Managing like a Man

"Why can’t a man be more like a woman?" seems to be the catchphrase of modern management gurus. They claim to be revaluing feminine "soft" skills as qualities necessary for corporate success. This book looks behind the rhetoric and investigates the gender relations of senior management in a post–equal opportunities world.

The proportion of women managers has risen dramatically in the last twenty years, yet there are still very few women getting to the top. Based on a major study of five multinational corporations with model equality policies, this book takes a critical look at women's and men's experience in a changing corporate climate. Wajcman brings to bear feminist theories on equality and difference in employment, together with organizational analysis, in her assessment of whether women really do bring a distinct feminine style of management to tomorrow’s organizations. The main focus is on the processes of masculine organizational culture that sexualize women and exclude them from senior management.

But how comfortable are men with the masculinity of management? This book presents fascinating material on the private lives of managers and looks at the interconnections between home and work for men as well as women. The author reveals how relations between the sexes are negotiated in the corridors of power and at the kitchen sink.

“This book provides a very useful overview of the issues of gendering in organizations. It brings together and summarizes many of the issues regarding women in management, including: commitment to work, style of management, work and family, sexual harassment, policy issues, and the development of careers.”—Nancy DiTomaso, Rutgers University

Judy Wajcman is Professor of Sociology at The Australian National University and the author of Feminism Confronts Technology (Penn State, 1991).

Gender Studies

Sociology