ABSTRACT
Research in gender and organization is both plentiful and theoretically diverse, yet gender and organizational culture remains a topic which is ripe for study because of its prevalence in organizational settings, and the limited empirical research demonstrating the breadth of the gendered assumptions and values present in ostensibly gender-neutral environments. Organizational culture more broadly has been researched extensively since 1980 when it became a popular topic of study in organizational behaviour. The concept of organizational culture arises from viewing organizations less as machines and more as social entities, possessing socialization processes, social norms and structures. Organizational culture, therefore, can be viewed as a set of widely shared attitudes, values and assumptions that give rise to specific behaviours and physical manifestations which become entrenched in the minds and practices of organizational participants (Schein, 1991). Clearly a cultural approach to studying organization is much more than a passing fad, and can in fact reveal many aspects of organizational life ignored or undetected by other theories of, or perspectives on, organization (Trice and Beyer, 1993). Despite this acknowledged legitimacy of research on organizational culture, there remains a relative paucity of empirical research that specifically illustrates in what ways gender relations and organizational culture are connected.
