Waiting for outcomes: anchoring a dual agenda for change to cultural assumptions

Abstract

This article argues that strategies to promote gender equity in organizations need to focus on assumptions in the organizational culture that underpin work practices and behaviors. An analytic case is used to demonstrate the importance of bringing cultural assumptions to the surface during the organizational change process and examining their implications for both gender equity and organizational effectiveness. Initial efforts aimed at changing work practices were disappointing. However, the understanding that cultural assumptions had unintended consequences for both gender equity and organizational effectiveness provided a foundation for the organization to continue to experiment after the initial intervention. The article argues that linking changes in work practices and processes to underlying assumptions provides a basis for the organization to engage in an on‐going and iterative process of inquiry, experimentation, reflection, and learning that can generate surprising and positive outcomes over time.

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