S. Gayle Baugh

Effects of Team Gender and Racial Composition on Perceptions of Team Performance in Cross-Functional Teams

Research on team gender and racial composition with respect to team effectiveness is reviewed. Published literature shows a dearth of studies on this issue in work organizations. The studies published suggest that teams with even slight variability on gender and race will be less positively evaluated. These suggestions are tested in a field setting, using 31 teams in a medium-sized state regulatory agency that were rated by team members and outside raters. Results showed that members of cross-functional project teams that vary with respect to gender or racial composition rate their team as less effective than members of homogeneous (all-male or all-White) teams. Ratings of external evaluators show no differences based on team composition. Antecedents and effects of these evaluations on female and minority team members are discussed.

Who wants to be a mentor? An examination of attitudinal, instrumental, and social motivational components

Purpose – This study investigates the influence of affective organizational commitment, career aspirations, and networking activities on propensity to mentor (serving as a mentor and desiring to become a mentor).Design/methodology/approach – Data from websurveys of 262 managerial employees of a Dutch bank are analyzed using logistic regression.Findings – Results indicate that affective organizational commitment is unrelated to propensity to mentor, whereas career aspirations are positively related, and networking activities are negatively related to serving as a mentor, but not desiring to be a mentor.Research limitations/implications – The study is limited by its reliance on self‐report data and the Dutch culture may have influenced the results of the study to an unknown degree.Practical implications – Results of this study suggest that employees volunteering to be a mentor are clearly ambitious in terms of their own career, but are not necessarily highly committed to their organization nor do they perfo...

Mentoring and career development

Purpose – This special issue seeks to examine mentoring relationships and offer new perspectives and frameworks, suggesting exciting avenues for future research on mentoring and career development.Design/methodology/approach – In the last two decades, the workplace has been dramatically transformed. Individuals traditionally had careers entrenched in organizations, relying on the paternalistic firm for career development. Increasingly now, individuals are enacting careers outside organizational boundaries, defining career success on their own terms rather than by the organizational measures of salary and rank. Rapid technological change and globalization have intensified the decoupling of individual careers from organizations, putting more emphasis on individuals for their own career development and creating an even greater need for mentoring.Findings – Although much research has been done on the impact of mentoring on subjective and objective career success, there are still many unexamined and under‐expl...

On the Persistence of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

The persistence of sexual harassment in the workplace, despite the general abhorrence for the behavior and programs designed to eradicate it, is puzzling. This paper proposes that gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment and power differentials in the workplace which permit men to legitimize and institutionalize their perspective are implicated. These two phenomena combine to result in blaming the victim of sexual harassment for her own plight. Shifting attention to the target of sexual harassment facilitates the persistence of sexual harassment because the institutionalized responses to the problem remain unquestioned.

The Southern Management Association looks at gender and diversity

Purpose – The purpose of this report is to review research on gender and diversity issues that was presented at the recent meeting of the Southern Management Association in Orlando, Florida, USA.Design/methodology/approach – The Southern Management Association, a regional affiliate of the Academy of Management, draws participants primarily, although not exclusively, from the southern states in the USA. The papers covering topics relevant to gender and diversity are summarized.Findings – The diversity related papers presented at this conference were included in a number of tracks other than the diversity track, suggesting an increasing acceptance of diversity research in “mainstream” management research. The forms of diversity investigated included age, ethnicity, and gender, leaving out “invisible” forms of diversity as religion, sexual orientation, or some types of disability.Originality/value – The research presented at this conference gives some insight into the issues of gender and diversity as they a...