A commentary from Ann Casebeer: Are we really suit-clad versions of ‘naked apes’? ...playing with each other in human zoos

Citation

(2009), "A commentary from Ann Casebeer: Are we really suit-clad versions of ‘naked apes’? ...playing with each other in human zoos", Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 23 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/jhom.2009.02523bae.002

A commentary from Ann Casebeer: Are we really suit-clad versions of ‘naked apes’? ...playing with each other in human zoos

Article Type: Commentaries and rejoinder From: Journal of Health, Organization and Management, Volume 23, Issue 2

Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 22 No. 5, 2008, pp. 525-5

I will never again view behaviours at planning committees, steering groups and board meetings quite the same after reading Braithwaite’s thought-provoking paper on the “lekking displays” of male managers in contemporary health care organizations. Instead of listening for the most well researched, reasoned and appropriate decision or course of action – I will be checking who has on the most expensive suit and repeatedly asking my male colleagues what time it is – so I can calculate the relative cost of their watches as well.

Like Braithwaite, most of my own research involves studying health system managers and practitioners, in my case, in an attempt to understand how innovation occurs and when and how it sustains within an organizational or system context. My colleagues and I essentially observe and investigate how individuals and teams spread new ways of working that are intended to improve the delivery of care, patient experience, and ultimately, population health. That work has always sought to understand the critical roles of organizational history and culture, explicitly conscious of the critical impacts of factors such as power and influence, leadership, learning and trust. But never, until now, had I considered overtly which male was displaying to which and why. Truly, a “Pandora’s box” of new possibilities has been unleashed […]

Within just the confines of health care organizations, an array of new explanations abound. I now understand why male clinicians often seem to have an expensive and eye catching tie peeking out of their white coats […] and it certainly gives the phrase “old boys networks” a whole new set of potentials and visuals. But what happens in outlier contexts? For example, what if the big guy – the alpha male – is actually a female? What happens to the nature of lekking then? Clearly, there is need for more in-depth analysis which could provide Braithwaite and others a virtual lifetime of research activity in the health field alone. In particular, the call for more use of the social sciences and mixed methods research is laudable, although it remains unclear whether mainstream health sciences researchers and their traditional healthcare manager counterparts are yet ready to embrace the concept of same sex lekking in the workplace. Then, if we step outside the relatively conservative and traditional context of healthcare, I expect the nature of lekking displays would have new and different nomenclatures and classifications. For example, in the fashion industry, the price and fit of your designer jeans might be the biggest clues to who’s on top of whom – so to speak. There is likely no end of “need for future research” across a broad range of industry, sector and system settings.

What about the implications of looking from another research paradigm? If we use another socially constructed perspective to observe managerial behaviour – does it still look like lekking? For example, would not embracing a cultural feminist approach allow us to literally view screwing around in the work place in new and different ways? More seriously, Syed and Murray (2008) recently looked at the impact of gender diversity in top management teams with a just such a feminist interpretive lens. The implications for how we manage and what behaviours we reward suggest that we should probably stop lekking around and start consciously altering the gender balance in management teams if we want to build the breadth and range of competencies managerial work in complex settings demands.

Upon initial reflection, many of our organizational contexts might fit well the naked ape and human zoo analogies. I will definitely re-read Desmond Morris, just as soon as I try to figure out if I want to – or even can – participate in this managerial “displaying”. Can women in the work place “lek” for more than the quest of a good displayer – “the one with the best genes, and most free from parasites and disease” (Braithwaite, p. X) to mate with? I am pretty certain Desmond would say yes. Sadly, as Braithwaite’s work is pretty silent on how women might “do it”, I am not sure whether to wear shorter skirts and more expensive jewelry, or have my husband’s suits re-tailored and buy a really good fake Rolex.

Ann CasebeerCentre for Health and Policy Studies, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada