This quote from May Blood, of her time working in a linen mill and as a union representative, exe... more This quote from May Blood, of her time working in a linen mill and as a union representative, exemplifies the focus of this chapter; how women learn leadership. In particular it indicates the significance of learning as being informal and emerging from the doing of leadership and we explore this in more detail later. The quote also points to the significance of gender, how she was often the only woman, and how women were not asking for enough. Through women leaders’ accounts Chapter 4’s analysis illustrated how gender is reproduced through social interaction and through organisational processes. This analysis demonstrated that women have to negotiate gendered processes in order to achieve and maintain leadership roles. Furthermore, it foregrounded that women leaders had limited learning opportunities from social networks to help them do this.
This quotation from our interview with Baroness Betty Boothroyd, first woman Speaker of the House... more This quotation from our interview with Baroness Betty Boothroyd, first woman Speaker of the House of Commons highlights the theme of this chapter: what are women’s experiences of becoming leaders? In this quotation Betty Boothroyd indicates that becoming an MP is not something that is done in isolation. In this account she describes the context to this achievement as the culmination of different experiences, and she also points out that there are relationships that support this role including contact with others. We concluded the previous chapter by proposing that we need more critical studies to explore women’s experiences of leading, so that we can gain a deeper insight into what enables women to become leaders. In this chapter therefore, we want to examine women’s accounts of their experiences of leadership. What influences women in their practice of leadership? How do they develop their leadership role and how do they maintain it?
Our focus in this chapter is to draw on the analyses we presented in previous chapters and consid... more Our focus in this chapter is to draw on the analyses we presented in previous chapters and consider the implications these raise for women’s leadership identity. We explore why women are not readily identified as leaders particularly when, as the quote from Sayeeda Khan above illustrates, your appearance contrasts with received understandings of what leaders look like and can elicit negative responses. Drawing on Ashcraft and Mumby’s (2004) framework the chapter’s objective is to consider how discourse organises identity. That is, we will examine the relationship between broader societal narratives of gender and dominant discourses in organisations and work towards making sense of how certain discourses of leadership identity come to be privileged. We recognise that the topic of identity is a much contested and debated field. Alvesson, Ashcraft and Thomas (2008) note that within organisation studies identity can be associated with a range of organisational processes and intervention, from company mergers and project teams through to motivation and politics. Collinson (2003) examines the influence of organisations.
In this chapter we have two main aims. First, we aim to highlight the limited empirical base upon... more In this chapter we have two main aims. First, we aim to highlight the limited empirical base upon which our understanding of women’s leadership is formed, particularly how they become leading women. Second, we aim to show how conceptions of leadership and leadership development are defined from a relatively narrow research base. This chapter seeks to meet these aims by providing an overview of the major trends in leadership and leadership development research.
This collective essay was born out of a desire to honor and remember Professor Mark Easterby-Smit... more This collective essay was born out of a desire to honor and remember Professor Mark Easterby-Smith, a founder of the Management Learning community. To do this, we invited community members to share their experiences of working with Mark. The resulting narratives remember Mark as a co-author, co-researcher, project manager, conference organizer, research leader, PhD supervisor, and much more. The memories cover many different aspects of Mark’s academic spectrum: from evaluation to research methods to cross-cultural management, to dynamic capabilities, naming but a few. This space for remembrance however developed into a space of reflection and conceptualization. Inspired by the range and extent of Mark’s interests, skills, experiences, and personal qualities, this essay became conceptual as well as personal as we turned the spotlight on academic careers and consider alternative paths for Management Learning scholarship today. Using the collective representations of Mark’s career as a...
Handbook of Research Methods on Gender and Management, 2021
This chapter discusses the significance of using participant observations as a method for studyin... more This chapter discusses the significance of using participant observations as a method for studying gender in the context of management education. It focuses on the situated nature of gender within a broader cultural context which needs further consideration when designing observational study methods. By using action learning (AL) sets as our focal point, we illustrate the constrained nature of participant observations and direct attention towards the interplay of subjective dimensions (e.g. positionality, identity and tendencies) of power unfolding between the observer and those being observed. In so doing, we highlight key features and the process of participant observations through our study of MBA students on an AL programme at three Pakistani business schools. Our study acts as a steppingstone for scholars in considering the challenges and ethical concerns of using participant observations as research method for studying gender.
This empirical study contributes to critical action learning research by theorizing the role of a... more This empirical study contributes to critical action learning research by theorizing the role of an action learning facilitator from a cultural perspective. Our article adds to critical action learning by conceptualizing the dynamics of facilitation in managing interpersonal politics within action learning sets. Employing Bourdieu’s notion of habitus as a theoretical lens, we explore both participant and facilitator accounts of action learning at three Pakistani business schools, shedding light on the culturally influenced social practices that shape their learning interactions. Through a critical interpretation of our data, we illuminate the challenges of facilitation by revealing how deeply ingrained power relations, within the context of gender and asymmetric relationships, influence participants’ ability to organize reflection. We contribute to critical action learning by theorizing the critical role of facilitator mediation in managing interpersonal and intra-group relations wit...
This article extends the idea of media artefacts as educational resources by examining web-based ... more This article extends the idea of media artefacts as educational resources by examining web-based materials, specifically women’s ‘Power Lists’, to deepen understandings regarding media artefacts’ role in informing women’s leadership learning and development. Women’s underrepresentation in senior leadership roles places leadership development under scrutiny to develop theoretically informed frameworks that draw attention to gendered power relations in organisations. This article addresses this concern by drawing on cultural theory to theorise media artefacts as forms of public pedagogy. The pedagogic framework proposed presents a distinctive addition to leadership education methods that attend to the sociocultural and recognise the significance of informal learning to leadership learning. Recognising media artefacts’ pedagogic role enables individuals to examine in more detail the gendered nature of the social values and norms that inform leadership discourse, and how these values an...
International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, 2016
This article is novel in proposing belonging as a mediatory and explanatory concept to better und... more This article is novel in proposing belonging as a mediatory and explanatory concept to better understand the relationship between women entrepreneurs and socially embedded gendered assumptions in entrepreneurial practice. Drawing on social theories of belonging and extant entrepreneurial literature, the article explores what belonging involves for women in the entrepreneurial context to offer a conceptualisation of entrepreneurial belonging as relational, dynamic, gendered and in continual accomplishment. Five forms of women’s performing of belonging are identified: by proxy, concealment, modelling the norm, tempered disruption and identity-switching. Illustrating how women both reinforce and challenge gendered norms through strategic and tempered use of legitimacy practices and identity work, these findings also highlight the significance of socio-cultural and political knowledge in efforts to belong.
Gender in Management: An International Journal, 2016
Purpose The purpose of this special issue is to extend the Economic and Social Sciences Research ... more Purpose The purpose of this special issue is to extend the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (ESRC)-funded UK seminar series–Challenging Gendered Media (Mis)Representations of Women Professionals and Leaders; and to highlight research into the gendered media constructions of women managers and leaders and outline effective methods and methodologies into diverse media. Design/methodology/approach Gendered analysis of television, autobiographies (of Sheryl Sandberg, Karren Brady, Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard), broadcast news media and media press through critical discourse analysis, thematic analysis, metaphor and computer-aided text analysis software following the format of the Gender Media Monitoring Project (2015) and [critical] ecological framework for advancing social change. Findings The papers surface the gendered nature of media constructions of women managers and leaders and offer methods and methodologies for others to follow to interrogate gendered media. F...
This quote from May Blood, of her time working in a linen mill and as a union representative, exe... more This quote from May Blood, of her time working in a linen mill and as a union representative, exemplifies the focus of this chapter; how women learn leadership. In particular it indicates the significance of learning as being informal and emerging from the doing of leadership and we explore this in more detail later. The quote also points to the significance of gender, how she was often the only woman, and how women were not asking for enough. Through women leaders’ accounts Chapter 4’s analysis illustrated how gender is reproduced through social interaction and through organisational processes. This analysis demonstrated that women have to negotiate gendered processes in order to achieve and maintain leadership roles. Furthermore, it foregrounded that women leaders had limited learning opportunities from social networks to help them do this.
This quotation from our interview with Baroness Betty Boothroyd, first woman Speaker of the House... more This quotation from our interview with Baroness Betty Boothroyd, first woman Speaker of the House of Commons highlights the theme of this chapter: what are women’s experiences of becoming leaders? In this quotation Betty Boothroyd indicates that becoming an MP is not something that is done in isolation. In this account she describes the context to this achievement as the culmination of different experiences, and she also points out that there are relationships that support this role including contact with others. We concluded the previous chapter by proposing that we need more critical studies to explore women’s experiences of leading, so that we can gain a deeper insight into what enables women to become leaders. In this chapter therefore, we want to examine women’s accounts of their experiences of leadership. What influences women in their practice of leadership? How do they develop their leadership role and how do they maintain it?
Our focus in this chapter is to draw on the analyses we presented in previous chapters and consid... more Our focus in this chapter is to draw on the analyses we presented in previous chapters and consider the implications these raise for women’s leadership identity. We explore why women are not readily identified as leaders particularly when, as the quote from Sayeeda Khan above illustrates, your appearance contrasts with received understandings of what leaders look like and can elicit negative responses. Drawing on Ashcraft and Mumby’s (2004) framework the chapter’s objective is to consider how discourse organises identity. That is, we will examine the relationship between broader societal narratives of gender and dominant discourses in organisations and work towards making sense of how certain discourses of leadership identity come to be privileged. We recognise that the topic of identity is a much contested and debated field. Alvesson, Ashcraft and Thomas (2008) note that within organisation studies identity can be associated with a range of organisational processes and intervention, from company mergers and project teams through to motivation and politics. Collinson (2003) examines the influence of organisations.
In this chapter we have two main aims. First, we aim to highlight the limited empirical base upon... more In this chapter we have two main aims. First, we aim to highlight the limited empirical base upon which our understanding of women’s leadership is formed, particularly how they become leading women. Second, we aim to show how conceptions of leadership and leadership development are defined from a relatively narrow research base. This chapter seeks to meet these aims by providing an overview of the major trends in leadership and leadership development research.
This collective essay was born out of a desire to honor and remember Professor Mark Easterby-Smit... more This collective essay was born out of a desire to honor and remember Professor Mark Easterby-Smith, a founder of the Management Learning community. To do this, we invited community members to share their experiences of working with Mark. The resulting narratives remember Mark as a co-author, co-researcher, project manager, conference organizer, research leader, PhD supervisor, and much more. The memories cover many different aspects of Mark’s academic spectrum: from evaluation to research methods to cross-cultural management, to dynamic capabilities, naming but a few. This space for remembrance however developed into a space of reflection and conceptualization. Inspired by the range and extent of Mark’s interests, skills, experiences, and personal qualities, this essay became conceptual as well as personal as we turned the spotlight on academic careers and consider alternative paths for Management Learning scholarship today. Using the collective representations of Mark’s career as a...
Handbook of Research Methods on Gender and Management, 2021
This chapter discusses the significance of using participant observations as a method for studyin... more This chapter discusses the significance of using participant observations as a method for studying gender in the context of management education. It focuses on the situated nature of gender within a broader cultural context which needs further consideration when designing observational study methods. By using action learning (AL) sets as our focal point, we illustrate the constrained nature of participant observations and direct attention towards the interplay of subjective dimensions (e.g. positionality, identity and tendencies) of power unfolding between the observer and those being observed. In so doing, we highlight key features and the process of participant observations through our study of MBA students on an AL programme at three Pakistani business schools. Our study acts as a steppingstone for scholars in considering the challenges and ethical concerns of using participant observations as research method for studying gender.
This empirical study contributes to critical action learning research by theorizing the role of a... more This empirical study contributes to critical action learning research by theorizing the role of an action learning facilitator from a cultural perspective. Our article adds to critical action learning by conceptualizing the dynamics of facilitation in managing interpersonal politics within action learning sets. Employing Bourdieu’s notion of habitus as a theoretical lens, we explore both participant and facilitator accounts of action learning at three Pakistani business schools, shedding light on the culturally influenced social practices that shape their learning interactions. Through a critical interpretation of our data, we illuminate the challenges of facilitation by revealing how deeply ingrained power relations, within the context of gender and asymmetric relationships, influence participants’ ability to organize reflection. We contribute to critical action learning by theorizing the critical role of facilitator mediation in managing interpersonal and intra-group relations wit...
This article extends the idea of media artefacts as educational resources by examining web-based ... more This article extends the idea of media artefacts as educational resources by examining web-based materials, specifically women’s ‘Power Lists’, to deepen understandings regarding media artefacts’ role in informing women’s leadership learning and development. Women’s underrepresentation in senior leadership roles places leadership development under scrutiny to develop theoretically informed frameworks that draw attention to gendered power relations in organisations. This article addresses this concern by drawing on cultural theory to theorise media artefacts as forms of public pedagogy. The pedagogic framework proposed presents a distinctive addition to leadership education methods that attend to the sociocultural and recognise the significance of informal learning to leadership learning. Recognising media artefacts’ pedagogic role enables individuals to examine in more detail the gendered nature of the social values and norms that inform leadership discourse, and how these values an...
International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, 2016
This article is novel in proposing belonging as a mediatory and explanatory concept to better und... more This article is novel in proposing belonging as a mediatory and explanatory concept to better understand the relationship between women entrepreneurs and socially embedded gendered assumptions in entrepreneurial practice. Drawing on social theories of belonging and extant entrepreneurial literature, the article explores what belonging involves for women in the entrepreneurial context to offer a conceptualisation of entrepreneurial belonging as relational, dynamic, gendered and in continual accomplishment. Five forms of women’s performing of belonging are identified: by proxy, concealment, modelling the norm, tempered disruption and identity-switching. Illustrating how women both reinforce and challenge gendered norms through strategic and tempered use of legitimacy practices and identity work, these findings also highlight the significance of socio-cultural and political knowledge in efforts to belong.
Gender in Management: An International Journal, 2016
Purpose The purpose of this special issue is to extend the Economic and Social Sciences Research ... more Purpose The purpose of this special issue is to extend the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (ESRC)-funded UK seminar series–Challenging Gendered Media (Mis)Representations of Women Professionals and Leaders; and to highlight research into the gendered media constructions of women managers and leaders and outline effective methods and methodologies into diverse media. Design/methodology/approach Gendered analysis of television, autobiographies (of Sheryl Sandberg, Karren Brady, Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard), broadcast news media and media press through critical discourse analysis, thematic analysis, metaphor and computer-aided text analysis software following the format of the Gender Media Monitoring Project (2015) and [critical] ecological framework for advancing social change. Findings The papers surface the gendered nature of media constructions of women managers and leaders and offer methods and methodologies for others to follow to interrogate gendered media. F...
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Papers by Valerie Stead