Gendered nature of managerialism? Case of the National Health Service

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to argue that managerialism, as applied to the public sector, contributes to a gendered organisational culture that disadvantages female career progression. Design/methodology/approach -The research was qualitative in approach and involved face-to-face interviews with male and female, clinical and non-clinical managers (n ¼ 31) in Scotland's health service. Findings -The main finding is that public sector managerialism, and consequent transactional and stereotypical masculine styles of management, inhibits female career progression. Practical implications -Managerialism as currently applied in the public sector creates certain inefficiencies by limiting the potential of women, which has implications for female career progression in the public sector, succession management and the sustainability of services. Originality/value -The paper adds to a growing body of evidence that stereotypical masculine styles of management create an organisational culture that affects female career progression. Furthermore, the paper will be of value in understanding the factors that impact on female career progression within the public sector, which is of importance given that the majority of public sector employees in the UK, particularly in the health sector, are female.

Doing gender in public services: Affective labour of employment agents

“…At the same time, masculinized ideals such as cost‐efficiency, competitiveness and leadership have gained importance, contradicting the abovementioned female emotional dispositions. Women thus suffer ‘through feelings of guilt and incompetence’ (Husso & Hirvonen, , p. 44), which again restricts their career aspirations (Miller, ). The third strand of literature stresses the possibility of a ‘masculinization of emotions’ (Lewis & Simpson, ; Sauer & Penz, ) as emotional labour that counts as masculine is valued much higher than emotional labour considered as feminine (Lewis, , p. 579).…”

The ethics of talent management

“…They change with the ways that top managers view how their organisations must compete, change with the demand and supply of skills in labour markets and they respond to changing political priorities such as new public management (Hood , Orr ), which emphasises service standards, efficiency and performance measurement at unit and individual level. These new rubrics, which can be seen as heavily gendered (Miller ), have influenced the shape of management across the public sector in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Organisational definitions of talent are therefore fluid in nature and inevitably evolve to keep pace with changing organisational priorities and the way that work itself changes, for example, through greater intensification, time compression and increased workloads.…”

A capability approach to organizational talent management

“…The idea that talent can be 'identified' is therefore similarly problematic and is hardly a neutral or value-free activity. The gendered nature of leadership (Miller 2009), gendered speech practices (Baxter 2011) and personal attractiveness (Biddle and Hamermesh 1998) are examples of factors that influence the ways in which talent is construed. As a socially constructed phenomenon therefore, the definition of talent is subject to different professional and managerial cultures (Tansley 2011) and can also be seen in relation to the strategic position and challenges facing an organization.…”