ABSTRACT
One of the principal tenets of the colonization of organizational thought by American notions of idealism is predicated in the concept of the American Dream. The chapter explores a significant arena of management knowledge missing from R. Jacques analysis, that of the American Shaker communities. The Shakers can be considered to be both highly gendered in their organizational structure and also highly androgynous, as the biological component of sex was removed from their organizational life. In its incarnation as 'managing diversity', when Workforce 2000 identified the increasing heterogeneity of the American workforce, pointing to the fact that by the year 2000, white male employees would make up a minority of new entrants to the labour force. The employer is expected to be committed to creating a workplace which facilitates the inclusion of different social categories and enables everyone to contribute in their own way, to the business.
