COMMONALITIES, CONFLICTS AND CONTRADICTIONS IN ORGANIZATIONAL MASCULINITIES - EXPLORING THE GENDERED GENESIS OF THE CHALLENGER DISASTER

The events surrounding the 1986 decision to launch the Space Shuttle C hallenger are reconstructed to illustrate how multiple masculinities, particularly between and among managers and engineers, contributed to that organizational crisis. hn analysis of gendered power relations-es pecially among men-reveals how the construction of particular forms of ''masculinities,'' and the ways in which they are reproduced, rationa lized or resisted, vary as a result of contextual changes. Commonaliti es and differences among these masculinities are discussed. We close b y exploring possible contradictions in the construction of organizatio nal masculinities and their implications for organizational practice.