Forces of Change

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_______________________________________________________________ Report Information from ProQuest November 03 2016 01:28 _______________________________________________________________

03 November 2016 ProQuest

Table of contents

1. Organizational change and women managers' careers: the restructuring of disadvantage?....................... 1

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Document 1 of 1 Organizational change and women managers' careers: the restructuring of disadvantage? Author: Edwards, Christine; Woodall, Jean; Welchman, Rosemary ProQuest document link Abstract:   This paper explores some of the consequences of organizational change for women managers through the in- depth analysis of a "typical" case. It reveals that in the organization studied, restructuring in response to a rapidly changing business environment, has profound and often negative consequences for women managers. The paper explores the complex process by which restructuring and managerial policy and practice eventually combined to undermine the organization's stated intent to expand significantly the number of women in management. It is suggested that in-depth analysis over time is required to understand the complex processes of change and its often unanticipated consequences for management careers. Full text:   Christine Edwards: Kingston University, Kingston-upon-Thames, UK Jean Woodall: Kingston University, Kingston-upon-Thames, UK Rosemary Welchman: Kingston University, Kingston-upon-Thames, UK ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The authors are grateful for some very constructive comments from Judi Marshall, Stephen Gourlay and Peter Haywood Introduction A recent survey (Institute of Management, 1994) reveals that, after 20 years of steady growth, the proportion of women managers in the UK has fallen. With increasing numbers of women entering the labour market and many more employers publicly committed to equal opportunities policies, this halt in female progression would appear anomalous and requires explanation. In seeking such an explanation this paper challenges the assumption implicit in much of the literature on women managers that their failure to progress can be explained solely in terms of the individual behaviour of women and their employers. Instead, it examines the characteristics of organizations in which women make their careers which are potent factors impeding female advancement. While acknowledging the importance of discriminatory behaviour and prejudice, it also draws attention to the effects of radical organizational change. Such change has wrought havoc with the careers of both men and women in management. This paper explores some of the consequences of organizational change for women managers through the in-depth analysis of a "typical" case. It reveals that in the organization studied, restructuring in response to a rapidly changing business environment, has profound and often negative consequences for women managers. The paper explores the complex process by which restructuring and managerial policy and practice eventually combined to undermine the organization's stated intent to expand significantly the number of women in management. It is suggested that in-depth analysis over time is required to understand the complex processes of change and its often unanticipated consequences for management careers. The paper starts with a review of research into women managers and identifies a number of organizational factors which could influence their careers. It then moves on to a detailed examination of the research findings, ending with some discussion of the implications of these for the future of women in management. Explaining women managers' careers: individual and organizational perspectives Women in the UK have been entering the labour market in increasing numbers. However, while the number of women managers has also risen, it is at a much slower rate and their penetration into management is modest even in those industries which largely employ women. Where they have been successful in acquiring management positions these are mostly confined to lower and middle management level and few have

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succeeded in achieving senior management posts. For example, the 1994 Institute of Management survey revealed an overall increase of above 8 per cent in female managers over the last 20 years (from 1.8 per cent in 1974 to 9.5 per cent in 1994). Those at director level, however, increased by less than 2 per cent, from 0.6 per cent to 2.8 per cent, over the same period (Institute of Management, 1994). There is a growing literature which attempts to explain women's under-representation in management. For example, a variety of research has shown that women's career paths are different from those of men. Women have made careers in marketing, personnel, administration and advertising, rather than general management or the specialist areas which offer the best opportunities for progress (Evetts, 1993; Nicholson and West, 1988). Prejudice against women has been found in recruitment and selection procedures (Motram, 1987), promotion and appraisal processes (Alimo-Metcalfe, 1994) and in their less favourable access to career development opportunities (Jackson and Hirsh, 1991). The attitudes and behaviour of the women themselves, their family roles (Cooper and Davidson, 1984; White et al., 1992) and even their speech patterns (Schick-Case, 1994) have also been cited as a problem. Academic writing and research attempting to explain women's under-representation therefore focuses mainly on the behaviour of individual women - their career choices, attitudes, family commitments, etc., or the prejudice of their male superiors or colleagues. Their prescriptions for change also follow this individual perspective, concentrating on how management development, career planning and equal opportunities policies can assist women in their careers (see for example, Flanders, 1994). As yet, however, there has been little consideration of the way in which characteristics of the organizations in which they work may facilitate or impede the progress of women in their attempts to enter management. There are some grounds for believing that women find career advancement easier in public sector bureaucracies (Davidson and Cooper, 1992) and some writers have argued that women are more likely to progress in the new leaner and flatter organizations (Cooper and Davidson, 1984). Moreover, a recent large-scale cross-industry survey in the USA (Blum et al., 1994) found significant relationships between the proportion of women in managerial posts and a number of organizational characteristics. The authors conclude that "organizational measures of social structure, resource needs and institutional tendencies" account for almost half of the variation in the percentage of management positions filled by women in the organizations in their sample[p. 262].. The discussion so far has drawn attention to the need to analyse the effect of organizational context in the study of women managers' careers. This factor would seem particularly salient given the radical organizational change which has taken place in large numbers of public and private sector companies. Most commercial organizations have undergone significant change in their structure and culture, prompted by business strategies designed to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive market environment. Those in the public sector have not been sheltered from such organizational turbulence. Government policies and resource constraint have dictated a more "business like" or market orientation leading to many of the organizational changes found in the private sector. This change has generally involved a move away from an organization based on functional or divisional hierarchies to one based on strategic business units. The consequences of such restructuring have been a devolution of responsibility accompanied by a significant delayering and downsizing. Middle management have been particularly affected in these lean, flattened and decentralized organizations, experiencing significant changes in their role and a reduction in their career opportunities and job security. The last decade has seen a steady increase in women managers at this middle management level, although as we have noted earlier, the most senior positions have remained stubbornly resistant to female entry. This raises a question as to whether changes in career conditions as a result of organizational restructuring have gender implications. Does such restructuring provide a route for women through the barriers that hold glass ceilings in place or do glass ceilings remain, but in different places? Are they more or less vulnerable as a result of organizational restructuring? Answers to these questions require systematic analysis of the relationship between these features of organizational change and managerial careers.

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A review of current writing on organizational change reveals a wide range of potential effects on women managers' careers. These can be broadly divided into five main categories. The first concerns the external and internal market for managerial labour. The second and third are the effect of organizational delayering on managerial roles and on managerial career paths. Fourth is the role of management development processes in assisting managers to adapt to change. Finally, there is the question of the role of equal opportunities policies and practice in mediating the consequences of organizational change. Changes in the market for managerial labour Managerial work has grown as a proportion of total employment and the 1980s saw a steady increase in the demand for managers. Where companies experienced difficulty in attracting and retaining high calibre staff they turned to non-traditional candidates as a source of managerial talent. Such a trend might be more pronounced where the rewards offered to managers are uncompetitive (notably in the public sector) and where a strong internal labour market is operating. The increase in the numbers of well-qualified women entering the labour market during this period also provided an under-utilized pool of potential managers and their entry into management expanded significantly. Their growing presence in the world of work, however, may have had an influence beyond merely providing a "reserve army" to make up for a shortage of male managers. Whereas there may be some reluctance to appoint women to positions of authority over men, a female boss might be considered more appropriate for a predominately female workforce. Blum et al.'s (1994) study confirms this general trend showing a positive association between the percentage of non-management jobs filled by women in companies and the percentage of women in management positions. The more recent effect of "downsizing" and the loss of managerial jobs is less clear. The most recent Institute of Management survey (Institute of Management, 1994) revealed a decline in the proportion of women managers at almost all levels of management and noted that women were twice as likely as men to resign their positions. However, many down-sized companies have curtailed external recruitment and strengthened their commitment to management development in order to exploit their existing talent. At least one survey has found that women can benefit from such "grow your own" policies (Blum et al., 1994). Increased dependence on an internal labour market could, ceteris paribus, advantage internal women candidates. A more significant labour market trend reflects factors which changed the demand for particular kinds of managerial or professional expertise. Most notable of these is a reorientation of companies towards the needs of internal and external customers in response to the increasing competitive environment for private companies, and a government-led imperative for those in the public sector. Where the customer base consists of a large proportion of women, or, where women are thought to possess the kind of interpersonal skills needed to relate to customers, then women managers may find advancement easier. Allied to this growth in the "cult of the customer" is the expansion of a number of specialisms - customer relations, advertising and marketing - where women are better represented. Growth in management posts in these areas, therefore, is likely to increase the number of women in management. A further major feature of management in the 1980s was the emphasis on the management of human resources within organizations and growth in employment in the personnel function (Storey, 1992). Personnel is another specialism with higher numbers of women managers. The growth of a professional specialisms where women have typically made careers, accounts for a significant proportion of the growth in female managers. Any change in the position of these organization specialisms, such as the break up of corporate personnel departments and associated decentralization noted by Storey (1992) and Purcell and Ahlstrand (1994), could have a negative impact on the overall number of women managers. Changes in managerial roles and styles The combined effect of decentralization and delayering on middle management roles has been widely commented (Storey, 1992). Dopson and Stuart (1993), for example, found that management jobs had become more generalist with increased responsibilities, a wider range of tasks and a greater span of control and mix of

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subordinates. They also identified a shift from technical to general skills and an emphasis on managing people. Other writers, e.g. Bowen and Lawler (1992) have argued that successful managers need to replace the "command and control" management style associated with the traditional, large- scale bureaucracy and adopt that of coach, counsellor, team leader and facilitator. A move away from technical expertise to a general one based on a more people-centred approach would appear at first sight to benefit women. Some writers, for example, maintain that women are more concerned with relationships and have better interpersonal skills than men (Marshall, 1984). However, it is uncertain how far managerial selection is made on the basis of these "new" characteristics. Drath (1990), Bowen and Lawler (1992), for example, suggest that managers are still promoted on the basis of individualistic, competitive and assertive behaviour. A point supported by Hirsh and Bevan (1991) who concluded that the employers they surveyed still tended to look for "macho" characteristics in managers and that "managers who are well inclined towards other people are seen as rather cissy!" [p. 90].. Changing career paths A typical feature of the traditional large-scale bureaucracy was a division between line and staff management. In the past these represented two distinct career paths for managers - general managers who moved between line and staff in a spiral or a "Y" form in order to progress their careers, and support staff who advanced exclusively within their own specialism. Women have typically made their careers in support functions rather than through the line and, as we have noted above, advancement through these specialist "functional chimneys" may be threatened by organizational restructuring. However, restructuring has also significantly changed career paths for general management. In the large-scale, multi-layered organization, the general managers gained experience by spiralling round the organization through relatively fast and frequent promotions. The path to senior management, in particular, usually entailed geographical mobility, continuity of service and substantial experience of the central function. All these factors put women, especially those with partners and families, at a disadvantage (Nicholson and West, 1988). As we have noted earlier, in flattened organizations middle management roles have become wider and there is often an increased use of project teams. This implies that the broad experience gained by spiralling could now be gathered without recourse to changing jobs and location. Moreover, with the break-up of large central corporate departments and devolution of responsibilities to middle management, it could be argued that the kind of responsibilities and status formerly associated with senior management roles are now relocated in the middle levels of the organization. Thus, it could be that future women managers may be content to remain where they are and the significance of the glass ceiling will have diminished. However, devolution may have its disadvantages. Dopson and Stuart (1993), for example, report an increased workload and longer hours associated with these middle management positions, factors which are said to deter women with families from seeking senior management posts. Moreover, there is, of course, increased competition for the senior management jobs that remain. How women managers might fare in this new scenario therefore demands clarification. Management development and career planning Changes in managerial responsibilities, role and style, suggest a central place for management development in any organizational strategy for change. Career planning also has greater significance in the absence of clearly defined career paths. Furthermore, it could be argued that access to appropriate management development opportunities and career advice may be critical to long-term employment, let alone career advancement, in the more competitive environment of the 1990s. There is much research evidence that women lose out on access to formal training opportunities (Tharenou et al., 1994). Access to organizationally sponsored training and development schemes and to education opportunities is unequal and, while women are not under-represented at the start of graduate trainee "fast tracks", they are likely to "leak out" as they receive assignments further away from the core business. Fast tracks are also exclusionary for those women who are late entrants to management. Generally, it seems that

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women are less likely to benefit from formal processes of management development than men (Jackson and Hirsh, 1991). However, most management development is achieved through work experience and it may be that access to a variety of work assignments is more significant for career progression than formal training (Campion et al., 1994). How successful women managers are in acquiring such appropriate experience in order to survive organizational change has yet to be established. Equal opportunities policies and organizational change Finally, there is the question as to how far equal opportunities policies and practice is able to ensure the equal treatment of women at a time of organizational change. One of the main characteristics of organizational change has been a desire to sweep away bureaucratic rules and procedures in order to achieve flexibility and encourage innovation. How far equal opportunities regulation might survive this process is unclear. The break up of strong central personnel departments may also have reduced organizations' capacity to enforce equal opportunities good practice. While their effect may have been considered marginal in the past, these aspects of organizational change would appear to reduce even further the impact of equal opportunities policies on women managers' careers. The discussion so far has identified a number of organizational factors which could account for the growth in the numbers of women managers in the 1970s and 1980s and a flattening of this trend, or even possible decline, in the 1990s. The trends reported, however, tend to be general and there is little understanding of how these factors interact to affect the careers of women in a specific organizational context. Such an understanding requires a study of particular cases to explore these processes in depth. This paper reports on one such in- depth case study investigation of a public service utility (PSU) that has experienced substantial restructuring over the past ten years. The case is one in a larger comparative research project examining career outcomes in different organizations. The case study at PSU PSU is an example of a male-dominated bureaucracy which, prior to radical restructuring, had few women in managerial positions and none in senior posts. It is typical of many public sector organizations which have undergone an extensive period of restructuring as aspects of their operations have been successively opened up to market influences. The information on which the is paper is based is drawn from a variety of sources: employee statistics; internal company documents; interviews with personnel specialists and senior managers. In addition, a matched sample of ten male and ten female senior managers were interviewed in depth in the spring of 1994. The women interviewed constituted two-thirds of female senior managers within the organization. Interviews covered a range of topics related to managerial roles, career experience and managerial career development. Examining the outcomes of organizational change and restructuring of management appears to be a straight- forward exercise involving comparisons before and after change is introduced. However, the task is often made much more difficult by the absence of detailed human resource planning data and by the inevitable changes in job classification and grading systems which take place as companies restructure. However, reliable comparative data were available at PSU from 1990 onwards and, with the help of our interviews, it is possible to identify the impact of restructuring on managerial jobs and the position of women managers over main periods of recent change. Restructuring at PSU Restructuring has become a continuous process in large-scale organizations and PSU is no exception to this rule. Despite constant reorganization, until 1988, PSU management still reflected the functional dominance of engineers in an organization characterised by a military culture with a centralized system of command and control. There was a strong internal labour market for managers and less than 5 per cent were recruited externally. Managerial careers were based on seniority and experience within the organization rather than

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qualifications and most managers had worked their way up from the technical or operative grades. The organization employed very few women, and none were in senior management posts. In 1988, a major organizational crisis prompted radical changes in organization and management. A programme of restructuring commenced involving adoption of a policy of responsiveness to customers, delegation of authority, reduction in the chain of command to five levels between the chief executive and the workforce, and broader spans of control for management and supervision. The formerly dominant engineering department was relegated to a servicing role with a glum acceptance on the part of senior engineers "that engineering is not an end in itself - the services our customers buy are the reason for our existence". A newly-created operations department became the central focus of the organization and management was devolved into ten business units operating on a project centre basis. The role of other support functions, finance, personnel, development and marketing, were also enhanced. This period of change saw modest but significant growth in the numbers of women in management and, by 1991, seven had penetrated the glass ceiling into senior management. The beginning of 1991 saw further radical change with the devolution of significant responsibilities to the business units, including major capital expenditure and the day-to-day operation of engineering and personnel. During this period, the company also experienced a radical downsizing and over one-fifth of the workforce left the organization. However, management continued to grow and women made some modest increases in their representation in management. PSU typifies many of the changes that have taken place in large-scale public and private organizations in recent years. In the case of PSU, it resulted in a shift in organizational power away from engineering to operations and finance, and has resulted in a major change in management roles as the organization has flattened and responsibilities devolved. It therefore provides a useful site in which to investigate some of the hypothesis concerning the effect of organizational change on women in management discussed at the beginning of this paper. Internal labour markets and women managers The period of restructuring following the 1988 crisis involved a considerable downsizing of the workforce, reducing numbers by 4,045 posts between 1991 and 1993/1994 (see Table I). A government-initiated enquiry into the organization and management of PSU in 1988 had concluded that it was "over-supervised and under- managed". In consequence, while the workforce diminished, management increased both in actual numbers (by 534) and, as a percentage of the workforce (see Table I). It was therefore a period of significant growth in managerial posts. Our earlier discussion would suggest that growth in managerial posts, combined with a strong internal labour market and a diminishing pool of male candidates, might, ceteris paribus, increase the organization's dependence on non-traditional sources of labour such as women. There is some evidence to support this proposition at PSU. It can be seen from Table II that the proportion of women managers grew from 7.6 to 9.1 per cent of the total, between 1991 and 1993/94 - a modest increase of 1.5 per cent. Thus, there was an opening up of opportunities for women during this period and further analysis shows that some had even penetrated the previously impervious layers of senior management. By 1990 there were seven senior female managers and by 1993/1994 their numbers had more than doubled, with one woman joining the directorate (see Table III). As one of our respondents remarked: "This progress would have been unthinkable prior to 1988". The increase in women as a proportion of senior management over this period was 2.6 per cent, greater than that for women management as a whole. This faster progress at senior levels was attributed by some respondents to the direct personal influence of a chief executive committed to equal opportunities policies. Women, however, still remained a very small proportion of management. Why then did women fail to capitalize more on the opportunities offered by managerial growth? In our discussion earlier, it was suggested that internal labour markets may benefit women. At PSU, however, it appears that a strong internal labour market, combined with an insufficient pool of females within the

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organization, conspired to limit women's representation in management. PSU traditionally operated an internal labour market with managers working their way up the organization from the operational and technical grades. It was, as we have noted, a male-dominated organization. However, there was a steady increase in the number of women, from 9 per cent of employees in 1991 to 12 per cent by 1993/1994, but, as we have seen, this was not matched by a proportionate growth in women managers who increased their representation by only 1.5 per cent. The explanation lies in the fact that in 1990, women only constituted 3 per cent of the supervisory grades from which managers were traditionally drawn, and were particularly under-represented in the operations division where the most significant increase in management took place. It was the view of many of respondents that the supervisor's role, especially in operations where shift work and long hours were endemic, was unattractive to women with caring responsibilities. Furthermore, in a culture where length of service was a major criteria for promotion, few women had sufficient experience at this time to compete for a supervisory post. In many respects the "glass ceiling" in this organization had existed at supervisory level ensuring there were few promotion candidates for managerial posts. Thus, only extensive external recruitment directly into management could have substantially altered the gender balance. In fact, the expansion in management generally was not achieved by open competition, but by upgrading supervisory posts, excluding any possibility of significant change in the proportion of women. Feminization of the workforce and internal labour markets The argument that women may find it easier to achieve posts in areas where there are higher proportions of women employees finds some support in our data. Table IV shows a breakdown of the proportion of women and female managers in the four major divisions of the company (the figures include the majority of employees). It can be seen that women managers constitute a greater proportion of managers in departments with a higher percentage of women employees. The relationship between these two variables, however, is far from straightforward. Reference to the figures for 1991 to 1993 for the Human Resource Division (HRD), in particular, shows that despite an increase of women staff to almost two-thirds of the total by 1993/1994, the proportion of women who were managers actually fell back from 41 per cent to 25 per cent during this period. In finance, moreover, although just over one half of the staff was female in 1991, only 19 per cent of managers were women. The position had changed marginally by 1993/1994, but women still only constituted 23 per cent of managers in that division. These anomalies will be further examined later in the paper. Career paths and managerial roles The argument above suggests that the relationship between management growth, the feminization of the workforce and the proportion of women managers is complex. It is clear that these factors alone do not automatically prompt an expansion in women managers. In the case of PSU, our interviews revealed the break- up of the existing power structures and consequent change in career paths following the post-1988 radical restructuring exercise as a significant factor, especially in relation to senior management posts. This resulted in a redefinition of management roles and the qualities and experience required in order to achieve them. The impact of these redefinitions were different for general management and for specialist management posts, so it is important to examine these two trends separately. As far as general management posts were concerned, prior to 1988, long experience in the organization, and in the engineering function in particular, was a passport to career success. After 1988, however, as in other "restructured" organizations, the newly-appointed management team emphasized the importance of general management skills, a customer focus and business orientation rather than technical expertise. In the view of one respondent, in the ten key appointments made to head the business units, only four went to managers who under the former system might have expected promotion. The main criterion for selection was, in the reported words of the chief executive, "being a person who can make things happen". In consequence, another respondent explained: "People who under the old regime had their careers paths mapped out for them saw

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them disappear overnight ... it was a very strange time and caused very high stress for everyone - all hierarchical barriers were broken down". The most extraordinary appointment to a business manager's post, was that of woman - an HRD specialist with no direct operational experience, who had worked her way up the organization from a secretarial position. Such an appointment was unprecedented in the history of the organization. Our interviews with senior managers confirmed a continuing trend for engineering experience to be less important from 1990 onwards. When asked what kind of skills were necessary for their current jobs, both men and women managers placed emphasis on the less "masculine" aspects of management - people management, team building, communications, counselling, coaching, etc. However, they also pointed out that there was increased need for negotiating and political skills, financial awareness, stamina and determination. Furthermore, many said that direct engineering or operational experience (of the new central function) remained a prerequisite for a general management post, despite some notable departures from this rule in the 1989-1991 restructuring period. There was a feeling that the more open system experienced since 1988 was closing up. Thus, the degree to which the redefinition of managerial roles made these posts more accessible to women in the organization is therefore questionable, as few had direct operational experience. Nonetheless, there were a number of appointments of external candidates with no previous experience of the industry made on the basis of commercial or service industry expertise. A very few of these appointments were women. While the skill requirements of a general management post may have made them more accessible to women candidates, other factors also associated with the restructuring were operating against them. All the senior general managers interviewed reported extremely long hours of work and feelings of pressure in the job. There is no doubt that the pressure of work has intensified as a result of devolution, but long hours have always been a characteristic at all levels within the organization stemming from the need to cover shifts. It was official policy to reduce what was often a 12-hour day, six-days-a-week job, but managers were also encouraged to "walk the floor" more often and engage in more direct forms of performance management. Thus any significant reduction in hours was extremely difficult, especially if all shift personnel were to be covered. It is interesting to note that only two of the ten men and one of the ten women managers interviewed had children. One male manager explained that the job was incompatible with family life and that as a single man he could only just manage. These posts, therefore, are unlikely to attract or retain women with family commitments. Statistics on the exact job destinations of men and women by professional specialism, are not available, but an indication of general trends can be found in the broad divisional classification shown in Table V. General managers were located in the engineering and operations divisions and comprised the majority of managers in the company. The main areas of growth in management was in operations with an overall increase of 549 posts. It can be seen that despite a loosening in the technical requirements for operations and engineering posts, noted which might have opened entry to female candidates, there was minimal growth in women managers over the 1991-1993 period. In operations, only 5 per cent of managers were women in 1991, growing to 7 per cent by 1993. As we have seen, this was because expansion in management was achieved by upgrading supervisory posts and there were very few women at this level. Women at PSU had not benefited significantly from the expansion in general management posts. Their position in the support functions, such as personnel, where women have made most inroads into management, however, might be different. The HRD division was the second fastest area of managerial growth. It was also the area where, at 41 per cent of the function's total, women managers were most strongly represented in 1991. By 1993, however, women's share of management posts had actually fallen to 25 per cent. It seems, therefore, that women failed to capitalize on the opportunities offered by management growth even in the specialist areas where they might be expected to compete most effectively. This failure cannot be accounted for by a shortage of women in the function. Reference back to Table IV shows

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that in HRD in 1993/1994 virtually two-thirds of staff in this department were women. Moreover, as can be seen from Table VI, almost three-quarters of the men in HRD in 1993 were managers, the highest ratio of all the divisions, but only one-third of the women. This finding is consistent with the research of Long (1984) and Monks (1993) who also found men to be over-represented at the management level in personnel departments. The other division where women managers are better represented, 19 per cent of managers in 1991, is finance. Here the regrading process also favoured men, but to a lesser degree. These findings have bearing on some of the hypotheses about the effect of devolution and delayering on women managers. First, it appears in this case that women are just as disadvantaged when it comes to regrading within a post as they are when they apply for a promotion. Thus internal labour markets do not necessarily lead to an expansion in female managers. This is most obviously the case where there are small proportions of women in the workforce. However, even where they are present in large numbers, they do not automatically benefit from internal recruitment practices. Second, and perhaps more surprising, is the fact that growth in professional specialisms in which women are well qualified and represented does not necessarily increase proportionately the number of women managers in that specialism. Changes in specialist career paths Why then did women lose out on the opportunities afforded by managerial growth? In the case of the HRD it would be tempting to adopt Legge's (1987) proposition that there is an inverse relationship between the power of personnel and women's representation within it. The HRD function had become significantly more central to the strategic concerns of the senior management, as had finance, where women also failed to make much headway. However, in order to explore this point further it is important to examine in greater depth the changes that were taking place in professional specialisms within the organization at that time. The main factor affecting the professional specialist during this period was the break up of central departments and devolution to the local level. This often included integration into the general management team. At the time of the research, this devolution process was almost complete for financial experts and was increasingly affecting central personnel. All of the specialist professional managers interviewed had experienced considerable changes in their job as a result of this trend. However, the experience of devolution may vary for the different specialist functions. For example, the general managers interviewed were all very keen on acquiring financial management skills and saw this as a new and essential component of their job as business managers. Integration into the management team, therefore, may be eased for the financial specialist, as other members of the team perceived this function to be particularly important. As one women financial manager commented: "Sometimes being a woman and financial specialist is a help - people tend to be more polite and disarmed by your technical knowledge". The experience of those in the personnel function was less positive and many of the women interviewed felt that their contribution to management tended to be overlooked. This was confirmed by our interviews with general managers, who, while they recognized the importance of people management skills, put little emphasis on the formal aspects of personnel management. Women in this specialism, therefore, may be at a double disadvantage in attempting to become integrated into predominantly male general management teams: disadvantaged both as a woman and a personnel professional. Isolation from other women was felt and the supportive environment provided by a "critical mass" of other professional colleagues missed by those who had been moved out of the central departments. Furthermore, devolution entails adopting the working patterns of the general management team which, as we have seen, involved very long hours. The professional specialists, so placed, found that they were experiencing the pressures of work complained about by the general managers in these posts. As one explained: "The job has broadened enormously, but everything has been added and nothing taken away". All these factors, therefore, could deter women from seeking these devolved posts in the future. It may also be the case that a narrow expertise does not equip the personnel or other specialists well for taking on these new

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posts which are perceived as being more strategic and business driven. As one explained: "Now the business unit sets the agenda and formulates policy rather than the centre". Long's (1984) study moreover suggests that in personnel broad organizational experience has always been an advantage and that this was more likely to be gained by men rather than women. As a result, Long suggests male personnel managers tend to be more politically aware and to operate from a broader organizational perspective than women. Devolution therefore may merely be exacerbating a trend that was always present. One consequence of this change in orientation felt by some of the personnel specialists was that general management experience is more appropriate to this kind of post than their own expertise and one pointed out that either a general manager or a specialist personnel person would be equipped for his job. Thus there is a dilution of specialist expertise, and a growing requirement for general management skills in these posts. Such a change in orientation would clearly benefit men who tend to have a wider range of managerial experience rather than women. Few women have the broad general management experience which might now be considered necessary for the devolved specialist jobs of the future. Management and career development at PSU Our discussion so far has identified significant changes in managerial roles and career paths as a result of the process of restructuring. Management development and training might be expected to have a central role in assisting managers to adapt to change and in acquiring the broader range of skills and competences required. This significance is enhanced in the case of PSU as it was largely dependent on internal recruitment to feed its managerial expansion. There was a growing emphasis on formal management development processes over the period studied, but our review of the experiences of the managers we interviewed showed it to be fragmented and haphazard. There has been some discussion in the literature as to how far women managers can be assisted by formal management development programmes. However, there were no management courses at PSU specifically aimed at women and there was a marginal tendency for men to have had more access to formal management training. As formal training and development have been found to be associated with career success for both men and women, this clearly puts women at a disadvantage (Tharenou et al., 1994). It also confirms Kanter's contention (1977) that women are more likely to miss out on training opportunities where the formal hierarchy is dominated by men. The assessment centre proceedings, which in earlier days focused on selection rather than development, were felt to be a daunting and often dispiriting experience by both men and women - a process unlikely to build up the self-confidence of women managers who often cited this as a problem in advancing their careers. The main advantage of the assessment centre, as far as career progression was concerned, was said to be the networking opportunities it afforded and "being visible" to the senior managers who participated. However, this advantage was exclusively mentioned by our male rather than our female respondents. There was no formal system of mentoring (a system which has been shown to advance both male and female careers (Ragins and Sundstrom, 1989), but most managers had acquired sponsors who had helped them in their careers from time to time. Fast track and graduate management programmes were also useful in this respect, both in providing a broad experience across the organization and by appointing formal mentors. However, only a few graduate and young manager trainees are taken on each year (140 in total for 1990-1993). Furthermore, while just over one-third of these manager traineeships have been female there was a tendency for women to drop out from the programme faster than men. We did not investigate this phenomenon in depth, but the male culture, long hours and the problems of combining work and family life in the organization mentioned above, were quoted by some of our respondents as the most likely causes. The most significant development activities for all our managers came from the work itself. For line managers a variety of experience in a broad range of engineering or operating positions was important and, for the specialists, attachment to these key functions was often a critical factor. Deputizing for a superior was mentioned, but more significant was secondment to a high profile project which brought strategic business

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planning experience and the opportunity to work with key senior managers. It was clear that spiralling around the organization and involvement in projects was not only instrumental to career progression in terms of gaining experience, but also in providing increased visibility and networking opportunities. In the view of several respondents, these latter were particularly important during this period of flexibility in appointments, restructuring and change. A proposition amply supported by other researchers, see, for example, Coe (1992); Kanter (1977); Marshall (1984). However, women have difficulty in establishing networks in predominantly male environments, and the women interviewed also complained that they had to struggle harder than their male colleagues to achieve visibility and avoid being shunted into organizational "backwaters". As broad organizational experience, especially in a central function, was gaining even more significance for entry to management posts, women were finding themselves at an increasing disadvantage. Formal management and career development processes, therefore, have not been instrumental in the career progression of women managers at PSU. It is the informal processes of job experience, sponsorship and networks which are more important to advancement in the organization. Research has shown that these processes tend to work to the benefit of men (Coe, 1992; Marshall, 1984). Equal opportunities at PSU So far we have argued that the growth in management posts, the break-up of traditional career paths and a partial redefinition of management roles did provide some, albeit limited, opportunity for the advancement of women into management. This leads to a consideration of the role of equal opportunities policy and practice in the support of female managers. It was the view of the women interviewed that equal opportunities measures were necessary. Most spontaneously mentioned examples of discrimination and prejudice that they had encountered in their careers. As one explained: "If I were a man it would be different - there is an amazing set of patronizing and condescending men here". Another woman commented: "We are always fighting to establish our credibility and I've seen many women fall along the wayside". While formal equal opportunities procedures were in place they remained somewhat marginal to the main business. What remains the central personnel department is currently responsible for monitoring of these policies. However, the intended total devolution of responsibility for equal opportunities to the business units could well weaken their implementation. Collinson (1991), Storey (1992) and Purcell and Ahlstrand (1994), all suggest that devolution to local discretion may result in a dilution of policies decided at corporate level and that the loss of a co-ordinating authoritative corporate personnel department, can lead to a weakening of professional personnel standards. Another potent factor with implications for equal opportunities practice concerns the way in which experience relevant to management posts is gained. In the past this experience was largely gained through frequent promotion - a process subject to equal opportunities regulation. As promotion opportunities diminish, allocation to projects and lateral shifts become the main vehicle for gaining the experience and challenge formerly associated with promotion. In the past such moves, particularly allocation to projects, have been made by invitation and have not been subject to formal equal opportunities procedures or monitoring. If access to such critical developmental experience remain unregulated, women are likely to be even more disadvantaged in their attempts to progress their careers in the future. The influence of equal opportunities policies on the fate of future women managers at PSU is uncertain. However, there is a good reason for arguing that, in any case, traditional equal opportunity policy and procedures would be ineffective given the major impact of structural changes that are taking place. Discussion This paper has explored the complex processes by which organizational change can impede or support the careers of women managers. Our analysis demonstrates how the organizational and cultural change experienced by many large scale organizations in recent years can provide both opportunities and penalties for

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women managers. The investigation at PSU has shown that growth in management jobs, combined with a process of breaking up existing organizational power structures and career paths, opened up some opportunities for women in the period under study. A reduction in emphasis on length of service and engineering experience as criteria for entry into management, and changing definitions of the skills and expertise required for managerial roles, were significant factors in this process. In particular, the relegation of the previously dominant engineering department to a servicing role destroyed its monopoly of the main paths into key management posts. Restructuring also brought significant changes in managerial roles and the skills and experience needed to fulfil them. A loosening of the technical requirements for general management and the inclusion of business and "people management" skills allowed some women to enter these posts in the initial restructuring period. Sponsorship by the chief executive and other senior managers committed to equal opportunities policies also assisted a very small number of women into senior positions formerly exclusively occupied by men. Despite some gains, the analysis also shows that women's advancement, especially at middle manager levels, was severely limited. It was more modest than the expansion of women in the workforce as a whole, suggesting that feminization alone does not necessarily lead to a proportionate growth in women managers. Not only was the increase in numbers small, but women had largely failed to establish themselves in the line management posts central to the organization. This is partly because there were very few women employed in these central areas and expansion in management was for the most part the result of upgrading existing staff. Thus, our case shows that the operation of a strong internal labour market in a male dominated organization excludes the possibility of remedying the gender imbalance through external recruitment. Women have typically made their careers in the support functions of organizations, often using professional qualifications as a means of progression. A significant finding of the research therefore was the failure of women to capitalize on expansion in the professional specialisms, notably personnel, in which they were most strongly represented. This is directly attributable, at least in part, to the process of decentralization which devolved significant corporate responsibilities to the local level during the research period. Decentralization of central support functions, most notably personnel, to the business units, resulted in a demand for a broader range of skills and general management experience than that normally held by women who had followed highly specialized and narrowly focused careers in the organization. An additional factor stemming from devolution was the long hours and pressure of work experienced by management and the supervisor grades from which managers were recruited. This made these posts unattractive to men and women with family commitments. Moreover, while unsocial hours and work overload had always been a feature of general managers' posts, its extension to the support functions is likely to prove a deterrent to some women seeking promotion or joining the organization in the future. Despite significant changes in career paths, neither men nor women had received systematic assistance with their career planning and development. Delayering and devolution had resulted in changes to both specialist and general management roles and broad organizational experience was found to be essential to career success. However, access to the key developmental experiences - lateral moves, projects and secondment - was gained through sponsorship, networking and "being visible": processes where women have been shown to fare badly. The research did not investigate discrimination per se, but it no doubt played its part in the women's limited progress. PSU did have equal opportunities policies in place but these lacked teeth and in any case were unlikely to have much effect on the complex processes of exclusion identified above. Moreover, while PSU was attempting to strengthen its equal opportunities policies, devolvement of responsibility for them to the local level where local managers may lack the will, and personnel specialists the authority, to enforce them, may dilute their effect.

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Writers on women managers often propose management development, career planning and equal opportunities practice as the primary means by which employers can assist women in their careers. Our research suggests that such remedies are unlikely to have much effect in the face of the major barriers posed by much of the organizational change that we have examined. Conclusion Our study clearly demonstrates that analyses based on individual behaviour and perspectives are unlikely to explain the current under-representation of women in management, or the recently reported drop in their number. Explanations must take into account the organizational context which can both facilitate and frustrate women's career progression. The case study at PSU reveals organizational context and restructuring to have important, but conflicting implications for the advancement of women into management. While the break up of existing power structures may open the door to management, other countervailing factors will ensure that only a few women will enter. PSU typifies much of the organizational restructuring which has taken place as companies attempt to prosper in an increasingly competitive business environment. In the struggle to survive, the gender implications of such change have hardly been considered. Traditional equal opportunities practice and policy seems unlikely to have teeth in the decentralized, delayered and deregulated organization to which many top executives aspire. However, the unanticipated consequence of change could lead to a loss of the very skills and qualities which many organizations consider essential to their success. References 1. Alimo-Metcalfe, B. (1993, "Different gender - different rules: assessment of women in management", in Barrar, P. and Cooper, C.L. (Eds), Managing Organisations in 1992: Strategic Responses, Routledge, London. 2. Blum, T., Fields, D.L. and Goodman, J. (1994, "Organizational level determinants of women in management", Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp. 241-68. 3. Bowen, D.E. and Lawler, E.E. (1992, "The empowerment of service workers: what, why, how and when?", Sloan Management Review, spring, pp. 31-9. 4. Campion, M.A., Cheraskin, L. and Stevens, J. (1994, "Career related antecedents and the outcomes of job rotation", Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 17 No. 6, pp. 1518-42. 5. Coe, T. (1992, The Key to the Men's Club - Opening the Doors to Women in Management, Institute of Management, Corby. 6. Collinson, D. (1991, "Poachers turned gamekeepers: are personnel managers one of the barriers to equal opportunities?", Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 1 No. 3, spring. 7. Cooper, C.L. and Davidson, M.J. (Eds) (1984, Women in Management, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. 8. Davidson, M. and Cooper, C.L. (1992, Shattering the Glass Ceiling: The Woman Manager, Paul Chapman, London. 9. Dopson, S. and Stuart, R. (1993, "Information technology, organizational restructuring and the future of middle management", New Technology, Work and Employment, Vol. 8, pp. 10-20. 10. Drath, W.H. (1990, "Managerial strengths and weaknesses as functions of the development of personal meaning", The Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 483-97. 11. Evetts, J. (1993, "Women and management in engineering: the 'glass ceiling' for women's careers", Women in Management Review, Vol. 8 No. 7, pp. 19-25. 12. Flanders, M.L. (1994, Breakthrough - The Career Woman's Guide to Shattering the Glass Ceiling, Paul Chapman, London. 13. Hirsh, W. and Bevan, S. (1991, "Managerial competences and skill languages", in Silver, M. (Ed.), Competent to Manage: Approaches to Management Training and Development, Routledge, London, ch. 7. 14. Institute of Management (1994, National Management Salary Survey, Remuneration Economics, Kingston. 15. Jackson, C. and Hirsh, W. (1991, "Women managers and career progression: the British experience",

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Women in Management Review and Abstracts, Vol. 6 No. 2. 16. Kanter, R.M. (1977, Men and Women of the Corporation, Basic Books, New York, NY. 17. Legge, K. (1987, "Women in personnel management: uphill climb or downhill slide?", in Spencer, A. and Podmore, D. (Eds), In a Man's World: Essays on Women in Male-dominated Professions, Tavistock, London. 18. Long, P. (1984, "Would you put your daughter in personnel management?", Personnel Management Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 16-20. 19. Luthans, F., Rosenkrantz, S.A. and Hennessey, H.W. (1985, "What do successful managers really do? An observational study of managerial activities", Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 255-70. 20. Marshall, J. (1984, Women Managers: Travellers in a Male World, Wiley, Chichester. 21. Monks, K. (1993, "Careers in personnel management", Personnel Review, Vol. 22 No. l, pp. 55-66. 22. Motram, R. (1987, "Problems for the user in avoiding sex bias", Occupational Psychologist, No. 3, pp. 6-7. 23. Nicolson, N. and West, M. (1988, Managerial Job Change: Men and Women in Transition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 24. Purcell, J. and Ahlstrand, B. (1994, Human Resources Management in the Multi-divisional Company, Oxford University Press, Oxford 25. Ragins, B.R. and Sundstrom, D. (1989, "Gender and power in organizations", Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 105, pp. 51-88. 26. Schick-Case, S. (1994, "Gender differences in communications and behaviour in organisations", in Davidson, M.J. and Burke, R.J. (Eds), Women in Management, Paul Chapman, London, pp. 129-43. 27. Silver, M. (Ed.) (1991, Competent to Manage: Approaches to Management Training and Development, Routledge, London. 28. Storey, J. (1992, Developments in the Management of Human Resources, Blackwell, Oxford. 29. Tharenou, P., Latimer, S. and Conroy, D. (1994, "How do you make it to the top? An examination of influences on women's and men's managerial advancement", Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 37 No. 4, pp. 899-931. 30. White, B., Cox, C. and Cooper, C.L. (1992, Women's Career Development: A Study of High Flyers, Blackwell, Oxford. Illustration Caption: Table I; Managers as a percentage of the workforce, 1991-1993/94; Table III; Senior management by gender (numbers); Table II; Women as a percentage of management; Table IV; Women as percentage of management and the non-management workforce by division; Table VI; Ratio of managers to other staff by gender, 1993; Table V; Women as a percentage of managers in each division Subject: Women; Managers; Organizational change; Location: United Kingdom UK Classification: 2320: Organizational structure; 2500: Organizational behavior; 9175: Western Europe Publication title: Employee Relations Volume: 18 Issue: 5 Pages: 25-45 Number of pages: 0 Publication year: 1996 Publication date: 1996

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Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing, Limited Place of publication: Bradford Country of publication: Hong Kong Publication subject: Business And Economics--Labor And Industrial Relations ISSN: 01425455 CODEN: EMREDQ Source type: Scholarly Journals Language of publication: English Document type: Feature ProQuest document ID: 235228404 Document URL: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.rasmussen.edu/docview/235228404?accountid=40836 Copyright: Copyright MCB UP Limited (MCB) 1996 Last updated: 2014-05-26 Database: ProQuest Central

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