Gender Equality in the United Kingdom and Germany: Human Resource Management in light of conflicting institutional logics

本研究采用个案研究设计、质性访谈和制度理论框架，旨在探讨英国和德国的组织级人力资源（HR）管理者如何理解和驾驭不同和相互冲突的范式，性别平等仍然是一项社会挑战，并被公认为可持续发展的目标，名称不意味着联合国虽然妇女（1）已经赶上并超过了男子的技能和资格水平;（2）对劳动力市场的依恋程度越来越高;（3）在职业中断后倾向于重返工作岗位，但她们在劳动力市场仍然处于不利地位。具体而言，妇女在高级管理职位上的代表性仍然严重不足，职业流动的机会较少，尽管业绩相同，但同工同酬，特别是在声望很高的职业中，妇女的报酬大大低于男子。这也适用于国家，否则排名高的性别平等。这项研究有助于研究和理论的制度逻辑，并探讨如何在英国和德国的组织内的个人演员概念化和谈判冲突的制度逻辑性别和工作。这是相关的，因为如果一个新的逻辑取代了以前接受的逻辑，冲突的制度逻辑可能导致制度变革。因此，支持性别平等的逻辑可能会使助长不平等的逻辑非制度化，反之亦然。然而，相互冲突的逻辑也可能导致制度稳定，维持现状。因此，这种讨论导致两个初步的研究问题：1）个人如何概念化，使意义和导航冲突的制度逻辑周围的性别和工作在两个不同的制度背景下的英国和德国？2)这些相互冲突的逻辑如何影响个人在实施两性平等人力资源管理方面的行动？之所以选择德国和联合王国，是因为这两个国家的社会、经济和政治环境不同，因此，它们在执行平等政策方面的宏观体制逻辑也不同。这是因为他们是不同福利风格和资本主义制度的代表。研究将采用案例研究设计，并将收集10个案例研究组织的访谈数据：英国和德国各5个。这些案例研究组织将根据规模、行业和地理位置（农村/城市）在各国进行匹配。将选择已经采用促进两性平等的雇用做法（如雇用配额）的组织，以便能够讨论实际执行过程。样本将包括中小企业（SME），它们占欧盟所有企业的99%。访谈将在每个案例研究组织中进行，受访者来自不同的层级，重点关注那些承担战略人力资源责任、运营人力资源责任的个人以及在其工作团队中承担人力资源责任的直线经理。这一战略将有助于对信息进行三角测量，并使人们可靠地了解每个组织内部如何通过和分享与性别有关的政策。此外，还将与女性员工进行访谈，让她们能够评估性别平等人力资源政策的有效性及其执行情况。女雇员还将能够就这些政策如何影响其职业和就业经历以及性别如何在其中发挥作用提供个人看法。最后，将与雇员代表，特别是负责在组织中代表妇女的雇员代表进行面谈。

Using a case study design, qualitative interviews and an institutional theory framework, this study aims to explore how organisational-level Human Resources (HR) managers in the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany make sense of and navigate different and conflicting paradigms, policies and norms regarding gender and work when making HR decisions.Gender equality remains to be a societal challenge and is recognised as a sustainable development goal by the United Nations. While women (1) have caught up with and now exceed men's skill and qualification levels; (2) have an increasing labour market attachment; and (3) show a preference to return into work after taking career breaks, they are still disadvantaged in the labour market. Specifically, women are still significantly underrepresented in top management positions, have less opportunities for career mobility, and receive significantly less pay than men for equal work despite equal performance and especially in highly prestigious occupations. This also holds true for countries that otherwise rank high in gender equality.This study contributes to research and theory on institutional logics, and explores how individual actors within British and German organisations conceptualise and negotiate conflicting institutional logics around gender and work. This is relevant because conflicting institutional logics can lead to institutional change if a new logic supersedes the previously accepted one. Hence, logics supporting gender equality might deinstitutionalise logics fostering inequality, and vice versa. However, conflicting logics can also result in institutional stability, maintaining a status quo. This discussion therefore leads to two preliminary Research Questions:1) How do individuals conceptualise, make sense of and navigate conflicting institutional logics surrounding gender and work in the two different institutional contexts of the UK and Germany?2) How do these conflicting logics shape individuals' actions with regard to the implementation of gender equality HRM?Both Germany and the UK have been chosen because they are expected to provide different social, economic and political landscapes, and hence different macro-institutional logics, for the implementation of equality policies. This is because they are representatives of different welfare styles and capitalistic systems.The research will use a case study design and will collect interview data in ten case study organisations: five each in the UK and Germany. These case study organisations will be matched across countries according to size, industry and geographic location (rural/urban). Organisations will be selected that have already adopted hiring practices that promote gender equality, such as hiring quotas, to be able to discuss actual implementation processes. The sample will include Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), which represent 99% of all businesses in the European Union. Interviews will be conducted in each case study organisation with respondents at different hierarchical levels, focusing on those individuals with strategic HR responsibility, operational HR responsibility as well as on line managers who have HR responsibility within their work teams. This strategy will allow to triangulate information and to create a reliable understanding of how gender-related policies are adopted and shared within each organisation. Furthermore, interviews will be conducted with female employees who will be able to evaluate the effectiveness of gender equality HR policies as well as their implementation. Female employees will also be able to provide a personal view on how such policies have affected their careers and employment experiences and how gender has played a role in this. Lastly, interviews will be conducted with employee representatives, especially those responsible for representing women in the organisation.