Halford, Susan

Gender Performance and Organizational Change - 2007.


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Recently, organizational Sociology has traced the relationship between gender and work organizations by studying organizational change. ‘Identity’ is central in these accounts as organizations demand new performances from the workforce that are tied to discursive constructions of masculinity and femininity. This paper explores the relations between organizational demands for gendered performance and the construction of individuals’ identities. The paper uses narrative analysis of interviews with five nurses working in two hospitals in the British National Health Service. This reveals complex processes of negotiation as individuals actively construct gendered identities inter alia through interpretations of organizational and professional change. In turn, this has implications for thinking about the nature and form of workplace politics and new forms of labour organization.