Analysing Competence: Gender and Identity at Work

"I Have No Room of My Own": COVID-19 Pandemic and Work-From-Home Through a Gender Lens

Working from home is not gender neutral. As the COVID-19 pandemic has relocated all non-essential work to the home setting, it becomes imperative to examine the phenomenon through a gender lens. Accordingly, I conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 30 dual-earning married couples in India to study the gendered work-from-home experiences of men and women during the pandemic. The findings suggest that the pandemic has disproportionately increased the burden of unpaid work for women as compared to men. Women are negotiating gendered time-space arrangements within their households with the allocation of limited resources being in favor of men. When this interacts with work, gender inequalities are reinforced both at work and home. Gender roles and unpaid work determine women's choices regarding when and where to work, boundary management between work and non-work domains, and their experiences of social isolation. Further, gender roles have also affected women's decisions regarding returning to work post-pandemic, where some women may not be returning to work at all. Finally, the paper identifies how gender intersects with the existing conceptual frameworks of working from home, and makes a strong case for integrating gender considerations in the work-from-home policies.

The power in positionings: A Foucauldian approach to knowledge integration processes

This study explores the role of relational power and discursive positioning in the knowledge integration process of an interdisciplinary project developing a steam turbine. As boundaries are an important focus of study for knowledge integration studies, more engagement is needed to not only map boundary work in the knowledge integration process, but also to acknowledge the role of power in this context. With help of governmentality and positioning theory, we show how power struggles are manifested as boundary work that both reinforces and undermines temporal and domain-specific boundaries. The study concludes that these reinforcements and underminings are central for our understanding of how knowledge integration develops. In addition, the study shed lights on the significance of the co-existence of domination and freedom in the project work. By acknowledging power relations and studying them as they are played out in discursive talk, the study contributes to an increased understanding of the nuances and intricacies of knowledge integration processes.

Women physicians as healthcare leaders: a qualitative study

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the under-representation of women physicians in clinical leadership by examining the issue from their perspective. Design/methodology/approach - The authors used large group engagement methods to explore the experiences and perceptions of women physicians. In order to capture common themes across this group as a whole, participants were selected using purposeful sampling. Data were analysed using a structured thematic analysis procedure. Findings - This paper provides empirical insights into the influences affecting women physicians' decision to participate in leadership. The authors found that they often exclude themselves because the costs of leadership outweigh the benefits. Potential barriers unique to healthcare include the undervaluing of leadership by physician peers and perceived lack of support by nursing. Research limitations/implications - This study provides an in-depth examination of why women physicians are under-represented in clinical leadership from the perspective of those directly involved. Further studies are needed to confirm the generalizability of these findings and potential differences between demographic groups of physicians. Practical implications - Healthcare organizations seeking to increase the participation of women physicians in leadership should focus on modifying the perceived costs of leadership and highlighting the potential benefits. Large group engagement methods can be an effective approach to engage physicians on specific issues and mobilize grass-roots support for change. Originality/value - This exploratory study provides insights on the barriers and enablers to leadership specific to women physicians in the clinical setting. It provides a reference for healthcare organizations seeking to develop and diversify their leadership talent.

Walking the tightrope: Constructing gender and professional identities in account management

This paper contributes to the growing stream of organization research that explores the relationship between professional identities and gender. Our central question pertains to how account managers ‘do gender’ in constructing their professional identities. While account management has been considered a sales occupation with a strong masculine connotation, some indications towards ‘feminization’ have also been observed. Our analysis of 39 interviews with white women and men working as account managers in the Netherlands suggests that these account managers construct a ‘tough salesman’ identity and a ‘co-operative communicator’ identity. These identities have different gender connotations. The ‘co-operative communicator’ identity facilitates a critical dialogue with the – often implicit – masculinity in the ‘tough salesman’ identity norm. We reflect on the effects of these gender connotations both for account managers and for our practice as organization researchers who intend to deconstruct rather than reproduce gender stereotypes in our study of professional identities.

Walking the tightrope: Constructing gender and professional identities in account management

This paper contributes to the growing stream of organization research that explores the relationship between professional identities and gender. Our central question pertains to how account managers ‘do gender’ in constructing their professional identities. While account management has been considered a sales occupation with a strong masculine connotation, some indications towards ‘feminization’ have also been observed. Our analysis of 39 interviews with white women and men working as account managers in the Netherlands suggests that these account managers construct a ‘tough salesman’ identity and a ‘co-operative communicator’ identity. These identities have different gender connotations. The ‘co-operative communicator’ identity facilitates a critical dialogue with the – often implicit – masculinity in the ‘tough salesman’ identity norm. We reflect on the effects of these gender connotations both for account managers and for our practice as organization researchers who intend to deconstruct rather than reproduce gender stereotypes in our study of professional identities.

Women chairs in academic medicine: engendering strategic intuition

PURPOSE

Because stereotypically masculine behaviors are required for effective leadership, examining female chairs' leadership in academic medicine can provide insight into the complex ways in which gender impacts on their leadership practices. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

The author interviewed three female clinical chairs and compared the findings to interviews with 28 of their faculty. Grounded theory analysis of the subsequent text gathered comprehensive, systematic, and in-depth information about this case of interest at a US top-tier academic medical center.

FINDINGS

Four of five themes from the faculty were consistent with the chair's narrative with modifications: Prior Environment (Motivated by Excellence), Tough, Direct, Transparent (Developing Trust), Communal Actions (Creating Diversity of Opinion), and Building Power through Consensus (an "Artful Exercise") with an additional theme, the Significance (and Insignificance) of a Female Chair. While faculty members were acutely aware of the chair's gender, the chairs paradoxically vacillated between gender being a "non-issue" and noting that male chairs "don't do laundry." All three female chairs in this study independently and explicitly stated that gender was not a barrier, yet intuitively used successful strategies derived from the research literature.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

This study suggests that while their gender was highlighted by faculty, these women dismissed gender as a "non-issue." The duality of gender for these three female leaders was both minimized and subtly affirmed.

The power of spatial and temporal orderings in organizational learning

This article attends to the call for research on the often neglected spatial and temporal dynamics of organizational life. In particular, we examine the ways in which aspects of space and time facilitate or hinder learning and knowledge sharing in organizations. We draw on conceptual tools derived from work influenced largely by Henri Lefebvre to illustrate how a spatial–temporal lens throws new light on the problem of learning and knowledge sharing across organizational communities. We examine these dynamics in a qualitative study with four high-technology engineering companies in the energy conversion and automation and aerospace sectors. Building on a situated learning perspective, we argue that a spatial and temporal perspective contributes to our understanding of processes of identity construction and the power relations that influence access to forms of participation and learning across organizational communities.

Recruitment initiatives aimed at increasing the gender diversity within ITEC employment

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to further critique diversity management initiatives, underpinned by a “business case/best practice” rationale, drawing on a wider investigation into changing recruitment practices aimed at increasing the gender diversity within information technology, electronics and computing (ITEC) organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the premise that human resource management practices are an essential lever in a diversity management approach this paper revisits organizational accounts of recruitment initiatives adopted, but presented through a more critical lens than in the initial investigation. These accounts were gathered from interviews with human resources (HR) and hiring managers in 18 organizations (12 private, and six public, sector).

Findings

These refer to two specific recruitment initiatives introduced with the assumption that these would enable organizations to build a more gender diverse workforce: revisiting job requirements to make them more appealing/accessible to women and the adoption of competency frameworks, assumed to be “gender neutral”.

Practical implications

In providing further insights into the limitations of diversity “business case/best practice” change, supported by accounts of organizational practices drawn from a specific industry sector, it is hoped that this will provide a reflective lens for those in positions to influence policies aimed at addressing issues of gender inequality.

Originality/value

Drawing on the concept of “ideological cover” this paper offers an alternative theoretical lens from which to critique the underpinning rationale and assumptions held about recruitment practices, thus questioning organizational claims that these are “gender neutral”.

Re-inscribing Gender in New Modes of Medical Expertise: The Investigator-Coordinator Relationship in the Clinical Trials Industry

This article analyses the ways in which research coordinators forge professional identities in the highly gendered organizational context of the clinic. Drawing upon qualitative research on the organization of the clinical trials industry (that is, the private sector, for profit auxiliary companies that support pharmaceutical drug studies), this article explores the relationships between predominantly male physician-investigators and female research coordinators and the constitution of medical expertise in pharmaceutical drug development. One finding is that coordinators actively seek to establish relationships with investigators that mirror traditional doctor-nurse relationships, in which the feminized role is subordinated and devalued. Another finding is that the coordinators do, in fact, have profound research expertise that is frequently greater than that of the investigators. The coordinators develop expertise on pharmaceutical products and diseases through their observations of the patterns that occur in patient-participants' responses to investigational drugs. The article argues, however, that the nature of the relationships between coordinators and investigators renders invisible the coordinators' expertise. In this context, gender acts as a persistent social structure shaping both coordinators' and investigators' perceptions of who can be recognized as having authority and power in the workplace.

Sickness absence as an interactive process: gendered experiences of young, highly educated women with mental health problems

OBJECTIVE

Highly educated Dutch women experience more work related mental health disability than their male counterparts, and yet little is known regarding the process. Using the theory of symbolic interactionism, we examined how women interpret their roles at work, during sick leave, and upon their return to work.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews focusing on role perceptions and interactions with other actors were conducted with 13 women (aged 29-41 years) on sick leave or off work for periods ranging from half a year to 8 years.

RESULTS

The women worked overtime because of work aholism, or to meet supervisors' expectations. This led to mental health problems and social isolation. Taking sick leave aided recovery, but further isolated the women. Insufficient support from the workplace and social insurance professionals intensified negative feelings. Psychological counselling provided alternatives whereby work and private roles could become more balanced. However, their reintegration into the workplace failed because the women could not implement these strategies when the organizational culture failed to change.

CONCLUSIONS

A long lead-up time preceded sickness absence and sick leave allowed for recovery and value adjustment. However, a variety of interpretations reinforced the women's individualized focus, thereby hampering their successful reintegration.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Given the importance of implementing effective sick leave prevention measures in the workplace, psychological treatment should focus on women's interactions with their work environment.