Management Perspectives
Assessment One – due Friday – questions?
Module 3 – Organisational Diversity
- Review last week
- Readings x 6 – Gender
- Case Studies/Examples
Week 6
Diversity includes
Diversity includes the following:
Race
Sex
Disability
Age
Sexual Orientation
Marriage and Civil Partnership
Pregnancy and Maternity
Religion or belief
Gender reassignment
Australian Commonwealth Law has four anti-discrimination statues:
Racial Discrimination Act 1975
Sex Discrimination Act 1984
Disability Discrimination Act 1992
Age Discrimination Act 2004
In addition we have the Fair Work Act 2009.
Additional Reading:
Why Diverse Teams are Smarter
We are starting to see evidence on how diverse teams and diverse workplaces contribute to the success of the organisation. This paper states that:
Diverse teams focus more on facts
Diverse teams process those facts more carefully
Diverse teams are more innovative.
In a nutshell, enriching your employee pool with representatives of different genders, races, and nationalities is key for boosting your company’s joint intellectual potential. Creating a more diverse workplace will help to keep your team members’ biases in check and make them question their assumptions. At the same time, we need to make sure the organisation has inclusive practices so that everyone feels they can be heard. All of this can make your teams smarter and, ultimately, make your organisation more successful, whatever your goals.
Terminologies surrounding diversity
Unconscious Bias
The natural preference for people who look similar, sound similar and share similar interests. If we allow unconscious bias to fester in the workplace we will recruit, reward and promote the same type of person.
White Privilege
A term used for ‘social privileges’ or ‘an invisible package of unearned assets’.
The obvious, and less obvious, advantages that white people have in Western societies that they may not recognise they have, or actually desire.
Puzzle
Read the following and see if you can think of the answer.
A father and son have a car accident and are both badly hurt. They are both taken to separate hospitals. When the boy is taken in for an operation, the surgeon (doctor) says 'I can not do the surgery because this is my son'. How is this possible?
Look around your organisation…
How much diversity do you see and/or experience?
What is the nature of the diversity?
To what extent is diversity tolerated within the organisation?
How is diversity stifled?
Reflect on these issues and the impact they are having on you as a manager/leader.
How are you reinforcing the organisational norms and constructs?
How are you feeling constricted by the organisation’s norms and constructs?
How challenging are these issues to the values espoused by your organisation?
Diversity Exercise
Module 3 Readings
Race:
Bill Moore’s Body.
The Colour of Supremacy: Beyond the discourse of ‘white privilege’.
Whitening Race: Reconciliation in and out of perspective: white knowing, seeing, curating and being at home in and against Indigenous sovereignty.
Gender:
Sex Role Stereotyping and Requisite Management Characteristics.
Through a gendered lens? Male and female executives’ representations of one another.
An investigation of female and male constructs of leadership and empowerment.
Examining Leadership through critical feminist readings.
Profile of a Successful Female Leader.
Becoming an international man: Top manager masculinities in the making of a multinational corporation.
Sex Role Stereotyping and Requisite Management Characteristics
Survey of public management students at a small university in the US.
Introduces the ‘think manager-think male’ belief identified in the 1970’s and since found to be a global phenomenon:
Initially, both male and female managers perceived that characteristics associated with managerial success were more likely to be held by men than by women.
Later findings suggested that male managers and male students still held this view, but female managers and female students no longer ‘sex type’ the managerial position.
This study, with the sample, suggests that the views of males have not changed in 2010, and are consistent among British, Chinese, German, Japanese and US management students.
This would suggest that the male decision-maker may still favor male candidates.
Through a gendered lens? Male and female executives’ representations of one another
This NZ paper is a result of interviews with 10 male and 10 female executives and explored their views on each other. The men and women had comparable status and power but still viewed each other through a gendered lens. The paper found:
Men viewed management as a ‘level playing field’ where promotion was based on merit;
The merit principle helped to justify why women were under-represented in management roles;
Some men believed that women could provide a ‘difference’ and make a positive contribution, and used words such as emotion, intuition, instinct, being more aware of feelings;
Women who displayed masculine qualities were described as too aggressive, domineering and ‘less compromising than men’;
The men could sense that some change was evident and that more women would be included at executive level as a result of the current social climate of diversity.
Through a gendered lens? Male and female executives’ representations of one another
The female executives reported the following:
They believed they had similar skills and competencies but they had to over-achieve to be promoted;
They believed they had to work harder than men to achieve the same recognition;
They expressed frustration with male behaviours including informal decision-making, indirectness, inflexibility, emotional detachment and male codes of obligation to each other;
The women were quite aware of the differences they offered to their organisations – intuition, nurturing, emotional honesty, being better listeners – which they saw as a competitive advantage.
Conclusion – gender stereotypes still exist. Male executives were aware of the differences provided by women but sidelined them into HR roles or used the differences as a reason for their under-representation. Female executives also understood the differences they provided and used this to position themselves in the organisation, enhancing the gender stereotype.
An investigation of female and male constructs of leadership and empowerment
This 2010 paper summarises two studies conducted in the UK.
“The lack of significant proportions of women in leadership and senior management positions in almost every organisation, irrespective of whether in the commercial, industrial, military or public sector, appears to be a worldwide phenomenon”.
The paper suggests that men and women have different views of the qualities and characteristics that make up a leader, and these views impact on the recruitment, selection and promotion of staff. Different perceptions of leadership emerge if a greater proportion of one sex is involved in the process – we end up with male-biased criteria when determining leadership qualities.
It is proposed that male-bias criteria ends up in the person specifications and the final criteria used for job selection.
An investigation of female and male constructs of leadership and empowerment
The paper highlights that men and women have very different, almost opposing views, on the qualities, skills and styles that constitute a good leader.
The paper suggests that women are more likely than men to use ‘transformational leadership’ – encouraging the empowerment of staff. Men were more likely to adopt ‘transactional leadership’ – exchanging rewards or punishment for performance.
The paper suggests that empowerment is considered as ‘increasingly important’ in the leadership literature and is of practical importance to organisations. Empowerment will help to increase autonomy, personal control, accountability and self-esteem.
An investigation of female and male constructs of leadership and empowerment
The author proposes that males and females may have different views of ‘empowerment’ based on masculine and feminine values:
Masculine values – self-assertion, separation, independence, control, competition.
Feminine values – interdependence, cooperation, receptivity, merging, acceptance, being aware of patterns, wholes and contexts, and being.
When discussing empowerment do we adopt the ‘masculine’ version of increased autonomy and separateness, or the ‘feminine’ version of connectedness and interdependence?
Do we want our empowered employees to be ‘recipients of power’ or ‘sharers in power’?
Will women be ‘penalised’ yet again for interpreting transformational leadership and empowerment as a shared process rather than as a gift?
Examining Leadership through critical
feminist readings
The paper highlights the different approaches taken over many years to define and understand leadership:
Leadership traits
Leadership behaviours
Leadership situations
Transformational leadership
Guru theory
Post-heroic leadership
The writer suggests that the post-heroic model is good in theory but we are still to see it in action.
This theory suggests that instead of focusing on styles and contingencies of leadership and the heroic qualities of leaders (gurus) we should consider leadership as the work of many people in an organisation.
Examining Leadership through critical
feminist readings
The writer suggests:
There is no ‘holy grail’ to leadership
Many of the leadership theories are US-based models and the behaviours of leaders therefore favour the individualistic, strong, masculine leaders we see in America
The US models ‘do not fit the cultural contexts of the UK’
Existing theories assume managers are male and focus on masculine behaviours – rationality, measurement, objectivity, control, competiveness. Men therefore ‘fit’ with organisational behaviour.
Women are more likely to demonstrate feminine characteristics – caring, nurturing, sharing, empathy, capacity for listening, relational skills.
We need a new way of theorizing leadership – feminine qualities need to feature in our analysis.
Examining Leadership through critical
feminist readings
“Leadership is a social process which encourages individuals to interrelate”.
“We need to look at the social and cultural context…we need locally based and culturally sensitive research to understand leadership success at the local level”.
“We cannot assume a homogeneity approach to leadership and expect all leaders to conform to specific traits, competencies and behaviours”.
Masculine v Feminine
| MASCULINE | FEMININE |
| Self assertion | Cooperation |
| Separation | Receptivity |
| Independence | Interdependence |
| Control | Acceptance |
| Competition | Caring |
| Rationality | Nurturing |
| Measurement | Sharing |
| Objectivity | Empathy |
| Indirectness | Intuition |
| Inflexibility | Listening |
| Emotional detachment | Emotional honesty |
Profile of a Successful Female Leader
This paper had conversations with 21 leading business women in Australia to determine the key enablers of success for senior female leaders. The women represented mining, engineering, banking, finance, insurance, education, communications, government and property development.
The women were asked if their career progression had been held back because of gender?
96% said that they had not been held back at all.
33% said that they had held themselves back.
The findings suggest that women’s success at the most senior level is a combination of personal attributes, capabilities and organisational support.
While some of these findings may also be applicable to men, it suggests that there are some differences that facilitate female leaders to succeed.
Profile of a Successful Female Leader
Personal Attributes:
These attributes are considered innate, challenging to develop, and the baseline for leadership roles.
courage – fearlessness, backing yourself, tenacity to bounce back
passion – alignment of values, choose something you want to devote your energy to
authenticity – be true to yourself, do not change just because you are promoted
ambition – aim high, demonstrate commitment over time
conscientiousness – do not rely on talent alone, strong work ethic
self insight – play to your strengths, understand your development areas.
One key attribute missing was that of confidence – the women did not mention confidence as an attribute but confidence was certainly observed by the interview panel. The women were poised and self-assured but not aggressive or arrogant.
Profile of a Successful Female Leader
Capabilities:
cultivating relationships – 89% had a mentor, champion or internal sponsor
drive for results – consistent, tangible results
building organisational talent – attracting, developing, engaging and retaining talent
personal growth orientation – pursuing development experiences
business savvy – need to understand the business operations and levers
These capabilities can be developed over time through development and exposure.
Organisational Support:
provision of mentors and supportive leaders
flexible work practices to allow a work-life balance
a Board and CEO committed to a culture of diversity (approach, thought, practice)
Becoming an international man: Top manager masculinities in the making of a multinational corporation
The paper looks at the identity of top managers in a Nordic multi-national financial services company involved in mergers and acquisitions. Of the 53 senior managers 51 were men.
The mergers and acquisitions have taken place over many years and include Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Luxumberg, the Baltic States and Poland resulting in managers from different cultures working together but also competing to ensure that cultures and identities of each country were represented.
The men admit to the sacrifices they have had to make, living a crazy life with extensive travelling, dealing with organisational politics, to become professional ‘international men’. It is a role that the men in the study do not think would be of interest to women, given the sacrifices they would need to make, and they do not think that women can be both ‘professional’ and ‘women’.
The writers suggest that specific types of competitive people – men – thrive in global business, and that the need to demonstrate both masculinity and nationality becomes the norm in globalized companies, excluding women.
Summary - Diversity
Diversity is always a sensitive issue. People who belong to a ‘minority’ group often feel labelled, stereotyped and marginalised in the workplace. People who belong to the ‘majority’ group are often unaware of the consequences of the collective action of the majority.
Some of the articles refer to ‘white privilege’ to help those in the majority obtain a minority view. The notion of privilege is disturbing as it is often given to us without our necessarily wanting it. What we then do with it is the question.
We all hold bias and prejudices simply because we notice difference and it is important not to try to obliterate difference and diversity in an attempt to redress prejudice. Ignoring difference, for example, can be as damaging as highlighting it in a negative manner.
Summary - Diversity
The term ‘unconscious bias’ refers to the natural preference for people who look similar, sound similar and share similar interests. If we allow unconscious bias to fester in the workplace we recruit, reward and promote the same type of person, and we will not achieve diversity or equity.
The literature around inclusiveness is the direction in which this field of study and practice is going.
The idea that we work towards an inclusive workplace for everyone, recognising everyone as a diverse member of the organisation is important, and leverages the strengths that differences bring in to the workplace rather than squashes them.