This conceptual paper contributes a new perspective on the role of women academics’ friendships in helping them navigate and counter the masculine culture of academia. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory and Relational Cultural Theory, we contend that women’s friendships allow women to thrive by meeting core psychological needs that are threatened in a marginalized work environment. Women’s intra-gender friendships act as counterspaces that challenge deficit notions women often hold about themselves, which are particularly prevalent for early career academics and women of color. We examine these workplace friendships through the belief that the academy is a gendered workplace which results in women often experiencing significant challenges to their career success. Furthermore, we consider how women’s friendships can mitigate the effects of workplace marginalization and enhance well-being that results in career success. We conclude by challenging HRD scholars to consider how academia can make space for and value women’s friendships in the workplace to benefit both individuals and institutions.

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Book clubs are a well-known form of social engagement and are beneficial for those who take part, yet book clubs are not fully realized within management as a site for learning. This is unfortunate because book clubs that read fiction can foster social processes and help employees in search of more critical and emancipatory forms of learning. We theoretically synthesize the literature to advance current thinking with regard to book clubs as critical public pedagogy in organizations. We begin by introducing book clubs as non-formal adult learning. Then, book clubs that employ fiction as a cultural artifact are presented as a way for members to build relationships, learn together, and to engage in cultural change work. Next, the traditional notions of book clubs are made pedagogically complex through the lens of critical public pedagogy. Finally, we offer two implications: (1) as public pedagogy, book clubs can act as an alternative to traditional learning structures in organizations; and (2) book clubs, when valued as public pedagogy, can be fostered by those in management learning and HRD for consciousness raising and challenging existing mental models in their organizations.

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