Once again, something clearly went wrong last time...
EGOS 2008, Amsterdam 10-12 July
Upsetting organizations
Deadline for submission of abstracts: January 14, 2008; see www.egosnet.org
Sub-theme 47: Changing gender, gendering change
Convenors:
Yvonne Benschop: Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Albert Mills: St Mary's University Halifax, Canada
Jean Helms Mills: St Mary's University Halifax, Canada
Janne Tienari: Lappeenranta University of Technology & Helsinki School of Economics, Finland
Many researchers and practitioners in the field of gender in organizations share a fascination for change. One could argue that this field has seen many changes already. Indeed, compared to their grandmothers and mothers, many women today have a lot more options available to engage in various forms of paid work. Virtually all occupations are open to women, and some women have risen to the top of organizations and boards of directors. Historians might say that the glass is half full here. Yet, a lot still needs to be accomplished. The overrepresentation of women among the lowest paid, lowest grade workers seems to be present at all times and in all places. Although sex discrimination may take different forms and shapes in different contexts, the systematic gender order (Gherardi, 1995) always values the masculine over the feminine, never the other way around. From this perspective, the glass seems to hold only a few drops of water and organizations are in dire need of change.
Upsetting organizations so that a different gender order may occur can be seen as the raison d'être of feminist organization studies. Many policy models, instruments and interventions have been developed over the years to facilitate these changes. Liberal and radical equality models, managing diversity and, more recently, gender mainstreaming models all aspire to upset organizations. Within organization studies, the framework for gender equity and change (Meyerson & Kolb, 2000) has been very influential in discussions of gender interventions in organizations. This framework advocates action research in which gender experts and organization members cooperate in change projects, and signals that this cooperation is not unproblematic.
This stream invites theoretical and methodological reflections and empirical work from multiple disciplinary backgrounds and different parts of the world concerning gender and change in organizations.
Possible papers can address but are not limited to:
- Different feminist traditions and approaches to gendering organizational change
- Discussions of policy models and their impact in organizations
- The role of multinational corporations (MNC's) in gendering change
- Learning from gender and change
- Reflections on feminist interventions in organizations and their consequences
- Innovations in gender and change
- Case studies of change projects in various industries and countries
- The issue of resistance to changes in the gender order
- The role of change agents
- Methodological concerns on change projects
- Questioning 'change' from feminist perspectives
- Feminist reflections on discourses of change
References:
Gherardi, S. (1995). Gender, Symbolism and Organizational Cultures. London: Sage.
Meyerson, D. E., & Kolb, D. M. (2000). Moving out of the 'armchair': Developing a framework to bridge the gap between feminist theory and practice. Organization, 7(4), 553-571.