Gender and diversity in the workplace : Introduction to the special issue

Research on gender and diversity has taken longer than usual to develop in Portuguese academia. Different explanations can be provided for the apparent lack of interest in these matters. Comparative cultural studies have depicted Portuguese culture as scoring high on femininity (Hofstede, 1991). «Femininity pertains to societies in which social gender roles overlap» (p. 82) and it may have an influence on people’s attitudes towards ‘the other’ and the role of men and women in the organisation, and in shaping the individual’s behaviour and attitudes towards equality and diversity. On the other hand, Portuguese society likes to portray itself as a homogenous society (Cabral-Cardoso, 2002). Taken together, these factors may partly explain why gender and diversity issues have failed to make it to the top of research agendas in Portuguese academia. The limited number of papers included in this special issue and focusing on the Portuguese context still reflects that state of affairs.

Equity, equality and diversity : A cross-country comparison

Differences in the workplace, also known as workforce diversity, evoke varied approaches in different countries. These include equity, equal opportunities, affirmative action and managing diversity. This paper compares methods in the US, Canada, UK, India, and South Africa. The system in each country is described and compared using several parameters. These are: the emphasis on sameness or difference; focus on individuals versus groups, classes or categories; voluntary action versus compulsory requirements; and remedies available. All are examined within the context of the national background and culture. The paper concludes that each system has both benefits and drawbacks, and gives lie to the assumption that there is any perfect legislative or voluntary approach to workplace diversity.

The gendered organisation : A positive critique

In this article we go back to basics – to the very idea of the gendered organisation. Probably all researchers on gender and diversity in the workplace have some notion, however implicit, of the gendered organisation. This applies in both empirical research and more general theoretical analysis of organisations and management. Our task here is to assist in making explicit what those assumptions may be and help us to take a critical look at how we understand and conceptualise ‘the gendered organisation’, and the assumptions that we bring with us in our own and others’ work. We organise our discussion in two main parts. First, we examine the concept of the gendered organisation, by setting out a very short history, including some of the basic assumptions about the gendered organisation and some continuing questions in studying the gendered organisation. The second main part develops a positive critique of the concept of the gendered organisation. This positive critique involves the re-evaluation of several key elements: the concept of ‘organisation’ itself; the concept of ‘gender’; the relation of gender and sexuality; the relations of gender, sexuality, violence and violation; the intersection of gender and other social divisions; as well as some more general methodological critiques. This critical engagement is a necessary part of empirical and conceptual development on gender and diversity in workplaces and organisations more generally.

«We need more women in managerial jobs» – Gender equality and management in the Nordic context : Deconstruction and critical perspectives

Focusing on the Nordic context, this article highlights complexities between gender equality discourse established at the societal level and discursive practice in organizations, particularly in relation to management, managing and managers. This research task is carried out by deconstructing a management text, and grounding the deconstruction in critical feminist literature. This analysis illustrates how managerial discourse is challenged and questioned by pro-egaliterian arguments in the Nordic context. However, it also demonstrates the pervasiveness of the gendered elements in managerial discourse, which relies on specific conceptions of parenthood where motherhood is constructed as problematic whereas fatherhood remains absent – and thus unproblematic. It is suggested that the ‘Nordic case’ provides a fruitful basis for similar studies in other societal contexts in Europe.

Networking among female ethnic minority entrepreneurs

The labor market in the multicultural society is a major arena where the interrelation of gender and ethnicity is expressed in processes of discrimination, sexism and racism. For women from ethnic minorities, one way to avoid these problems is to work in migrant enterprises. As this may ease tensions related to ethnicity, it does not solve gender-related problems like the subordination of women and the perception of female migrants as ‘just’ daughters, mothers and wives by male co-migrants. Female ethnic minority entrepreneurship may be the way to escape such processes. In the Netherlands, 25% of all ethnic minority entrepreneurs are female. However, little is known about their socio-economic background and the way they perceive their businesses. Moreover, there is a theoretical haphazardness concerning the phenomenon female ethnic minority entrepreneurship. Although recently researchers have opted for an integral theory called the ‘mixed-embeddedness’ approach as to explain ethnic minority entrepreneurship through a combination of personal, sociocultural and structural factors, the role of gender still seems to be underexposed in this theory. Likewise, the literature concerning entrepreneurial networking has hardly interfered with both gender and ethnicity. Therefore, this paper provides a state of affairs concerning the research and literature on ethnic minority entrepreneurship, gender and networks. It argues that a better understanding of female ethnic minority entrepreneurship requires further scientific attention and that a contribution needs to be made to theory development regarding the interrelation of ethnicity and gender in entrepreneurship and in entrepreneurial networks particularly.

Working towards leisure

Expanded individual availability and flexibility is necessary in order to progress in a management career to senior level. If managers owe all their time to the organisation and their work as managers they are left with no time to invest in the management of their private lives. Therefore, it remains unspoken in their management work how they are able to create time and space to enjoy free time during their non-working hours. Managers female partners prepare all the domestic work in the private sphere in order for the manager to enjoy their free time in any leisure activity. The empirical evidence for this argument derives from 64 in-depth interviews with male managers from three European countries (Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom) working for one large multinational company. These interviews cover the views of a variety of male managers with an age range between 30 and 65 years and, thus, different management positions and life stages. This article explores three different layers of time in male managers work careers: non-working time, free-time and leisure time. It includes the concept of leisure work which enables managers to devote themselves absolutely to whatever they want to do in their non-working time. Therefore combining a professional career and family life for male managers is only a question of balancing their work as male managers and leisure time and not an issue of tension between employment and domestic obligations.

As diferenças de género na percepção do conflito trabalho-família

O crescente interesse na compreensão e na gestão da interface trabalho-família provém das já demonstradas consequências do conflito trabalho-família no bem estar profissional e pessoal e no desempenho dos papéis de trabalho e de família. A participação das mulheres na força de trabalho levou a que combinem as responsabilidades familiares e profissionais. A combinação do papel de trabalho e do papel de família poderá levar ao conflito trabalho-família. A investigação realizada centra-se na forma como os indivíduos manipulam as exigências do trabalho e da família na tentativa de criar modelos de relacionamento e de actividades que sejam gerí- veis. Actualmente, as preocupações dos investigadores vão mais longe e procuram, também, encontrar soluções no local de trabalho que facilitem a conciliação entre o trabalho e a família. O objectivo deste estudo é o de verificar a existência e as diferenças na percepção do conflito trabalho- família entre homens e mulheres. Os dados foram obtidos através de entrevistas a 33 trabalhadores de uma empresa de produtos lácteos.

Career and work-family relationship among academics : An exploratory study

Despite the increase, in recent years, of women’s participation in the labour market, sex discrimination remains a reality in most work organisations. In this matter, academic organisations are no exception. Evidence of sex inequalities is well documented in the literature. At the individual level, inequalities are partly explained by family responsibilities mainly held by women. Having to spend a considerable amount of time in home and children related activities women are left with less time available for scientific work than their male colleagues. With the purpose of understanding how academics experience the relationship between work and family, 32 in-depth interviews were conducted among Portuguese academics of both sexes in one particular university. The findings confirmed that work-family conflict is stronger among female faculty than among their male counterparts. Additionally, the prejudice against maternity and the way it is compatible with a successful career appears to survive the new gender relations. Difficulties felt by female academics could be minimised by the introduction of «family-friendly» policies and the development of a positive organisational climate towards maternity and family issues.

Nice work if you can get it? The changing character of academic labour in Sweden and England

This paper considers recent attempts to introduce managerial reform in higher education. In exploring the issues the paper draws on an interviewing programme conducted with female and male academics in Sweden and England responsible for delivering change: heads of department, heads of division and principal lecturers. The aim is to examine the implications for the day-to-day work of academics arising from the reforms and to consider the gender implications. The paper conceptualises the areas of academic responsibility along the following dimensions identified by the academics themselves: dog work, tough work, care work, real work and nice work. In bringing into sharper focus the harsher realities of academe, and exploring the overlap and connectivity between gender and academic labour, it is argued that intellectual labour is hard work indeed, particularly for women.

Incremental revolution: Organizational change in highly turbulent environments

Established models for understanding organizational change processes seem inadequate for explaining changes undergone by organizations facing highly turbulent environments. We propose an alternative model that depicts change as constant regeneration rather than revolutionary episodes. We then propose a set of structures and processes that facilitate this constant regeneration.

Culture change in a museum: An action research analysis

The move of a museum in the western United States to larger quarters resulted in an increase in visitors and requests for tours. To respond to the greater number of tours, new volunteers (docents) were recruited and trained. But conflicts arose between the old and new docents. As Docent Chair, one of the authors worked with the Curator of Education to understand the culture change faced by the old docent group and integrate the old and new docent groups. This paper analyzes the culture change using Lewin’s Action Research model. The success of the culture integration was demonstrated when the old and new docents moved away from «this is how it should be done…» to «this is what I see…» in speaking about an event or problem. The language and perception changes were steps toward building a common meaning.

Nokia- The surprising success of textbook wisdom

What is the secret behind Nokia’s phenomenal success in mobile phones? More generally, how to succeed in a turbulent high technology market? Historical and comparative studies bring understanding not only about past phenomena, but also insights about current and coming ones. In this paper we compare Ford and General Motors in the 1920s and 1930s with Motorola and Nokia in the 1980s and 1990s. The insight from this comparison is how reinvention of the product, category, relative to the market incumbent’s market conceptualization, is a recipe for success. Nokia’s success in the 1990s was based on following the guidelines pioneered by General Motors in the 1920s: market segmentation, embracing the latest technological advances, and brand management in the pursuit of consumer repurchases. The article tells how Nokia addresses both GM’s legacy and changes in the business environment. At the end of our paper, we disuss the generalizability of our findings.

A nova abordagem à liderança nas organizações da sociedade do conhecimento

As profundas mudanças económicas, sociais e culturais verificadas nos países mais desenvolvidos, em particular nas últimas décadas, têm grandes consequências para a liderança nas organizações. Este artigo tem em vista identificar o sentido dessas mudanças, em particular para Portugal. Face à caracterização que é feita do processo de transição da sociedade industrial, de manufactura, para a sociedade pós-capitalista (Peter Drucker, 1993) ou da mentefactura (Alvin Toffler, 1995), o cenário daí decorrente conduz a que a liderança, antes predominantemente disciplinadora e autocrata, baseada na desconfiança, evolua para uma liderança baseada na confiança em que o líder é um facilitador que procura criar as melhores condições para o êxito da equipa.

A gestão da qualidade no ensino superior: Percursos e recursos

Este artigo condensa um conjunto de reflexões baseadas em factos relacionados com a gestão da qualidade nas Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES). São identificados factores internos e externos favoráveis à melhoria da qualidade dos serviços prestados por estas organizações, bem como algumas das barreiras que se lhe opõem. Relativamente às abordagens da qualidade, nestas organizações são consideradas: de um lado as que resultam da Supervisão do Estado e do outro as que estão associadas a sistemas de natureza voluntária, designadas aqui por Abordagem Qualidade, em que sobressai a Certificação baseada na norma ISO 9001 e os sistemas de Gestão pela Qualidade Total (GQT) também designados de Excelência Organizacional. São identificadas algumas das insuficiências dos modelos assentes na Supervisão do Estado e defendida a importância de atender ao conjunto de “boas práticas” já existentes, ao invés de abordagens que tratam desta problemática numa perspectiva ab initio, sem contemplar o conhecimento acumulado neste domínio da gestão das organizações.

An analysis of workforce efficiency using organization expenses indicators

The objective of this paper is to carry out an evaluation of employee efficiency in the United States using a professional data base, namely the ECS Survey on Workforce Efficiency (2000/2001) conducted by Watson Wyatt, which includes the responses of 453 organizations covering 1,685,336 employees. To that end, we measure workforce efficiency of US organizations, differentiated by profit status, industry sector and employee size, using expenses indicators. Our findings reveal that new employee strengths will depend upon developing and using the kinds of information and analyzes that can keep workers, educators, employers and employee program administrators abreast or ahead of changing conditions.