Imagine being asked to evaluate your CEO ...: Using the constructive controversy approach to teach gender and management in times of economic crisis
通过让学生完成一个给虚构老板反馈的短故事，探讨性别与管理的关系，分析学生对“好管理”的看法，发现经济危机削弱了男性管理者的正面形象，而女性特质被强调为反管理想象。
This article addresses the relationship between gender and management as intertwined discursive practices. Following a constructive controversial approach, we proposed to the students to complete a short story in which they have to give a feedback either to a fictitious female or to a male boss. The article has a dual aim since it offers a reflection on a teaching methodology suited to foster critical thinking in the classroom and analyzes the narratives so produced in search of what constitutes the students’ idea of “good management.” In positioning men/women CEO within a narrative, students enact a moral order that evaluates management in society. Their narratives reveal how the economic crisis has undermined the positive image of the male manager, while femaleness is emphasized for its anti-managerial imaginary. Moreover, the idea of what constitutes “good management” is constructed around an idea of care for both male and female CEOs.