Gender and Supervision: The Legitimation of Authority in Relationship to Task

Abstract

Most theories of bureaucratic organization legitimize hierarchical authority in terms of the economic and administrative imperatives of the production process. Rationales for specific levels of supervision emphasize the inherent nature of task activity (especially job complexity) and its related human-capital and organizational requirements. Personal attributes and the social differentiation of labor in the workplace are explicitly outside the legal-rational framework legitimizing the system of governance and job configuration. This study examines the relationship between job complexity and supervision for male and female workers and the economic and social factors that underlie the configuration of task and authority relations. The analysis suggests dramatic differences in the rationalization of work arrangements by gender—especially in the extent to which social status influences supervisory practices. Further, there appear to be over-time differences in the labor-market processes structuring progressions of jobs and thus normative work arrangements. The findings challenge common assumptions about bureaucratic authority and highlight the role of supervision in labor segmentation within the workplace.