Mandated Change and Gendered Organizational Culture: A Content Analysis of Graduate Perceptions of the U.S. Air Force Academy's Agenda for Change

Abstract

Women are a token group at the United States Air Force Academy and by extension within the social networks of Academy graduates. Using Kanter's theory on the effects of proportions on group culture, I complete a qualitative content analysis of the public discourse surrounding the removal of the words "Bring Me Men..." from an Academy ramp in response to the 2003 sexual assault scandal.

The vast majority of male graduates and all of the female graduates publicly opposed the decision to remove the words. I observe three phenomena in the public discourse in line with Kanter's theorized process of boundary heightening: loyalty tests, exaggeration of the dominant's culture, and the use of formal in-group recognitions as reminders of difference between the dominants and the tokens. Both the dominants and the tokens failed to consider alleged sexual assault claims and whether these claims had connections to USAFA's organizational culture.