Gender Studies
Gender Studies
Human behavior is influenced and shaped by social forces and personal characteristics. Work behavior is social behavior. To understand gender related issues one has to build a joint construct of individual agents and their social cultural context. This is even more true when the countries involved are oceans apart as in this study i.e. the USA and India. Different nations have different cultural heritages which are values collectively held by a majority of population (possibly differentiated by social classes), and these values are transferred from generation to generation through education, early childhood experiences in the family, schools and through socialization in organizations and institutions. These values become social norms for that society. It is hard to see this proce ss in one's own culture. A deep and painfully acquired empathy for other cultures is required before one becomes sensitive to the range of social norms., for truths in one society may be falsehoods in another.
Hofstede (1980) after analyzing research data from forty different modern nations has come up with a scale of characteristics that can be used to distinguish the prevailing cultures in various countries of the world.2 Based on that scale Americans would be characterized as high in individualism, low in power distance, low on uncertainty avoidance, and high on masculinity. Indians (middle class) would be high on individualism, high on power distance, high on uncertainty avoidance, and high on masculinity.
Management itself is very much an American concept. Other countries can learn new ideas in management and organizational politics from America, however to apply to one's own setting, needs prudence and judgment Indian middle class already shares American values about achievement, that is the reason perhaps McClelland could build on those values when he did research in India.3
Up until 1954 researchers tended to ignore females workers as subjects of their research. Between 1954-66 sex-role measures developed. From 1974 to 1982 androgyny was established as sex-role ideal.4 Later, the females researchers pointed out some meaningful differences between the sexes and new theories of sex-roles are still in formation.5, 6 As far as management motivation is concerned most of the recent studies show that there is very little difference in the aspirations and goals between males and females in Library and Information Science and other fields. 7, 8, 9 The experience by females of finding a "glass-ceiling" (1991)10 at the top of the promotion ladder, and the...