Workload, Time, Gender Equity, and Organizational Effectiveness at IDRC

This two-year collaborative action research project was funded through a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada. The project was carried out in collaboration with Lotte Bailyn and graduate students from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

IDRC identified workload and time pressures experienced by professional staff as a significant concern both for staff and for organizational performance. The research project had five objectives:

  1. develop an in-depth analysis of the nature and extent of workload and time pressure problems within IDRC;
  2. analyze the nature and extent to which these are experienced by or have different impacts on diverse groups of staff (with special attention given to assessing the differential experiences and impact on women and men);
  3. analyze the implications of workload and time pressures on IDRC’s ability to achieve its strategic objectives and do its work effectively;
  4. develop a set of proposals for explicit changes in management systems, work practices, or norms that IDRC could introduce to reduce the negative consequences of workload and time pressures on women and men employees’ lives and on IDRC’s ability to meet its strategic objectives; and
  5. refine analytic frameworks, methods, tools, and indicators.

Through this project, CGO enhanced its expertise in working on issues of gender equity, work-personal life integration, and organizational change in research and scientific organizations.

 

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