Gender Imbalance in Management Consulting Firms – A Story about the Construction and Effects of Organizational Identity

Abstract

Official statements by management consulting firms on the importance and benefits of gender balancing stand in contrast with remarkably imbalanced boards of those firms in Germany and subjective perceptions of individual employees about gender biased human resource practices. It can be assumed that there are deep level root causes of gender imbalances in consulting firms which are not easy to change and which touch upon questions of organizational identity. Exploring this topic from a specific angle-explaining gender imbalance in German consulting firms by processes of identity construction-, an innovative approach is taken: a fictitious story of a female consultant joining a large management consultancy in Germany is mirrored by general findings from social identity theory literature in order to derive conceptual, interpretative conclusions on root causes of gender imbalances on senior management levels of management consulting firms.