Gender in change: gendering change
Journal of Organizational Change Management
ISSN: 0953-4814
Article publication date: 1 December 2005
Abstract
Purpose
To provide a critical review of existing contributions to gender and change management and in doing so highlight how organizational change needs to be read more readily from a gendered perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper argues that gender has received little attention regarding the change management side of managerial practice and reviews recent contributions to gender and change to demonstrate this. The paper then questions how men and women both cope with and drive change and whether the identified differences are more than superficial. The concept of gender is then read into management theory in order to understand how gender affects the way managers think and act, and the gendering of management is discussed. The paper concludes by outlining future research areas – change agents, entrepreneurs, female innovators, psychoanalytic treatments of change and gender experiences.
Findings
The paper finds that traditional and dominant conceptions of masculine and feminine values that rely on static conceptions of gender to argue that more attention to be paid to the dynamic and the genderful approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The paper concludes by outlining future research areas – change agents, entrepreneurs, female innovators, psychoanalytic treatments of change and gender experiences.
Practical implications
Draws much needed attention to the neglect of gender in change theory and practice and suggests some ways forward.
Originality/value
Offers a unique introduction to an important but complex literature that needs to be integrated into change management practice.
Keywords
Citation
Linstead, S., Brewis, J. and Linstead, A. (2005), "Gender in change: gendering change", Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 542-560. https://doi.org/10.1108/09534810510628495
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing Limited