Is fatherhood allowed? : Media discourses of fatherhood in organizational life

2019

It has been claimed that in the context of organizations and management, fathers are invisible. One source of tension for fathers who work and who want to participate in family life is that even though involved fatherhood is emerging in many western societies, a family-oriented male identity is likely to be problematic for men in organizations. This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of a professional and managerial men's work-family relationship using discourse analysis on data from three different media sources in Finland, published during 1990-2015. We identified two competing discourses: one of stasis, the other of change. The stasis discourse is constructed around tra…

Fathers in focus: two discursive analyses on addressing men, work and care

2022

We introduce in this chapter discourse analysis as a methodological tool for studying work-family issues, particularly those of men and fathers in work and care. Work and family involve complex processes and dynamics, where reconciling different interpretations of events are temporally and contextually changing. Current discourses on involved fatherhood raise many questions about men's work and family relationships and the role of care in their life. Here we present two empirical examples using discourse analysis to study work-family issues from a male gender perspective in the Finnish context. Finally, we discuss the (dis)advantages of using discursive analytical perspectives in work-famil…

Leadership practices in relation to men's work-family balance in Finnish organizations

2020

Leadership practices in organizations play an important role in shaping the conditions for employees’ work-family balance. Previous research on the topic has mainly focused on women; fathers are said to receive little support from leadership for combining work and family. In this study, the focus is on men working in six Finnish organizations representing male-dominated, female-dominated and gender-balanced organizations. Although Finland is considered a frontrunner in gender equality globally, Finnish women still carry the main responsibility for housework and child-care. Through a discursive approach, we seek to answer the following research question: What kind of discourses do working me…

Isät, työelämä ja tasa-arvo : miesten tasa-arvoisen vanhemmuuden edistäminen organisaatioissa

2020

Naisten johtamisuriin kohdistuvat stereotypiat

2014

The aim of this article is to analyze existing research on stereotypes that affect women’s management careers. The research method is content analysis and the period of analysis is 1976−2013. The results of this research suggest that women executives are subjected to stereotypical beliefs, according to which women lack various specific and necessary attributes of leadership. Another stereotype is the belief that people have to manage on their own. A third stereotype holds that female leaders are superior to male leaders. From a historical perspective, the stereotypical assumption that women lack appropriate attributes has been dominant during the period of analysis. The stereotype regarding…

Miesjohtajien isyysdiskurssit

2019

Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli avata ja purkaa miesjohtajien isyydelle ja johtajuudelle antamia merkityksiä. Erityisen kiinnostuksen kohteena oli se, rakentavatko miesjohtajat isyyttään ja johtajuuttaan hyödyntäen perinteisiä ja dominoivia, jopa luonnollisiksi uskottuja totuuksia isyydestä ja johtajuudesta, vai ovatko isyyden ja johtajuuden merkitykset mahdollisesti muutoksessa. Miesjohtajien tutkiminen on tärkeää, koska johtajilla on vaikutusvaltaa organisaatioiden käytäntöihin niiden luojina ja hyväksyjinä. Tutkimuksen aineisto tuotettiin haastattelemalla 29 miesjohtajaa. Aineisto analysoitiin diskurssianalyysin keinoin. Tuloksena tulkittiin neljä isyysdiskurssia: ansaitsija-isyys -dis…

Suomalaisen miesjohtajan isyysdiskurssit

2013

Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on avata ja purkaa johtajuuteen ja isyyteen liitettyjä olettamuksia kriittisen johtamistutkimuksen keinoin. Tutkimuksen aineisto koostuu 29 miesjohtajan haastatteluista, joissa miehet käyvät läpi uraansa niin työn kuin perheenkin näkökulmasta. Keskeinen keino pureutua maskuliinisuuteen niin johtamisessa kuin isyydessäkin on sosiaalisen sukupuolen tarkastelu. Sosiaalisella sukupuolella ei haluta tässä tutkimuksessa niinkään määritellä naiseuteen ja mieheyteen liitettyjä piirteitä vaan ennemminkin laajentaa sosiaalisten sukupuolten määritelmiä tai jopa purkaa miehyyden ja naiseuden välisiä rajoja, etenkin vanhemmuuden näkökulmasta. Diskurssianalyysin tuloksena ai…

Responsible Human Resource in Practice : Towards a Family-friendly Workplace

2019

The purpose of this case study is twofold. First, a family-friendly development program in a Finnish health care organization is considered a good example of an attempt to develop an advanced workplace regarding work-family integration. The core idea of the program is that in a family-friendly workplace, human resource practices take employees’ varying circumstances into account. Second, the qualitative data gathered from the case are used to explore employees’ perceptions of family-friendliness, as well as the successes and pitfalls of adopting the development program to enhance work-family integration. The results show that the relationship between employees and their immediate superiors …