Insights and Research on the Study of Gender and Intersectionality in International Airline Cultures

For the first time in a single edited collection, this important body of feminist work traces the relationship between the formation of organizational culture and the development, maintenance and changing character of workplace discrimination. Based on three decades of archival research by Albert J. Mills and his colleagues, the book brings together a series of articles, chapters and hitherto unpublished papers that document the founding and growth of our major international airlines – Air Canada, British Airways, Pan American Airways, and Qantas Airways – to understand the comparative influence of organizational cultures not only on internal organizational processes but also social understandings of gendered practices. The insights generated in this body of work bring to light the complexity of organizational rules, symbolism, language, imagery, storytelling, and `history’ as they impact on the practices and sensemaking of those involved in producing discrimination at work. Feminists and other diversity researchers will find this collection useful not only for insights on the processes of discrimination but also on the various reflections on methodological approaches that are peppered throughout. To that end, qualitative researchers and management and organizational historians with an interest in methodology will also find the book valuable in its reflections on the range of approaches discussed throughout.

Albert J. Mills is the Director of the Sobey PhD Program at Saint Mary's University in Canada. The author of over 40 books and edited collections, his research interests focus on the impact of organization and management on the lives and well-being of people. His most recent publications include 'The Oxford Handbook of Diversity on Organizations' (2015, Oxford University Press); 'The Routledge Companion to Management and Organizational History' (2015), and 'Absent Aviators: Gender Issues in Aviation' (2014, Ashgate). Albert currently serves as the co-chair of the International Board for Critical Management Studies and the co-editor of Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: an International Journal.