This paper focuses on disappointment as a key concept and socially embedded phenomena, useful in understanding the dynamic relationship of organisation members to gender and management. It is shown that the importance of disappointment lies in part in its ability to focus attention on hopes and expectations, as well as on blockages, failures and defeats, and on the potential for change and reflection that it engenders. We argue for its utility with reference specifically to the ways in which women and men managers position themselves in relation to the women's movement in the light of disappointments faced. This helps us understand the origins of support for varieties of feminism as well as accounting for the support of some men, as well as the backlash from others. It is further contended that the consequences of disappointment feed into social movement processes and lead to a consideration of connections between organisations, civil society, political transformation, and diversity more generally.