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Working papers

People-friendly Organizations: Why we Need an Alternative Default Model (2010)

Manfred Kets de Vries

"Why do women still fail to secure top positions in the workplace?"

Why, when they are challenging men’s performance at every academic level in the developed world and, in spite of all the efforts made to avoid discriminatory practices, do women still fail to secure the top positions in the workplace? Why do they gravitate toward certain occupations? This paper deals with the issue of whether the kinds of organisational structures and practices that attract women might also benefit men, and ask whether the male-oriented default position of organisational design has had its day.

INSEAD Working Paper, 2010

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