Gary N. Powell

Gender and Managerial Stereotypes: Have the Times Changed?

There has been a considerable increase in the proportion of women managers in recent years, from 21% in 1976 to 46% in 1999, and a call for “feminine leadership” to capitalize on this increase. The present study examines whether there has been a corresponding change in men’s and women’s stereotypes of managers such that less emphasis is placed on managers’ possessing masculine characteristics. Data from 348 undergraduate and part-time graduate business students indicate that although managerial stereotypes place less emphasis on masculine characteristics than in earlier studies [Academy of Management Journal 22 (1979) 395; Group and Organization Studies 14 (2) (1989) 216], a good manager is still perceived as predominantly masculine.

Cross-Currents in the River of Time: Conceptualizing the Complexities of Women's Careers

Womenface a complex panorama of choices and constraints in their career and life development. This article presents an approach to the understanding of womens careers that (a) takes into account non-work as well as work issues; (b) incorporates subjective as well as objective measures of career and life success; (c) incorporates the influence of personal, organizational, and societalfactors on womens choices and outcomes; and (d) does not assume that womens careers go through a predictable sequence of stages over time. Such an approach is vastly differentfrom traditional models of mens careers. Implications of this approach for research, organizations, and mens careers are discussed.

The “Good Manager”: Masculine or Androgynous?

The application of the Bern Sex-Role Inventory in a study of 684 business students failed to support the hypothesis that a good manager would be seen as androgynous (possessing both masculine and feminine characteristics). Instead, the good manager was described in masculine terms. Graduate women also described themselves in masculine terms.

When work and family collide: Deciding between competing role demands

Abstract This study examined the factors that influence the decision to participate in a work activity or a competing family activity. Part-time MBA students were presented with a vignette in which they were required to choose between participating in a weekend project team meeting and a surprise birthday party for a parent. Pressures from role senders (managers and spouses) to participate in each activity and the supportiveness of role senders for participation in the other role were manipulated in vignettes, and the salience of each role was assessed with self-report scales. Both work and family pressures affected the choice of activity. The salience of work and family roles for respondents also influenced the choice, with the effect of family salience stronger for those who were higher in self-esteem and higher in work salience. Implications of the findings for understanding the directionality of work–family interference are identified, limitations are discussed, and areas for future research are proposed.

Managerial Decision Making Regarding Alternative Work Arrangements

Alternative work arrangements that offer employees flexibility in the time and place of work have been found to be both popular with employees and beneficial for organizations. However, alternative work arrangement programmes that are implemented by organizations are likely to be ineffective unless they are supported by first-line managers. In this policy-capturing study, participants with managerial experience responded to vignettes in which they were asked to make decisions about whether to approve various subordinates’ requests for alternative work arrangements. As a group they tended to make decisions in accordance with their own short-term self-interest. Requests that were expected to be more disruptive to the conduct of work (e.g. requests from subordinates who were working on more critical tasks and possessed more special skills, requests for an unpaid leave of absence over requests for varying the work site) received less favourable decisions. However, cluster analysis revealed four distinct clusters of managers who employed fundamentally different decision policies. The results suggest that organizations need to take actions to ensure equity, consistency and a long-term orientation in managerial decisions about alternative work arrangements.

The Perceived Glass Ceiling and Justice Perceptions: An Investigation of Hispanic Law Associates

This study examined the relationship between the perceived glass ceiling, perceptions of promotion fairness, and attitudinal outcomes for a sample of Hispanic lawyers. The results showed that gender and perceptions of ethnic discrimination were positively related to perceptions of a glass ceiling, whereas the proportion of Hispanic law associates in the organization was negatively related to a perceived glass ceiling. The perceived glass ceiling was negatively related to perceptions of promotion fairness, which in turn were positively related to perceived career prospects and negatively related to intentions to leave. Overall, perceived glass ceiling had a substantial impact on turnover intentions. Implications are discussed.

Effect Of Race On Promotions To Top Management In A Federal Department

Applicant race did not directly affect promotion decisions for top management positions in a cabinet-level U.S. government department with standardized promotion practices that include a panel revi...

Sex, Gender, and Decisions at the Family → Work Interface

What is the linkage between individuals’ sex and the interface between their work and family roles? The answer to this question is by no means straightforward as gender roles, work roles, and family roles evolve. To address the question, the authors examine the influence of family-domain factors on work-domain decisions and their linkages to sex and gender. According to the logic of appropriateness, a theory of decision making, people develop and apply rules in decision-making situations that are consistent with their personal identities. The authors identify three broad types of decisions in the work domain—role entry, participation, and exit decisions—that may be influenced by factors in the family domain according to such rules. Next, they review the literature on the linkage between individuals’ sex and an example of each of these types of decisions: the role entry decision about whether to start a business, the role participation decision about the number of hours to devote to one’s job or business, and the role exit decision about whether to quit a job. The review suggests that (a) family-domain factors mediate effects of sex on work-domain decisions and (b) sex moderates relationships between family-domain factors and work-domain decisions. Based on the review, the authors offer a model of the linkages among sex, family-domain factors, and work-domain decisions that incorporates constructs from theories of the psychology of gender (femininity) and identity theories (family role salience). Finally, the authors offer guidelines for future theory and research to test and extend the model.

Determinants of Turnover Among Volunteers

This study examined the causal sequencing of attitudes, personal situations, and behavioral intentions as determinants of turnover among hospital volunteers. Structural equation modeling indicated that, consistent with prevailing models of turnover, attitudes and personal situations influenced turnover indirectly with intentions acting as a mediating factor. However, the analysis suggested that one aspect of the volunteers personal situation (the convenience of the work schedule) also had a direct effect on turnover.

Gender, gender identity, and aspirations to top management

Data gathered by the authors from undergraduate and part‐time graduate business students in 1976‐1977 suggested that men were more likely than women to aspire to top management and that, consistent with traditional stereotypes of males and managers, a gender identity consisting of high masculinity and low femininity was associated with aspirations to top management. As a result of gender‐related social changes, we expected the gender difference in aspirations to top management but not the importance of gender identity to have decreased over time. We collected data in 1999 from the same two populations to test these notions. In newly collected data, high masculinity (but not low femininity) was still associated with such aspirations, and men still aspired to top management positions more than women. However, the gender difference in aspirations to top management did not decrease over time.