Since the days when women first began entering the work force scholars have studied perceived gender differences related to motivation in organizational settings. This paper first presents a brief overview of motivation theory and then examines the literature tracing gender related motivation-to-manage as it evolves through the 1950s and 1960s to the present. Studies have produced conflicting results with some finding that men have more motivation-to-manage than women and other studies finding the opposite. Such differences appear to be small and closely related to subordinate status and role stereotyping.