ISSUE 12 FIFTYFOUR DEGREES Lancaster University Management School | the place to be 6Women’sEntrepreneurship asPoliticalActivisminDisguise 34Going green. Taking sustainability seriously 42Towards a thriving social care workforce
Join our leadership development programmes for senior decision-makers at Lancashire and Cumbrian SMEs. Giving businesses time and space to step away from the day-to-day and focus on building an organisation for the future. The Lancashire and Cumbria Forums enable businesses to: • Be economically successful, and socially and environmentally responsible • Help the wider recovery of the Lancashire and Cumbria economies – creating stability and sustainability in the wake of the pandemic, Brexit and other external influences • Connect with like-minded peers in a deep-trust environment to build long-lasting relationships Start September 2021 Growth, stability and sustainability for SMEs LANCASHIRE FORUM CUMBRIA FORUM Contact us for more information: lancaster.ac.uk/lums/smes cumbriaforum@lancaster.ac.uk 01524 593709 | starts 22nd September 2021 lancashireforum@lancaster.ac.uk 01524 593712 | starts 29th September 2021
FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 3 An Incentive to IncreaseMisconduct Many CEOs are rewarded for good performancewith company stock options. JustinChircop asks what happens if your company leader is rewarded for taking greater risks. 6 In this issue... 42 Towards a thriving social care workforce Adult social care in the UK is facing numerous workforce challenges. The Work Foundation’s Trinley Walker outlines the potential to take advantage of shifting perceptions about the sector to build a thriving workforce for the future. 4 Shaping the leaders of the future It is no longer good enough for companies and their leaders to produce results purely for the benefit of shareholders. Robyn Remke looks at the key skills they need. 18 Standby for action Joe Deville finds that waiting can be a frustrating experience, and one that can last a particularly long time for disaster response organisations. 10 Doyoubelieve in the curse? Natural resources can bring an economic boomto a region or even country, but fdo these economies show slower growth? Anita Schiller investigates. 14 The changing face of philanthropy Charitiesandnot-for-profit organisations have facedahard timeduring theCovid19pandemic, as theyseek funds that are neededmore thanever. Taking sustainability seriously If companies are to make a real positive impact on their sustainability and the environment, Savita Verma shows they need their employees to adopt green behaviours. 34 At the heart of the community DrHelenL. Bruce looksat howchildren’s activityproviders survivedbeingunable to meet in-personduring lockdown, andhow theyproved tobevital instruments in keepingcommunities connected. 26 AGrimFar Future, or a Dark Present A tabletop wargame with armies of Space Marines, Orks and the hordes of Chaos, an expanded universe of books and graphic novels telling tales across the universe in the 41st millennium, Warhammer 40,000 is also an insight into modern warfare and statecraft. 30 Foreword TheManagement School has recently celebrated a proudmoment with the achievement of the Athena Swan Bronze award, in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality. 22 The changing face of philanthropy – 38 Women’s Entrepreneurship as Political Activism in Disguise Sophie Alkhaled examines how women entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia are using their positions to affect social change.
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The Management School has recently celebrated a proud moment with the achievement of the Athena Swan Bronze award, in recognition of our commitment to advancing gender equality. We are determined to rise to the challenge of closing the gender gap, and know that we need the best, diverse minds to continue generating the high-quality research you find within these pages, and that helps shape society. There is still work to be done, but within this edition, those before and those yet to come, you can read research and insights from such minds that thrive within our diverse and inclusive culture. In these pages, we will take you on a global tour, from Saudi Arabia to Switzerland, and then beyond our own universe to one of future fantasy, demonstrating that breadth of expertise and scope. The research of Sophie Alkhaled in Saudi Arabia highlights how female entrepreneurs have been empowered to affect social change in the country. Change there is slow, but it is occurring, and Sophie shows how unexpected avenues can lead to positive results. Few things are as unexpected as major natural disasters, and yet national emergency response units set up to deal with them can often face years of waiting and preparing for something that might never come. Joe Deville provides a fascinating look into Switzerland’s Zivilschutz and how they work to stay relevant despite having gone for years without being called into action. The Zivilschutz have found themselves contending with an unexpected task over the last 18 months, as they have encountered the challenges and dangers presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. Once more, we look at the impact of the virus in this edition, expanding on research presented over the past 12 months. We might not think of child activity providers when it comes to drawing up a list of those business hit by the pandemic, and yet Helen Bruce shows how they have battled to survive, and highlights their importance at the heart of many communities. The pandemic has demonstrated the importance of the adult social care sector and its staff. Work Foundation research, co-authored by Trinley Walker, brings to light the struggles adult social care faces, and how they might be addressed. As much as I constantly learn from our academic researchers, so too do I appreciate new knowledge and perspectives from our students. Caroline Broadhurst is one great example. As well as being part of our Executive MBA programme, Caroline is also the Deputy Chief Executive of the Rank Foundation, and offers first-hand insights on the effects of Covid on not-for-profit organisations. Beyond the realms of the pandemic, this issue also encompasses the key areas of importance for business leaders in years to come, how to encourage green behaviours among employees, and the parallels between the fantasy realms of Warhammer and modern warfare. As I said, we thrive on our diverse minds and research. Professor Angus Laing is Dean of Lancaster University Management School and Chair of the Academic Advisory Board at Nurture Higher Education Group. a.w.laing@lancaster.ac.uk Foreword Welcometothenew editionofFiftyFour Degrees,whereonce againwebringyou insight intothe wide-ranging expertiseand researchwithin LancasterUniversity ManagementSchool. FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 5 SUBSCRIBE
6 | In Saudi Arabia, women entrepreneurs are using their positions to affect social change. Over the last decade, Dr SophieAlkhaled has spoken to businesswomen fromthe Gulf State and discovered they have increasingly foundways to individuallymake quiet inroads into politics and activism, without ever coming together as a formal movement. Women’s Entrepreneurship asPoliticalActivi inDisguise
FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 7 p ism
Hanna* runs a consultancy firm in Saudi Arabia. She is one of 16 Saudi women entrepreneurs, working in healthcare, PR, fashion design, marketing, events planning, consulting, retail and IT services, whom I have interviewed on a regular basis since 2010. Hanna lives under a totalitarian regime, in a nation ruled by absolute monarchy, and with strict Wahhabi interpretations of Islam according women a secondary position in society. But despite the obstacles in her way, and the quiet nature of her political activity, Hanna’s story is one of inspiring change for other women, of starting to address social and cultural transformation, of quiet activism. Like many of those women with whom I have spoken for more than a decade, Hanna was on a journey to find a platform through entrepreneurship to connect to other women, with an aim to raise their feminist consciousness and empower them. Hanna volunteers at the a centre for businesswomen at the Chamber of Commerce, giving educational lectures on how to become an entrepreneur. She is expected to deliver instructions on how to register a business, how to do accounting, and cover other similar areas. “Once I am in the room, I become a mentor, an advocate of women, an activist for women!” Hanna told me. “I talk about how they should believe in themselves, work together, support and lean on each other, employ other women!” Her actions come in a country where social transformation cannot take place through democratic engagement, where there is no space for critique or dissent, no legal platform for collective political activism. With such political activism banned, and those who are explicitly seen to be campaigning for change – such as 47 women who in November 1990 took to the streets for a secretly organised driving protest in the capital of Riyadh, or members of the Women2Drive campaign in the wake of 2011’s Arab Spring – arrested, punished, publicly shamed and imprisoned, it is necessary to find another way. What Hanna and her fellow women entrepreneurs have done is to use their entrepreneurship as a political form of feminist organising in (almost) silent, protracted ways – nothing like the popular activism in Western cultures, where we see organised protests in public spaces, calling out leaders and advocating reforms on gender equality. They have quietly encroached onto the previously forbidden political space over a decade where Saudi women witnessed unprecedented economic and political change to their position and rights in society. From setting up their own businesses with an ethos to support women’s employment, what followed was a desire for political engagement towards social and structural change. Their activismwas for ‘all Saudi women’ – they are patriotic, proud and hopeful that the country is talking slow but sustainable steps towards achieving legal equal rights between men and women. Over the decade, I found that the women engaged in a three-step ‘quiet encroachment’ process from entrepreneurship to political activism. That is, a process of social change through entrepreneurship, which included subtle everyday solidarity practices, which eventually evolved into feminist activism and political change. 8 |
SOLIDARITY IN ISOLATION In this first stage, the women felt selfempowered through becoming entrepreneurs. After which, they take quiet and direct action, supporting individual women in their communities without collective organising or visible activism. This takes forms such as providing women-only office spaces, onsite day-care, and safe transport to and fromwork. In 2019, theMale Guardianship Lawwas removed, which meant women no longer needed their guardian’s permission to work, but many bosses do not want problems with a woman’s husband or father. Rania*, an accountant who became self-employed after her guardian called her boss and prohibited her from working, told me: “I can employ women whose guardians do not like them interacting with men at work. [This] gives them a chance to learn, evolve and be financially independent.” Elsewhere, Salma* set up a nursery on her premises, with all fees paid; and Karma* hired a driver and a mini-van to transport employees between work and home, avoiding issues of them travelling alone or with strangers. Even with women now allowed to drive, the change in mindset and culture will take longer to become embedded, and these changes brought about by women entrepreneurs show how their rage and frustration at the current system is followed by a desire to connect with other women. FROM SOLO-DARITY TO SOLIDARITY Moving to the next stage, the women begin using their entrepreneurial platform to raise feminist consciousness within their networks. Deena*, a fashion designer, helps her employees travel outside Saudi Arabia, having been prevented from doing so by her ex-husband. In 2019, the Guardian’s permission to travel restriction was lifted, but again the tradition remains engrained in society. Deena also has an entrepreneurship blog reaching out to other women: “I just want women to believe in themselves and see me and think, ‘if she can do it, I can do it’,” she told me. Maram*, a fashion designer and boutique owner, has led a ‘revolution of colour’, selling colourful abayas (cloaks) for Saudi women to wear. This silent activism against the culture of Saudi women wearing black, could influence other women. Over recent years, and in a massive change to deeply embedded traditions, it has become acceptable for Saudi women to wear colourful abayas. This may not have been an organised movement, but the individual actions of those such as Maram contributed to an increasing feminist consciousness and a subsequent collective agency for social change. FROM ENTREPRENEUR TO POLITICAL ACTIVIST The final step sees the women engaging in political change, confronting authorities who refuse to support their business affairs, and lobbying for women’s employment laws. Even, in Ameera’s* case, becoming a member of the King’s Consultative Council. In 2013, the late King Abdullah issued a royal decree granting women 30 seats in the Shura Council, as members. He decreed that women should always hold at least one-fifth of its 150 seats among the consultative council. In 2015, women were able to vote and stand as candidates in the 2015 municipal elections, and Ameera, a business consultant, has been a member ever since. This was unthinkable a decade ago Amal* has owned a successful chain of retail outlets since the 1990s, but she was not allowed in government building to deal with paperwork. One day, she went to the government building and took down the sign that said ‘no women allowed’ and went in, invoking the King’s advocation of women in the workplace. After that, the sign was removed, and her form of activism – not without substantial risk – was rewarded. Five of 16 women I interviewed discussed lobbying the government for policy change to support women’s work and entrepreneurship. Salma*, a company MD, lobbied for policies to remove the need for women to have a male manager: “I find it ludicrous that I cannot say I am the MD.”; and Budour*, a furniture store owner, continued efforts in supporting the development of sexual harassment laws and policies to protest women at work. In both areas, there have been subsequent legislative changes. A PATHWAY TOCHANGE Through their entrepreneurship, the women have a legitimate platformto execute solidarity practices in a place where activism is illegal. They are able to stand up to authorities when their business operations were hindered, lobby the government for policy changes to support women entrepreneurs and employees, and overall, provide opportunities for other women. They used their privileged positions to bring about social and political change, and, while the process is slow, their activism is no less important for it. *Names have been changed for security and ethical reasons. Dr Sophie Alkhaled is a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship in the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy, with research focusing on the intersectionality of gender, entrepreneurship, empowerment and poverty alleviation. The paper Women’s entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia: Feminist solidarity and political activism in disguise? is published in Gender, Work & Organization. s.alkhaled@lancaster.ac.uk FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 9
10 | STANDBYFO
FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 11 Waiting can be a frustrating experience, and one that can last a particularly long time for disaster response organisations. Dr JoeDeville’s research shows how for these organisations, waiting can sometimes become amajor part of their very existence, but can threaten to render them irrelevant should they never be called into action. OR ACTION
Late in the evening of October 18th, 1356, the Swiss city of Basel was struck by a mighty earthquake – the biggest in Central European history to this date. It was felt as far away as Konstanz in Germany – almost 100 miles to the east – and in the Paris region – 250 miles to the north-west. In Basel itself, there was catastrophic destruction. Churches and castles collapsed, and amid the shaking, candles and torches were knocked from their sconces to the floor, setting light to wooden buildings across the city. The city was almost totally destroyed, and an estimated 1,000-2,000 people lost their lives. There have been larger, more destructive, natural disasters around the world in the intervening 665 years, taking the lives of many times more people, but the Basel Earthquake remains the most significant disaster in Swiss history. It also continues to be a key reference point in disaster response training exercises. One such exercise I attended – SEISMO12 – simulated an earthquake of the same magnitude centred on Basel, with the events of the 14th century featuring prominently in press releases and internal documents. For more than six centuries, the country has been waiting for an event like this to happen again. Switzerland should, on average, expect an earthquake of magnitude 6 on the Richter Scale every 100 years, and one with a magnitude between 6 and 7 – the size of the 1356 Basel earthquake – every 1,000; as yet, however, there has been no repeat of Basel. And while there have been other destructive events in the intervening period – both natural and human-made – among many Swiss, there is a continuing perception that disasters are both relatively infrequent and often not so serious as others around the world. For most people, that is good news – the lack of a major disaster is something to be celebrated – but for the Zivilschutz (Civil Protection), Switzerland’s dedicated disaster preparedness force, it creates a problem. The standing force of around 70,000 people, mostly male conscripts, divided into regional forces across the country’s 26 cantons, was established at a nationwide level in 1963 to provide a response in the event of nuclear strike at the height of the Cold War. The threat of nuclear holocaust has waned, and the focus of the organisation is instead on preparing for other kinds of disaster. In Zivilschutz’s near-60-year existence, Switzerland has suffered flooding, the 1965 Mattmark disaster – when 88 workers constructing a damwere killed in an avalanche – and the 1986 Schweizerhalle environmental disaster, when poisonous chemicals were discharged into the Rhine after a fire at a storage depot, but nothing on the scale of Basel. How can such organisations continue to be relevant as the absence of disasters severe enough to authorise their activity goes on, and when they are based on the (distant) past and an anticipated future that may never come? The perceptible absence of disaster is a specific problem. It becomes a ‘phantom’ as one cadet described it, a ‘fantasy’. The longer a disaster remains absent, the harder Civil Protection must work to stay relevant. 12 | The threat of nuclear holocaust has waned, and the focus of the organisation is instead on preparing for other kinds of disaster. In Zivilschutz’s near-60-year existence, Switzerland has suffered flooding, the 1965 Mattmark disaster – when 88 workers constructing a dam were killed in an avalanche – and the 1986 Schweizerhalle environmental disaster, when poisonous chemicals were discharged into the Rhine after a fire at a storage depot... ‘‘ ’’
In such situations waiting runs the risk of becoming chronic – spread over years, decades, lifetimes. Zivilschutz risks becoming trapped in an endless present where training and exercises become the primary focus of organisational activity, rather than responding to disasters. “We practice constantly for the event that hopefully will never happen,” one Zivilschutz Commander told me. My research showed how Zivilschutz’s struggle to achieve relevance leads to two forms of waiting: on standby, and just waiting. In waiting as standby, the organisation waits for their big moment to arrive. They are ready to be activated at any point, to deploy their targeted practices towards the effects of an unfolding disaster. These anticipated activities make their actions in the present relevant. But when they are just waiting, time merely passes, and a goal-directed present is replaced by the more vague hope that their long period of waiting will suddenly be justified by a change in the situation. Over two years of attending exercises and interviewing personnel, it became clear Zivilschutz can struggle for relevance as they await events that call them into action, and how they undertake activities of attempted ‘relevance-making’. Infrastructures are put in place, such as the recruitment, training and drilling of troops, and exercises are designed and carried out. The assumption is that at any moment, this training and preparedness could be replaced by the more intense activity of dealing with the unfolding chaos of disaster. Rather than dealing with disasters themselves, it is activities like this that a typical disaster preparedness organisation are more routinely concerned with in the continued absence of disaster. For participants, successful exercises and other forms of training keep them engaged and focused on the task at hand, but there is always the threat of boredom or disengagement, the chance they could turn from training into a bonding exercise, or an opportunity for comedy, a chance to marvel at its farcical nature. One traffic direction exercise I observed, for example, in which cadets pretended to be cars, led to much mirth among participants at its ridiculous nature. Disaster is at its most relevant when the danger is real – when infrastructures collapse, when casualties need assistance – but because disasters are so rare the feeling of threat often has to be created in other ways, such as taking troops to the location of past disasters, simulating a post-disaster landscape, having actors play victims, or simulating psychological pressures. Such preparedness work serves a purpose not just for those taking part but also for wider audience. This includes showing that Zivilschutz is relevant to the work of government, and to the lives of Swiss people at large. In many exercises, efforts are taken to assemble an audience and to actively put on a show. At SEISMO 12, key moments of the exercise were timed around the arrival of key people, such as the federal government, federal agencies and the press, giving the exercises purpose beyond preparing troops. But it is a disaster that gives training a true purpose, and the longer it doesn’t happen, the more tenuous Zivilschutz’s relevance to disaster becomes, as standby dissolves into just waiting. Since my research was completed, the Covid-19 pandemic has turned the world upside down. In Switzerland, it led to almost 10,000 deaths at the time of writing, and saw the active deployment of Zivilschutz to support health services in hospitals and care homes. Could Covid turn out to be the event some in Civil Protection were, perhaps guiltily, hoping for? Promotional videos and press released by Zivilschutz show similar attempts to showcase their work to different audiences. But will the pandemic be enough to cement their relevance? Only time will tell. Dr Joe Deville is a Senior Lecturer based jointly in the Department of Organisation, Work & Technology and the Department of Sociology. His paper, Waiting on Standby: The Relevance of Disaster Preparedness, is published in the journal ephemera in a special issue on the theme of standby. j.deville@lancaster.ac.uk FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 13
14 | An Incentive to Inc
FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 15 creaseMisconduct Many CEOs are rewarded for good performancewith company stock options. But if the leader of your company is financially rewarded for taking greater risks, what happens? Dr JustinChircop’s research finds that greater risk-taking stock option incentives are linked to a higher level of workplacemisconduct in firms.
How do you incentivise your company leader to make decisions that benefit shareholders? For a long time, a typical method has been to pay them, in large part, in stock options. Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) are habitually given share-based payments to align their interests with those of shareholders – often as much as 80%of the CEO’s pay packet is made up of share- based payments. Shareholders’ investments in a company are such that they can take advantage of any benefits of success – the share price is theoretically unlimited, so the upside is unlimited. Contrarily, their downside is limited by the amount of their investment, all they can lose is what they invested – and we have all seen provisos on stock advertisements warning you to only invest what you can afford, as prices can go down as well as up. Shareholders benefit from a higher level of risk-taking in a company. If you are giving these stock options to the CEO, you are telling them they will benefit if they take more risks. Typically, there is a positive relation between risk and return, so the greater the risk, the greater the return. Data shows that, on average, a one per cent change in stock price volatility – the potential for it to go up or down – results in a $138,720 increase in the value of CEO stock options, and thus wealth. The benefits are clear – both for shareholders and for the CEOs themselves as they try to maximise a firm’s value – but there is a dark side to this rewarding of risk-taking. To generate acceptable returns, you need to take acceptable risks. But differentiating between acceptable and unacceptable risk is a very fine line. Stock options incentives can influence investment and financial decisionmaking, and can incentivise CEOs to invest in more risky projects and undertake more risky financing choices, but they can also encourage managers to engage in other risky practices, such as accounting manipulation and fraud. Managers who are under pressure to perform often engage in practices intended to boost firm profitability, but these same practices can compromise workforce safety and wellbeing to meet performance expectations. Previous research has shown that firms that just meet or beat analysts’ forecasts have higher injury rates than those that miss or beat them comfortably, and that local managers will violate rules and regulations when under pressure, a time during which there is also an increase in misconduct. Our research looked at the relation between these CEO incentives and workplace misconduct in the USA – where data is more readily available and accessible. Workplace misconduct includes health and safety violations, non-compliance with labour laws, and other violations broadly related to labour exploitation, and 16 |
misconduct perpetrated by management relating to the working environment. If the use of stock options in executive compensation contracts encourages managers to undertake risky and value-increasing projects, then workplace misconduct can be viewed as such a risky project. This type of misconduct is associated with significant economic costs to employers, employees and society – with the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimating an average of 4%of annual GDP (equivalent to $2.8tn) is lost to its direct or indirect consequences, such asmedical expenses, worker compensation and legal costs. Further, workplace violations can have serious repercussions for both the firmand its employees; firmsmight be legally sanctioned –most commonly financially – or held liable for the loss of employee earnings resulting from worker accidents. We found positive relationship between risk-taking stock option incentives and workplace misconduct – the greater the risk incentives, the more misconduct there is in a company. This is shown in both the number and severity of violations recorded between 2000 and 2018. Further, following the introduction of Statement of Financial Accounting Standard (SFAS) 123R in 2005, which mandated the expensing of sharebased payments in Income Statements, leading to a significant drop in the use of stock options in an executive’s compensation package, there was a reduction in the relationship between the payment of these options and the severity of workplace violations. Our study shows the correlation between risk-taking incentives and workplace misconduct, specifically, aggressive decision-making with regards to employees; now work needs to be done to uncover the exact causes and, thus, solutions. Dr Justin Chircop is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Accounting & Finance. The paper CEORisk Taking Equity Incentives andWorkplace Misconduct, is co-authored by Monika Tarsalewska, of the University of Exeter, and Agnieszka Trzeciakiewicz, of Hull University. j.chircop1@lancaster.ac.uk FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 17
18 | The c fa philan how humil during Charities and not-forprofit organisations have faced a hard time during theCovid-19 pandemic, as they seek funds that are neededmore than ever. The Rank Foundation’s Caroline Broadhurst looks at how foundations have adapted their processes to better support those in need, and live up to their long-held missions.
FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 19 changing ace of nthropy – lity won through g the pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic brought new, unprecedented, demands on the not-for-profit sector – at a time when income dropped substantially. The sector, including philanthropic foundations, has faced a series of economic challenges over the last 18 months, as it has worked to adapt and adjust in a totally new world. It is estimated that during the first threemonths of the pandemic alone, £4.3 billionwas lost in the social sector through, for example, cancelled charity fundraising events. For most charities, this unprecedented loss of income came at a time when the demand for their services was increasing exponentially. With governments needing to prioritise areas such as healthcare, charities naturally looked to foundations for support in helping them to deliver services to some of the most vulnerable people in society. Over recent years there has been some criticism of foundations and the perceived complexity of grant applications and reporting procedures. However, during the early part of 2020, foundations were quick to respond through acts of humble leadership. Humble leadership fosters an approach that creates a feeling of psychological safety through relationship building, complex group work, diverse workforces and culture. In practical terms, this meant foundations rapidly simplified their processes for access to and use of funding, together with more streamlined reporting mechanisms. In psychological terms, it demonstrated that foundations were prepared to relinquish some of their ‘power’, to trust their grantees and to listen to them in order to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable in society. In some cases, foundations increased their funding allowance and accessed their endowments to create increased revenue streams in order to offer additional support to frontline services. This allowed charities to deliver programmes that offered vital assistance, for example, initiatives that tackled widespread unemployment, isolation among the elderly, discontentment among the young and racial fractures. During the pandemic, The Rank Foundation joined others in the sector by providing short-term emergency and resilience funding to those charities within its engaged network, RankNet. In addition, it capitalised on the wider sense of humility among those deemed to have the power, by creating a partnership with the UK Government’s Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) and the National Lottery Community Fund to distribute a new funding stream of £10m to small and medium-sized charities. Having developed its model of ‘engaged philanthropy’ over the last decade, the Rank Foundation had already established values of trust, honesty, respect, empathy, integrity and care for others. These values provided a firm base fromwhich to fairly distribute public funds with a compassionate approach. The Foundation’s vision, to sustainably eliminate inequalities by ‘bringing those closest to the pain, closer to the power’, is simple to articulate yet complex to action. No doubt, the pandemic has created the conditions for many foundations to better understand and to trust the charities they serve, allowing them to 20 | It is estimated that during the first three months of the pandemic alone, £4.3 billion was lost in the social sector... ‘‘ ’’
build on the positive experiences during a time of challenge to continue to live their values and deliver their core missions. An example of this is the recent creation of a new £1m Participatory Grants Programme in Plymouth, whereby charities within Rank’s network will design, deliberate, and decide on grant applications that aim to reduce social isolation and loneliness. Foundations have their roots in historical figures, often with names we remember (Carnegie, Cadbury, Wellcome and, more recently, Gates) who, in their own way, strive to create a better society. Understandably, to reduce misuse and fraud, foundations have evolved complex systems to ‘give away’ funds with the professionalisation of grant making, and a transactional rather than relational culture has evolved. However, by adopting a humble leadership approach, foundations have been able to quickly deliver in the here and now, using their resources of time, talent, treasure and voice to create the changes the grantees seek. It is likely the impact of Covid-19 will continue to be felt across society for decades, not simply through the medical lens but by also unpacking the myriad social and economic challenges. It is, therefore, all the more important for foundations to hold their collective courage and continue to build relationships with grantees. There are opportunities, too, for other organisations and sectors to consider how humble leadership can play a part in the day-to-day interaction with individuals, whether employees, customers, community or stakeholders. Humility is important regardless of context, not as a benign trait but more as a tenet of successful leadership. Closer to home at Lancaster University Management School, teaching on the Executive MBA incorporates reflection that there is much to learn from drawing together a collection of ‘good dividends’ to improve the profitability of an organisation, regardless of the sector. We learn that, ‘for humanity to flourish we need collective responsible business leadership’. As we navigate the consequences of the pandemic, humility sits at the very heart of responsible leadership. Caroline Broadhurst is the Deputy Chief Executive of The Rank Foundation in London. Caroline is studying for her Executive MBA at Lancaster. Looking Back on Philanthropy in a Pandemic Foundation: Colleagues Share Common Perspectives from Across the Pond is co-authored with Robert J. Reid, and is published in the International Journal of Community Well-Being. caroline.broadhurst@rankfoundation. com FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 21
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FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 23 DOYOU BELIEVE INTHE CURSE? Natural resources can bring an economic boomto a region or even country, but for several decades economists have found that in the longer term, these economies show slower growth. With their new research, AnitaSchiller and her colleagues show that the so-called Natural Resources Cursemight not be as problematic as first thought. Gusher in a Port Arthur, Texas oil well in 1901
When you think of Texas, you think of cowboys, cattle, football (the American version) – and oil. Black gold, Texas Tea – crude oil has been a mainstay of the Texas economy since 1901, when a crude oil geyser erupted from the well at Spindletop, starting the first oil boom. Both oil and gas production have remained an important part of the economy ever since, even through declines in production from the mid-20th century, and typical boom-bust cycles that affect the industry. With production spread across a large geographic area – far beyond the realms of Dallas, JR Ewing and Cliff Barnes – the state provides the perfect environment to look at whether the Natural Resources Curse exists on a localised scale. This phenomenon has emerged in research since the 1990s, with experts consistently finding that resource-dependent economies, such as those in Texas where oil and gas are the main industries, have slower longterm growth than those with more diversified outputs. The belief has been that natural resource-driven economic booms draw resources from non-booming export activities, lead to higher prices of nontradable goods and services – such as personal services, restaurant meals, real estate and hotel accommodation – and contribute to greater regional specialisation, leaving areas more exposed to the effects of a decline in production or prices. The advent of fracking, extracting oil and gas from shale, has seen another boom in production in Texas, with gas outputs climbing steeply by 2005 and oil production by 2009. Crude oil output nearly tripled between 2009 and 2015, with production often in new regions of the state. This provided us with the opportunity to look at how the state’s endowment of natural resources affected the economic growth rate, as there was a rapid increase in petroleumproduction across many counties in Texasmore or less concurrently. Additionally, new regions were able to enter the industry, adding to the traditional areas that had been extracting oil and gas since the beginning. With the oil and gas industries enjoying a boom period, it would be expected that employment would become more specialised across the 125 counties we analysed with oil and/or gas revenues than in the 49 without any production – that workers would leave other industries and concentrate in those that were producing such great revenues, one factor linked to the resource curse. It is reasonable to suppose that increased levels of oil and gas activity would provide evidence of the ingredients for a resource curse through localised impacts in terms of private sector employment and income in the short to medium-term. If labour is attracted to an extractive industry from other local activities by bidding up wages fromwithin a limited labour supply, then incomes will increase. However, there would be employment declines in other areas, and an increased specialisation. If the local labourmarket does not offer the necessary skills, then labour has to be imported, which should see an increase in both employment and income. But despite the large spikes in oil and gas production, we found no evidence of a mass reallocation of employment towards the booming activity, and no tendency towards increased specialisation. If the labour force is elastic, then there should be an increase in overall employment in the affected counties, but there is no evidence of this either. These results are contrary to the substantial increases in activity and the economic booms clearly evident in these areas, butmuch of the employment has been undertaken by large, often multinational, firms with headquarters in largemetropolitan areas. This might provide some insight into why long-term positive outcomes on local economies are elusive, as outside firms and employment arrive to exploit the opportunity, but do not establish local structures and ownership for their industrial activities. When the period of frenetic activity is over – when prices decline and development slows or stops – they leave with little or no evidence of their having been there. Booms and busts in these industries are essentially an imported employment phenomenon, as localities cannot maintain the required specialised workforce needed for the boom times throughout an entire cycle. A large multinational corporation can more easily do this by taking advantage of the imperfect correlation between booming areas – moving employees around from district to district, county to county, as and when required. As for increases in income, these are felt mainly in those households already in the upper half of the pay scale, while the effects on those lower down are not seen. 24 |
FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 25 Evidence of this is gleaned from higher average wages, but no change in the median wage. Beyond employment, we saw benefits to residents as per pupil expenditure is higher in school districts with higher levels of oil and gas production, even if overall school finances are not affected as the State takes away the excess income from the industry. Also, property tax bases increase with oil and gas revenues, and the local population sees lower county tax rates as a result. We could find little or no evidence of circumstances emerging over the period of our analysis that the booms would serve as a necessary element for a longer-term resource curse. While there are much wider debates to be had on the environmental impacts, on a purely economic basis, if anything, oil production has a positive effect on local incomes and school finances, and benefits the people living there. Dr Anita Schiller is a Lecturer in Economics, whose research interests include the impacts of natural hazards on societies, the effects of renewable and nonrenewable energy policies on local economies, and environmental economics. The paper Do Localities Benefits fromNatural Resource Extraction? by Professor Dakshina De Silva, of Lancaster University Management School, Professor Robert McComb, of Texas Tech University, and Dr Anita Schiller is published in The Energy Journal. The paper won the IAEE 2020 Energy Journal Best Paper Award. anita.schiller@lancaster.ac.uk
26 | Attheheartof thecommunity
FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 27 TheCovid lockdownsaffectedall businessesandorganisations. Fromhigh-street firms forced toclose their doors–many tonever reopen– tomental healthprovision, thepandemicbrought enforcedchanges. DrHelenL.Bruce looksat howchildren’sactivity providers survivedbeingunable tomeet in-person, andhowthey proved tobevital instruments inkeepingcommunitiesconnected.
As any parent can tell you, organised activities can be a god-send. Whether your child is playing football, learning to speak a foreign language, taking ballet lessons or part of a toddler group, these activities provide parents and children alike with the opportunity to come together with friends, to learn and develop, to have fun and enjoy themselves. When Covid-19 forced the UK and Ireland into lockdown in Spring 2020, the businesses and individuals running these groups were thrown into an unimaginable situation. Their doors were physically closed, they could no longer bring children and parents together in gymnasiums, sports halls, community centres, or on sports fields and pitches. The essence of their business model was gone. Having a physical, offline presence is paramount to the value they offer. They survive because they form face-to-face relationships; meeting and working with both parents and children in-person is central to the experiences they provide, and ultimately underlies their success. Without that, they are nothing. These are not the business that might immediately come to mind when we consider the harsh effects of the pandemic. High street businesses closed their doors, and the absence of pedestrians in town centres and shopping districts was a graphic illustration of lockdown’s effects; yet beyond the streets, these activities were gone as well – an absence that was sorely felt. Children’s activity groups provide an important community service. They bring people together, and while they are not directly mental health services, they provide a great benefit in that area – for parents and children. They are about development, about society, about meeting parenting goals, and all of this became very difficult in the pandemic. Yet the organisers of these groups stepped up. Faced with an extraordinary situation, they found new ways to continue. STEPPING UP TO THE MARK We spoke to a group of business owners in the UK and Ireland, all of whom provide activities for groups of children in their local communities, as well as to the parents and guardians of children – aged between one and 15 – taking part in those activities. Their activities ranged from sports (e.g. gymnastics, football, dance) to education (e.g. science, maths, foreign languages) to creative arts (music and theatre), religious groups, youth politics and special activities for visually impaired children. All the businesses, owners are super-ambitious, with wideranging goals such as supporting new parents, getting children set for life or providing a happy place for young people among the stresses and strains of life. All of our participants continued to operate their businesses throughout the first nationwide lockdowns, moving their activities online – a migration which was sudden, and that required great innovation, creativity, adaptability and commitment. They really went for it, but found that they could not easily replicate what they did offline. They had to adapt in many ways, from coming up with new music playlists because Facebook wouldn’t allow them to play their music online, to concentrating on strength work where children didn’t have the space or equipment to do gymnastics at home, to rethinking scientific experiments so they could be done with products typically found in the average kitchen. All the activity providers went above and beyond the call of duty, offering additional activities – such as online sleepovers, making doorstep visits with colouring books and pens – and working hard to continue to support the children and their parents. THE IMPORTANCE OF PARENTS The move online resulted in parents having to play a more active role in some of the activities – preparing 28 |
materials, clearing spaces, facilitating joining a class, monitoring their child’s behaviour – and it was the children of those parents who were willing and able to do this who more typically remained active throughout the lockdown. If businesses did not have the prior relationship with parents, they were not going to step up and support their children’s participation online; those relationships and trust drove success, and many parents expressed a desire to support local businesses and were keen to try to ensure that providers survived the pandemic. Parents weremore likely to support online activities where they recognised the benefits to their children, although they recognised these benefits changed in the switch fromoffline. Mental wellbeing and a connected sense of community were key factors, with activities providing a chance for children to see their friends, even if only for a few minutes at a time. This often overrode the importance of the activity itself. One mother told us: “I don’t care about the sport now. I care about her mental health, the fact that she is getting to see her friends.” Of course, many parents worked throughout lockdown and were unable to support their child’s participation; others experienced reduced income and could not afford activities, even if fees were reduced (which many were); some families did not own enough devices with internet access; while others saw no benefit – sometimes due to a lack of interactivity or the activity not being well suited to an online setting, such as football or music groups. In other instances, it became clear that parents saw the activities pre-lockdown almost as a babysitting service – they were not so much concerned with what their child was doing, more that they were occupied. They were happy to save money when this benefit disappeared. FINDING A GOODONLINE FORMAT In general, both parents and children preferred activities that were live and interactive, where leaders could provide individual feedback. Allowing for interaction between class members was important as well, with children liking the opportunity to chat with each other, typically at the end of a session. Online classes that followed a similar structure to offline classes worked best for parents and children, creating familiarity and comfort, and for parents a continued sense of value. For some activities, this was impossible, for instance due to the need for specialist equipment, or because children were unable to physically interact (such as in martial arts). The number of people involved in an online session was important, with larger classes harder to manage, and parents feeling that their children did not receive enough individual attention and lost interest as a result in those bigger groups. Both providers and parents can see the benefits of maintaining some of these online elements into the future. Some businesses will go back to normal, some won’t, but all will be wary as another lockdown would be even harder. AN IMPORTANT COMMUNITY ASSET These local businesses are really important for the community. They give people something meaningful and enjoyable to do, something that is important for their well-being, and something that brings people together and allows them to build friendships. Any discussions about rebuilding wider communities need to consider the roles these businesses have played before, during and after the pandemic, and the sheer effort they went to during lockdown. They have shown such resilience, and they are almost unsung heroes in the community. FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 29 Dr Helen L. Bruce is a Lecturer in the Department of Marketing. Dr Bruce co-authored the research report DeliveringChildren’s Activities During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Succeeding inUnprecedented Times, with Dr Ewa Krolikowska, of the University of Greenwich, and Dr Tara Rooney, of Technological University Dublin. h.bruce@lancaster.ac.uk
30 | AGrimFarFuture, A tabletopwargamewith armies of SpaceMarines, Orks and the armies of Chaos, an expanded universe of books and graphic novels telling tales across the universe in the 41stmillennium, Warhammer 40,000 is the backbone of GamesWorkshop. And yet, as DrMikeRyder explains, the fictional future hasmuch in commonwith the present when it comes to fighting theWar on Terror.
FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 31 ,oraDarkPresent Mutated Space Marines stand surrounded by an ominous green stench.
Soldiers who are educated, trained and indoctrinated to blindly follow orders; a permanent state of emergency allowing powers to commit acts that might otherwise be considered atrocities; soldiers who excuse their actions saying they were ‘just following orders. Do these describe a far-future fantasy world, or the present day? For decades, Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 (40k) universe has captured the imaginations of gamers, readers and fantasy fans. One of the most well-established science-fiction universes today, it depicts a 41st millennium engulfed in conflict, where humankind (the Imperium) has spread across the universe only to be beset on all sides by deadly alien foes, and from within by the insidious lure of Chaos. It is pure fantasy, and yet it is not. For at the heart of 40k lie issues being played out today; modern-day questions of military ethics and the conduct of war arise in literature from long before the War on Terror. Warhammer 40k extrapolates on realworld concepts – the super-soldier, unending war – and takes them to their logical (sometimes illogical) conclusion. There are messages and story arcs that can be directly transposed to the reallife present day. The byzantine statecraft and martial ethics of the Imperium serve as a fictionalised ‘black mirror’ to the ‘permanent state of emergency’ that philosopher Giorgio Agamben claims to be the essential practice of the modern-day state. For alien threats, read terrorists; for Chaos, read extremist domestic threats; for super solider Space Marines, read individual soldiers drilled to follow instructions – both potentially committing war crimes in which they have little say. Space Marines stand at the centre of much of the 40k universe, and offer parallels with soldiers and their actions today. Genetically-enhanced super-soldiers, they are humanity’s ultimate warriors – bigger, stronger and faster than normal human soldiers, and equipped with the best weapons and armour with which to wage war against the Emperor’s foes. JUST FOLLOWINGORDERS The Space Marines’ approach to duty and warfare offers several important questions about howmodern-day soldiers think and behave on the field of battle. On the one hand, soldiers are educated, trained and indoctrinated by the nation state of which they are part and sent into battle to fight wars under the orders of their superior officers. Yet the state is also subject to international law, so do the soldiers owe their loyalty to their superiors or to the state? Can they – should they – be expected to think for themselves? How can they think for themselves when their training compels them not to, to follow orders without questions? As part of the 40k canon, during the Horus Heresy, half the Space Marine legions ‘fell’ to Chaos and betrayed the Emperor, but it is unclear howmany were actually traitors, or just individuals caught up in events, following their superiors. Space Marines are expected to follow orders without question. Execution awaits those who do not. Yet Space Marine Argel Tal reflects on the weakness of the excuse “I was just following orders”, and argues he himself is weak for using it. Thispoints toaparadox in real-world militaryethicsand thewaywehold individual soldiers toaccount for crimes theymayhavehad littlesay incommitting. A good example is the infamous My Lai massacre during the VietnamWar, where US troops killed hundreds of civilians. Only one soldier, Lt. William Calley, was ever tried, and in a sense, Lt Calley was put on trial – and found guilty of war crimes – not as an individual but on behalf of all military personnel who took part in the engagement, and who were following the orders – or at least the spirit of the orders – from officials stressing the ‘need for aggression and a large body count’. While Lt Calley and his colleagues may have pulled the trigger, they were part of a much wider systemic failure rooted in the overall military machine, exposing the tensions between national and international law, and the ethical dilemma surrounding soldierly loyalty. Former US Secretary of Defence Robert SMcNamara has spoken of his role in the Office of Statistical Control during the SecondWorldWar, where his job was to calculate ways to improve the efficiency of US bombing raids in East Asia. This ultimately led to the firebombing of Tokyo and themurder of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians. He realises that had the Allies 32 | For alien threats, read terrorists; for Chaos, read extremist domestic threats; for super solider Space Marines, read individual soldiers drilled to follow instructions – both potentially committing war crimes in which they have little say. ‘‘ ’’
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