The Impact of Hierarchical Structures on the Work Behavior of Women and Men

Abstract

This paper makes the case for an absence of in work behavior, arguing instead that work attitudes and work behavior are a function of location in organizational structures. The structures of opportunity (e. g., mobility prospects) and power (e. g., influence upward), along with the proportional representation of a person's social type, define and shape the ways that organization members respond to their jobs and to each other. In hierarchical systems like large corporations, the relative disadvantage of many women with respect to opportunity and power results in behaviors and attitudes (such as limited aspirations, concern with co-worker friendships, or controlling leadership styles) that are also true of men in similarly disadvantaged positions. The structure of power in organizations, rather than inherent sexual attitudes, can also explain why women sometimes appear to be less preferred as leaders. It is concluded that it is not the nature of women but hierarchical arrangements that must be changed if we are to promote equity in the workplace. This paper proposes that structural conditions, particularly those stemming from the nature of hierarchy, shape apparent sex differences in the workplace and in organizations. Findings about behavior of and toward women in organizations can be explained by a number of structural variables that also can account for the behavior of and toward men in similar situations. This conclusion has been reached after field work in two corporations, interviews with token women in professional and management positions and secretaries and secretarial supervisors, and an extensive review of the social psychological and sociological literatures on work orientations and leadership behavior. Underlying this analysis is a conception of an organization as a total system. Occupations, work behavior, and work relations are too often studied as if they exist in a vacuum-each occupation or office or departmental unit considered as an isolated entity-and not within complex systems that define the position of interacting parties with respect to larger distributions of opportunity, power, and numerical ratios of social types. The hierarchical systems in which most work relations occur define which people are mobile, which will advance, which positions lead to other positions, and how many opportunities for growth and change occur along a particular chain of positions. Organizational systems also define a network of power relations outside of the authority vested in formal positions; the power network defines which people can be influential beyond the boundaries of their positions. Finally, the distribution of social types and social characteristics among personnel in different positions (and especially such ascribed characteristics as age, race, and sex) define whether people of a given type are relatively rare or relatively common.