Women as androgynous managers : A conceptualization of the potential for American women in international management

Women in international management, where are they? While many female managers appear to have the qualities necessary for international management, they have been implicitly and explicitly excluded from overseas assignments.This paper will begin by describing some of the dimensions on which the international business environment is different from the domestic United States environment. Research on the attitudinal and behavioral skills found to be associated with success in the international environment will be presented. It will be suggested that this list of international management skills goes beyond those characteristics generally associated with either the male or the female role in North America. The Model of the Androgynous International Manager will be introduced as a way of conceptualizing an appropriate orientation for the role of the international manager. The need for future research is delineated.The scope of the discussion is limited to the role of American 1 women working in multinational business settings around the world.