Towards an Inclusive Company

  • Maria-Giuseppina_Bruna

    Maria-Giuseppina BRUNA - Dean of Research & Full Professor of Management

    Dean for Research, Dissemination, and Impact, IPAG Business School ǀ Full Professor of Management, Accredited to Supervise Research ǀ Founder and Director of the IPAG Chair “Towards an Inclusive Company”

Founded in 2016 and since then chaired by Dr. Maria Giuseppina Bruna, the IPAG Chair 'Towards an Inclusive Company' is an interdisciplinary platform for action-research, expertise, training and scientific dissemination, which is aimed at exploring the cross-cutting issues of agility, inclusion and innovation at work.

Benefiting from the support of some fifteen Corporate sponsors and partners, the Chair manages and conducts a dozen action-research programs to enlighten the companies in their strategic choices, their societal commitment and their organizational changes. The Chair aims at contributing to the economic viability, the social acceptability and the environmental sustainability of the firms’ business models. The Chair puts the quest for meaning, efficiency and resilience at the very heart of its heuristics.

As a partner of the French public authorities, it investigates the future of jobs, organizations and management, and investigates the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the corporate strategy and practices. Rooted in the socio-economic world, the Chair pays particular attention to the incubation, empowerment and optimization of inclusive networks (or communities of change leaders), understood as the antechambers of tomorrow's companies and laboratories for a new style of leadership: situational, shared, learning, agile and inclusive, as well.

The Chair weaves ties among its areas of expertise, for example by studying the links between optimizing talent detection and development systems (in a VUCA context) and the implementation of inclusive networks, or by exploring firm’s forecasting with regard to agility, inclusion and innovation.

The Chair benefits from the sponsorship of thirteen great organizations: o the Foundation Égalité Mixité (and its sponsors AXA, ENGIE, ORANGE, MICHELIN),

As a strategic partner of the French Association of Diversity Managers (AFMD), the Chair cooperates with the Foundation Acting Against Exclusion (FACE), the National Association of HR Directors (ANDRH). The Chair’s team counts 10 IPAG permanent teacher-researchers and an international network of about twenty researchers and associated experts (including Mr. François Bellami, lecturer-researcher expert in disability and leadership). Dr. B. Ben Lahouel and Dr. A. Jahmane serves as Chair’s senior researchers and experts in methodology.

  • the CBRE Group France,
  • the TOTAL Group,
  • the MICHELIN Foundation,
  • The CAMFIL France Group
  • the Group VYV, leader of the French mutualist market (and previously MUTEX),
  • the AGEFIPH (Association for the management of the fund for the professional integration of disabled people),
  • the IFEC (majority union of the Chartered Accountant profession) in the framework of a partnership with the VYV Group and the Chair,
  • the FNCS (Federation of Energy Executives and Managers).
  • Among its older partners and sponsors : CARREFOUR Group and OGILVY France (Executive education partner).

Social, managerial and institutional impact of the Chair

  • Since 2016, the Chair has been cooperating, supporting, training more than 10,000 leaders, managers and social change leaders, in France and around the world, on organizational foresight, steering societal change and evaluation of companies' CSR/diversity policies.
  • The Chair is conducting ten action-researches around the major challenges of inclusion, agility and resilience at work, CSR/diversity change-management policies as well as business and socio-organizational forecasting.
  • Since 2016, more than 30 great companies, foundations and business clubs and networks have been benefiting directly from the Chair's research/expertise.
  • The Chair benefits from the strategic partnership of the French Association of Diversity Managers (AFMD, counting 120 major companies, administrations and local authorities) and cooperates closely with the FACE Foundation (Fondation Agir contre l'Exclusion, bringing together 6,000 companies throughout France) as well as ANDRH (Association Nationale des Directeurs des Ressources Humaines, the main association of HR Directors in France) and ORSE (Observatoire de la responsabilité sociétale des organisations, 100 major groups and main trade unions).
  • As a partner of the French public authorities, the Chair contributes (through its Director, Dr. M. G. Bruna) to institutional work on non-discrimination and diversity promotion at work, cooperating with the French Ministries of Labor, Territorial Cohesion and Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
    Positive social impact of the Chair's research/training activities
  • The Chair is in charge of the scientific direction of the Master in Management and CSR carried out by IPAG Executive Education.
  • Under the leadership of its Director, the Chair team has produced, since 2016, more than 110 academic papers (peer-reviewed articles, special issues, book chapters, etc.) and 100 professional deliverables and institutional expertise reports.
  • Every year, it organizes or co-organizes about ten symposia, conference sessions (tracks) and major public events.
  • Since 2016, the Chair's team (represented mainly by Dr. M. G. Bruna) has been delivering more than 100 professional conferences to national and international institutions, large companies, foundations and business clubs. The Chair, a lever for the development of IPAG LAB
  • The Chair leads a team of 10 permanent teacher-researchers and an international network of about 20 researchers and experts.
  • Thanks to the support of its sponsors, the Chair has been able to create 4 teachers - researchers' positions within the IPAG Lab.
    The Chair, the linchpin of the School's Ethics & CSR approach
  • The Chair is the linchpin of the School's Department of Ethics, CSR and Social Research, founded in 2017 and since then directed by Dr. M. G. Bruna.
  • The Chair’s team contributes to the implementation of the School's societal engagement policy. The School was admitted in 2019 to the prestigious status of Advanced Signatory of PRME, the United Nations Pact for Responsible Management in Higher Education, and was awarded the prestigious BSIS [Business School Impact System] label in September 2020.
  • The Chair has supported IPAG’s BSIS [Business School Impact System] approach, which was aimed at measuring and optimizing the School's overall impact on its ecosystem. Chaired by Dr. M. G. Bruna, the BSIS coordination team is composed of Dr. Béchir Ben Lahouel and Mr. Marc Rivault.
  • Under the direction of Dr. M. G. Bruna and the coordination of Mr. Marc Rivault, the Chair animates the School's policy of disability/diversity inclusion policy. Mr. Rivault leads a diversity/inclusion network, which also gathers Dr. Manel Guechtouli and Dr. Marie-José Scotto.

Contact

Prof. Dr.  Maria Giuseppina Bruna, Director of the IPAG Chair " Towards an Inclusive Company ", Full Professor in Management, Dean for Ethics, CSR and Social Research at the IPAG Business School. ’.
E-mail: maria-giuseppina.bruna@ipag.fr

Team

Activities

Research programs of the IPAG Chair 'Towards an Inclusive Company’

Under the leadership of Dr. M. G. Bruna and benefiting from fifteen Corporate sponsors, the Chair investigates CSR challenges, policies and practices through the following programs:

  • THE "WOMEN & NETWORKS" PROGRAM: Awarded by the Foundation Egalité Mixité (FACE Foundation / Corporate sponsors: Axa, Michelin, Engie, Orange), this program assesses the women’s networks as professional equality toolboxes and talent sandboxes, agility laboratories, platforms for managerial innovation and crafts for social inclusion. The program is based on an in-depth study of 25 women's networks (and sub-networks) from 8 major companies (AXA, MICHELIN, ENGIE, ORANGE, GRTGAZ, IBM, CBRE, Total Group...). Nowadays, the Program is supported by the Foundation Égalité Mixité, the CBRE France Group, the TOTAL Group and the MICHELIN Foundation.
  • THE ACTION-RESEARCH PROGRAMS "INCUBATION OF A GENDER DIVERSITY NETWORK" AND "TALENT MANAGEMENT": Supported by CBRE France Group, the Chair implements two action-research programs, respectively on the incubation, empowerment and the impact assessment of a gender diversity network and on the issue "Talent management & diversity of excellence".
  • THE PROGRAM "THE RENAISSANCE MAKERS" : Supported by the Michelin Foundation and the CBRE Group France, this program proposes a humanistic investigation on the vulnerability in the workplace during the COVID era. It highlights the melioristic contribution of networks to individual and organizational resilience, as well as to social inclusiveness. The Program aims at: - identifying the future skills and operating methods of renaissance makers - comparing their key skills and operating methods with the talent detection and evaluation grids adopted by companies engaged in skills initiatives; - unveiling, in continuum with the 'Women & Networks' Program, the regenerative potential of networks to engender a melioristic change.
  • THE "DISABILITY, NETWORKS AND MANAGERIAL INNOVATION: FOR AN INCLUSIVE COMPANY" PROGRAM: benefiting from the AGEFIPH’s partnership, the Chair is carrying out an action-research on "Disability and Inclusion. Designing, supporting and leading inclusive territorial networks". The outcomes of these investigations are disseminated through open seminars on "Disability, Inclusion, Agility, Diversity".
  • THE "CAREGIVERS-EMPLOYEES: STRATEGIC ANALYSIS, ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT AND FORECASTING STUDY" PROGRAM: the Chair cooperates with the VYV Group (and previously with its MUTEX entity) to build a highly innovative action-research program exploring the (strategic, organizational and managerial) issues of employees-caregivers. This research articulates an investigation of socio-organizational challenges, a prospective analysis and a contextualized in-depth case study. It feeds prospective projections and a social and managerial toolbox. The Chair and the VYV Group are deploying their partnership within a multi-year framework initiated in 2017 and renewed continuously in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
  • THE "SOCIAL AUDIT AND SUPPORT FOR MANAGERS IN MANAGING DIVERSE TEAMS" PROGRAM: the Chair regularly conducts fundamental and applied research aimed at evaluating the methods and tools for managing diversity change in the companies and assessing its impact. Crossed partnerships link it to the Foundation Égalité-Mixité, AGEFIPH, the CBRE Group, the VYV Group, the TOTAL Group, the Michelin Foundation and the FAPE ENGIE Foundation. In partnership with the CARREFOUR Group, a study has been carried out on methods and tools for social-auditing the diversity and inclusion approaches and for supporting operational managers in managing diverse teams.
  • THE "EFFICIENCY MEASURES AND IMPACT STUDIES OF COMPANIES' SOCIETAL ENGAGEMENT APPROACHES AND/OR ORGANIZATIONS' SOCIAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES" PROGRAM: the Chair investigates the efficiency of CSR policies and of social investment practices (deployed by foundations, companies, public administrations, local authorities, etc.). The use of the DEA [Data Envelopment Analysis] non-parametric method, to enlighten environmental management and CSR issues is the hit of this work. An empirical illustration was recently carried out on the FAPE ENGIE Foundation.
  • THE "SOCIAL/ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE - ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE: LIFTING THE LOCKS TO SHED LIGHT ON A MULTIFACTOR/MULTI-DIMENSIONAL RELATIONSHIP" PROGRAM: the Chair’s team is deploying a multi-year fundamental and applied research program on the links between social/environmental performance and economic performance, to remove biases and obstacles that undermine the intelligibility of this multifactor/multi-dimensional relationship.
  • FORESIGHT STUDIES ON PROFESSIONS, COMPANIES AND MANAGEMENT IN THE ACCOUNTANCY AND ENERGY SAVING SECTORS: the Chair is conducting a multi-year foresight study on the strategic issues and future challenges of the accountancy profession, as part of a tripartite partnership between IFEC, the major French accountancy trade union, and the VYV Group. At the same time, in 2019, the Chair has conducted a study, in partnership with the FNCS, focusing on the function of "Senior Manager and Leader" in the energy sector. The study, which was completed at the end of 2019, gives an account of the professional ethos and business culture of senior executives in the energy sector, as well as their modes of work organization, life time balance and transformational leadership. Scientific activities
    • 120 scientific papers
    • 80 peer-reviewed articles, special issues and book chapters
    • 100 professional conferences with executives, top executives and managers from 30 institutions and organizations
    • 85 professional deliverables and institutional expertise reports.

    As part of a transdisciplinary approach, the Chair's researchers is publishing in high-ranking academic journals such as : Small Business Economics - European Management Review - Journal of Applied Accounting Research - Finance Research Letters - Technological Forecasting and Social Change -Journal of Management and Governance - Journal of Cleaner Production - Bankers, Markets & Investors - Journal of Organizational Change Management - International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management - Management International - Management & Avenir - Management & Social Sciences - Revue Sciences de Gestion - Revue Internationale de Psychosociologie et de Gestion des Comportements Organisationnels (RIPCO) - RIHME - Gestion 2000 - Question(s) de Management.

Since the creation of the Chair in 2016, the research team has been co-directing and still does special issues in high-profile journals such as :

  • Finance Research Letters (direction: M. G. Bruna & B. Ben Lahouel),
  • Environmental Economics and Policy Studies (direction: M. G. Bruna & B. Ben Lahouel),
  • Management & Avenir (management: M. G. Bruna),
  • Management & Social Sciences (2 issues, direction: Z. Yanat & M. G. Bruna),
  • International Journal of Psychosociology and Organizational Behavior Management (edited by M. G. Bruna & Z. Yanat), - RIMHE (direction: M. G. Bruna, J.-M. Peretti & Z. Yanat),
  • Gestion 2000 (2 issues / direction: M. G. Bruna).
  • Management question(s) (management: M.G. Bruna & B. Ben Lahouel).

Dr. M.G. Bruna, Director of the Chair, also serves as:

  • Assistant Editor of Management & Social Sciences
  • Associate Editor of Finance Research Letters [ELSEVIER].

Pedagogy

  • The Chair scientifically leads the IPAG’s Master in Management and CSR.
  • Under the aegis of Dr. M. G. Bruna (Director of the Chair) and Dr. M-.J. Scotto (Head of the IPAG's HR Department), the Chair supervises the courses on HR and responsible management as well as on business ethics and CSR [in PGE, Bachelor, BBA, MBA programs...].
  • Dr. M. G. Bruna co-supervises several PhD. In addition, the Chair’s team supervises about forty Master’s theses per year and about ten in executive education (under the joint responsibility of Dr. A. Jahmane and Dr. M. G. Bruna).

Institutional Contributions

As a partner of the French public authorities, the Chair contributes (through its Director, Dr. M. G. Bruna) to the institutional debate on non-discrimination, anti-racism and diversity/inclusion promotion in the workplace. It cooperates with the French Ministries of Labor, Territorial Cohesion and Higher Education.

Recent Publications

  1. Bruna, M. G., & Nicolò, D. (2020). Corporate Reputation and Social Sustainability in the early stages of start-ups: a theoretical model to match stakeholders' expectations through Corporate Social Commitment. Finance Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2020.101508
  2. Bruna, M. G., & Lahouel, B. B. (2020). Optimiser la doctrine de don d’une Fondation par une mesure de socio-efficience: le cas de la FAPE ENGIE. Question(s) de management, (27), 55-77. https://doi.org/10.3917/qdm.201.0055
  3. Bruna, M. G. (2019). Auditer les quatre paris de la RSE pour bâtir l’entreprise de demain. Gestion 2000, 36(1), 19-36. https://doi.org/10.3917/g2000.361.0019
  4. Bruna, M. G., & Bazin, Y. (2018). Answering Levinas' call in organization studies. European Management Review, 15(4), 577-588.
  5. Lahouel, B. B., Bruna, M. G., & Zaied, Y. B. (2020). The Curvilinear Relationship Between Environmental Performance and Financial Performance: An Investigation of Listed French Firms Using Panel Smooth Transition Model. Finance Research Letters, 101455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2020.101455
  6. Lahouel, B. B., Gaies, B., Zaied, Y. B., & Jahmane, A. (2019). Accounting for endogeneity and the dynamics of corporate social–corporate financial performance relationship. Journal of cleaner production, 230, 352-364.
  7. Jahmane, A., & Gaies, B. (2020). Corporate social responsibility, financial instability and corporate financial performance: linear, non-linear and spillover effects–The case of the CAC 40 companies. Finance Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.frl.2020.101483
  8. Boyer A., & Farzaneh, F. (2019). Vers une éthique de la robotique. Question(s) de management, (24), 67-84. https://doi.org/10.3917/qdm.192.0067
  9. Scotto, M. J., & Tiffon, H. (2019). Les réseaux sociaux internes d’entreprise comme dispositifs ascendants de promotion de l’égalité professionnelle F/H: 2 exemples du secteur informatique. Question(s) de management, (23), 67-87. https://doi.org/10.3917/qdm.191.0067
  10. McDonald, J., & Guechtouli, M. (2019). What are the factors influencing youth’s perception of ethical tourism? The major role of internet and social media. Question(s) de management, (24), 151-167. https://doi.org/10.3917/qdm.192.0151
  11. Vincendeau, B. (2020). La responsabilité sociétale des entreprises. Étude comparée du droit américain et français des sociétés anonymes cotées. Lextenso, under press.

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