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This paper aims to explore how gendering of the learning environment acts to shape the design and outcome of workplace learning. The primary intention is to reflect on the idea of gender-equal organizations as a prerequisite for workplace learning.

A review of literature relating to gender and workplace learning was conducted with the relation between gender-(un)equal organizations and the design and outcome of workplace learning as the focus of the analysis. This was followed by an analysis of the characteristics of an organization that promote both adoptive and developmental workplace learning.

The literature shows how the gendering of the learning environment acts to shape workplace learning, often by preventing development learning and limiting adoptive learning to already privileged groups. To facilitate development, workplace learning requires that organizations are guided by nuanced knowledge of work organization and strategically use workplace learning to challenge existing power relations; that they are not characterised by gender segregation; and that the presence and protection of gendered practices and identities do not dominate learning activities.

Stressing gender-equal organizations as a prerequisite for learning requires stakeholders to integrate a gender perspective in the design of workplace learning.

This paper contributes to the literature considering workplace learning by highlighting how gender-equal organizations constitutes a prerequisite for workplace learning and in defining a few basic characteristics of such organizations.

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.

This paper aims to first introduce the four contributions to the themed issue of The Learning Organization entitled “Learning Organization/Organizational Learning and Gender Issues”. Second, the commonalities among these articles function as themes that can generate further research and engaged or problem-driven scholarship and practice.

Feminist critique.

These articles challenge commonsense, blur boundaries between reality and imagined visions and form a multilevel matrix for understanding and change regarding gendered learning organizations.

As an introduction to a special issue, this essay summarizes and extends on the four contributions and then extends the insights to encourage discovery, learning and engagement.

The aim of this article is to challenge the concept of “the learning organization” as unproblematic and inherently good.

The research looked at how teachers – as an example of public sector professionals in a work organization that claims to be a learning organization – view their conditions for learning.

By using this approach, the normative values surrounding the concept of the learning organization were discussed. This approach identifies power‐relations: i.e. who has the priority of interpretation to define what learning is desired and considered relevant as well as when, how and where one learns. In addition, it gives indications to how and why the implementations of management concepts are not always successful.

This article shows how the implementation of a governance concept (learning organization) in fact can be seen as bringing with it unintended consequences for the organization as a whole – and especially for the professionals. Even within a work organization claiming to be a learning organization, learning gaps can be identified.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the discussion of organisation and management by uncovering some embedded contradictions in total quality management (TQM).

Based on discussions of leadership, TQM and the demands of modern working life, three examples of embedded contradictions that organisations can be confronted with have been discussed: collectivism versus individualism, manipulation versus empowerment and standardization versus innovative learning.

One conclusion from this paper is that organisations, in a matter of complex navigation, need to find balance between these contradictions, something that can be a significant problem for many leaders and often seems to be handled in an instrumental manner.

Although these contradictions are a growing concern in TQM research, they are seldom discussed in management literature, and therefore need to be addressed.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse management and employee experiences of gender divisions at work and to reflect on gender boundaries using the method of democratic dialogue. It also considers the use of experiences in efforts supporting workplace democracy.

Finnish action research project sought to promote both gender equality and democratic dialogue. Content analysis is applied on group discussions on promoting gender equality at work.

Gender divisions in organizations were widely recognized. Challenges arose from the incompatibility of images of gender and gendered images of work. Participants’ perspectives varied depending on their hierarchical position.

Democratic dialogue provides tools to approach sensitive topics that need special attention in promoting gender equality.

Work organizations need to use forums that bring together management and employee perspectives with a gender‐sensitive approach to support workplace democracy.

The paper shows that, to enable change, the understandings of gender and gender equality have to be negotiated on the local level and in a way that connects to participants’ realities and experiences.

This study aims to examine how masculinities are (re)produced in project-based organizations. The authors first investigate the doing of masculinities in everyday work practices in construction project management. Second, the authors investigate whether there are opportunities to perceive, or do, gender differently in this specific context.

Data are elicited from a case study of construction project managers working on a infrastructure project. The project managers were interviewed through semi-structured informal interviews regarding their experiences of project work. The analysis was inspired by the competing discourses and practices of masculinity in organizations outlined by Collinson and Hearn (1994).

The results showed how multiple masculinities coexist and overlap in the project organization and in the everyday practices of project management. Both male and female project managers must adjust to these masculine discourses and act in accordance with a particular context. But the results also showed opportunities to challenge the masculine norms by doing gender differently.

The results of this study highlights opportunities for creating a more gender-equal work environment in the construction industry. The multiple ways of doing masculinity, by both men and women, highlights the possibilities to balance between doing it well and differently. Such knowledge can be used in policy and strategies for equal opportunities for men and women in organizations.

This study provides insights into the (re)production of multiple masculinities in construction project management. This study contributes to the criticism of the normative conceptions that have characterized the literature on project management. The authors add to the tradition of organization studies by arguing that the gender analysis of project management is important to increase understandings of how projects are managed and, in this case, how masculine discourses affect everyday work.

This study seeks to illuminate the managerial tensions inherent in implementing scaled agile (on the organizational, top management, middle management and team levels) and to frame these challenges within the broader context of project management.

The study adopts a grounded theory approach and delves into a qualitative dataset sourced from 34 interviews with subject matter experts actively engaged in scaling agile initiatives within large organizations spanning various industries. Additionally, the data have been enriched through a comprehensive literature review of the existing body of knowledge on scaling agile.

As a result of our investigation, we propose a framework of managerial tensions in scaling agile in large corporate settings and a series of research propositions and questions that may contribute significantly to the body of knowledge surrounding the phenomenon of “deprojectification” and propose agenda for the future studies in the field of project management.

The study also carries significant managerial implications. Firstly, based on the insights from the practice of scaling agile in large corporate setting, management can build awareness of the challenges inherent of transitioning to agile practices. This may help to anticipate the possible problems and proactively develop strategies how to address them. Secondly, management can be instructed about contingencies inherent in scaling agile, along with the potential disfunctions and side effects (unintended outcomes) that may emerge during the transition process. Thirdly, project management practitioners can gain insights on how scaling agile may cause shifts in the approach to managing projects, project team management and competencies that need to be developed to cope with environments where various approaches to managing projects coexist.

These insights can aid in the agile transition process, beginning with directing managerial attention toward contextual factors and progressing through potential challenges at the organizational, top management, middle management and team levels. Furthermore, the study highlights possible dysfunctionalities and side effects of scaling agile, shedding light on the “dark side” of agile.

The study contributes to the expansion of the empirical database on the implementation of agile practices in large organizational settings. It plays a role in defining and delineating the phenomenon of scaling agile within the context of project management and outlines a research agenda for future project management studies. Additionally, our study adds to the ongoing discourse surrounding the “deprojectification” effect that can occur during the scaling of agile. Lastly, it establishes connections between project management and software development literature regarding the implementation of agile at scale.