Gender‐based learning dilemmas in organizations

Abstract

Raises questions about the links between gender and organizational changes, and between gender and learning at work. The empirical base is a qualitative study of organizational changes in the pulp and paper industry, electronics industry, food industry, and laundry industry in Sweden during the late 1990s. In the studied companies, restoration responses in the work organizations brought the organization back its original form and function. Shows that gender exerts an influence on the existing work organization and on the organizational change. The learning organization, with its focus on integration and decentralization, challenges gender order, which is a strong system, built on segregation and hierarchy. Concludes that gender segregating and stereotypic gender‐coding of workplaces and work tasks were strong restoring mechanisms and obstacles to strategic organizational changes, and to individual and to organizational learning.

Citation

Abrahamsson, L. (2001), "Gender‐based learning dilemmas in organizations", Journal of Workplace Learning, Vol. 13 No. 7/8, pp. 298-307. https://doi.org/10.1108/13665620110411085