Susan S. Case

Wide-verbal-repertoire speech: Gender, language, and managerial influence

Abstract This study identifies and discusses wide-verbal-repertoire speech, used by some managers, which combines masculine and feminine speech characteristics in differing proportions. The study was conducted in two gender-balanced 10-person managerial groups by completing a phonological, morphological, and semantic linguistic analysis and a structural interactional analysis of 34 different language traits of each members speech derived from 22 hours of taped conversation over 15 weeks. Three forms of wide-verbal-repertoire speech were found: balanced, which was almost gender-neutral; extreme, combining selective high usage of some previously identified male and female traits; and mixed, combining a phonological and semantic female profile with a morphological and structural male pattern. Nine measures of influence were employed to determine influence in the group as a whole and its relationship to wide-verbal-repertoire speech. Discussion stresses the value of wide-verbal-repertoire speech for current organizational problems and the ways gender-based speech patterns create barriers between men and women in organizations.

Gendered institutional research cultures in science: the post-doc transition for women scientists

This study examines perceptions of post-doctoral women bench scientists working across fourteen major US research universities, and how both individual and institutional experiences influenced their desired futures. Findings reveal three distinct career paths (research, teaching, and industry). This study provides insight into individual career decision processes involving as to how gender is experienced in male-centric cultures, how experiences of barriers are reframed, and how obstacles influence choices. These women emphasized strong desires to contribute to their respective fields and to collaborate with others, a key relational aspect missing in their current work. All participants indicated aspirations to have both a career and a full life beyond the lab. Findings further suggest a post-doctoral environment laden with gender and family biases including subtle discrimination and challenges specific to women working in male-centric cultures. A strong relationship between experiences of gender and family biases suggests that additional burdens are placed on womens career paths and their evolving identity. This study identifies the postdoctoral journey as a unique transition zone marked by a period of adaptation and selection as they make sense of their experience and decide on how best to achieve success and fulfillment as women and as scientists.

Academic womanhood across career stages: a work-in-life perspective on what was, is, and could be

ABSTRACT Using the framing of narrative identity, we illustrate the asymmetry that is characteristic of faculty work lives, especially when caregiving responsibilities clash with the seemingly indestructible ideal-worker norm. Based upon life stories of a multi-generational team of women faculty, we describe the interplay of individual and institutional dynamics that affect women’s work/family choices, success, and fulfillment in academe. We juxtapose our experiences at various career stages with the institutional supports, policies, and programs we would have needed to successfully integrate lives and careers. Across career phases, we employ three naming and framing shifts essential to advancing scholarship and moving policy around work and family to one where both men and women thrive. First, we choose the language of work-in-life integration over balance. Second, we use life-course as a framing for narrative identities, not pipeline. Finally, our accounts go beyond a family-friendly workplace to a life-friendly perspective, which allows us to draw attention to the understudied needs of faculty without children and/or immediate family caregiving responsibilities, and include faculty at later career stages. We conclude this tour-de-force through our work/lives by comparing multi-generational experiences, commenting on progress as well as remaining challenges to elucidate implications for policy, institutional culture, and a better academy.

The Genesis of Integrity: Values and Virtues Illuminated in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam for Workplace Behavior

Modern organizations have standards and policies for moral behavior; yet discrepancies between ideals and employee behavior are repeatedly found. We apply a different ethical lens to moral responsibility: values and virtues developed within the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Their respective scriptures (Torah and Talmud, Bible, and Qur’an) and subsequent interpretations provide practical wisdom for morally responsible behavior.