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Women managing women: An holistic relational approach to managing relationships at work

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2017

Jane Hurst ,
Sarah Leberman  and
Margot Edwards
Jane Hurst*
Affiliation:
School of Management, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
Sarah Leberman
Affiliation:
Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor’s Office, Massey Business School, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Margot Edwards
Affiliation:
School of Management, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
*
Corresponding author: [email protected]
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Abstract

With women representing nearly half of the workforce in Western countries, it is likely that a woman will have a woman manager and/or employees at some point during her working life. In our research, we worked collaboratively with 13 New Zealand women to develop personal and organisational responses when hierarchical relationships between women become strained. We identified four interlinked strategies at the personal and organisational level: developing awareness of the existence and nature of the conflict, enhancing personal and relational skills such as confidence and communication, building support networks within and outside the organisation, and finding acceptance when change is needed. Taking a gendered relational perspective, we propose that responses to a strained relationship need to be considered within the broader personal, organisational, societal and temporal context within which the relationship is situated. Therefore, we propose a more holistic relational and context-focussed framework to create an environment more conducive to understanding and positive change.

Keywords

genderwomenhierarchical relationshipsconflictrelational cultural theory
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , July 2018 , pp. 500 - 516
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2017 

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