Originally published here.

Despite extensive interest in management in both research and public debate, the organizational context in which formal managers operate, and how it appears in different parts of the labour market, have received minimal attention in research and idea debate in recent decades. Conceptualizations of management are seldom analysed in relation to organizational structures, requirements and working conditions in the different parts of the labour market (Lounsbury & Ventreska 2003, Linghag & Regnö 2008). Gender inequality related to managerial positions is mainly discussed in terms of women’s under-representation in leadership positions and the prevailing gender pay gap, even at managerial levels. Furthermore, research on gender and management has primarily focused on managers in the business sector.

As a result, research on the working conditions of female managers has largely focused on women who are in the minority in male-dominated managerial contexts. This chapter addresses another structural feature of managerial work, namely, the average number of supervised employees, so-called “span of control” or “span of management” (van Fleet & Bedeian 1977). It explores managers’ experiences of managing large working groups in complex operations in times of austerity. The data presented in the chapter show that managers in women-dominated operations have substantially larger areas of responsibility compared to other industries both in the EU and in Sweden.

This chapter discusses the fact that many of the organizational structures and practices associated with NPM such as flat organizations, marketization, performance and quality assessments have been introduced to a much larger extent in women-dominated municipal operations such as care and education compared to male-dominated technical municipal operations. Furthermore, managers in the care and educational sectors have the largest spans of control in the entire labour market, both in Sweden and the EU.

The structure and culture of the studied organizations constitutes the room for manoeuvre for the managers in the sense that it encourages certain ways of being and acting, while other actions are associated with social costs. For example, that the managers are aware that budget requirements are at the core and if the budget is exceeded it may come at a high personal cost. There is a risk of being transferred and of being regarded as incompetent. It is first level managers and their personnel who are responsible for maintaining a proper service. The managers attempt to maintain a
decent service, even when it means that their working situation becomes so onerous that it leads to poor health and sickness absence.

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