Organizational Dynamics And Intervention: Males Vs Women

Though no two incidents are identical, I can generally predict how a future incident will transpire merely based on the gender of those involved. Because I am a female and an authority figure, it is likely that males are more comfortable challenging my position of authority, as opposed to females who are typically more respectful. According to Linda L. Carli (2001), men tend to maintain power and advantage over women through resistance to female influence, “A reasonable prediction, therefore, is that men may display more resistance to female influence than women would” (p. 727). The nature of my interaction as an RA, and whether or not residents resist my authority, are therefore likely influenced by their gender. Taking into account that any two male RAs on duty do not typically face overwhelming resistance when they are on duty together, it is plausible that my female presence at an incident alters the trajectory of the situation. In this scenario, it is not just the gender of the residents that will predict resistance, but the gender(s) of the RAs who they are confronted with.
When I debriefed with my male duty partner after the incident, he specifically noted that he has never experienced a …show more content…
When considering this approach, the theory suggests that my different encounters as an RA have the potential to be more related to natural tendencies than the gender differences themselves. In contrast to Allcorn’s (2005) thesis, I have dealt with several incidents in which residents did not get hostile, despite my position of authority. Typically, those who do not exhibit elements of hostility or resistance in these incidents are female, suggesting that despite natural human tendencies, gender is an intervening variable when determining response to an authoritative