Susan Vinnicombe

Advancing women's careers

Purpose – This collection seeks to examine the various challenges women face in advancing their careers.Design/methodology/approach – In the mid‐1980s, the phrase “glass ceiling” was coined and has since become an established part of our vocabulary. The glass ceiling refers to an invisible but impermeable barrier that limits the career advancement of women. During the last two decades, women have made progress: there are now more women in senior‐level executive jobs, more women in “clout jobs”, more women CEOs, and more women on corporate boards of directors. But real progress has been slow with only modest increases shown at these levels.Findings – The slow progress made by talented, educated, ambitious women is now having some negative effects on womens views of management and the professions as a career. However, artificially limiting the career possibilities of women is a luxury organizations can no longer afford. Organizations are facing an impending shortage of qualified leaders. The aging of the w...

A Study of the Promotion to Partner Process in a Professional Services Firm: How Women are Disadvantaged

Increasing numbers of women are attracted to careers in the professional services. However, when their progress is considered to partner positions, it is found that they are not advancing to the levels anticipated. When the literature in relation to the partnership promotion process is explored, we find explanatory models are rare, and rarer yet is work that considers the impact of sex bias on the process. The article adds to the limited work available by presenting findings from a behavioural process perspective through an empirical study with male and female management consultants in a professional services firm which indicates that the promotion to partner process is indeed sex biased. Two areas of disadvantage for women are identified: the presence of a self-managed career advancement process necessitating a proactive approach to demonstrating individual contribution; and the need to ‘fit’ a prevailing model of success within the firm which is a masculine model and is more problematic for women. The article calls for a differentiated treatment of the glass ceiling phenomenon, capable of capturing disadvantage accruing from societally based factors and sector-based factors. The implications of the findings for future research and professional service firms are discussed.

Women Directors on Top UK Boards

Research suggests that more diversity in board membership could improve overall performance. This paper considers the business case for increased numbers of female directors, and the lack of female representation on UK FTSE 100 company boards in 1999 and 2000. It also offers a comparison to US data. In 1999, almost two-thirds of FTSE 100 companies had at least one female director, but numbers had dropped by July 2000 from 64 per cent to 58 per cent, paralleling the levelling-off at top level reported in North America. More firms having female directors are to be found amongst those with the highest turnover, profit and number of employees in the FTSE 100, again paralleling the findings from the US.

Sex role stereotyping and requisites of successful top managers

The issue of management style and women’s progression has been highlighted in the past, but women’s perceptions of successful management styles are important too, especially where women’s own preferred management style differs from their view of the top team. Such differences can lead to women not putting themselves forward for promotion. Reports a study of male and female managers in one very large insurance company. Uses the personality attributes questionnaire (PAQ) to identify the managers’ own management style, and their perceptions of the style of “the successful manager” who had reached the top team in their organisation. The PAQ identifies two dimensions of management from which four categories can be found. The survey of 363 managers revealed significant gender differences. The study provides further evidence of a shift in perceptions of leadership styles towards androgynous management, high on both instrumental and expressive traits. However, women are still thinking in “think manager, think male” mode, which may limit their confidence to put themselves forward for promotion.

Women on corporate boards of directors : international challenges and opportunities

Contributors. Part One: Women Corporate Directors: A Research Appraisal. Women Corporate Boards of Directors: Where Do We Go From Here? R.J. Burke, M.C. Mattis. The Future of Corporate Women: Progress Toward the Executive Suite and the Boardroom? C.M. Daily, S. Trevis Certo, D.R. Dalton. Building the Business Case for Women Corporate Directors D. Bilimoria. Part Two: International Research Findings. Women Corporate Directors in the United States M.C. Mattis. Making it to the Top in Britain S. Vinnicombe, V. Singh, J. Sturges. The Paradox of Affirmative Action for Women Directors in Israel D. Izraeli. Women on Canadian Corporate Boards of Directors: Still a Long Way to Go R.J. Burke. What Distinguishes Women Non-executive Directors From Executive Directors? Individual, Interpersonal and Organizational Factors Related to Womens Appointments to Boards Z.M. Burgess, P. Tharenou. The New Zealand Experiment - Training to be on Board as a Director J. McGregor. Taking a Seat on the Board: Women Directors in Britain V.M. Holton. Company Size, Board Size and Numbers of Women Corporate Directors R.J. Burke. Part Three: Women Directors and Board Dynamics. Women on Boards of Directors: Gender Bias or Power Threat? N. Fondas. Women on Corporate Boards of Directors: Understanding the Context R.J. Burke. The Experiences of White Women on Corporate Boards in Canada: Compliance and Non-compliance to Hegemonic Masculinity P. Bradshaw, D. Wicks. Public Sector Board Composition in Australia: Leading the Way? D.K. Conroy. Part Four: Views of Corporate Directors. From Male Locker Room to Co-ed Board Room: A Twenty-five Year Perspective C.C. Selby. Making Boards Work: Recruiting forBalance, Competence and Results D. Leighton. Catalyst Corporate Board Placement: New Seats at the Table M. Pollak. Index.

Informal Mentoring as an Organisational Resource

Abstract Mentoring is a mechanism for supporting junior managers but until now little research on the benefits to the organisation has been reported. This paper reports on a survey of managers in a UK local government authority to ascertain their views of the benefits of informal mentoring to the organisation. Both mentors and proteges perceived mentoring as investment in a future pool of managers and a tool for the management of change. Mentoring was also seen as assisting in the transfer of knowledge, organisational learning and cross-departmental communication—in other words, as nodes in an information network. Further research is suggested into mentoring as a micro-level knowledge-producing community of practice. As informal mentoring is likely to bring longer-term advantages to the organisation, the paper also discusses how to capture the benefits of informal mentoring when designing formal schemes.

Women-only management training: An essential part of women's leadership development

A change is needed in the way companies approach leadership development, which currently results in the reproduction of male leaders similar to those of the previous generation. At present, many women do not develop to their full potential -- a serious waste in the war for talent. Managing diversity and developing tomorrows diverse leaders are key tasks for leadership in UK organisations. This paper considers the important role of women-only training in the development of the females in the next generation of leaders, and in the enhancement of their careers. The authors believe that in addition to, and not as a substitute for, other leadership courses and support mechanisms such as mentoring and coaching, women-only training enables women to clarify their leadership ambitions, recognise their leadership strengths and access leadership positions. Organisations that support such learning experiences will benefit from a wider and stronger pool of talent than before.

What does “commitment” really mean?

There is little research on managers’ meanings of commitment. Unprompted responses from interviews with 37 senior engineers in three major UK and Swedish engineering companies indicate a shift from the traditional conceptualisation of commitment as desiring to remain in, and identification with, the organisation, towards a meaning putting more emphasis on a highly proactive, innovative and challenging approach to work, as a mutually beneficial psychological contract between organisation and individual. Women responded with less visible meanings of commitment. When engineers are assessed on commitment for promotion, or for UK chartered engineer status, these differences may impact on the process differently for men and women. More Swedish than UK engineers identified task delivery, involvement, and ready for challenge, while more UK engineers mentioned creativity and innovative behaviour, as part of their meaning of commitment. These findings are indicative of the shift towards high performance, high commitment HRM in both countries.

The 2002 female FTSE index and women directors

The stagnation in the position of female directorships in the UK’s FTSE 100 companies appears to be very slowly changing. After a review of previous research on women directors, this paper reports the statistics on women directors in the top 100 listed companies. The paper comments on the findings regarding companies with women directors, female directorships and the women holding those directorships. It reviews the backgrounds (demographic profiles including age, education, marital status and children; corporate experience, international experience, etc.) of the top women executive directors. The paper also examines the minority of top companies with women executive directors, to see how their particular characteristics and contingencies (e.g. sector, chairmen, CEO and board demographics) may have influenced the environment as incubators for these successful women. The paper considers the findings through several theoretical lenses for explanations of the results, and conclude by commenting on the progress being made in other European countries.

Downsizing and the changing role of HR

This paper examines the changing role of HR in the specific context of downsizing. It highlights the key dilemmas facing HR professionals - on the one hand, the contribution of HRM to the achievement of business results has come under increasing scrutiny and, on the other hand, most of the challenges of downsizing are people-related issues that require sophisticated HR interventions. The paper reports the key findings of a pilot study conducted in sixty organizations in the UK that downsized in the last three years. The key conclusion of the study is that the role of HR has become wide ranging, covering the strategic as well as implementation aspects. The clear message from the study suggests that, unless there is alignment between the two aspects, the envisaged benefits of downsizing are unlikely take place. Key challenges facing HR professionals are managing middle managers, managing careers and managing employee expectations. There are indications to suggest that the process role of HR is likely to bec...