Organization Theory and Behavior

Organization Theory and Behavior

Gender and Values

The development of values in modern day organizations, particularly those that represent the public sector, are becoming increasingly aligned with principles that are part of social science and primary social science theory. As such, many of these values represent a degree of mutability that is representative of the dynamic nature of social science in general. As Montgomery Van Wart denotes in Changing Public Sector Values, values have changed to "an emphasis on individual performance to teamwork, from an emphasis on stability to an emphasis on change and innovation, and from steep hierarchical organizations to significantly flattened organizations with more decentralized authority" (p. 289).

The confluence of factors that help to comprise this trend in the shifting of values is fairly comprehensive, and correlates to many facets of social science theory. Essentially, values are determined via a macrocosm that includes the interest of the public, the judiciary branch of government, the culture of a particular organization, its impact on the community and its impact on the individual. Although all of these factors exert a degree of influence, they create a synthesis in which they produce a subtle system of checks and balances that determines just what sort of values ultimately create an ethical system for a particular organization.

The specific relationship of these five factors with one another relates to their social value. For instance, the particular values that are associated with Van Wart's concept of the third source value of work are based on the hierarchical needs of an organization such as compliance and a manager focus. This source of value is directly related to social science theory because it is tempered by the author's conception of the fifth source of value, the public interest, which ultimately has a right to be aware of managerial processes and decisions related to the organization. By considering all of these diverse perspectives, contemporary organizations ultimately reflect many of the components that are accounted for in social science theory.

Gender actually plays a fairly significant role in the roles and the facilitation of those roles within modern day organizations. Although some progress has been made in this area, there are still a number of disparities that exist between men and women in professional organizations, particularly those that are part of the public sector. In fact, one may defensibly argue that purported notions of gender equality make it actually more difficult for female workers in organizations, since there is a rubric of neutrality which cleverly hides the fact that conceptions of managerial leadership are still measured in largely masculine terms.