Women in management in the 21st centuary - Term Paper Example

? Women in management in the 21st Century Introduction More than ever, governments, not for profit organizations and businesses are finding it imperative to espouse a global outlook in order to remain pertinent and feasible in today’s global market place. As organizations realize the significance of developing immense cross-cultural capability, diversity and inclusion practitioners are frequently at the front position of this work. This is sensible in that these professionals have long been involved in assisting organizations and individuals manage and control deviation in a manner that permits individuals from all backgrounds to hear and be heard and work together efficiently. Diversity and inclusion has been focused on hiring, retaining and promoting women. Women have become a significant force in many nations across the globe. For countless organizations, diversity policies offer a competitive edge, as it allows them to benefit from all the prospective arising from the positive variations among the workers. It is significant to realize that gender plays a considerable role in elements of the business functioning process. Across the world, the number of women in management positions has increased considerably. However, many women have not attained the top positions of organizations and face numerous pressures, both external and internal, to the companies where they work. Traditionally, women were observed as physically and intellectually inferior to men and earlier writers had noted that these discernments have generated obstacles to women’s profession development and resulted to favoritism. It is not challenging for women to attain employment at the low levels of management in companies since the benchmarks for recruitment and advancement are impartial. However, it is still challenging for them to climb to top management positions where the selection benchmarks are biased. Studies indicate that women’s progress towards what has traditionally been referred as men’s careers is particularly minimal. Internationally, the perception of women as possessing less needed management attributes is common among many male management personnel. Percentage of women in Senior Management Positions in multi nationals and Government Agencies globally Women’s status is a primary pointer of social advancement. Sustaining equality between women and men is basic to heighten the number of women in management levels in organizations. Over the past few years, women have attained a considerable portion of limelight in almost every sector and corner of the world. For instance, in the arts, more women directors were capable of getting their work into the cinemas, theatres and televisions. In politics, a high number of women won elections, for instance, South Korea swore in its first female president. According to the Grant Thorton International Business Report (2013), almost 21 nations across the world have women as the head of state or the government and the number of women in parliament totaled to 21percent. In the corporate world, numerous women have led multinational corporations, for instance, Marissa Mayer broke the ground when she took over the leadership of Yahoo when almost six months pregnant. The discussion continues as to whether women will ever attain equality with men in the workforce. Although the past four decades have witnessed a gigantic generational transformation, with more women inflowing the labor force across the world, a lot requires to be done to progress women to top management positions. In 2012, women in United States constituted over 30 percent of the entire work force. However, they occupy only 14 percent of the top management positions of the Fortune 500 companies and merely 8 percent of executive officer top earner ranks. Among the FTSE 100, women only held 16% of the board positions and 7 percent of the executive positions in 2012. On the other hand, the number of women in board positions was half of the number in United States (Grant Thorton, 2013). However, the number of women in leadership and management roles is increasing. The IBR assessment, which engrosses both registered and privately owned organizations, portrays that there has been a 4 percent growth in the number of women in top management positions from 2011 to 2012, with 24 percent of organizations with women in top management positions globally compared to 20 percent in 2011. More organizations are observing that gender diversity at top management and board positions promotes corporate development. In a recent survey carried out by McKinsey on 100 organizations against the Organizational Health Index (OHI) established that organizations with three or more women in executive positions scored higher than their counterparts (Grant Thorton, 2013). In a similar disposition, a similar report established that the “overall median proportion of female executive was 7.1 percent at successful companies and 3.1 percent at unsuccessful companies, demonstrating the value that having more females can potentially bring to a management team, for start-ups with five or more females, 61percent were successful and only 39 percent failed”. Nancy McKinstry, the first female manager to head the Dutch publisher Wolters Kluwer, trusts that diversity brings out results, and has assisted in bringing more women to leadership since 2003. When she joined the organization in 2003, there were only 20 percent of women in top leadership positions. Now the organization has a 33 percent of women in its top management positions. The growth in the number of executive management positions occupied by women takes the proportion back to the degrees that heralded the global depression. The fall hit women inexplicably, and only now is the reversal. The growth of women in senior management positions from 20 percent in 2011 to 24 percent in 2012 is a considerable improvement, taking place simultaneously with the retrieval of the global economy. Regionally, Asia Pacific tops with 30 percent of women in executive positions in organizations and government agencies. European Union has 25% of women in top management positions in multinational organizations, 21 percent in North America and 23 percent in Latin America. China has faced a significant growth in the number of women in multinational companies. In 2011, the number of women in top executive positions was 25 percent and increased to 50 percent in 2012 (Grant Thorton, 2013). Women have more and more opportunities in the 21st century. Their intelligence and talent are much more respected at senior level positions. Former Eastern bloc nations engrossing Latvia (40%), Poland (41%), Lithuania (43%), and Estonia (39%) also have high and healthy representation of women in executive positions in multinational organizations and government agencies. However, this is not replicated in male-controlled societies such as United Arab Emirates, Argentina and Japan. Japan has 7 percent, Argentina 16 percent and UAE 10 percent of women in top positions (Sherrill, 2012). How these figures compare with studies from the latter half of the 20th Century Early studies indicated that the though there was an increase in the number of women in management positions, they still cannot reach the top management positions in organizations and government agencies (Tanton, 1994). This is contrary to the present literature that notes that the number of women in multinational organizations and government agencies has increased tremendously. Women were seen as physically and intellectually inferior to men. Some of these perceptions have generated obstructions to women’s career development and resulted to prejudice. However, the current literature suggests that the barriers between women development have been eliminated by the increasing number of women in universities to attain education and intelligence. Another study noted that women’s development into men’s careers was still very negligible. An analysis of these studies on the distribution of women in men’s careers in the 1980’s shows that women were more concentrated in low-paid, low opportunity careers despite having longer working hours (Tanton, 1994). In addition, Tanton (1994) asserts “women’s presence in top management positions violates the societal norm of men’s higher status and superiority to an immense extent than women’s presence in lower-level management positions” (p. 154). Gender stereotyping is still common among the early literature and the contemporary literature. These have indicated a masculine managerial model, which leads to the underdevelopment of women’s potentials and abilities. The strength of the “think manager-think male” still rests and the male continue viewing women as less trained than men for executive positions (Sherrill, 2012 & Davidson & Burke, 2004). ‘Glass ceiling’ is a term that has been used by the earlier studies to describe the discrimination faced by women when trying to clinch senior management positions. This has been described by Tanton (1994) as an informal and unacknowledged barrier to women’s development. Causes of the trends One of the primary factors that have promoted women in the workplace is education. The consensus has been that change and development starts with education. In reference to a recent report by the World Bank (2012), there are more women than men enrolled in the universities in more than 55 nations. This report also shows the immense strides that women have made in their participation in labor force to increased education and intellect. Particularly, In Colombia increased number of educated women resulted to an increase in the participation of women in the labor force as well as representation in executive managerial positions. Earlier studies indicate that women were not allowed to go to universities because they were considered the home developers. For instance, women in Mexico were not supposed to go to university but were only expected to be married. The proportion of women in universities was almost 18 to 22 percent. Presently, the proportion of women in universities is almost 50 percent. This has increased the number of women seeking jobs in the work force. Women in the United States have been attaining bachelor’s degrees in higher numbers than men since the early 1990’s (Grant Thorton, 2013). In the European Union, the proportion of women graduates was 60 percent last year in the universities in the 27 member states of the union. The women who stay informed and ahead of the game with the speedy pace of technology change have an advantage when vacancies of senior positions arise (Grant Thorton, 2013). Statistics indicate that women’s involvement in the labor market continues to grow, a development that is complementary to overall development of women’s level of education. Predictions show that women will continue to constitute an increasing portion of the labor force. The scenario based on anticipated economic growth set out as the primary pointer of achievement that by 2015, the whole employment rate should rise to almost 75 percent while for women should increase to almost 65%. This has produced significant modifications in the labor market. Evidence indicates that the positions left vacant in organizations will be occupied by most probably the under-represented in the labor market. In this regard, previous contemporary studies have indicated that the labor market has a considerable effect on the development of parity in workplaces. A cross-examination of multinational organizations across the world indicates that they are presently associating parity policies to organizational strategies for managing and expecting change. The report by World Bank (2012) indicates that the parity approach seems strongly affected by labor market modification. The shifting nature of work is amplifying the requisite for skilled labor in certain segments of the labor market, which as a result of the new economic changes, seems to be employee-oriented instead of employer-oriented. Another primary factor that has contributed to the promotion of women in work place is management of talent. McKinsey acknowledges that is organizations would increase the number of women in their top management positions by 20 percent; it would considerably change the shape of the pipeline for women. Many of the women who make it to the top management positions share a motivation to lead and have the conviction that attaining the top managerial position is worth the price. Many organizations have instituted creativity contests to trigger though leadership within the companies (Grant Thorton, 2013). This permits the mangers and executive management members to see the pool of applicants and employees they have and gives additional input to the managers when looking for individuals to promote. Involvement in the creativity program shows a passion for work and commitment to input extra hours. The programs instituted by organizations that seek to nurture their talent are necessary. Increasing opportunities available to women has facilitated the increased number of women in top management positions in multinationals and government agencies (Sherrill, 2012). Over the past two decades, many nations have adopted the principle of parity and non-discrimination on the basis of sex, which has been a driving force in the development of women within the states. For instance, the European Union member states have enacted Article 119 of the Treaty of Rome, which protected the directive of equal pay for women and men. The community has also enacted numerous recommendations and directives, which have centered on equal treatment in terms of access to jobs and terms of employment. The equal opportunities directive has aimed at promoting women’s rights in the context of pay and employment; encouraging equality by means of “positive action” in favor of female workers. The fourth Medium-Term Community Action Program on equal opportunities for women and men (1996-2000) has additionally protracted parity approaches and directives in the European Union member states strengthening the precept of mainstreaming to encourage and enhance equal opportunities for male and female workers in all actions (Grant Thorton, 2013). A closer look at national programs in countless countries have played a significant role in shaping and design of equality action and promoting gender parity among the private and public organizations. For instance, UK has Opportunity Now programs, Netherlands has Opportunity for Business, and Spain has Optima. These programs have similar common elements that include the objective of promoting the competences of the female labor force, and a strategy that favors an exchange of encounters and public perceptibility for organization’s dedication to parity. Spain’s Optima program purposes to assist organizations initiate parity action. On the other hand, both Opportunity Now of United Kingdom and Opportunity for Business of Netherlands offer information and a considerable degree of support to assist organizations attain their stated equality goals (World Bank, 2012). Evidence from numerous organizations, particularly in United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Finland indicate that the national industrial relations system and the sectorial combined bargaining have an effect on parity in the workplace. Existing study on equal opportunities indicates that combined negotiating is a corresponding tool to legal directive in enhancing and promoting equivalent opportunities for all (Davidson & Burke, 2004). Barriers to entry to senior management for women In order to apprehend the limited movement of women into senior management positions in organizations, conceptions such as “glass ceiling” have to be understood and evaluated. The phrase is normally employed to delineate the invisible barricade that prevents women from attaining opportunities for promotion and development in the corporate sector. The glass ceiling not only applies to women as individuals but as a group, who are held back from developing simply because they are women. Understated, indirect barriers due to stereotyping put obstacles in women’s career paths. One of the significant causes of glass ceiling is segregation in workplaces (Grant Thorton, 2013). The work force market, particularly the senior management positions, remains biased against gender. Women senior managers are hugely intensive in certain fields such as public relations and personnel, which hardly ever lead the senior management posts. The path to authority taken by chief executive officers and presidents is that of the conventional business, a field within which the quantity of women rests hugely irrelevant. While here are some women who have attained senior positions, they are deemed as merely “gestures” to eliminate any accusations of gender discrimination (Sherrill, 2012). Numerous women in senior positions assert that the most significant career approach for developing to top management levels is to dependably surpass performance anticipations. In simpler terms, women are anticipated to exhibit hard work than their male counterparts. A typical pretext issued by men is that women lack the required combination of education, training and seasoning. However, many of the women who manage to attain high positions believe that the lack of gender parity in selecting senior management personnel is one of the contributing factors and subsists because of the male-controlled values that brace up the structure of leadership (Grant Thorton, 2013). Another significant barrier to women is the “old-boy network”, which keep women out of senior management positions. The old-boy network engrosses educated men who schooled together and climbed to management positions together. These people tend to promote people who are more like them. They often look for their former school mates and colleagues to fill the management positions (Grant Thorton, 2013). In most cases, women are not frequently considered when it comes to promotions since they are not part of these networks. Though most of the organizations claim that promotion to senior positions is based on performance and abilities, the reality is that despite women having similar educational qualifications, ambitions and commitments as men, men often progress faster and achieve senior positions and receive higher salaries than women. In this regard, men’s links to their fellow men associates significantly results to their development in prestige and power. Given the fact that women have not been an essential part within organizations, they do not have networks similar to those of men (Sherrill, 2012). Women have been sexually discriminated against. This is a significant obstacle to the development of women to management positions. Exceptional obstacles that hinder women’s ability to shatter the glass ceiling engross suppositions by management about women and inconsistent anticipations of women. Prejudiced insolences are frequently veiled in imprecise “facts” about women’s capability in leadership. Women are typified as not self-confident, aggressive, and serious enough to climb to the top management position. However, gender stereotypes and discriminations continue because they allow men to safeguard their status and maintain women in their positions. Several female executives have reported claims that their fellow men have not taken them serious for mistaking them to be secretaries during corporate meetings (Tanton, 1994). This implies that women are more ignored than men in workplaces. Moreover, women executives are paid low salaries than their male counterparts with similar roles and duties (Grant Thorton, 2013). Notably, women’s eminence in other professions such as education, health and law are similar to those of the corporate arena. Female law, health and accounting professionals are saturated in the less prestigious and low-status positions. In higher education, the number of women occupying chancellor or president positions is very low. Closing the gap between men and women Women encounter severe inequalities in different areas of the world. Though prejudice against women has numerous aspects, traditional study in this area primarily focuses on women’s access to resources such as health and education, economic status of women, and political involvement and empowerment of women. One of the most notable ways that can be used to promote equality between men and women is to change the social institutions and frameworks that restrict women’s skills and employment. In order to close the gap, there is need to continue offering more educational opportunities to women. Reports indicate that women across the world have still not accessed education as compared to men. As not-for-profit organizations and government agencies continue to build classrooms in most parts of the world, it is important to encourage the girl child to attend the classes. In this case, it is also significant to involve men than presently is the case (Grant Thorton, 2013). Many of the development programs are not successful because they center so much on women’s needs and overlook the fact that communities grounded on persistent discrimination against women offers benefits to men, that they are not willing to sacrifice effortlessly (World Bank, 2012). It is imperative to involve men in the reform. This is already in discussion in Kenya to allow women have access to resources through inheritance laws. Increasing the resources and opportunities available to women is imperative in developing and empowering them. Additionally, in order to continue promoting equality between men and women, there is need for more intensive sensitization on the significance of gender equality. It is essential to offer an open forum where people can share details on the situation of both men and women and promote an honest debate on the factors that obstruct women’s social and economic development. Offering a forum for individuals to reveal their encounters with the local imposts and regulations will offer two significant benefits (Sherrill, 2012). First, it will assist in improving the current state of the situation of women around the world. On the other hand, engaging people in the in the mutual learning experience will produce local alliances such as business associations, worker’s unions to assist in putting pressure for change in addition to acquiring broad public support and dismissing unavoidable fears of change among the people. In the long run, this intervention will assist in tearing down the persistent social discernments and mentalities, while at the same time assisting policy makers design their approaches to the present situation in a community or nation (Davidson & Burke, 2004). Promoting ingenuousness can assist in dealing with distrust and discrimination that affect the development of women in organizations. Women’s management styles as opposed to men Women have different approaches to management when compared to men. Studies have indicated that women run organizations according to principles of caring, making intuitive resolutions, and having a sense of job as being part of their lives. This is categorized as social intuition where they pay attention to the work and the reactions of the people around them. On the other hand, men are termed as traditionalists where they use judgments (Sherrill, 2012). Women managers and leaders often embrace a communicative leadership and management style where listening dialogue, nurturing and problem resolution are vital. Women like to build accords and center on outcome and are open to other people’s ideas. Women have a positive view on how to carry out a task (Sherrill, 2012). However, the role of women in the management of organizations has evolved over the past years and it’s hard to distinguish between leadership by a woman and a man. Conclusion Though women constitute almost 51 percent of the world’s population and perform 74 percent of all labor in the world, they only earn 10 percent of the total world’s income and occupy less senior management positions in government agencies and multinationals. Some scholars have gestured a drift in the 21st century from a male dominated and focused power situation to a female focused power situation. They have indicated the competitive society controlled by males is in the process of transforming to an intuitive and more peaceful business environment with more women. It appears that the 21st century is, in its early stages, welcoming people to experience some difficulties and “Women in Management” is among them. Nonetheless, scholars have indicated that promoting women in managerial positions is no longer a matter of being diplomatically right, but an issue of doing what is appropriate for the organization and the organizations that realize it reap benefits from it. A closer look at the rates of women in management positions shows that these proportions are increasing in almost all countries. This has been attributed to the increasing levels of education among women and programs implemented by nations to promote gender equity. However, there still exist barriers that prevent equality between the two genders. Gender stereotyping and gender discrimination are some of these barriers. These barriers can be eliminated by involving men in changing the social institutions. Changes have been carried out in the past decades but it is still significant for women to recognize what gender can typify in the workplace in order for them to attain equal opportunities and chances and participate in decision making and their job development. References Davidson, M., & Burke, R. J. (2004). Women in management worldwide: Facts, figures, and analysis. Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate. Grant Thorton (2013). Women in senior management: setting the stage for growth. Sherrill, A. (2012). Women in Management: Analysis of Female Managers Representation, Characteristics, and Pay. DIANE Publishing. Tanton, M. (1994). Women in management: A developing presence. London: Routledge. World Bank, (2012). World Development Report: Gender Equality and Development. Retrieved from http://www.die-gdi.de/CMS homepage/openwebcms3_e.nsf/(ynDK_contentByKey)/ANES-8RWK3V/$FILE/BP%202.2012.pdf. Read More