Emerald Management Review:
The discursive construction of gender in contemporary management literature

Abstract:

Purpose - To explore how far management texts have changed to reflect the changing world of work and how the new worker, particularly in respect to gender, is portrayed in contemporary management literature.

Design/methodology/approach - Considers the question of how far management writing can be described as masculine, pointing out that representations of reality actually shape reality in powerful ways. Conducts a discourse analysis, drawing on Potter and Wetherell (1987), of six influential texts discussing changes at work. Codes the texts according to the qualities new workers are supposed to have, the new career structure, and the general use of gender, and explores what the texts leave out and what issues they gloss over.

Findings - Identifies three related yet distinct ways in which gender is talked about: awareness discourse (women are no longer absent from management literature), individualization discourse (which implies that discriminatory organizational procedures no longer hinder personal career development), and the new ideal discourse (which implies that women are better suited for the new work paradigm). Argues that each of these discourses, although appearing to take account of women and, indeed, even construct them as the new ideal, could have unintended consequences since they are based on traditional notions of femininity as prescribed by the existing gender ideology. Furthermore, since women are portrayed as the new ideal, the systematic inequality of women is rendered difficult if not impossible to voice.

Research limitations/implications - Very briefly mentions how future research should engage with this issue.

Originality/value - Offers an interesting argument as to why it is vital to develop strategies for how to use gender in management texts.

Keywords:

Article Type:

Research paper

Reference:

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