From Blame Gossip to Praise Gossip? Gender, Leadership and Organizational Change

ABSTRACT Women’s underrepresentation in leadership positions in scientific and business life has been explained in organizational theory from several perspec-tives, all of which agree that women nowadays are highly qualified for leadership posts. Women are a relatively new phenomenon in this particuler sphere of work life. But long-term figurational approaches provide an explanation for the persis-tence of women’s underrepresentation. Being an outsider in leadership positions implies ambiguity and an ambivalent fluctuation between stigmatization and counter-stigmatization. The present study uses Norbert Elias’s Established and Outsiders model to understand the complex polyphony in the movement of ascending and descending groups in leading positions, which are traditionally constructed as a ‘Man’s World’. Referring to 18th-century books on etiquette through to present-day career guides, the author traces behavioural codes in gender and business life. KEY WORDS Established and Outsiders model ◆ figurational sociology ◆ gender ◆ images ◆ leadership ◆ Norbert Elias ◆ organizatio