Knäcka koderna : praxis kring kön, industriell organisation och ledarskap

Sammanfattning: The main purpose of this doctoral thesis is to describe, analyse and initiate processes of change from a gender point of view. In the present field study the focus is on gender-creating processes in and around formal and informal structures at an engineering company´s organisation. The central theme is the implication of gender in relation to industrial organisation and leadership. The aim of this thesis is i) to identify processes and praxis in the organisation that create both opportunities and obstacles for women who have made an untraditional choice of career as engineers and managers, ii) on the basis of this knowledge and together with practitioners in the organisation initiate processes of change that will increase the proportion of women managers. The doing-gender approach has been used as a theoretical tool in order to understand the processes surrounding technology, leadership and gender in the organisation. Doing gender allows us to initiate process-thinking about how gender is constructed in different social contexts, such as those in industrial organisations. From a doing-gender perspective the central question is what an individual does and not what he or she is. In other words, the focus is on actions. The methodological approach is action-oriented, using as its starting point an interactive research perspective. The interactive approach has a democratic basic outlook, it combines theoretical understanding with practical action. This doctoral thesis helps to elucidate the complexity of gender-creating structures, processes and practices in an industrial organisation. Its empirical method also shows how researchers and practitioners in the organisation can jointly launch processes of change on the basis of a gender-theoretical basis. The thesis presents a gender-theoretical model for change and analysis that is based on the so-called doing-gender approach. This model has been of importance both as an analytical tool and as a starting point for initiating processes of change. The model has four dimensions and they are dissimilar in character and are more or less demanding of time in bringing about changes. They each have an effect and affect each other in various constellations in the gender-creating processes in organisations. The viewpoints that the doing-gender approach communicates makes it possible to change existing attitudes and expectations concerning gender, since the construction of gender is a continually ongoing process that differs in different contexts. One contribution that this thesis makes is to illuminate the complexity of organisation and gender. It contributes to research by providing empirical examples of gender-creating praxis in an engineering company and by showing how we can work on processes of change from a gender perspective.