WHERE CORPORATE SCANDALS COME FROM: An “us-versus-them mentality” that’s all the fault of those strutting, insensitive men, writes Shoshana Zuboff.

UPDATE: Ed Driscoll emails:

Geez, Shoshana Zuboff is a professor at Harvard Business School? And people wonder why the enrollment of men in colleges is down.

Yes. One cannot make sweeping negative generalizations about women, as doing so is proof of bigotry, and would create a hostile environment besides. Men, it seems, are fair game.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Some lengthy comments from a female reader in Silicon Valley. Click “More” to read them — they’re very much worth reading. There are also some trenchant comments from Anne Haight, an IT professional who also sees flaws in Zuboff’s analysis.

I am appalled by the Shoshana Zuboff article expounding her theory of “organizational narcissism.”

I am a working professional in the high-tech industry in Silicon Valley, and I can tell you from experience that Ms. Zuboff is way off the mark in her analysis of corporate culture. She strikes me as someone who has never held a management position such as those she holds in such contempt. Transparency is virtually impossible in a thriving development environment, as it does not allow for much-needed flexibility in program management. It would also create a great deal of confusion in the marketplace by adding new layers of information to that already available to shareholders. If Ms. Zuboff thinks that that is a good idea, she has obviously not spent much time poring over the nearly unreadable annual reports compiled by all publicly-traded companies.

I also take exception to the idea that the real trouble with corporate governance is that men run most companies. In support of this idea, she trots out numerous clichés–including that lovely chestnut about male contempt for female customers–but precious little by way of proof, whether statistical or anecdotal. Does she really believe that corporations turn down loads of cash just to feel superior to their clientele? Well, it’s hard to feel superior to anyone when your company loses money and you have to explain your failure to a disappointed board of directors or an angry shareholders’ meeting. We literally rise and fall with hard numbers and spend ludicrously long hours worrying whether we have added value for customers and shareholders, and it’s a damned impertinence to be told otherwise by someone so out of touch with her own subject of expertise.

As to the strange position that she takes toward men in general, I can tell you that in my experience, most male managers have had some counseling in dealing with female coworkers, but women seem to have little understanding about how men operate in the business world. I am not an expert in this field, but it appears to me that many of my female colleagues believe that corporate culture must change to accommodate them, and they become increasingly bitter when this doesn’t happen. Many come straight from college believing that it is somehow a denial of their femininity to adapt to the business world, even though men take for granted that they must adopt appropriate mannerisms to fit in. It’s as though many women believe they’re selling out if they remake themselves to get ahead. It makes women look petty and intransigent to their coworkers, which is the primary complaint I hear about women in business.

I will be the first to admit that the corporate world can stand improvement: it’s the nature of life itself. But most days, I see the best in human endeavor in the business world, which is something I can’t honestly say about my previous career in education.

Thanks for the opportunity to participate in the dialogue!

Best regards,

“Mathgirl”

Lots of dialogue here at InstaPundit, where warm fuzzy acceptance is the order of the day!

Meanwhile, reader Anne Haight has more comments:

This part of Zuboff’s article really amused me:

Male managers didn’t want to serve female customers. From the time men left home for offices and factories, buying stuff was redefined as the wife’s job. But managers did not want to serve in public the women they dominated in private. They retreated to their inner sanctum, defining managerial culture as male culture, though it cost them a front-row seat to the market.

Oh really? Do you suppose I should bother to inform her that the IT department at my company consists almost entirely of women, including the VP and the upper manager?

From what I hear in the tech industry, male managers everywhere would be delighted if _anyone_ bought their products, male, female, or chimpanzee.

Yep. That’s what I hear, too.