Subtle resistance to normative management ideas in a masculine-gendered corporate culture

This study examines resistance by the managers of large Finnish metal corporations to management ideas that do not conform to the prevailing corporate culture and managers' understanding of corporation traditions. The data consist of the personnel magazines of the corporations and interviews of their current and former top managers. The findings suggest that management ideas focusing on social relations within workplaces were deemed foreign and therefore unrealistic and inefficient. Resistance was particularly strong against the management ideas that were labelled 'soft', as they were perceived to be imposed on the organization and in juxtaposition with the prevailing corporate culture and its traditional values. Resistance seemed to serve as a means of maintaining and restoring a historically prominent masculine corporate culture that was represented as culturally rooted and authentic. The article reveals that it is essential to take corporate history and corporate culture into account when studying the adoption of management ideas on an organizational level.