organizational forms, policies and practices, as well as to map out potential conceptual, methodological and theoretical directions in the study of sexuality and organizations.

With this mind, we invite empirical, conceptual, methodological and theoretical contributions to this special issue of Organization from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives. Possible areas for investigation might include (but need not be limited to) any of the following:

· Sexuality and organizational power, control and resistance; sexuality and surveillance.
· Sexual harassment, violence and violation within/through organizations.
· Organizational de/re-eroticization.
· Sex work and sexualized forms of labour.
· Physically, social and morally ‘dirty work’, abjection and sexuality.
· Sex, religion and organizational spirituality.
· Global organizations and sexuality; imperialism and neo-colonialism.
· Sexuality, art and organizational aesthetics.
· Sexual language, imagery and organizational culture.
· Sexuality, work and organizations in the mass media and popular culture.
· Information and communication technologies, virtuality and sexuality.
· Sexual commodification, co-optation and branding.
· Sexual identity, diversity and difference; sexuality as a human resource within organizations; the management of sexuality; legislative and institutional change.
· Intersectionalities between sexuality, age, class, disability, ethnicity, gender, generation, ‘race’ and nationality; trans-gendering and trans-sexualities.
· Sexuality, corporeality and ethics; sexual communities.
· Sexuality, eroticism and leadership.

Submission:
Papers should be submitted electronically by 31st October 2012 to SAGETrack at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/organization

Papers must be no more than 8,000 words, excluding references, and will be blind reviewed in accordance with the journal’s standard review process. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the guidelines published in Organization and on the journal’s website: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?level1=600&currTree=Subjects&catLevel1=&prodId=Journal200981

For further information or to discuss a possible submission, please contact one of the guest editors: Jo Brewis (j.brewis@le.ac.uk), Albert Mills (albert.mills@SMU.CA) or Melissa Tyler (mjtyler@essex.ac.uk)

References
Burrell, G. (1984) ‘Sex and Organizational Analysis’, Organization Studies. 5(2): 97-118.
Fleming, P. (2007) ‘Sexuality, Power and Resistance in the Workplace’, Organization Studies. 28(2): 239-256.
Hearn, J. (2011) ‘Sexualities, Work, Organizations, and Managements: Empirical, Policy, and Theoretical Challenges’, in E. Jeanes, D. Knights and P.Y. Martin (eds) Handbook of Gender, Work and Organization. Chichester: Wiley, pp. 299-314.


Item 5:

PhD scholarship at the University of the West of England
A full-time PhD scholarship for the Faculty of Business and Law PhD programme at the University of the West of England:
http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/research/postgraduateresearchstudy/studentshipopportunities.aspx

The deadline: December 3rd, 2012.

The scholarship will be awarded in January, 2013.