Postfeminism, men, masculinities and work: a research agenda for gender and organization studies scholars

Mobilizing the concept of postfeminism as a sensibility, this article invites organization and gender scholars to examine how postfeminist masculinities are discursively constituted and performed by men within contemporary work contexts. Acknowledging that women are interpellated within postfeminist discourses as empowered and autonomous subjects whose lives are shaped by individual choice, this article explores the implications for men, in particular how men variously perform postfeminist masculinities and the implications for addressing gendered inequalities within the workplace. Developing a research agenda, this article outlines three research trajectories: 1) problematizing a gender binary in which women are depicted as empowered at work and men in a state of crisis; 2) interrogating signs of ‘new’ postfeminist masculinities coded as inclusive in the workplace and; 3) examining how different types of men perform postfeminist masculinities at work. This article concludes by providing examples of research questions to generate future organizational scholarship in these areas

Queered methodologies for equality, diversity and inclusion researchers

A chapter on queered methodologies for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) scholars is apposite at a time when queer theory has made recent inroads into the field of methodology and methods within the social sciences (Browne & Nash, 2010; Warner, 2004; Hammers & Brown, 2004; Haritaworn, 2008; Hegarty, 2008). However, lessons have yet to be drawn from this body of literature for organisational scholars undertaking empirical research on EDI issues in the workplace. This neglect is a missed opportunity to study these research themes from alternative perspectives that mount a challenge to ontologies and epistemologies that have become mired within and reproduce heteronormative constructions of sexuality and gender. As such, this chapter grows out of an effort to examine the potential for queered methodologies to problematize the multifarious expressions of organisational heteronormativity by generating research on how lives are lived queerly – at odds with and beyond the reach of heteronormativity – in the workplace. As such, this chapter focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) sexualities and genders which, as I have argued elsewhere (Rumens, 2017), are typically regarded as the standard fare of queer theory research. In this way, I explore how queered methodologies can enable EDI researchers to challenge the heteronormativity of methodological practice, especially as LGBT people have been excluded from important methodological sites in the past or, where they have figured centrally, it has often been to their detriment when research instruments have been used to detect signs of ‘homosexuality’ within contexts where, for example, it is not tolerated and criminalised. Unpacking these issues across the pages of this chapter, I begin by introducing queer theory before discussing an emergent literature on queer methodologies. Against this backdrop, I draw upon my research to discuss the queer ontologies and epistemologies that are central to my work as an organisational queer theorist within the EDI sub-discipline. The challenges of queering methodologies are discussed before the chapter concludes

Sexualities and accounting: a queer theory perspective

There is a paucity of research on sexuality within accounting studies in general, and next to nothing on lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans* (LGBT) sexualities in particular. One major problem associated with this neglect is that the heteronormative bias within the accounting studies goes unchallenged, reproducing a heterosexual/homosexual binary that posits heterosexuality as a normative standard by which other sexualities are judged and found wanting. Challenging the heteronormativity that pervades accounting studies and organisations, this article contributes to this knowledge void by presenting a new line of research which examines LGBT sexualities. It is argued that queer theory can enable accounting scholars to disrupt heteronormativity, destabilise essentialist notions sexuality as fixed properties of individuals and thus advance the study of sexuality within accounting beyond topics such as sexual harassment. Three research trajectories with example research questions are presented to that end: 1) disrupting heteronormativity; 2) queering accounting organisations; 3) queer allies in accounting contexts. In sum, this article underscores the utility of queer theory to accounting and sexuality research and practice, and calls for increased research activity of this type in this area

Age and changing masculinities in gay-straight male workplace friendships

Drawing on interview data gathered from 35 gay men in the UK, this article explores how age influences the negotiation of masculinity within gay-straight male workplace friendships. Study findings show that gay-straight workplace friendships between younger men appear to be framed in terms of equality, not homophobia. Older gay men also report similar experiences, some suggesting how these friendships were not possible in their youth. Gay and straight men of a similar age are also united in friendship by their experiences of ageing and its implications for carrying out work. Interview data also reveals how gay-straight male friendships are constrained at work, thus limiting the opportunities for emotional openness and physical tactility. Overall, the study reveals how younger and older gay men, and their straight male friends, variously align themselves to inclusive masculinities within friendship. This article contributes to inclusive masculinity theory by extending the types of contexts currently studied, both relational and work-related, and adding further emphasis to the contextually contingent nature of inclusive masculinities. It also advances the limited literature on gay-straight friendships by highlighting how they might challenge and reshape the heteronormative contours of work contexts

Researching workplace friendships: drawing insights from the sociology of friendship

Although organizational research on workplace friendships is well established, it has been criticized for its predominately postpositivistic outlook, which largely focuses on how workplace friendships can be linked to improving organizational outcomes such as efficiency and performance. As a consequence other aspects of the lived experiences of work and friendship are obscured, in particular how these friendships are important in their own right and how they function as social and personal relationships. Supplementing postpositivistic research on workplace friendships, this article shows how researchers can derive theoretical insights from a ‘sociology of friendship’. The main contribution of this article relates to the development of a sociology of workplace friendship that understands the porous and mutable nature of these relationships and considers the social and personal factors that influence their role, place and meaning in the workplace. As such, three sociological frames of analysis are elaborated that encourage researchers to examine friendships at work as a set of contextually contingent social practices and as historically patterned social and personal relationships. This article articulates an agenda of research to inspire and guide researchers using these frames, one potential outcome of which is generating much needed scholarship that explores how workplace friendships contribute to human flourishing

Queering lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities in human resource development and management education contexts

Taking human resource development as its primary context, this article asks, ‘How can scholars mobilise queer theory concepts to move beyond treating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities as binaried, bounded and stable categories?’ While human resource development scholarship has made important, albeit limited, progress here, this article provides a review of queer theory to help scholars engage more deeply with some of its key concepts and theoretical resources to that end. In particular, one of this article’s main contributions is advancing the nascent in-roads Judith Butler’s writing has made into human resource development, management education and learning by linking her theory of gender performativity with the notion of cultural intelligibility. The aim of the article is to show how lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identity categories can be destabilised so that they can be examined queerly: performatively constituted and permanently open to contestation and resignification. Crucially, the wider applications and implications of queer theory are drawn out, such as how queer pedagogy can inform management education. This article also highlights possibilities for management learning scholars to queer other identities (e.g. heterosexual), organisations and modes of organising

Advancing international human resource management scholarship on paternalistic leadership and gender: the contribution of postcolonial feminism

This article aims to inspire international human resource management (IHRM) scholarship that incorporates postcolonial feminist theory, using the under-researched topic of paternalistic leadership and gender to illustrate the opportunities and challenges such an endeavour can present. Paternalistic leadership is utilised because it represents one of the most widely used indigenous frameworks for examining leadership in Chinese contexts. The principal theoretical contribution of this article centres on providing IHRM scholars with postcolonial feminist ideas, perspectives and sites of inquiry for cultivating future research on gender and paternalistic leadership. The salience of postcolonial feminism resides in its capacity to address the representation of non-western women in feminist theory as a universal, transhistorical category, to centralise cultural difference in theorising gender, to shatter binaries reproduced by colonialism and imperialism (e.g. ‘West/East’, 'Western/Third World Woman') and to generate indigenous, localised knowledge on non-western women. Three sites of inquiry are discussed: 1) Chinese feminisms and genders; 2) Chinese cultures and gender norms; 3) voice, agency and the subaltern woman. This article provides research propositions for IHRM scholars seeking to translate postcolonial feminist ideas into empirical research. The article concludes by outlining implications for practice and providing research questions to guide future IHRM scholarship

Gay male academics in UK business and management schools: negotiating heteronormativities in everyday work life

This paper contributes to a neglected topic area about lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people’s employment experiences in UK business and management schools. Drawing on queer theory to problematize essentialist notions of sexuality, we explore how gay male academics negotiate and challenge discourses of heteronormativity within different work contexts. Using in-depth interview data, the paper shows that gay male academics are continually constrained by heteronormativity in constructing viable subject positions as ‘normal’, often having to reproduce heteronormative values that squeeze opportunities for generating non-heteronormative ‘queer’ sexualities, identities and selves. Constructing a presence as an openly gay academic can invoke another binary through which identities are (re)constructed: as either ‘gay’ (a cleaned up version of gay male sexuality that sustains a heteronormative moral order) or ‘queer’ (cast as radical, disruptive and sexually promiscuous). Data also reveal how gay men challenge organizational heteronormativities through teaching and research activities, producing reverse discourses and creating alternative knowledge/power regimes, despite institutional barriers and risks of perpetuating heteronormative binaries and constructs. Study findings call for pedagogical and research practices that ‘queer’ (rupture, destabilize, disrupt) management knowledge and the heterosexual/homosexual binary, enabling non-heteronormative voices, perspectives, identities and ways of relating to emerge in queer(er) business and management schools