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Article
Publication date: 16 July 2020

Angela Workman-Stark

The purpose of this study is to test whether organizational justice (i.e. fair treatment) can mitigate the harmful effects of a “masculinity contest culture (MCC)” (i.e. norms…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to test whether organizational justice (i.e. fair treatment) can mitigate the harmful effects of a “masculinity contest culture (MCC)” (i.e. norms, rituals and belief systems valorizing social dominance, work above other parts of life, physical strength and the avoidance of weakness).

Design/methodology/approach

Through an analysis of secondary survey data collected from a Canadian police organization (N = 488), this study tested the moderating effects of organizational justice on the relationship between employee perceptions of their workplace as a masculinity contest, and a negative outcome variable, harassment.

Findings

The results of this study suggest that a MCC was significantly related to harassment, which in turn contributed to lower psychological wellbeing and increased turnover intentions. Independently, organizational justice moderated the effect of a MCC on harassment, suggesting that harassment is less prevalent in the workplace when there is a greater focus on treating all employees fairly.

Originality/value

Despite the increase in both scholarly and practitioner interest in the effects of organizational cultures in which employees seek to maintain their own status at all costs, there has been little research examining the interactions of these harmful workplace cultures and the factors that might counter them. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is one of the rare studies to investigate possible interventions for harmful workplace cultures.

Details

International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, vol. 24 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1093-4537

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 2 December 2021

Ada T. Cenkci

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of working from home (WFH), which contributed to widespread loneliness at a global level. Drawing on the theory of social exchange…

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of working from home (WFH), which contributed to widespread loneliness at a global level. Drawing on the theory of social exchange, this chapter examines how WFH, masculinity contest culture (MCC) at work, and co-worker support impact workplace loneliness. A theoretical model is developed, which adds to the scarce literature on workplace loneliness and MCC, while practical recommendations are also provided to enable organisational leaders and human resource practitioners to decrease workplace loneliness.

Details

Work from Home: Multi-level Perspectives on the New Normal
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-662-9

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2020

Elissa L. Perry, Caryn J. Block and Debra A. Noumair

The purpose of this paper is to present a model that explores the relationship between inclusive leadership, inclusive climates and sexual harassment and other negative…

2979

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a model that explores the relationship between inclusive leadership, inclusive climates and sexual harassment and other negative work-related outcomes, at the work unit and individual levels.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual model of inclusive work unit leadership, inclusive work unit climate and sexual harassment based on a review of the literature.

Findings

Leaders who behave more inclusively are expected to have work units and work unit members who experience more positive outcomes and fewer negative outcomes including sexual harassment and other forms of mistreatment. Leaders impact their work unit and work unit members' outcomes directly as well as indirectly through the more inclusive work unit climates they create.

Research limitations/implications

The sexual harassment literature has identified climate for sexual harassment as a key predictor of sexually harassing behavior and its attendant negative outcomes. A focus on a broader inclusive climate, and inclusive leadership, may provide a richer understanding of the conditions under which sexual harassment and other forms of mistreatment occur and can be mitigated.

Practical implications

This model can help identify strategies organizations can employ (e.g. inclusive leadership development programs) to combat sexual harassment.

Social implications

This model may improve understanding of the systemic, organizational causes of sexual harassment reducing sexual harassment victims' potential self-blame and helping policymakers craft more effective sexual harassment interventions.

Originality/value

The paper conceives of work climates that contribute to sexual harassment more broadly than generally has been the case in the sexual harassment literature to date. The model highlights the important role that leaders play in shaping inclusive climates. It also contributes to the nascent literature on inclusion and inclusive climates, which has paid relatively little attention to exclusion and mistreatment including sexual harassment that are likely to arise in less inclusive workplaces.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 40 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 February 2023

Martina Topić

This study aims to analyse the position of women in public relations (PR), using Bourdieu's habitus. The study also draws from works on women in journalism on the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to analyse the position of women in public relations (PR), using Bourdieu's habitus. The study also draws from works on women in journalism on the ‘bloke-ification’ or a situation where women have to behave like men to succeed, thus becoming one of the boys due to masculine habitus in mass communications organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative interviews were conducted with 26 women practitioners asking questions about their experiences of working in the PR industry. The triple coding was conducted holistically and cross-referencing against answers on early socialisation of interviewed women. Thematic analysis was used to analyse and present data.

Findings

The findings show acceptance of masculine habitus with women not always challenging the usual order of things and recognising only direct sexism but not every day (masculine) practices. Women who demonstrate feminine behavioural styles are more likely to have negative working experiences than women who demonstrate masculine behavioural styles. Findings show a link between early socialisation and organisational behaviour with women who were socialised with boys reporting more masculine behavioural traits as expected for career progression as opposed to women socialised with girls who report feminine characteristics. The findings also signal that women work in a masculine culture in which they are often ostracised, and the profession as a whole is ridiculed by male managers and senior officials despite women being the majority of the workforce in the PR industry, thus showing that women also work in what Bourdieu calls a (masculine) habitus.

Research limitations/implications

This study remains limited regarding its qualitative aspect of 26 interviewed women. Whilst this is a relatively large sample for a qualitative study, these findings show trends in data that can be explored in further research but cannot be generalised. In addition to that, phone interviewing presents a limitation of the study as face-to-face interviews could have enabled a better rapport and a more in-depth conversation as well as an observation of non-verbal communication, which could have led to additional sub-questions. Also, the findings are based on perceptions of interviewed women, which are personal and do not necessarily need to present the reality in the whole of the industry, however, the thematic analysis revealed common patterns which point towards the direction of a wider issue in the industry, which can be explored in further research.

Practical implications

Organisations should implement HR policies that regulate internal office behaviour so that no staff member or department feels unappreciated and has less influence over the organisational work. A greater focus on treating employees fairly is needed, and this change needs to include structural problems that are often hidden, such as remarks in offices and internal practice and the dynamic between different departments bearing attention to departments where senior roles are traditionally given to men (e.g. finance) and those where senior roles also have women managers (e.g. PR).

Originality/value

The paper contributes to studies of cultural masculinities in organisations from a sociological perspective and uses a case study of the PR industry. The paper further extends the bloke-ification framework and contributes towards the conceptualisation of this framework from the PR perspective and using a sociological approach. In addition to that, the paper drew from works conducted in journalism and advertising and showed that issues women face are very similar across industries, thus opening a question of a wider social problem, at least when mass communications industries are in stake.

Details

International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, vol. 26 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1093-4537

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 May 2021

Jennifer Berdahl and Barnini Bhattacharyya

The purpose of this paper is to identify promising themes of the papers in the special issues of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion dedicated to advancing scholarship on sex-based…

2591

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify promising themes of the papers in the special issues of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion dedicated to advancing scholarship on sex-based harassment.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual overview of the research pertaining to these themes and an analysis of the special issues papers' contributions to these themes.

Findings

Four themes that represent important but relatively neglected lines of inquiry into sex-based harassment are identified. These are (1) the psychology of harassment, (2) organizational culture and networks, (3) the invisible majority and (4) the importance of collective action.

Originality/value

The paper offers an expert perspective on the state of research related to sex-based harassment and four themes that are important to moving it forward.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 40 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 26 November 2021

Frank D. Golom and Mateo Cruz

Scholarship on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is voluminous. Nevertheless, there is relatively little work that examines DEI from an organization development and…

Abstract

Scholarship on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is voluminous. Nevertheless, there is relatively little work that examines DEI from an organization development and change (ODC) or systems perspective. As a result, there is no unified framework ODC practitioners can use for DEI diagnosis and intervention. The purpose of this chapter is to review the ODC literature with respect to DEI and propose a diagnostic Context-Levels-Culture (CLC) framework for understanding and addressing diversity-related challenges in organizations. We also present a case example of how this framework can be used in DEI consulting, including implications for future research and practice.

Details

Research in Organizational Change and Development
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-173-0

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 2 December 2021

Abstract

Details

Work from Home: Multi-level Perspectives on the New Normal
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-662-9

Article
Publication date: 25 September 2020

Tavishi Bhasin, Charity Butcher, Elizabeth Gordon, Maia Hallward and Rebecca LeFebvre

This paper asks how values and beliefs around gender influence social norms regarding masking. Specifically, the paper explores how the gendered meme “Karen” fits into social…

3893

Abstract

Purpose

This paper asks how values and beliefs around gender influence social norms regarding masking. Specifically, the paper explores how the gendered meme “Karen” fits into social media discussions on support for and opposition to the wearing of masks to fight the spread of COVID-19.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyze tweets containing the hashtags #Masks4All and #NoMasks over a three-week period, using adjacent hashtag analysis to determine the terms most associated with Karen in the pro and anti-mask communities associated with these hashtags.

Findings

Anti-maskers reference Karen more often than pro-maskers, although she is presented in negative terms with gendered overtones by those on both sides of the masking debate.

Originality/value

The paper highlights how hypermasculinity rhetoric impedes social change that normalizes mask wearing.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 40 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 8 June 2020

Rita Gardiner, Wendy Fox Kirk, Leigh Fine and Faith Ngunjiri

Abstract

Details

Gender in Management: An International Journal , vol. 35 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2413

Book part
Publication date: 24 July 2023

Meena Andiappan and Lucas Dufour

We study how one form of wrongdoing behavior – gender-based discrimination – evolved and steadily grew amongst longshoremen over seven decades (from 1947 to 2017), despite changes…

Abstract

We study how one form of wrongdoing behavior – gender-based discrimination – evolved and steadily grew amongst longshoremen over seven decades (from 1947 to 2017), despite changes in the nature of work and technological innovations that made the occupation increasingly accessible to women. Using data collected from 72 interviews with retired and active longshoremen and their employers, supplemented with archival and observational data, we find that although women were permitted into the occupation at the beginning of the period (1947 to the 1960s), they were progressively, completely excluded by male longshore workers. We find that after experiencing imprinting (the idea that early experience exerts a crucial influence on later behavioral phenomena) (Immelmann, 1975) during early decades, longshoremen instrumentalized their fear of occupational decline and voluntarily engaged in organizational wrongdoing by discriminating against women. Men rationalized their exclusion of women through two means: first, by adapting the “Madonna vs temptress” paradigm of framing women, and second by strategically emphasizing self-serving justifications. This study contributes to the literature on gendered work and the difficulty of eliminating imprinted, entrenched behaviors in gendered occupations.

Details

Organizational Wrongdoing as the “Foundational” Grand Challenge: Definitions and Antecedents
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-279-7

Keywords

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