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Organizational Pay Inequality
Organizational Gender Pay Gap
BMAL 500
Liberty University
Whitney Byers
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Organizational Pay Inequality
Abstract
Organizations should emerge into 21st-century society by paying men and women equally.
Companies that do not recognize or alter the pay gap where men and women are paid differently
will lose out on the opportunity to advance society to the construct of where it should be.
Through research, I have concluded that modifying performance-based reviews, and getting rid
of the secrecy of talking about pay between men and women would be the primary starting place
for bridging the widening gender pay gap.
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Organizational Pay Inequality
Step One
Organizational Summary
My organization is a Swedish based company that manufactures industrial tools and
equipment in every part of the world. The company is split into four groups Compressor
Technique, Vacuum Technique, Power Technique, and Industrial Technique. The current division
that I work under is Power Technique which produces generators, pumps, and compressors. I am
the Quality Team Lead for the Power and Flow division which encompasses the generator and
pumps product lines. Within those product lines, the product is segmented by either the size of
the generators or the characteristics of the pump core and I currently oversee all the supplier-
related and internal quality-related issues for a total of eight different product lines. I also have a
male counterpart who oversees the compressor group with six different product lines.
Organizational Challenges
Challenges are inherent to every organization, one of the main challenges that face this
organization is gender pay inequity. Graf et al state that “One of the most reported forms of
discrimination focused on earnings inequality. One-in-four employed women said they have
earned less than a man who was doing the same job; just 5% of men said they have earned less
than a woman doing the same job” (Graf, Brown, Patten, 2018, pg.3). There are men and women
in the same roles with the same educational backgrounds that are being paid significantly
different. It includes women and men from various job ranges such as assemblers on the
production floor, engineers, and top-tier management the pay disparity is disparaging. “Equal
pay means that men and women working for the same employer and performing equal work
must receive equal rewards. This applies to all payments and benefits including basic pay, non-
salary payments, bonuses and allowances” (ILO, 1951 as cited in Liinalaakso, 2019, pg. 10).
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Organizational Pay Inequality
Without gender equality in work settings, companies will continue to systemically suppress the
pay of women over men for the same work that is performed.
Although pay is a taboo topic in the workplace, coworkers will often dispose of their
income or inadvertently mention what they are paid. During a performance-based review is when
I discovered pay inequality in my workplace. I was accidentally given my coworker’s
performance review paperwork with their salary exposed. I also have three technicians who
report to me and one of my technicians is a woman who has been in the role longer and has more
experience than her male counterpart but is paid fifty cents for every dollar that he makes. With
the expectation to perform the same duties as well as train the new coworker.
“Sometimes organizations do not pay the same wages to women and men, even though
they do the same work or work of equal value. This may be the result of direct discrimination
where women are simply treated less favourably than men are. Or, in most cases, it is probably a
result of the organizations' normal policy or practice that is not intended to be discriminatory, but
which leads to unequal treatment between women and men” (Findlay et al, 2009 as cited in
Liinalaakso, 2019, pg. 20).
Organizational Key Players
Society plays an integral role in the gender pay gap between women and men. It starts
when we are children when defined roles between boys and girls are established. Girls play with
barbies and are caregivers, the boy is tough and is acquiesced into the position of being
providers. “According to the gender role theory, gender roles and traditions affect women and
men at a very early age. They affect, among other things the choices of education and career.
Therefore, women and men usually choose very different types of career paths, leading to gender
pay differences” (Liinalaakso, 2019, pg. 19) Although in early development is where gender
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Organizational Pay Inequality
differences start it is trickled down into organizations where it is normalized to see women in
certain roles in comparison to men. Engineering is a primarily dominated field for men and
nursing is dominated by women. When women start to acquire positions in male-dominated
fields it is hard to normalize the same performance standards between the two gender roles
which increases the gender pay gap. “Furthermore, according to Grimshaw and Rubery (ibid),
pay is often decided based on typically male behaviours such as performing long hours, working
continuously for a long time and an aggressive negotiating style” (Liinalaakso, 2019, pg. 22).
When performance-based reviews and pay are based on the structures of male dominance it
creates and increases the disparity of wages when it comes to the evaluation of performance and
the nature of women being compensated for the same work.
Step Two
Organizational Theory
The article I chose, “Play Fair, Pay Fair: A systemic model of pay system-related factors
contributing to gender-based pay differences” written by Virpi Liinalaakso (Liinalaakso, 2019).
Key factors that Liinalaakso writes about are the gender wage gap job evaluation methods and
practices, the current factors behind the gender pay gap, and equal work and work of equal value
that pertain to men and women. The author’s viewpoint supports that this problem is systemic in
many organizations including the one where I am currently employed. He talks about many
factors that inhibit men and women from being paid fairly. He speaks of key components that
contribute to the segregation of women’s pay in comparison to that of their male counterparts. He
references Grimshaw and Rubery (2006, ix) who identified five V’s that contribute to gender pay
inequality which is visibility, valuation, vocation, value-added, and variance. There are two key
V’s that I believe that primarily affects women from receiving the fair pay that they deserve and
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Organizational Pay Inequality
is the demise of the pay gap is the concept of valuation, and value-added. Grimshaw and Rubery
as cited in Liinalaakso define valuation as “even where women’s skills are recognized, they are
not given a high value. Valuation still tends to be based on a “male skill model” (Grimshaw &
Rubery, 2006, as cited in Liinalaakso, 2019, pg. 20). Women are having to participate in a game
with an unfair disadvantage that they inherit at birth and that is solely that of having an XX
chromosome instead of an XY. Another key driver that the article discusses is empirical data that
supports the factors of pay differentiation. He gives his assumptions on the factor and provides
theoretical explanations that support the truth of his argument. The next concept is value-added
“Men’s jobs tend to be in high value-added processes, which lead them to be more highly rated,
even where there is little difference between the skills involved” (Liinalaakso, 2019, pg. 20).
Many perceive that because a man is in a certain position that he is the most qualified and
experienced to do the job, which is another factor that leads the men to be in certain roles to out-
earn their female counterparts. If there was a fix in place to have women seen as value-added to
organizations, we would not have to fight to have an even playing field when it comes to being
paid equally for the same work.
Organizational Key Indicators
One of the key indicators that the author presents to the organizational behavior of the
gender pay gap is that of discrimination in the pay system.
“In this study, the focus is at the organizational level – more specifically on factors
related to the pay system. In certain cases, organizations do not pay women and men the same
wages although they carry out the same work or work of equal value. It is of course possible that
this is due to direct discrimination, in which women are simply treated less favourably than men
are” (Liinalaakso, 2019, pg.26).
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Organizational Pay Inequality
Our text also talks about the gender pay gap and the glass ceiling between men and
women. Kinicki states that ‘glass ceiling identifies an invisible barrier that prevents women from
advancing to higher-level positions.” (Kinicki, 2020, pg.141) Which if women aren’t able to
advance to higher-level positions because of systemic barriers that are in place this leads to
discrimination in women achieving the same pay grades as men although they are equally as
qualified as the men who are in those roles.
“Take the pay gap between men and women for example. In 2019, the median weekly
income in full-time management, professional, and related occupations was $1,468 for men but
$1,078 for women. Even among female and male MBA graduates who made about the same
upon graduation over the past 15 years, by 2017 a 29 percent pay gap had opened with women
earning an average of $59,000 less per year than their male counterparts (Kinicki, 2020, pg.141)
Which further drives the point of the inequity of the pay systems in the workplace exists and
currently has not had much improvement.
Organizational Relevance
Many of the theories that the author establishes in the text relate to the organization
referenced above. Job evaluation factors, discrimination between men and women, and roles that
are naturally inherent between men and women at birth are key factors that drive the wage gap.
“First of all, expectations of women’s behavior affect the way they act in the workplace.
An important factor from the pay system point of view is that women are not expected to behave
decisively and aggressively, for example, by asking for a pay raise. Previous studies have shown
that if women step out from their gender role, it has negative consequences, and therefore
women are not inclined to negotiate for better pay” (Liinalaakso, 2019, pg.84)
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Organizational Pay Inequality
There are many constructs within the organization that make it impossible for women to even
require the companies that underpay them to step up to the plate to pay them fairly. This includes
the organization that I am currently in there are many normalized conditions in the workplace
that make it difficult to approach upper-management about the fairness of pay since pay is not
something that is openly spoken of until it’s time for performance reviews. Another interesting
concept that this article brought attention to, relates to our textbook and applies to the
organization that I am in as well as the concept of a glass ceiling.
“The phenomenon, where women have limited access to well-paid positions within work
organizations, is called allocative discrimination. One example of the allocative discrimination is
the concept of the glass ceiling. This refers to the situation where women face barriers and
obstacles that prevent them from promoting into management positions” (Liinalaakso, 2019, pg.
21).
The organization that I am currently in has one woman that sits in a managerial role. The rest of
the managerial team consists of eight men. It’s difficult for women to break into the roles of
managers and establish equal pay for themselves with constructs such as glass ceilings and the
knowledge that men are more than likely the first choices when it comes to management. This is
due to the policies and the job descriptors that are put in place that heavily lean towards men.
Step Three
Recommendations
My top two recommendations for the organization that I work for is to change their
performance-based evaluation methodology and to not make the conversation of pay in the office
environment an unmentionable topic. Currently, the performance-based structure for raises and
bonuses is not the most formalized process. Formalizing and setting specific metrics for
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Organizational Pay Inequality
individuals to meet would help the evaluation practices. “Of course, the gender pay gap is also
significantly influenced by the pay system the organization decides to use, Previous studies have
shown that even different job evaluation methods produce different wages” (Liinalaakso, 2019,
pg.84) Setting a specific structure that is fair across the board for all participants would even-out
the playing field for women in my organization. “Degree of motivation by performance pay and
revue production explained the largest portions of the pay gap” (Tharp, Lutz, Mielitz, Kitces,
Ammerman, 2019, pg.1). My next recommendation would be that of making salaries in the
workplace apart of the norm. Since speaking of salary in the workplace is not the norm, men will
have to be willing to advocate for women and share their salaries for the pay gap to decrease.
“The aforementioned pay secrecy affects the gender pay gap so that it prevents women from
gaining access to the male pay information” (Liinalaakso, 2019, pg.85). This would give women
in the organization a basis and recommendation to go off when approaching the necessary
management resources about the inequality in their wages versus that of their male counterparts.
Conclusion
The gender pay gap will continue to be a norm in the workplace if job evaluation methods
are not changed and if the conversation regarding pay does not become a norm within the
workplace. As the personality type of ISTJ, it would be personally difficult for me to be the
influence in the workplace to change these standards. If I had qualities of extroversion and the
necessary aggression tactics to start these conversations it would be an easier and less daunting
task. Having the SJ as a portion of my personality profile with the need to have the tools of titles
and salary is an important factor of my personality profile and why this issue is inherently so
important to me. “The power tools of an SJ are titles, salaries, tenure, official citations and
commendations, managerial mandates, medals, and all of the other myriad other things that make
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Organizational Pay Inequality
success official” (Kroeger, Thuesen, and Rutledge, 2009 pg. 121) I truly believe an important
remedy to this gender pay gap that was mentioned above is that of men speaking out about their
pay and advocating for their female coworkers. When pay is no longer a secret there is no need
for the pay structures between men and women to be different. The bible states that “Speak up
for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and
judge fairly defend the rights of the poor and needy” (Proverbs 31:8-9, New International
Version). This scripture just further proves the importance of men speaking up and advocating
for women who are not able to speak up for themselves when it comes to the injustice of not
being paid fairly.
Reference List
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Organizational Pay Inequality
Graf, N., Brown, A., & Patten, E. (2018). The narrowing, but persistent, gender gap in pay. Pew
Research Center, April 9.
Kinicki, A. (2020). Organizational Behavior - A Practical, Problem-Solving Approach. New
York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Kroeger, O., Thuesen, J. M. & Rutledge, H. (2009). Type Talk at Work (Revised). New York:
Random House Publishing Group.
Liinalaakso, V. (2019). Play Fair, Pay Fair. A systemic model of pay system-related factors
contributing to gender-based pay differences.
Tharp, D. T., Lurtz, M., Mielitz, K. S., Kitces, M., & Ammerman, D. A. (2019). Examining the
gender pay gap among financial planning professionals: A Blinder‐Oaxaca
decomposition. Financial Planning Review, 2(3-4), e1061.
