The Centre for Business & Society (CBS), at the Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB), Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), promotes high-quality research, praxis and public policy in the area of corporate governance. To that end, we are putting forth this call for papers for our upcoming international conference titled
Creating Inclusive Organisational and Public Spaces
Date: March 30-31, 2018
Venue: LUMS, Lahore
Availability, and accessibility of personal and public space represents one of the central concerns of these turbulent times. While an ideal public space should be open and accessible to individuals irrespective of their background or identity, in practice, public space almost always entails limitations and exclusions based on law, public policy and local norms. Similarly, with the increasing ubiquity of surveillance and social media in our lives, availability of personal space (material and ideological) is increasingly becoming a contested domain.
Management plays a central role in maintaining the system of permissions and prohibitions that sustain the particular socially constructed nature of space in an organisation or polity. For example, material and social management of space within organisations leads to unequal distribution of status and power; factors that in turn lead to suboptimal individual and organisational performance. Similarly, as the Black Lives Matter movement highlights, police officials are often responsible for extra surveillance and selective implementation of the law on different minorities hindering their presence in the public space.
Hence, organisational and social spaces are not neutral. Instead, while some modes of expression, identities and bodies are treated as normal – even ideal – others deemed deviant are either denied access or marked for surveillance and subsequent marginalisation and invisibility. At the same time, management and policy can also play a critical role in creating more accessible and inclusive spaces in organisations and society. All this makes space as an important site of governance and management.
This inter-disciplinary conference aims to bring together scholars having different thematic, geographical and methodological expertise to engage with contemporary debates about the governance and management of space in contemporary organisations and polity.
Suggested streams can include, but are not limited to the following:
Management of Organisational Spaces
In this theme, we encourage scholars to engage with the debates on management and distribution of (material and ideological) space within contemporary organisations. We are also interested in papers that analyse the difference ways in which organisations can be made more inclusive. We also welcome papers that explore the intersection between personal space and increased surveillance through technological and disciplinary measures in contemporary organisations.
Governance of Public Space
In this theme, we encourage papers that explore the intersections between government, citizens, and the public space. Given the rise of neoliberalism, papers in this theme can also explore increasing commodification and private ownership of public spaces. We also encourage papers that explore the role of bureaucracy in accessibility, management and inclusiveness of public spaces.
Gender and Space
Papers included in this theme can focus on investigating how patriarchal governance of space in contemporary organisations and polity lead to privileging the (socially defined) masculine identities and behaviours while marginalising behaviours labelled as non-masculine. The role of management, law and policy in facilitating this process can also be explored.
Diversity, Identity and Governance of Space
In addition to gender, other axis of identity (like race, religion, ethnicity, sexuality and socioeconomic status) also influences the nature of organisational and social spaces. In this theme, we welcome papers that explore the intersection between diversity and management of space within contemporary organisations and polity. We are particularly interested in papers and/or case studies that highlight innovative ways of managing space within organisations and society in a more inclusive manner.
Governance of Virtual Spaces
With the rise of social media, virtual public space has become an important site of governance, collaboration and democracy. On the flip side, threats of cyber terrorism, hacking, cyber-bullying and identity theft are also on the rise. This makes virtual space as an important site of governance. Papers in this theme should investigate these themes and should also focus on attempts by different governments to facilitate or limit free speech in the virtual sphere.
Power, Politics and Space
Organisational and public spaces are also arenas where different stakeholders engage in power and politics to advance their own interests. Papers in this theme can explore the various ways in which space acts as a mediator of power relations and how access and distribution of space can be used to marginalise or empower specific groups.
Environment, Urban Management as Public Space
Our physical and natural environments intersect with personal and social space in important ways. Provision of spaces for public assembly; public transportation and parking facilities; and provision of green technologies for sustainability are some of the ways in which environment and urban management intersect with accessibility and sustainability of public space. In addition to these themes, papers can also explore how the city can be imagined as a larger public space and the different rights of publics to urban spaces.
Democracy and Public Space
Scholars like Hannah Arendt and Jürgen Habermas have identified public space as the site of transformational democracy. Others contend that public spaces that can serve as the site of such politics are fast disappearing. Papers in this theme should explore the democratic potential of contemporary public spaces, the reasons for their disappearance and strategies available to the public to create new public spaces.
Organisations as Public Spaces
Formal organisations like educational institutions, hospitals and public malls raise interesting questions related to the nature of public space and their governance. Papers in this theme can explore the different ways in which public policy; management and the profit imperative influence the “publicness” of space and interactions within such organisations.
Public, Private and Hybrid Spaces
In this theme, we encourage papers that explore the nature of space in contemporary society. Does it make sense to talk about the public-private distinction when it comes to space? Are we all living in a public space where nothing is private anymore? Is this public space being managed privately or publicly? Is there merit in being nostalgic for public space? Is our mind the only private space available to us? How can we articulate the nature of space different from the public-private distinction in a world where all of us are cyborgs (human-technology hybrids)?
Open Stream
Authors are welcome to explore other themes related to governance, management and democratic potential of public spaces. New themes and panels will be added based on the types of submissions received.
We welcome both empirical and theoretical papers as well case studies that explore the main theme in interesting innovative ways. We especially encourage doctoral students, early career researchers, practitioners and policy makers to submit their work and participate in the conference.
Doctoral Colloquium
We especially encourage doctoral students to present their research in the main conference. However, a separate colloquium will be organised on March 29, 2018 for the doctoral students. This is a great opportunity for doctoral students to get feedback on their work from experienced management scholars and explore potential collaborations as well. Experienced management scholars will also share their knowledge about undertaking doctoral research and pursuing a career as an academic. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the tacit knowledge underlying a PhD process and to get useful insights on how to complete a PhD in a successful way. The detailed guidelines for submitting your work to the doctoral colloquium are available at https://iccgpm.lums.edu.pk
Keynote Speakers
1. Dr. Ajnesh Prasad (Professor, Department of Management, Entrepreneurship and Marketing, EGADE Business School Technologico de Monterrey, Mexico & Co-Chair Critical Management Studies Division Academy of Management)
Dr. Prasad is Research Professor of Organisation Studies and Chair of the Entrepreneurship and Leadership Research Group at Tecnologico de Monterrey's EGADE Business School. He is also currently serving as co-chair of the Critical Management Studies division of the Academy of Management. Dr. Prasad’s research interests broadly span the areas of entrepreneurship, gender and diversity issues in organisations, and interpretive methods. He is particularly interested in exploring each of these topics through various critical theoretical perspectives. As such, he has previously published articles using poststructuralist, postmodernist, feminist, postcolonial, neo-Marxist and psychoanalytic thought. In October 2012, Dr. Prasad earned his PhD in organisation studies from York University’s Schulich School of Business. His PhD research was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and several other awards. Before arriving at EGADE Business School, he was Senior Lecturer at UNSW Business School (incorporating the AGSM).
2. Dr. Sophie Hannekam (La Rochelle Business School)
Sophie Hennekam graduated in psychology at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, continued with a MSc from ESC Rennes, France and got her PhD from the Open University in the UK, while teaching at ESC Rennes School of Business for 4 years. She has also taught at ESSCA Angers, EM Normandie, Novancia Paris and the overseas campus of ESC Rennes in Rabat, Marocco. After completion of her PhD she started to work at ESC La Rochelle as an assistant professor. She is mainly teaching Organisational Behaviour, International HRM and Cross-Cultural Management. Her research is about diversity management, with a focus on older employees. She works on several international projects with researchers from universities worldwide.
3. Dr. Kamran Asdar Ali (Dean, Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Lahore University of Management Sciences)
Dr. Ali is the Dean of the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences (MGSHSS) at LUMS. Before joining LUMS, Dr. Ali was a professor of Anthropology, Middle East Studies and Asian Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. He has previously taught at the University of Rochester (NY), has been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (1998-99), ISIM, University of Leiden (2005) and a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study Berlin (2010-2011). He has conducted field research in Mexico, Egypt and in Pakistan on issues pertaining to health and gender, ethnicity, class politics, sexuality and popular culture. Among his other publications, he is also the author of Planning the Family in Egypt: New Bodies, New Selves (2002) and the co-editor of Gendering Urban Space in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa (2008), Comparing Cities: Middle East and South Asia (2009) and Gender, Politics, and Performance in South Asia (2015). His most recent book is Communism in Pakistan: Politics and Class Activism 1947-1972 (2015).
Scholarly Programme Co-chairs
Dr. Muhammad Azfar Nisar (Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan)
Dr. Ahsan Rana (Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan)
Dr. Mohsin Bashir (Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan)
Guidelines
1. The submitted paper/case (including title, abstract, main text, figures, tables, exhibits, references, etc.) should be saved in MS Word format.
2. To facilitate the blind review process, please remove ALL authors’ identifying information including authors’ names, affiliation, email address and acknowledgements from the main file, including document/file properties. Author information and acknowledgements should be provided on a SEPARATE document.
3. Font should be Times New Roman 12-pitch font, double-spaced.
4. All pages should be numbered.
The deadline to receive your full papers (5000 to 8000 words), developing papers (1000 to 3000 words) or cases (2000-5000 words) is December 31, 2017.
The online submission of papers starts November 1, 2017 at https://iccgpm.lums.edu.pk
Presenters shall receive notification of the decision by February 1, 2018 and the best papers will also be presented during the conference.
