Abstract:
Purpose – To provide a critical review of existing contributions to gender and change management
and in doing so highlight how organizational change needs to be read more readily from a gendered
perspective.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper argues that gender has received little attention
regarding the change management side of managerial practice and reviews recent contributions to
gender and change to demonstrate this. The paper then questions how men and women both cope with
and drive change and whether the identified differences are more than superficial. The concept of
gender is then read into management theory in order to understand how gender affects the way
managers think and act, and the gendering of management is discussed. The paper concludes by
outlining future research areas – change agents, entrepreneurs, female innovators, psychoanalytic
treatments of change and gender experiences.
Findings – The paper finds that traditional and dominant conceptions of masculine and feminine
values that rely on static conceptions of gender to argue that more attention to be paid to the dynamic
and the genderful approaches.
Research limitations/implications – The paper concludes by outlining future research areas –
change agents, entrepreneurs, female innovators, psychoanalytic treatments of change and gender
experiences.
Practical implications – Draws much needed attention to the neglect of gender in change theory
and practice and suggests some ways forward.
Originality/value – Offers a unique introduction to an important but complex literature that needs
to be integrated into change management practice.
