Managing social issues

Programme coordinator: Prof. dr. Peter Leisink

Researchers: dr. Rik van Berkel, prof. dr. Paul Boselie, prof. dr. Maarten van Bottenburg, dr. Marja Gastelaars, prof. dr. Dian Marie Hosking, prof. dr. Annelies Knoppers, Prof. dr. Peter Leisink, prof.dr. Eugène Loos, dr. Henk van Rinsum, prof. dr. Arie de Ruijter, prof. dr. Sandra Schruijer, dr. Wouter Vandenabeele, prof. dr. Mandy van der Velde, prof. dr. Paul Verweel, dr. Ellen van Wijk

PhD students: drs. Paul van der Aa, drs. Noortje van Amsterdam, drs. Eva Knies MSc, drs. Angela van Meer, drs. Bas de Wit, MSc.

Other participants: dr. Jan Boessenkool, dr. Inge Claringbould, drs. Marianne Dortants, dr. Pauline Hörmann, dr. ir. Martijn Koster, drs. Mick Matthys, Prof. dr. Sheila McNamee, drs. Bettine Pluut, drs. Michel van Slobbe, prof.dr. Jo Thijssen, drs. Jeroen Veldman, dr. Jeroen Vermeulen, drs. Maikel Waardenburg, dr. Jessika ter Wal, dr. Arnold Wilts.

This research line studies the way in which organisations in the production of policies, primary processes of service delivery and interactions with the external environment deal with social issues such as diversity, labour participation and social inclusion/exclusion. In this context we are interested in finding out how organisations construct and manage meanings of public interests and responsibilities that respond to and influence the public domain.

Theoretical perspective

We study complex social issues and analyze their causes from a critical historical and multi-actor sense-making perspective. Our research of governance and multi-party collaboration involves organisational actors in and around public, non-profit, private and voluntary organisations. Theories of leadership, governance and multi-party collaboration, public interests and corporate social responsibility are guiding the study of ‘managing social issues’.
Research projects are directed by specific research questions and additionally contribute to answering the following general questions: what meanings of social issues do organisational actors construct and how do they make sense of the public interests and responsibilities involved? How do organisations manage social issues in their local practices and what are the outcomes in terms of social inclusion/exclusion? How do the dynamics of diversity that are inherent in our culturally pluriform society impact on processes of leadership and multi-party collaboration? How do organisations deal with various stakeholder interests and the strategic tensions between different goals they attempt to achieve?

Research domains

Research projects concentrate in several domains. Below a general overview is presented with a list of core researchers (first stream funding). More detailed descriptions of projects and researchers can be found elsewhere.

• Governmental and health policy initiatives increasingly construct sport as a place where many societal issues can be addressed. We study how complex social issues related to managing diversity play out in sport organisations, neighbourhood playing fields and related sport policies of public authorities, and what these policies and practices imply for social participation. Researchers in this domain include Maarten van Bottenburg, Annelies Knoppers, Paul Verweel, and PhD Noortje van Amsterdam.
• Economic globalization, Europeanization, an emerging knowledge economy and an increasing diversity of the labour force raise social issues that direct the research of management of human resources and of labour market and social policies of public authorities. Extra attention is paid to relevant diversities of older workers, women, workers of non-western origin, and unemployed and disabled workers. Researchers in this domain are Peter Leisink, Mandy van der Velde, Rik van Berkel, Ellen van Wijk, and PhD Eva Knies.
• Professionalisation and (public) management reform impact on human service organisations. Communication and relational processes influence the accessibility and quality of public services. Research examines actors’ local sense-making of these processes in relation to societal discourses. Specific projects study professionals, their relationships with managers and clients, and the ways in which public and non-profit organizations (schools, universities, health care, media and voluntary organisations) engage with corporate social responsibility. Researchers in this domain: Dian Marie Hosking, Sandra Schruijer, Marja Gastelaars, Eugène Loos, Henk van Rinsum, Arie de Ruijter, and PhD Bas de Wit.