Ableism—the systemic devaluation and exclusion of people with disabilities—remains a persistent barrier to full social, economic, and political inclusion. People with disabilities face barriers not because of inherent limitations, but because of the environment and systems around them. Combatting ageism and ableism requires more than just policy pronouncements or isolated programs. It demands a comprehensive, multi-sector approach that transforms communities, services and institutions in o...

Everyone, including people with disabilities, has the right to a basic standard of living adequate for their own health and well-being and for their families including access to employment and decent work, financial services and economic resources, adequate food (freedom from hunger and access to nutritious food), clothing, clean water and sanitation (essential for health and hygiene), secure housing (safe, habitable shelter with access to services like water, sanitation and electricity an...

Organizational culture is one of the most frequently employed yet least understood constructs of organizational behavior and management. Organizational culture includes the common values, beliefs, assumptions and norms that govern the interactions between persons in an organization and how they work. These often run beneath the surface, often unwritten and yet enormously powerful in influencing day-to-day performance and execution of long-term strategy. Organizational culture cannot be a p...

In Businesses and Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Alan Gutterman provides a compelling and timely roadmap for how businesses of all sizes and sectors can actively promote and protect the human rights of persons with disabilities. Drawing on principles from international human rights law, corporate social responsibility, and disability justice, the book moves beyond compliance and charity to make the ethical, legal, and business case for full inclusion. This work offers ...

Entrepreneurship—and starting a new business—is always exciting and challenging; however, the stakes and stress are particularly high for those hoping to launch an "emerging company": an enterprise focused on high and sustainable growth in both employment and revenues while pursuing technological breakthroughs, dramatic shifts in the costs associated with satisfying existing consumer needs, identification of new consumer needs and/or sociological or economic changes. This book is intended ...

In recent years we've watched respected impact-focused organizations destabilized by funding contractions, political reversals, regulatory shifts and leadership transitions. Programs serving vulnerable communities were reduced or eliminated not because their missions lacked merit, but because their financial and governance architectures were not designed for prolonged instability. These episodes were not failures of compassion or innovation. They were failures of structural preparation. Su...

To know whether sustainability initiatives and their related commitments are improving the company's performance it is necessary to have in place procedures for "communicating with stakeholders about a firm's economic, environmental and social management and performance". These communications take the form of "sustainability reporting", which is the preparation and dissemination of disclosures pertaining to "nonfinancial information" including information relating to climate change, water ...

Academics, policymakers, businesspeople, members of civil society and individuals have all recognized the significant effect the activities of the private sector have on employees, customers, communities, the environment, competitors, business partners, investors, shareholders, governments, and others. It is also becoming increasingly clear that firms can contribute to their own wealth and to overall societal wealth by acting as a sustainable business and considering the effect they have o...

In addition to their formal structure and the rules and standard operating procedures used to support and operate the structure, organizations also rely heavily on their organizational culture as an important tool in controlling and coordinating the activities of their members (e.g., executive, managers and employees), formulating communications among those members, and providing incentives and reasons for them to act in ways that the leaders of the organization considers to be necessary i...

According to estimates based on data compiled and analyzed by the World Bank, the global population of women aged 65 and over as of 2020 was 397 million (an increase of 106 million from a decade earlier), representing 55% of the total global population of persons aged 65 and over (722 million) and 10.35% of the world's total female population (compared to 8.5% a decade earlier). In 2009, the UN projected that the number of older women living in less developed regions would increase by 600 ...

Leadership is a universal phenomenon that has preoccupied scholars, politicians and others for centuries. In the management context leadership has been consistently identified as playing a critical role in the success or failure of organizations and some surveys have pegged almost half of an organization's performance on the quality and effectiveness of its leadership team. While all leaders should have a vision and desire to inspire their followers to take collective action to make it hap...

The human resources function is at the forefront of a company's efforts with respect to two of the key elements of organizational design—people and organizational structure. While human resources practices differ around the world, it would seem to be universally true that in order for companies to successfully achieve their strategic goals and objectives they must strive to attract, motivate, and retain those employees who are best qualified to carry out the necessary activities of the com...