Ender and Organizational Culture

Description: Gender and Organizational Culture Research Paper

Organizational cultures are, by and large, male-oriented; especially older ones. This is because most enterprises were conceived by men and populated predominately by male employees until the last 20 years or so. To the extent that the presence of women have increased in the workforce significantly in the last several decades, organizational cultures have moderated somewhat in their gender orientations. Still, according to many scholars, organizations:

• Underrate and undervalue women in general
• Follow management theories based on men working with other men
• Employ dispute resolution systems which are more adversarial than collaborative
• Contain career paths which are based on paternal interpretations of the role of work in life
• Allocate employees to positions in ways that often exclude women from important jobs
• Have gender-influenced codes of informal behavior and socializing

The mission of the organization may also affect its gender orientation. Military organizations, for example, tend to be very "macho" and, to the extent that women are brought into the culture, their genders are neutralized by uniforms and codes of conduct. Humanitarian organizations, like the American Red Cross or the Habitat for Humanity, on the other hand tend to be more inclusive and tolerant of women. Entrepreneurial organizations may fall somewhere else in the distribution based on variables such as its history, the gender of its founder, the predominance of women in the workforce, and so forth.

Clearly, gender must be considered as influencing organizational culture and as a factor leaders and managers must consider in strategic human resource management practices. The question is - how should it be considered? Is the best approach one of neutrality, a sort of "gender-blind" path of treating everyone as if they have the same attitudes, dispositions, and expectations? Or do they best managers recognize differences and seek to maximize gender strengths and minimize gender conflicts?

Answer these 3 questions for Gender and Organizational Culture Research Paper:

1. Which approach- gender blindness or gender awareness- do you think is the best strategy for organizations to take in matters pertaining to human resource management? Support your position.
2. In what ways are organizations "masculine"? Feminine? Explain
3. What are the implications of this caselette for organizational culture and the ability of the enterprise to realize its vision, mission, and goals?