Women in the Organizational Hierarchy & Leadership: A Critical Analysis

Considering factors are discussed below.

·        Factors Affecting Women’s Under-Representation in Leadership Roles

A range of factors continue to impact on women’s under-representation in leadership positions. They can be broadly grouped as:

(i) business drivers

(ii) cultural dilemmas including leadership perception and pathways to leadership

(iii) work or life Interactions

(iv) workplace dynamics, key relationships and networks.

 A brief discussion of these factors follows. A range of recommendations and best practice strategies from companies to assist employers in the advancement of women into senior leadership roles within organisations have been identified from different survey, literature. Linked to these recommendations and best practices are some practical tools to identify and address the issues and help develop and action the most effective strategies for individual organisations and for women who are aspiring to senior leadership roles in organisations.

·        How Organisational Culture Affects Women’s Leadership Opportunity

Business drivers and the values and expectations of people within an organisation govern the way that people approach their work, interact with each other and inform the culture of that organisation. An organisation’s culture impacts work practices, how achievement and success are perceived and measured, and the expectation of hours worked and experiences required to achieve career progression. The culture influences the way that an organisation’s people view leadership and their expectation of the behaviour of leaders and potential leaders. In many developed and few developing countries, organisations typically have a prevailing masculine ethos – a culture in which gender stereotypes pattern the rules and values of the workplace in favour of men. Features of an organisation with a masculine culture may include:

(i) a competitive, results focused environment

(ii) favouring of assertive, confident and ambitious behavior, rather than the communal attributes of women

(iii) “playing the game” – a need to form strategic relationships and navigate organisational politics

(iii) a 24/7 work ethic - a link between commitment to work and the company and the number of hours worked

(iv) a separation of work and family – as mutually exclusive domains of an employee’s life

(v) cultural fit is associated with being a good bloke, having a few drinks at the pub after work and displaying sporting prowess or knowledge.

The prevailing culture in an organisation and the gender stereotypes that inform it have the potential to impact women’s promotional opportunities and affect their experience in the workplace. A recent study of CEOs and executives from Fortune 1000 companies examined the slow managerial advancement of women. The majority of respondents perceived stereotypes about women’s roles and abilities to be an important barrier to their advancement. Few recent surveys found almost same result that ‘culture is a critical determinant of how well women flourish’. Organisational culture and work practices can be supportive of women’s inclusion and advancement or inadvenently put barriers in their way.

For women aspiring to leadership or for those already in leadership positions, the masculine culture of organisations creates specific issues surrounding how leaders are perceived and the pathways to leadership that serve to limit and restrict their progress.

·        How Workplace Dynamics and Relationships Affect Women’s Opportunity for Leadership

Navigating the dynamics of a workplace and building strategic relationships are keys to advancing to senior roles and positions of influence. Women aspiring to enter the male dominated echelons of executive management and company boards can experience difficulties in these areas. Factors working to limit women’s progress include isolation, the competitive nature of the organisational environment and relationship styles.

According to few research it has been found that women experienced isolation and non-inclusiveness at upper levels of an organisational hierarchy. Women at this level are few in number and the dynamics around relationships and interactions are governed by mateship, male camaraderie and language that women do not speak. Networks at this level are often informal and inaccessible to women and reinforce the culture of mateship. Women are often absent from networking opportunities such as drinks at the pub, games of golf or other sporting activities as they are not invited to events or the events themselves are unattractive to many women and often occur at inconvenient times particularly for women with caring responsibilities.

Women are skilled at networking and value relationships. Studies indicate that women have a preference for developing personal relationships over strategic alliances. Given the competitive dynamic of upper-level hierarchies and the power plays that occur within them, this approach may be a barrier to women’s advancement to senior levels and limit their access to important and influential networks.

Research also indicates that the level of aggression and competition and the displays of raw ambition at these levels are uncomfortable for women. Whereas men are taught to compete with one another, women are less adept at negotiating the competitive environment and have difficulty in gaining strategic benefit from this environment.

Modern management advocates to build social capital within organisations as being vital to advancement. This involves increasing visibility, forming good relationships with people at all levels of an organisation, and taking a more strategic approach to networking and relationship building. Organisational supports such as mentoring, formal networks and leadership development programs are influential in assisting women to maximise their social capital.

Although, in recent times, women have made significant progress in obtaining responsible positions in organizations and in leadership role to overcome all.