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Abstract
Women in middle management continue to face multiple paradoxes arising from their structural and gendered locations that add to the uncertainty of negotiating organizational life. Investigating the lived experiences of women middle managers can illuminate the constraints and paradoxes endemic to organizing, for such experiences foreground tensions at the intersection of structure, identity, agency, and power. Specifically, this contextual investigation of conversational humor explores links between organizational status, gender, and paradox. In so doing, it demonstrates how women can use humor to negotiate managerial identities and to navigate organizational life. This study uncovers nuanced and important communication tactics of middle management women. This study also reveals the value of investigating the complex convergence of humor, gender, and organizational communication theory.
Notes
Diane M. Martin (Ph.D., University of Utah, 2001) is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies, University of Portland. Portions of this article were derived from the author's dissertation, directed by Connie A. Bullis, which received the 2002 Charles W. Redding Award. The author thanks Angela Trethewey and Karen L. Ashcraft for their valuable comments and support. Correspondence to: University of Portland, Department of Communication Studies, 5000 N. Willamette Blvd., Portland, OR 97203–5798, U.S.A. Email: [email protected].