Biographic and Personal Characteristics of Women in Management (original) (raw)

Gender Issues in Business Coaching

John Wiley & Sons, Ltd eBooks, 2012

Coaching p. S39). Oakley (1972 /1985) was one of the first to distinguish biological "sex" differences from "gender" as a set of socio-cultural constructions, identifying how what was often thought of as natural and biological was also social, cultural, historical, and political. However, some of the problems with the approaches in the 1960s and 1970s was with their cultural specificity, and relative lack of attention to power, change, and social structures (Broadbridge and Hearn, 2008 , p. S40; Eichler, 1980). Gatrell and Swan (2008) explore the background to the women's rights movement and the influence of liberal feminism on the equal opportunities agenda. The history of women's employment is positioned as a social issue within specific social contexts. Although formal workplace activism started in the 1960s and 1970s, the authors acknowledge that "women have always found ways to fight and resist discriminatory practices, individually and collectively" (Gatrell and Swan, 2008 , p. 21). The theories of Marxist feminism, radical feminism, and patriarchy are considered as influences on our understanding of discrimination against women. Greer (1970 /2006) and Friedan (1963) gave voice to feminist thinking on gender, work, and inequality. Radical feminism gave "a positive value to womanhood rather than supporting a notion of assimilating women into areas of activity with men" (Beasley, 1999 , p. 54). Social and cultural perspectives are examined on how traditional stereotypes of masculinity and femininity have created the gendered division of labor at work, with particular emphasis on the discrimination of women with and without children (Gatrell and Swan, 2008 , pp. 36-7). During the 1970s and 1980s, the two dominant sets of literature on gender and management came from studies of gendered labor markets, "influenced by studies of political economy and by Marxist and socialist feminist work", and writings on "women and management" (Broadbridge and Hearn, 2008 , p. S41). Rosabeth Moss Kanter's (1977) "extended case study of a large US corporation in Men and Women of the Corporation , significantly opened up the field, although Kanter stopped short of presenting a fully gendered account of power" (Broadbridge and Hearn, 2008 , p. S41; Kanter, 1977). By the late 1970s and 1980s, most relevant work was on gender divisions of labor, authority and hierarchy, and sexuality in management and organizations (Hearn and Parkin, 1983). With the move away from "women in management", to "gender in management", in 1986 Women in Management Review was renamed Gender in Management: An International Journal. In 1992, organizational theorist, Joan Acker set out to analyze gendered processes in organizations, describing how they intertwine with organizational culture, sexuality, and violations. A second journal, Gender, Work and Organization , was founded in 1994 due to the expansion of research in this area. Butler (1990) argued that the sex-gender distinction is a socio-cultural construction. Although "the area of gender, organizations and management is now a recognized legitimate and important area," and it is recognized that there are "key issues of gender power relations in academic organizations and academic management which need urgent attention," gender "should not be isolated from other social divisions and oppressions, such as class or race" (Broadbridge and Hearn, 2008 , pp. S38-40). "The idea of 'gender and gendering', as opposed to 'women' in management as an analytic lens, means that the relationality between men and women, masculinity and femininity-the way they cannot be thought apart from each other-draws attention to the social construction of masculinity and femininity" (Gatrell and Swan, 2008 , pp. 4-5). Gender, although a term widely used, finds "no common understanding of its meaning, even amongst feminist scholars" (Acker, 1992 , p. 565). For most social theorists, gender is a social construction which means that "as for other social categories such as race, sexuality

Women and men in management : Stereotypes, evaluation and discourse

2014

Very few women hold top corporate positions in Sweden, and women are underrepresented as managers in all work sectors. The present thesis examined stereotypes, perceptions and presuppositions about women, men and management with a combination of perspectives from social and organizational psychology, discourse analysis and gender in organization research. Study 1 of Paper I was a content analysis of management attributes and cultural stereotypes of female and male managers. In Study 2, an inventory of these attributes was formed, and participants' stereotype endorsements tested. Stereotypes of female managers resembled good management more than male managers, and they were rated more positively, but a masculine norm was implied. Paper II aimed to study and compare gender-related management stereotypes and evaluations of actual managers, and examine perceived gender bias. Men evaluated the female manager stereotype more positively on communal attributes, and, contrary to women, judged the male manager stereotype more positively on agentic attributes. This may help explain the scarcity of women in top management. Women perceived more gender bias favoring male managers than men. Actual male and female managers were rated similarly. Still, the Euclidian distances showed that ratings of actual managers and stereotypes were linked. Paper III examined the discourse on the lack of women in top corporate positions, explanations and links to proposed measures in a project to counter the gender imbalance. A liberal discourse with contradictions and textual silences was exposed. Gender had to be construed in line with traditional gender norms and division of labor to make sense of the proposed explanations. To conclude, one can be reassured by the largely communal portrayal of good management and positive evaluations of female managers, but also apprehensive about the masculine norm of management, perceived gender bias in favor of men, and traditional gender constructions.

The Relationship Between Sex Role Stereotypes And Requisite Management Characteristics Revisited

Academy of Management Journal, 1989

Three hundred male middle managers rated either women in general, men in general, or successful middle managers on 92 descriptive terms. The results confirmed the hypothesis that successful middle managers are perceived to possess characteristics, attitudes, and temperaments more commonly ascribed to men in general than to women in general. There was a significant resemblance between the mean ratings of men and managers, whereas there was no resemblance between women and managers. Examination of mean rating differences among women, men, and managers on each of the items disclosed some requisite management characteristics which were not synonymous with the masculine sex role stereotype. Implications of the demonstrated relationship for organizational behaviors are discussed. Although women make up 38% of the work force (Koontz, 1971), the proportion of women who occupy managerial and executive positions is markedly small. One extensive survey of industrial organizations (Women in the Work Force, 1970) revealed that 87% of the companies surveyed had 5% or fewer women in middle management and above. According to Orth and Jacobs (1971), one reason for the limited number of women managers and executives is that "... traditional male attitudes toward women at the professional and managerial levels continue to block change [p. 140]." Bowman, Worthy, and Greyser (1965) found that of 1,000 male executives surveyed, 41% expressed mildly unfavorable to strongly unfavorable attitudes toward women in management. This negative reaction to women in management suggests that sex role stereotypes may be inhibiting women from advancing in the managerial work force. The existence of sex role stereotypes has been documented by numerous researchers

Gender Terminologies in Management Literature: A Feminine Perspective

Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research, 2019

Research on women in C-Suite has become a significant field of study after globalization. In earlier times, very few studies were conducted in the field of gender in Management. Those studies were androcentric in nature and the theoretical reflection of the manager was male. Masculine attributes like stubbornness, arrogance, and dominance were the standard. Leaders were assessed on the basis of whether they had an 'acidic tongue', 'sarcastic tone' and 'fist pounding on the table' kind of behaviour. Formerly, women in management were not considered as a sign of natural social development. Now, however, things are changing and a lot of studies on this topic are happening across the world. Workplaces are recognizing the value of feminine leadership traits like compassionate, collaborative and empathetic. Strong corporate culture should view people as a critical resource and value them as individuals. This paper aims to evaluate the developing field of gender in Management Literature and to examine how 'Think Manager, Think Male' attitude has changed over three decades.

Women Managers and Gendered Values

Women's Studies in Communication, 2000

In this study we interviewed 30 women managers to better understand ways in which they experience gendered values and behavior in organizational leadership and their responses to those experiences. The results, based on a constant comparison, thematic analysis, indicate the emergence of surprisingly strong and similar perceptions among the 30 women that there are distinct feminine and masculine power orientations in leadership communication with corresponding sets of gendered values: (a) open/closed and (b) supportive/intimidating. Their most common responses were: (a) rejection of masculine power, (b) self-doubt and blame, (c) competence, (d) confrontation, (e) isolation, and (f) resignation. These women judge masculine values to be harmful, overpowering, and ineffective and view feminine values much more favorably, yet they see themselves as isolated in both their values and numbers. Focusing on this sense of isolation, we suggest renewed discussion of ways in which women managers can connect through support for one another, and we offer to that discussion a suggestion for action-oriented networking. Organizations do not exist in a vacuum, nor do their gendered practices. An organization produces, reflects, and perpetuates "the gendered arrangements of the material and semiotic world in which it resides. .. [and the] dominant cultural understandings of women and men" (Ferguson, 1994, p. 90). That is, the underlying hierarchical relationships between men and women in organizations reflect the broader socio-historic patriarchal system (Marshall, 1993; Mumby & Putnam, 1992; Sheppard, 1989). Values such as competition, control, and independence, which have been idealized and associated with men, play the same dominant role in organizations as they do in the larger culture (Marshall, 1993). Feminine values such as collaboration, sharing, and connection, however, define helper or subordinate (Ferguson, 1994). 1 Patriarchy, then, "promotes a particular understanding of gendered relationships, knowledge structures, and male domination in organizations" (Mumby and Putnam, 1992, p. 466), an environment that results

Gender, managers, and organizations

Scandinavian Journal of Management, 1997

BOOK REVIEWS intended that way? Perhaps it was, and at any rate interpretations always abound. But how about "distancing" as a wonderful flight of the imagination, as a journey like Gulliver's or of Alice's, as a metaphorical attempt to estrange oneself from a familiar world in order to better appreciate its wonders --and reveal its cruelties. I once spoke of"anthropology as a frame of mind" (1993), and I hope that I am not misinterpreting Weick's intentions when I read his "mindset" in this light. Sentimentalizing will not help the world; keen attention to the details of life, and to the way these are made sense of, might. by Yvonne Due Billing and Mats Alvesson provides, as stated on the back cover, a general introduction as well as an overview and a critical discussion of theory and research on gender, feminism, women in management and organizational studies. This is a topic which is much discussed in the popular debate and it bears the stamp of political correctness. These circumstances explain the great number of so-called experts and consultants who are producing courses, lectures, books and articles on different aspects of gender-and-management or, women-and-management. It is therefore of great importance that solid research is done and published, to alleviate the worst of the misunderstandings.

Management Styles, Gender Theories

Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World

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