̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Leadership

Developing Arab leadership in the Israeli business community

sc604 — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 11:39:14 +0000

An organisation that seeks to boost Arab leadership in Israel, Kav Mashve, in cooperation with Edmond de Rothschild Foundation, brought 12 MBA students to Cambridge for an immersive Executive Education programme at Cambridge Judge Business School.

Bolsonaro’s attitude to coronavirus increases ‘risky behaviour’ in Brazil

fpjl2 — Tue, 05 May 2020 09:44:31 +0000

Jair Bolsonaro’s public undermining of pandemic prevention efforts reduces social distancing in the parts of Brazil where his voter base is strongest, according to a new study using location data from over 60 million phones.

Economists used electoral data and anonymised geo-location from devices across Brazil to investigate whether the president’s outspoken anti-quarantine attitude influenced numbers of citizens staying at home to stop coronavirus spread.

Researchers from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Sao Paolo School of Economics-FGV found that municipalities which came out strongly for Bolsonaro in the last election have seen much higher levels of movement and travel among the population during February and March.

Additionally, in the days immediately after Bolsonaro’s televised dismissals of COVID-19 mitigation – e.g. publicly defying quarantine guidance or calling for schools to reopen – Brazil’s social distancing fell in general, and fell much more sharply in pro-Bolsonaro areas.

“Our research suggests that statements on public health behaviour from political leaders are taken seriously by their followers, regardless of how scientifically accurate they are, or how damaging they might be,” said Dr Tiago Cavalcanti, study author from Cambridge’s Faculty of Economics.

“Bolsonaro actively challenges the regulations imposed by sub-national governments to stem the coronavirus tide. He dismisses WHO recommendations and even those of his own minister of health, who he has recently fired.”

“Using big data research, we see the president’s attitude play out at a population level. Brazil is a polarized nation with a populist leader. ̽��ֱ��patterns we see in Brazil could be echoed in nations with a similar political situation, such as the United States,” he said.

Cavalcanti and his colleagues Dr Nicholas Ajzenman and Dr Daniel Da Mata looked at the percentage of mobile phones that remained within a 450-metre radius of their home location between February 4 and April 7 2020.

They compared this “social distancing index” with the voting record of each of Brazil’s 5,570 municipalities, in particular whether Bolsanaro received more or less than 50% of the vote in the first round of the 2018 election.

Social distancing has gone up across Brazil since the contagion began. In the top 3% of cities with the highest Bolsonaro vote counts*, such as Ascurra in Santa Catarina and Nova Santa Rosa in Parana, this increase was an average of 24 percentage points.

However, in cities at the bottom of Bolsonaro’s support spectrum*, such as Paricoa in Alagoas and Irapuan Pinheiro in Ceara, social distancing was much higher: a 31 percentage point increase.

̽��ֱ��study suggests that, on average during February and March, the cities where support for Bolsonaro is highest had levels of social distancing that were almost 30% lower than cities where Bolsonaro has very little support.

̽��ֱ��economists also analysed two key televised appearances by Bolsonaro in March, during which he openly disparaged efforts to control the pandemic.

̽��ֱ��first was on March 15, when Bolsonaro – suspected at the time of carrying COVID-19 – appeared at a supporters rally in Brazilia, flaunting public health guidelines by taking selfies and doling out fist bumps in the throng.

̽��ֱ��second was on March 24. In an official presidential pronouncement he called for schools to reopen nationwide, and criticized Brazilian media for too much reporting on the pandemic in Italy, suggesting he would only get “a little flu” at worst from COVID-19.

̽��ֱ��research shows how both these appearances caused social distancing levels to drop in the ten days after each event when compared to the ten days leading up them. ̽��ֱ��drop was particularly significant in municipalities with high numbers of Bolsonaro voters.

In fact, Cavalcanti suggests that, based on their data, a rough calculation for the effects of the March 24 appearance sees approximately one million additional Brazilians across the nation straying more than 450 metres from their home on each of the ten days following the televised speech.

“Leadership matters,” said Cavalcanti. “ ̽��ֱ��attitude of a leader can have a significant and possibly devastating impact on individual health and the healthcare systems of a nation.”

“When Bolsonaro minimises the pandemic, we see significant increases in what is now risky behaviour within large sections of the Brazilian population.”

“As coronavirus cases and fatalities continue to rise across Brazil, the behaviour of its leader may be having a very real and dangerous effect,” he said.

̽��ֱ��researchers also found that Bolsonaro’s televised appearances, and the press coverage that ensued, much of it negative, was linked to a more significant drop in social distancing in areas with “high media access”*.

̽��ֱ��team calculated the overall change in Brazil’s social distancing during the period for which they have data. In early February, before the pandemic took hold, around 20% of the Brazilian population stayed within 450 metres of their house. By early April, this had increased to around 53%.

̽��ֱ��researchers worked with technology company In Loco to produce the phone data analysis, and the complete findings are published as a Cambridge-INET working paper here: covid.econ.cam.ac.uk

Notes:
* Top 3% of cities for Bolsonaro support had an average Bolsonaro vote of 82% in the first round of the 2018 elections.
* ̽��ֱ��bottom 3% of cities for Bolsonaro support had an average Bolsonaro vote of 5% in the first round of the 2018 elections.
* “High media access” is defined as municipalities in the top 25% nationally for average internet penetration, plus at least one local TV broadcaster.

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Study suggests that TV appearances by Bolsonaro led to millions more Brazilians ignoring social distancing in the days following broadcast.

̽��ֱ��attitude of a leader can have a significant and possibly devastating impact on individual health and the healthcare systems of a nation

Tiago Cavalcanti

Jeso Carneiro

Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil

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How emotions shape our work life

lw355 — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 10:12:03 +0000

It is important for people to feel happy rather than miserable in their work – research shows that contented employees deliver better results after all.

But some businesses regard happiness initiatives as a ‘salve’ that can be applied across an organisation to increase employee wellbeing, as Dr Jochen Menges from Cambridge Judge Business School explains.

“ ̽��ֱ��very fact that many organisations now ‘invest in happiness’ means they understand that emotions matter. But what they typically do – offering benefits like chill-out zones, free food, yoga classes – is rather blunt and does not account for the complexity of people’s emotional life.”

Working with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and the Faas Foundation, Menges is diving deeper into our understanding of emotions at work. ̽��ֱ��‘Emotion Revolution in the Workplace’ project has asked over 10,000 employees from a mix of occupations, levels, ages, genders and ethnicities in the USA not just how they feel, but also how they wish to feel at work.

̽��ֱ��results show that while some report feeling happy, many say they are stressed, tired and frustrated at work. When it comes to how people wish to feel, the study finds that most want to be appreciated, excited and happy. “There is a considerable gap between how people feel at work and how they would like to feel,” Menges explains. “Now the challenge is to find ways to close that gap.”

Although the analyses of this new dataset are still ongoing, Menges’ previous work gives some hints. He suggests that happiness may not primarily be about perks. “ ̽��ֱ��work itself, colleagues and supervisors, and the organisational structure and culture play major roles in whether or not employees are happy.”

In one study, Menges found that people experience more positive emotions in organisations that are in close touch with customers.

“These organisations tend to be more decentralised – decisions can be taken at lower levels – and they pay more attention to employees’ emotional abilities in recruiting and promotion processes. Those two factors in turn are linked to how positive the employees across an organisation feel.”

It’s not all about being positive, however.

Although most research suggests that any pleasant emotion has beneficial effects on performance, creativity and commitment, Menges and his colleagues found in a recent study that some positive emotions – pride, for example – can be a problem.

“If employees do not identify with their organisation, then pride increases their intention to leave. They think ‘I am better than this place,’ and look for new opportunities.” By contrast, if employees identified with their organisation and experienced events that made them feel angry, they were less likely to quit. “They want to stick it out and improve the situation.”

So any emotions can be a good thing, Menges suggests, even if they are unpleasant. “If managers suppress employees’ emotions, they over time create an environment of indifference. Employees just get on with work, but they are not as committed and invested anymore. A bit of emotion, a bit of up and down – that’s what makes work meaningful.”

Menges also challenges the idea that employees should pursue ‘happiness’. “I think people differ in how they wish to feel at work. Although many of us simply say ‘I want to be happy at work’, what we actually mean by ‘happy’ can differ greatly.”

Menges tries to understand how people differ in the feelings they look for at work, and whether those differences affect people’s choice of employer and engagement at work.

For example, someone wanting to feel safe is likely to look for a stable, predictable job, whereas someone looking for excitement might not care much about job security as long as the job provides a stimulating environment.

̽��ֱ��problem, according to Menges, is that most of us are not that specific when it comes to how we want to feel. “We lack the emotional vocabulary to pinpoint our desired emotions, so we just use ‘happy’. If we had better search terms, perhaps the search for happiness would not be that fuzzy and difficult.”

He suggests that organisations have a considerable influence on employees’ emotions and that employees within an organisation tend to feel alike. “Emotions are a very intimate and personal experience, and yet how we feel often depends largely on how people around us feel.

“In some places, people are enthusiastic, excited and inspired for a better future; in others, they are satisfied, calm, relaxed, easy-going. Both are positive but have very different energy levels, and that is linked to different outcomes.”

“In other places, there is aggression, stress and anxiety – or frustration, resignation and apathy. Again, both negative, but with different energy levels and outcomes.”

Places with high positive energy are at risk of losing it. Menges saw this at first hand when he studied the impact of the economic crisis of 2008–2009. “Companies were working at a frenetic pace – they increased the number and speed of activities, raised performance goals, shortened innovation cycles. They were trying to get more done with fewer people at a faster pace.”

But when performance went up, too often companies tried to make this pace the new normal. ̽��ֱ��result was that employees’ energy began to drain.

These companies were in the ‘Acceleration Trap’ – a term he and a colleague coined in an article published in ̽��ֱ��Harvard Business Review. A sobering 60% of surveyed employees in companies that were in this trap said that they lacked sufficient resources to get their work done, compared with 2% in companies that were not trapped.

“Managers in accelerated companies realised that something was amiss, but they took the wrong cure. Rather than giving employees some relief, they increased pressure. Ironically, their calls for high performance led to lower performance,” Menges says.

“ ̽��ֱ��Acceleration Trap is still a common problem. Any uncertainty, such as Brexit, can generate the conditions where companies overload and under-resource employees, and where organisational fatigue and burnout can result.”

̽��ֱ��good news is that it is possible to escape the trap. Menges looked at how leaders recognised the trap and moved their company in different directions – such as halting less-important work, being clear about strategy and changing the culture.

“When it comes to how people feel in a business, many point to the leader. And it is right that leaders play a key role in setting the mood of a place,” Menges explains. In particular, leaders with emotional intelligence – the ability to recognise emotions in oneself and others, and to regulate emotions in ways that help reach rather than hinder goals – are in a good position to steer their team’s and organisation’s collective emotions in the right direction.

“But I think we need to also look at how the organisation as a system is set up,” he says. Menges believes that some places are organised in a more emotionally effective way than others. “If companies figure out how they can institutionalise emotionally intelligent systems, they would be much better off than investing in ‘happiness initiatives’.”

Inset image: read more about our research on the topic of work in the ̽��ֱ��'s research magazine; download a pdf; view on Issuu.

Jochen Menges, an expert in organisational behaviour, thinks that emotions matter profoundly for employee performance and behaviour. His studies bring nuance to our understanding of how employees wish to feel at work.

A bit of emotion, a bit of up and down – that’s what makes work meaningful

Jochen Menges

̽��ֱ��District

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Young Leaders meet the Queen

sjr81 — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 09:09:54 +0000

̽��ֱ��Queen’s Young Leaders Programme celebrates the achievements of inspiring young people from across the Commonwealth who are dedicated to driving change in their communities.

This year’s winners are working in support of a range of issues and join former graduates of the Programme which was established by the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust in 2014.

̽��ֱ��Trust is run in partnership with Comic Relief, the Royal Commonwealth Society and ICE, with last night’s ceremony at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen, ̽��ֱ��Duke of York and Prince Harry and broadcast live on BBC’s ̽��ֱ��One Show. ̽��ֱ��Chairman of ̽��ֱ��Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, Sir John Major, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Sir Mo Farah and Caspar Lee were also in attendance.

ICE provides tailored support to the award winners to develop their skills as leaders, in the form of a one-year online leadership course. ̽��ֱ��centrepiece of this is a week-long residential placement in the UK. ̽��ֱ��first three days of the residential were based at Madingley Hall, where the award winners enjoyed:

Lectures and seminars with global academics and industry experts - including Oli Barrett MBE, founder of StartUp UK; business creativity guru Fredrik Härén; and Dr Karen Salt, co-director of Nottingham ̽��ֱ��'s Centre for Research in Race and Rights
Team-building activities focused on strengthening the network of QYLS and alumni from 53 Commonwealth countries
One-to-one mentoring with coaches who have studied on ICE’s coaching programme
Mindfulness, meditation and yoga sessions during their downtime
A social programme, including punting on the Cam and open-air cinema at Madingley Hall

̽��ֱ��winners then moved on to London, where they visited Number 10, the BBC and organisations such as Facebook, Google DeepMind, Jamie’s Fifteen, AMV BBDO and Oxfam to take part in development activities to help drive their work forward. For some, a highlight was meeting David Beckham, an enthusiastic supporter of the Queen’s Young Leaders Programme.

Frances Brown, Mentoring and Course Director for the programme, said: "We at ICE are always overwhelmed by the talent and potential of the Queen’s Young Leaders and thrilled to play a vital part in developing their skills, building confidence and strengthening their global network. We are proud to support and encourage these exceptional young leaders who are a true reflection of the potential of youth in ̽��ֱ��Commonwealth."

Vladyslava Kravchenko, a Queen's Young Leader from Malta, said: "It's been absolutely great. ICE is a great setting and we're learning really interesting and useful things. ̽��ֱ��group of Queen's Young Leaders this year is incredible and I was inspired to meet so many motivated and impassioned young people."

̽��ֱ��search is on for 2018 winners, applications are now open and sixty inspiring young leaders will be selected by peers later in the year.

Young people who are working to preserve the environment, tackle bullying in schools, and promoting gender equality were recognised by the Queen at Buckingham Palace last night – following a year of leadership studies provided by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education (ICE).

We are always overwhelmed by the talent and potential of the Queen’s Young Leaders.

Frances Brown

Some of this year’s Young Leaders pictured during their residency at ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education

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Reading the face of a leader

Anonymous — Tue, 10 May 2016 13:39:46 +0000

Past studies have shown that, in competitive settings, people prefer both male and female leaders to have masculine facial characteristics – because these are perceived as signalling competitive personality traits.

A new academic study finds, however, that low facial masculinity in women is also linked in people’s minds with competitiveness, and not only to cooperation – suggesting that traits of facial masculinity in men and women are interpreted differently.

“Whereas men in competitive settings benefit from high levels of facial masculinity, women fare well when they either look particularly masculine or when they do not look masculine at all,” concludes the study published in the journal Academy of Management Discoveries.

̽��ֱ��practical implications of these findings, says study co-author Jochen Menges, work both ways for women: while there may be less of a disadvantage to some women than previously assumed based on traditional facial-characteristic leadership theories, recruitment in competitive settings “may be biased” against women whose faces simply fit in the middle between masculine-looking and not masculine looking at all.

“This study challenges gender theory that says women with feminine facial characteristics are associated with communal behaviour and nurturing, while men with masculine features are associated with being driven and competitive,” says Menges. “ ̽��ֱ��study finds that it’s much more nuanced – that when women look very feminine people associate competitiveness with them as well.”

More masculine facial characteristics, as shown in digitally altered photos of a man and a woman in the study, include thicker and flatter eyebrows, a squarer jaw and more pronounced cheekbones.

̽��ֱ��study – entitled “Reading the face of a leader: Women with low facial masculinity are perceived as competitive” – was co-authored by Cambridge Judge PhD alumnus Raphael Silberzahn of IESE Business School at the ̽��ֱ�� of Navarra in Barcelona, and Jochen Menges, ̽��ֱ�� Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour at ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Judge Business School and Professor of Leadership at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany.

̽��ֱ��study cites Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer, Hewlett Packard’s Meg Whitman and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg – three high-profile women executives – as having three particular things in common: “They are all top-level leaders in highly competitive companies, they are all women, and none of them look particular masculine.” In fact, the study finds, that in S&P 500 companies, “a greater range of facial masculinity is present among women CEOs compared to men CEOs.”

̽��ֱ��researchers based their findings on a series of studies involving hundreds of American adult participants, a mixture of men and women.

In one study, participants selected a suitable leader of a company that “has many rivals and competes heavily” from a series of images showing faces of women or men with digitally altered degrees of masculinity, while in another study participants were asked to assign certain competition-themed statements (such as “She wants it her way or you’re out” and “He treats others with respect to a degree, but mostly believes he is right”) to such modified images.

Among the results: For women leaders, more than 50 per cent of study participants associated such statements as “She was feared by those around her” or “There is only one boss, and that is her” with both a low-masculinity and high-masculinity image of the same woman. For men leaders, the statement “Coworkers consider him very driven” was associated by 64 per cent of participants with high-masculinity images compared to 33 per cent for low-masculinity images, while “Doesn’t tolerate people trying to act like they are smarter or wiser than he is” had a 63 percent link to a high-masculinity image compared to 27 per cent for a low-masculinity image.

“Our findings suggest that there has been a misalignment between past research and the reality,” says Menges, emphasizing that feminine-looking women have a better chance of being seen as leaders than previously thought.

Reference:

“Reading the face of a leader: Women with low facial masculinity are perceived as competitive” Academy of Management Discoveries, Raphael Silberzahn and Jochen Menges

DOI:10.5465/amd.2014.0070

Women (but not men) with both high and low facial masculinity are perceived as competitive leaders, finds new study co-authored by a Cambridge Judge Business School academic.

This study challenges gender theory that says women with feminine facial characteristics are associated with communal behaviour and nurturing

Jochen Menges

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Beware the ‘awestruck effect’

sc604 — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 16:19:44 +0000

While charismatic leaders may be magnetic, they can cause their followers to suppress emotions, which can harm companies through increased strain, lower job satisfaction and reduced information exchange among employees, according to new research from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

̽��ֱ��study, published in ̽��ֱ��Leadership Quarterly, found that while charismatic leaders may put their followers in awe, reinforcing the leader’s standing in the group, ‘awestruck’ followers are unlikely to benefit the group in the long-term.

̽��ֱ��study also finds that leaders who show individual consideration tend to encourage followers’ emotional expression. While this may circumvent the negative implications of emotion suppression, at “rampant” levels such expressiveness can be detrimental because it violates workplace norms and can cause conflict and harm employee coordination.

̽��ֱ��study is based on responses to various leadership scenarios by several hundred research participants at universities and companies in Germany and Switzerland.

Although previous studies had looked at how charismatic leaders influence followers’ emotional experience, the new study focuses instead on how followers regulate their emotional expressiveness in response to charismatic leaders – and does so by examining separately the effect of both a leader’s charisma and individualised consideration on followers.

“Emotion suppression is associated with a wide range of negative outcomes,” said Dr Jochen Menges of Cambridge Judge Business School, one of the study’s authors. “ ̽��ֱ��problem is that for emotions to be suppressed, our brain needs to allocate resources to self-regulation processes that allow us to appear calm and collected on the outside when on the inside we are emotionally stimulated.”

While our brain is busy keeping emotions in check, it cannot allocate resources to other mental tasks – such as memorising or scrutinising messages or coming up with new ideas. “So while we are awestruck – overwhelmed with the emotions that charismatic leaders stir and yet too intimidated to express these emotions – we are impaired in our mental abilities,” said Menges. “That makes us vulnerable to the influence of charismatic leaders, and likely impairs our own effectiveness in dealing with work challenges.”

Such inhibition of expressiveness can deploy mental resources and impair the cognitive processing capacity of followers – which may make them less able to evaluate the actual messages of charismatic leaders, and therefore make them more likely to endorse such leaders with little scrutiny.

If there is such an impairment of cognitive functioning, then charismatic leadership may carry costs for followers that have so far been overlooked. Charismatic leadership may have a dark side for followers irrespective of whether leaders’ goals are moral or immoral.

“Charisma has effects that can be harmful, but these effects can be counterbalanced by other leadership behaviours, such as individualised consideration and support as well as mentoring and coaching,” said Menges.

̽��ֱ��two styles of leadership that the researchers looked at are quite different, but they are not mutually exclusive. It is the combination of both styles that will serve the leader best, so they can bring together people for a common mission with charismatic messages from the podium, but then also solicit their advice and input when stepping down from the podium.

“While charisma can help leaders establish power and exert influence, it may be intimidating to those who look up to them for guidance and inspiration,” said Menges. “To leverage the full potential of their followers, leaders need to balance charismatic appeal with the consideration of each follower’s individual needs. And for those who find themselves awestruck by the charisma of their leader, remember that even the most charismatic person is only human.”

Reference:
Menges, Jochen et. al. “ ̽��ֱ��awestruck effect: Followers suppress emotion expression in response to charismatic but not individually considerate leadership.” ̽��ֱ��Leadership Quarterly (2015). DOI: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.06.002

Charismatic business leaders can cause their followers to suppress emotions, which can harm companies over the long term, according to new research.

Remember that even the most charismatic person is only human.

Jochen Menges

Pete Souza

Audience members listen to the President Obama's speech on India and America at the Siri Fort Auditorium

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‘Traditional authority’ linked to rates of deforestation in Africa

fpjl2 — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 11:43:49 +0000

̽��ֱ��first study to link precolonial African leadership and current levels of deforestation has shown a strong correlation between areas with historic leadership structures more susceptible to corruption and higher rates of forest loss today.

̽��ֱ��study suggests that a “legal pluralism” exists across large parts of Africa where many local leaders continue to hold sway over natural resources through precolonial “traditional authority”; old power often not recognised by the state.

By using satellite image data from 2000 to 2012 and analysing it in combination with historical anthropological data, researchers found a relationship between high deforestation and precolonial succession rules of ‘social standing’: village heads appointed through wealth or status rather than for example hereditary lineage or democratic election.

Those areas with ‘social standing’ leaderships in precolonial times have approximately 50% more deforestation than the average rate of forest loss for Africa over this period.

Leaders who draw on traditional authority are often vested with resource control rights by local communities, regardless of whether the state recognises these rights. ̽��ֱ��study’s authors say that those local leaders who can claim power through their own influence – or ‘social standing’ – are more likely to use natural resources to leverage short-term economic gains.

̽��ֱ��research team, from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Department of Land Economy and its Centre for Development Studies, cite cases of loggers providing gifts such as motorcycles and paying traditional leaders to secure ‘logging permits’, despite the leaders having no state authority to grant them.

They say the findings suggest that conservationists need to go beyond state law and engage with local leaders who, despite having no apparent authority, may have a vital influence over Africa’s shrinking forests and biodiversity. ̽��ֱ��study has been published in the Journal of Land Use Policy.

“This work highlights the importance of legal pluralism in relation to deforestation in Africa, and should encourage those who want to conserve Africa’s remaining forests to look below the surface of state law to where resource use decisions are actually made: at the local level by leaders who often have little or no state authority,” said Dr Shaun Larcom who conducted the study with Cambridge colleagues Dr Terry van Gevelt and Dr Aiora Zabala.

“While such a shift in focus undoubtedly increases the complexity of research and of the policy agenda, it may actually be necessary if we want to make meaningful inroads into deforestation in Africa and the rest of the developing world,” he said.

While most of Africa’s remaining forests are protected, owned and managed by the state, rapid deforestation continues, despite ongoing international efforts aimed at state capacity building and reducing official corruption.

Over the period from 2000 to 2012 Africa lost approximately 18 million hectares of its forests. However, when these losses are broken up into ethnic boundaries that existed prior to European colonisation, the rate of deforestation varies considerably in relation to the type of local governance structure formerly in place, says study co-author Dr Zabala.

“African countries are among the ones with fastest acceleration of deforestation worldwide. Complex governance legacies pose a major challenge for the implementation of policies to address forest loss,” Zabala said.

̽��ֱ��most common precolonial leadership structure was hereditary succession. Other structures used as base cases for the analysis were local leaders elected from above and those elected democratically.

But it was the analysis of leadership appointment through social standing that proved most distinctive, with 0.8 percentage points more deforestation compared to base cases. Compared to an average loss of 1.6 percentage points over the same period, this suggests that these regions have around 50% higher than average deforestation rates.

Social standing is “appointment by age, seniority, influence, wealth or social status”, says Dr van Gevelt. “In practice, this means that those with the most power can claim local leadership, and consequently secure further control over local natural resources,” he said. Ethnic groups where these practices occurred in precolonial times include the Kabre people of Benin and the Isoko people of Nigeria.

̽��ֱ��researchers suggest that there are likely to be more ownership disputes in these areas, where the legitimacy of local leaders is weaker and more ‘up for grabs’ than in an hereditary power structure, for example. Leaders from ‘social standing’ areas may grant logging access to forests to raise funds for what Larcom describes as “patrimonial largesse”: the need to give generously to the local community in order to retain social standing, and consequently leadership.

“Acknowledging the reality of legal pluralism – where both the state and non-state authorities, often with different sources of authority, compete in the same regulatory space – and the importance of non-state regulators, both as a force for good and harm in relation to deforestation in Africa, might be the missing link needed for halting large scale deforestation in Africa,” added Larcom.

“In addition to focusing on state corruption, those wishing to halt rapid deforestation also need to focus on non-state corruption.”

New analysis reveals a strong correlation between precolonial institutions in Africa and current levels of deforestation. Researchers suggest that many of these structures still operate at a local level, controlling and exploiting natural resources under the radar of the state, and that such legacies of governance pose a major challenge for implementing conservation policies.

Acknowledging the reality of legal pluralism [...] and the importance of non-state regulators, both as a force for good and harm in relation to deforestation in Africa, might be the missing link needed for halting large scale deforestation in Africa

Shaun Larcom

jbdodane

Rougier Gabon

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When gender roles are reversed: equality and intimacy at home and in the workplace

sjr81 — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 16:05:11 +0000

̽��ֱ��workplace of the 21st century is marked by fast change and diversity. Baby boomers, generations X and Y all working together under one roof. Or under no roof, thanks to new technologies. In the Western world, women’s increasing levels of human capital and participation in the workforce has moved the plight of gender equality to a new level: upwards for women who try to climb the corporate ladder and sideways for men who try to carve more time with their families. Yet, for the few couples breaking away from conventional gender roles an even more complex picture seems to be emerging.

During my recent study into the gendered process of leadership selection a new model – still rare but with distinctive characteristics – emerged as worthy of scrutiny: that in which the woman was in a high-flying position at whereas her male partner took over the role of primary carer in the family.

Despite recent moves towards more flexible and unconventional arrangements, rather than leading to more equality, workplace cultures and intimate relationships are still deeply embedded in traditional gendered schemas. These are as much at the foundation of the man as leader bias, which blocks women’s ascendance through the corporate ladder, as they are to men’s attempts to take a more participative role at home:

“When I speak to my colleagues at work it never ceases to amaze me how clueless they are about the complexity of running a household. Things are getting better with the younger generations, you see much more cooperation. But among my peer group attitudes have not changed much. Men especially. […] They probably talk behind my back, although they would not dare to say anything to my face. But I can see how they look down at Mark for having put his career on hold when mine was taking off. Almost as if he was a loser. […] If I were a man, I am not sure I could have done that. It’s easier for women. (Female executive director, 45-55 years of age)

Describing their life trajectories as “unchartered waters”, couples deviating from traditional gender roles find themselves at the margins. Limited legal support still makes it harder for men to take the step towards being an equal carer. ̽��ֱ��shared parental leave being introduced in the UK in 2015 is a step in the direction of normalising gender balance.

Out-dated corporate policies and cultures still stigmatise those who do not demonstrate full commitment (measured in availability); men seeking flexible work arrangements are seen in even harsher terms than their female counterparts. Outside of work, isolation marks men’s experiences, in the shape of older family members’ lack of acceptance, (ex-)work colleagues’ silent contempt, or stay-at-home mothers’ veiled suspicion at school gates or playgrounds. Home life is none the easier. Women feel divided between guilt for their absence and ambiguity towards their partner.

̽��ֱ��latter varies from an over-elaboration of the importance and complexity of their partners’ job (often accompanied by a depreciation of their own) to a difficulty to deal with a position of perceived emasculation in their or others’ eyes. Whereas less vocal of the difficulties faced, men who were staying at home did nonetheless remark how “the world was lagging behind”.

Defying convention requires a series of intricate negotiations at an intimate level. What on the surface appears to be a balanced and progressive relationship often rests on a thin veneer of equality. Being gender a-prototypical is as difficult for a woman struggling to be seen as “board material” as for a man out in the playground with his children. For the professional-managerial classes legitimation of the self derives almost solely from the public sphere.

Whereas the challenge for women is to successfully combine career, the management of family life and the care of the self, the margin for manoeuvre for men leaves little scope for a full life outside of their work personas. Even if at first sight taking part in family life might mark men as progressive, the presupposition nonetheless is that they should be, first and foremost, successful in their careers. ̽��ֱ��price for not doing gender adequately is not to be trusted or respected, as well as, implicitly, have their masculinity questioned.

In a final analysis, despite all the rhetoric about work-life balance, the pull towards the public sphere is disproportionally higher than towards family life. For this social group, the implicit assumption is of a family with two husbands: two incomes, paid work coming before private time, as well as the outsourcing of logistical and often emotional needs of their family.

Couples who deviate from expected gender roles pay a high price both in terms of individual identity and in managing their intimate lives. At the forefront of social change, these couples are pushing boundaries and exploring new frontiers. Much rests on the work of social researchers to help them chart this new territory.

In a paper prepared for the workshop “Gender, Equality and Intimacy: (Un)comfortable Bedfellows?” at the Institute of Education today – Cambridge scholar Monica Wirz explores how couples, whose gender roles have been reversed, deal with work-life balance, equality, intimacy and their sense of identity.

̽��ֱ��implicit assumption is of a family with two husbands: two incomes, paid work coming before private time.

Monica Wirz

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