Examining Total Institutions and Gender Bias in Organizational Settings

Write an essay of 1000 to 1500 words on one of the following topics. Try to ensure that your paper: is internally organized (into several integrated and titled sections); advances a clear argument in support of, or in opposition to, the assignment topic; identifies some of the key concepts, terminology and basic assumptions of the theory under discussion; makes effective (and properly referenced) use of all relevant course readings and outside sources; and shows evidence of your own thinking and research.

Topic 3.1: More people are being incarcerated in the United States today than at any previous time, and a similar trend is apparent in Canada. How useful is the concept of “total institution” as an ideal type of an organization of re-socialization in modern society? Write an essay in which you examine the strengths and weaknesses of the concept of “total institution” as a tool of organizational analysis. Does the concept do justice to the variation which may exist among different kinds of total institutions—from prisons and detention centres, to mental hospitals or residential schools, to the military and closed religious institutions (monasteries and nunneries)? Incorporate your own opinions and experiences into your essay. Your essay should reflect your understanding of the course materials and any other materials you may regard as relevant.

Topic 3.2: What evidence is there to suggest that women have not always been treated as equal to men in many organizational settings? Discuss ways in which men and women appear to have experienced unequal treatment as members of organizations. Be sure to make full use of the key concepts drawn from the relevant readings. Your assignment should reflect your understanding of the course readings and any other materials you may regard as relevant.

Topic 3.3: Although gender rights in Canada and elsewhere have been enshrined in Charters, Constitutions and Bills of Rights, and upheld though court decisions and other legal precedents, the reality is that gender bias and discrimination remains deeply rooted in the workplace, and in other organizational settings. In recent times, some critical organization theorists have used postmodernist (and poststructuralist) methods to expose entrenched gender bias, prejudice and discrimination in the deeper structures of organizational life. These researchers have often used the method of “deconstruction” to analyze organizational “discourses,” or sub-texts, in order to reveal evidence of embedded gender bias in the texts and subcultural practices of many organizations. Gendered texts not only include the formal (or official) mission statements, mandates or charters of organizations, but also the existing templates for job descriptions, job selection and recruitment, and job performance evaluations. Besides the policies, procedures and practices of an organization, gender bias may also be observed in the informal interpersonal relations that characterize gendered hierarchies on the shop floor, in the office, in the boardroom, in the classroom and in numerous other workplaces across the country.

Write an essay in which you apply some of the methods used by postmodernist and by interactionist theorists to expose the hidden agendas of gender bias and discrimination in an organization with which you have some personal familiarity. This may be an organization for which you work, in which you study, conduct business, purchase goods and services from, or even, volunteer your services. Some of your evidence will be textual (written in organizational documents), while other evidence will be observational (watching and listening to how individuals communicate and interact with each other). Try to collect your evidence in a methodical way; explain the theoretical perspectives that you intend to apply; provide a detailed discussion of your results; and a statement of your concluding observations.