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

本研究采用案例研究设计、定性访谈和制度理论框架，旨在探讨英国（UK）和德国的组织级人力资源（HR）经理在做出人力资源决策时，如何理解和处理与性别和工作相关的不同和相互冲突的范式、政策和规范。性别平等仍然是一项社会挑战，并被联合国认定为可持续发展目标。虽然女性(1)已经赶上并超过了男性的技能和资格水平；(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，但他们在劳动力市场上仍处于不利地位。具体来说，妇女在高级管理职位上的人数仍然明显不足，职业流动的机会较少，尽管男女表现相同，但同工所得的工资却明显低于男性，特别是在声望很高的职业中。在性别平等方面排名靠前的国家也是如此。本研究有助于制度逻辑的研究和理论，并探讨了英国和德国组织中的个体行动者如何概念化和协商围绕性别和工作的冲突制度逻辑。这是相关的，因为如果一种新的逻辑取代了先前被接受的逻辑，冲突的制度逻辑就会导致制度变革。因此，支持性别平等的逻辑可能会使助长不平等的逻辑去制度化，反之亦然。然而，矛盾的逻辑也可能导致制度稳定，维持现状。因此，这一讨论导致了两个初步的研究问题：1)个人如何概念化、理解和导航围绕性别的冲突的制度逻辑，并在英国和德国的两个不同的制度背景下工作？2)这些相互冲突的逻辑如何塑造个人在实施性别平等人力资源管理方面的行动？之所以选择德国和英国，是因为人们期望它们提供不同的社会、经济和政治环境，从而为实施平等政策提供不同的宏观制度逻辑。这是因为他们是不同福利方式和资本主义制度的代表。该研究将采用案例研究设计，并将在10个案例研究组织中收集访谈数据：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）在不同国家进行匹配。将选择已经采取促进性别平等招聘做法（如招聘配额）的组织，以便能够讨论实际实施过程。样本将包括占欧盟所有企业99%的中小型企业（SMEs）。将在每个案例研究组织中与不同层次的受访者进行访谈，重点关注那些负责战略人力资源责任的个人，负责运营人力资源责任的个人以及在其工作团队中负责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，并对各组织如何采用和分享与性别有关的政策建立可靠的理解。此外，将对女性员工进行访谈，她们将能够评估性别平等人力资源政策的有效性及其执行情况。女性雇员也将能够就这些政策如何影响她们的职业和就业经历以及性别如何在其中发挥作用提供个人观点。最后，将与员工代表进行面谈，特别是那些负责在组织中代表女性的代表。

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.