Women and Leadership

Women and Leadership

The organizational climate, which refers to the prevailing corporate perceptions of women’s

professional capabilities and commitment, affect their careers. It also includes attitude towards

women that could result in unsupportive and discouraging work environment. Negative attitude

permeate the workplace, questioning women’s professional capabilities, inviting them in turn to

work harder to prove their credibility and commitment as part of the ‘invisible woman

syndrome”, Resign, (1998).

According to Helfat, et al. (2006), women in top management positions were nearly non-existent

from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Information from Helfat, et al. (2006) shows a dramatic

choices women make explain the low number of executive and managerial position women hold

in tactical, science, and engineering fields. According to Nelson and Lavesque (2007), women in

the United States only comprise 25% of the doctorates in math and science and less than 17% in

engineering and computer and information sciences. The figures suggest education is an enabler

of the glass ceiling.

Research has shown that in male work environment, female managers often do not get the

diversity of experience compared to male managers, women are blocked from promotions while

moving up the ladder and also gender inequality and culture and dissatisfaction with promotions

negatively influence women’s overall job satisfaction. Satisfaction with one’s job is very crucial

because it has been found to be positively related to career growth Resign, (1998).

A research carried out by Thomas (1994), revealed that majority of organizations favour the use

determined as being necessary to the job. Applicants are then assessed according to these

requirements, and where these are perceived as being held more by men then a man is preferred.

This process tends to limit the number of women applicants for men’s job. It reinforces

occupational segregation and contributes to building stereotypical views of men and women and

women’s roles and abilities Powell, (2003).

Few organizations make a systematic effort in assisting women by keeping them informed about

all training and career development programs available and giving them access to these

programs. A study carried out by Jamali, Safieddine and Daouk, (2006) in Lebanon revealed that

women have fewer opportunities for professional development in organizations compared to

men. The research suggests that managerial advancement is positively related to human capital

study carried out by Flanders, (1994) revealed that the responsibility for ensuring adequate

training cannot be left solely on the employer. To be successful, women themselves may often

need to take the initiative to request the training they need in order to continue advancing in their

careers. Research done by Cross, (2010), revealed that in most organizations promotion policies

are not clear. Cross further observed that women are not committed to their work due to their

biological make up. Child bearing remains a barrier to women career progress. The scholar

male counterparts. Reasons for these differences are varied. Thomas, (1994) explains men’s

greater success in achieving promotion is part to their greater use of informal networks as

opposed to women’s greater reliance on formal promotion processes alone. The operation of

promotion policies in many organizations is an area which often has an unclear set of criteria

attached. This allows for subjectivity rather than objectivity to enter the process with senior

management allowed considerable scope for discretion Coughlan, (2002).Often, promotion

criteria are focused on a preconceived notion of who should perform the role rather than the

qualifications required.

A study conducted in Irish by Cross and Linehan, (2006), revealed that promotional policies

positions.

According to Flanders, (1994) employers often believe that women are less committed to work

and less able to undertake a full time career than men, due to their biological make up, rather

than ability. When promotion opportunities arise and an employer is given the choice between a

study carried out by Cross, (2010) revealed a clear realisation among the female managers that

Organizational culture or the way we do things around here influences what employees can do

and how they conceptualize, define, analyze and address issues. The concept of organizational

culture is important to understand barriers faced by career women. Organizational culture is

often cited as either the key facilitator or barrier to work-life policies, as cultural norms override

formal policy intentions, Jamali et al, (2005).

Organizational culture can also present constraints to advancement of women to high level

leadership and managerial positions where job advertisement for managerial positions require

many years of continuous experience Wood, (2008). According to wood, organisational culture

does not reflect the values that embrace and celebrate diversity in workplace. He asserts that

there is need to actively challenge covert and overt practices that sustain gender bias hence

composed by men solely may have an effect upon the election of a managerial board, and then its

further influence is not very strong.

Ronald, Mustafa and Lisa, (2010) examined the relationship of the perceived presence of

organisational practices designed to support women’s career advancement and their work

attitudes and satisfaction and their psychological well-being. Data was collected from 286

women in managerial and professional jobs working in a large Turkish bank, a 72 percent

Wentling, (2003) has shown that the twin roles of women cause tension and conflict due to her

social structure which is still more dominant. In her study on working women in Delhi, he has

shown that traditional authoritarian set up of Hindu social structure continues to be the same

basically and hence women face problem of role conflict change in attitudes of men and women

according to the situation can help to overcome their problem.

Skinner and Pocock, (2008) investigated the relationship between work overload, work schedule

control, work hours and their fit with preferences and work-life conflict among full-time

employees (N=887). It was found that the strongest association with work-life conflict was

strategies used to manage the conflict. The women experienced more work interference with

family than family interference with work. The intensity of work interference with family was

significantly higher in the earlier life-cycle stage than in the later stage. About two thirds of the

women indicated that they intended to leave their job upon having another child, mainly due to

the rising cost of childcare services. They received the least social support from their supervisors

compared to other sources, and tended to cope with conflict using reactive role behaviour and

personal role redefinition strategies.

Gunavathy and Suganya, (2007) in their study among married women employees of BPO

companies traced the causes, consequences of work life imbalance and interventions for work

life balance. More than two-third of the respondents stated the experienced work-life imbalance

primarily on account of work interference with personal life. The causes for work life imbalance

were stress and burnout, ill-health and poor work performance. The respondents also experienced

guilt of not being able to spend time with family, anxiety about poor performance, displacement

of negative emotions on family members and on co-workers.

middle management at the manufacturing line. This study intended to determine the contribution

of each factor to career aspiration. Data was collected from 109 married women in middle

management at eight private manufacturing companies located in Bangi and Nilai. This study

management jobs. A total of 40 women managers were interviewed for their in-depth responses,

which were content analyzed. The paper provided clarity for organizational leaders to identify

growth barriers existing in their organizations, leading their women workforce towards a glass

ceiling. The results indicated that the Glass ceiling considered a myth by many was real and are

nurtured by the organizational culture, policies and strategies besides women’s own

inadequacies. The study concluded that only the most decentralized organizations, characterized

by a culture that supports women’s top positions, will help in breaking down the glass ceiling,

and career development.

Jamali D, et al, (2006), made a study to explore the salience of glass ceiling type barriers in the

Sophia, (2011) investigated the challenges facing women in career development in Kapsabet

Municipality, Kenya. She found that most of the women employees were dissatisfied with career

development programmes and women were discriminated against in career development

opportunities. The study recommended that organizations should strive to ensure that career

development programmes were set to enhance career development amongst women employees.

organizations should also introduce affirmative action to urgently address career development of

women.

While researchers have demonstrated the importance of the mentor to the women managers they

are often faced with organizational barriers which restrict the development of mentor

relationships. Female managers may also have fewer formal and informal opportunities to obtain

Negative attitudes towards and sex-typed stereotype of women in the workplace continue to be

reflected in the discriminatory organization practices through discriminatory managerial

recruitment and selection processes, training and development opportunities performance

evaluation procedures and promotions. From the literature the operation of promotion policies in

many organizations is an area which often has unclear set of criteria attached. This allows for

subjectivity rather than objectivity to enter the process with senior management allowed

Often, promotion criteria are focused on a preconceived notion of who should perform the role

rather than the qualification required. Employers often believe that women are less able to

Enhanced Productivity, competitive advantage, and financial performance, are three of the

reasons why developing and promoting women leaders are in the best interest of employers.

(Barney, 1997) - Capacity to optimize the use of the internal resources.

Underutilized women and people of color are major sources of untapped value that can enhance

organization's creativity, change efforts, team work, and financial performance (Appold,

Siengthai&Kasarda, 1998)

Eagly (1992) concluded that leadership roles maybe defined in a more masculine or feminine

fashion depending on the organizational context of management. Across most sectors of the

economy other than the military, women's effectiveness increased as they moved up the

hierarchy and as cooperation rather than control was required. IIIIIIIIIII

They found no differences on 30 attributes analyzed. However, they found that women

emphasized planning and organizing work and an empathic approach. They placed less

emphasis on the need to win at all costs. Generally speaking, women leaders tend to be more

participative and less autocratic, more effective in middle management, and in situations

requiring cooperation.

References

Annis, B. (2008). Men and women in leadership. Canadian Manager, 20(4), 23.

Ahmad, Aminah. (2007) “Work-Family Conflict, Life-Cycle Stage, Social Support, and Coping

Strategies among Women Employees”. The Journal of Human Resource and Adult Learning,

3.1.: 70-79.

Amold J, Mackenzie- Davy K (1994) Graduate experiences of organizational career