Office for Women | Australia Says No

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Location: Home > Publications >The leadership Challenge: Women in Management (Hannah Piterman © March 2008)

1.Executive Summary

1.1 Background

The presence and status of women in paid employment has improved dramatically over the last half century. However, the progression of professional women into positions of leadership has been slow. Within Australia, women currently represent 12 percent of ASX200 executive managers. Five women have been appointed to chief executive level in ASX200 companies since 2004. The number of women holding chief executive positions (or equivalent) in the public and tertiary sectors is more promising. Nevertheless, women find it more difficult to rise to positions of leadership in environments that are highly male-dominated, irrespective of the sector of employment.

There is a strong business case for enhancing the contribution of executive women to the achievement of organisational objectives.There is a parallel ethical, public good and humanitarian case for the participation of women at executive level. Rising social expectations for equal opportunity can no longer be ignored. Significant change will require a committed leadership focus to the economic and broader performance dividend that can be achieved by attracting and retaining quality women managers and optimising the contribution of women in management.

Over the last decade, an increasingly tight and globally competitive labour market has seen the business community make genuine efforts to promote and retain women. A number of Australia's leading organisations have adopted globally recognised strategies to facilitate gender diversity within their workforces.While the focus of this study is gender diversity, many of the issues the study raises relate to dynamics in the wider domain, which result in the exclusion of certain groups from benefits afforded to the dominant culture.

This study was undertaken by Dr Hannah Piterman and initiated through a number of conversations with Geoff Allen, Fergus Ryan and a number of senior executive men and women who agreed to support the study financially and who formed the steering committee. The objective of the study is to explore unconscious and subtle inhibitors to the positive experience and full utilisation of women in executive and management positions. The analysis considers the powerful organisational elements that shape the experiences of women in corporate Australia. The findings will contribute to a wider appreciation of implicit barriers to women's career development and retention, and help organisations engage with the diversity agenda in Australia.

1.2 The study

Management literature refers to unspoken rules and arrangements that govern workplace structure and gender dynamics. These elements of organisational culture are subjective yet powerful. They have the potential to limit women's promotional opportunities and undermine their experience at the workplace. A number of studies internationally and in Australia have identified correlations between a multitude of structural and cultural forces and the under-representation of women at the senior level. Significant Australian research on the culture of leadership and authority in corporate environments has revealed the role of gender, sexuality, and power in shaping the experience for women.

The study pursues this line of investigation to further address the gap in our understanding of the impact of organisational settings on women's work experiences. The analysis is based on 115 in-depth interviews with women and men in middle and senior management. These have been sought from a broad range of industry sectors and disciplines including private, public and tertiary sectors. A number of suggestions are made to more effectively support interventions to enhance diversity in leadership across all sectors.

1.3 Findings

The findings show that impediments to female advancement can be attributed to a number of interacting factors. These include short-term business drivers; cultures that undermine the female presence through narrow notions of 'cultural fit' and masculine leadership constructs that exclude women; complex dynamics around managing strategic relationships; and work/life balance issues.

1.3.1 Business drivers

The current market focus on short-term financial returns creates incentives that mitigate against longer-term and more sustainable corporate performance. Powerful short-term business drivers influence business operations, corporate culture, and the type of leadership attributes that are sought and rewarded - all which prevent the optimisation of female contributions to business outcomes. The study finds that unspoken rules and arrangements of mainstream corporate Australia set particularly narrow parameters for leadership.The prevailing profile of the good business leader reflects the stereotypical traits of masculinity.

1.3.2 Life in a straight jacket

The study finds that most women face numerous cultural dilemmas when they aspire to success.The business environment is dominated by a limiting female archetype that places women in a cultural 'straight jacket'. Few women are able to seamlessly navigate organisational life. Women are subjected to intense scrutiny that transcends performance.They are judged on appearance and communication style. Highly-talented women can be sidelined and excluded from leadership positions based on a perception of poor cultural fit. A number of women in the study have attempted to adjust to the dynamics of a narrow cultural environment. They accept the challenge of life in a straight jacket and internalise the responsibility for their poor cultural fit.

Women become sensitive to their marginality at a senior level and to the lack of cultural accommodation.Their visibility renders them highly vulnerable.They display the anxieties of the minority in infiltrating and surviving at the top. Some women resort to the contrived stance of an 'honourary bloke'. They adopt hard and aggressive demeanours, talk sport and suppress authentic female characteristics. A number of women display guilt and secrecy around their responsibilities as mothers and carers. They fear association with women's programs and affirmative action initiatives, as these highlight their 'otherness' and denote their need for special treatment. In a culture of winners, women seek to adapt to the norms of the winning group.

A high level of personal adaptation and compromise not only interferes with women's performance potential, but rarely proves a successful strategy. Some of the men interviewed perceived the acquirement of 'blokey' attributes by women as fraudulent and unnatural behaviour. While women face tacit cultural barriers to demonstrating their authentic value, their attempts to accommodate the masculine model of authority encourage suspicion, derision, and cultural isolation.

For some women, the relentless level of scrutiny results in burnout and leads them to exit organisations, resulting in the loss of a valuable talent pool.

1.3.3 Managing relationships

Managing relationships is intrinsic to organisational life. Good relationships are fundamental to career sustainability and advancement. As it is often men who hold positions of power, women who wish to succeed must establish good relationships with men.They must become conversant with the unspoken rules and codes of behaviour that shape this strategic relationship dynamic.

Mateship is the glue that binds. Mateship has long been embedded in the Australian psyche. It connotes powerful frontier imagery that upholds masculine fantasies of power and sexuality. Historically, the loyalty of mateship extended only so far as those fitting the standard of Australian manhood. It represented an exclusive and divisive ideology that has its genesis in a notion of racial homogeneity that saw 'real Aussies' as Anglo-Celts. Mateship did not extend to women. It firmly affirmed the dichotomy of the sexes and enshrined traditional sexual stereotypes of man as the warrior and creator, and woman as subservient (Hirst, 1999; Lake, 1992).

Women do not generally fit into a culture of mateship. They are often absent from networking opportunities such as drinks at the pub or games of golf.They do not run with 'the pack'. They do not possess men's innate ability to form strategic alliances within hierarchical environments.Men's early socialisation provides them with the capacity to negotiate hierarchy. The experience of safety and camaraderie in the group provides a powerful antidote to the loss of autonomy that hierarchy demands.'Mateship' provides the equaliser in competitive and hierarchical cultures.

Women's failure to gain the full strategic benefit from work relationships results in their exclusion from the opportunities that these relationships afford. While they recognise the strategic potential of informal networks and alliances, they are often not privy to the workings of informal career pathways. The 'tap on the shoulder' that can open doors is elusive to most women.

Women's entry into leadership career paths is more difficult in male domains where 'like attracts like' and 'like begets like'.These subtle and often unconscious dynamics influence how talent is recognised and rewarded. They can thwart interventions designed to support recruitment and promotion of women, making it difficult for women to be recognised and rewarded. Meritocracy and transparency remain statements of policy; idealised notions that are difficult to operationalise in the face of corridor politics and informal communication systems.

For women, developing strategic relationships with senior figures is essential to gaining entré into informal networks and executive environments. A relationship with a key senior player can provide a woman with a level of visibility and recognition that she would struggle to attain on her own.While successful women are often perceived as obvious role models for ambitious women, a paucity of positive female role models exists. Perceptions of women's experiences at the top can be negative and not all successful women are natural mentors. Given the gender balance of the power elite, a strategic relationship with a key senior male is often necessary if an ambitious woman is to realise success.

Primitive dynamics drive relationships between the sexes.These dynamics are complex and unconscious.The father/child and husband/wife interplays are prevalent, particularly in traditional organisational settings where men hold power. Failure to meet unconscious expectations and fulfil one's archetypal role in the interplay can render both men and women targets of aggression. Women, however, are particularly vulnerable given power inequality in most organisations. Being attuned to these dynamics can assist women understand hostile behaviour, and can take some of the pressure off women who often blame themselves when relationships are not working.

Dependence on male advocacy renders women vulnerable. In order to retain the favour of a 'champion', a woman treads a fine line to ensure she is not perceived as a threat. It is incumbent upon her to demonstrate the good judgement of a male advocate through the highest level of achievement. A woman who steps outside her designated role or does not prove her worth may attract aggression or rejection from the senior male advocate.

Some women have referred to deeper dynamics in the way competition expresses itself among women at all levels of the organisation. While women increasingly embrace ambition, competition and success as part of the competitive world of office politics, many have difficulty managing overt competitive dynamics, particuarly when it involves other women.

1.3.4 Work/life balance

Increasing numbers of Australians are struggling to accommodate the demands of work and family life. Research reveals links between poor flexibility and the loss of female talent from management. Australian research has found that while highly skilled women in full-time employment are more likely to have access to flexible work opportunities, resistance to flexibility increases at the senior end of the organisational hierarchy. Women in management are less inclined to take up flexibility options than women at general staff level.

The study finds that Australian business is undertaking initiatives that recognise the flexibility needs of professional women. Indeed, large private employers are gaining recognition for their design and delivery of flexible work initiatives. Nevertheless, the incorporation of diversity into business continues to be a major challenge.The full-time worker model underpins the structure of workforce contribution. Choosing flexibility suggests a lesser engagement with the workforce. Flexibility options are not meeting the needs of senior female talent.

Ultimately, it is women who are responsible for managing the work/life balance. Research indicates that women typically bear a disproportionate amount of responsibility for home and family. Where a 24/7 imperative drives an organisation's work ethic, there is little cultural tolerance for the intersection of the commercial and domestic worlds. Time spent in the office continues to be seen as a powerful indicator of work commitment that impacts on family life, health, and productivity of men and women at work.

To the extent that flexibility options are provided, the onus remains on the individual to accommodate the demands of the workplace and manage employer expectations. A piecemeal approach to implementing flexibility strategies places the onus on women to negotiate work/life balance. This renders them particularly vulnerable in cultural settings where diversity policies are fluid, ambiguous and open to interpretation by individual managers.

A number of the most successful women identified in the study do not have children. Others stress the value of supportive partners, some of whom have made sacrifices in their own careers. Some women engage in a complex juggling act that is not sustainable.

The study finds that stigmatisation of flexibility inhibits the effective uptake of initiatives by women. Women who negotiate a part-time return to work may find that their full-time responsibilities have not diminished. However, they avoid negotiating for a more manageable workload and accept a 'Clayton's' flexibility. Others are sensitive to problems associated with working in unconventional ways, such as working from home, and choose to remain in the mainstream.They see a danger in isolating themselves from office life and daily interaction with colleagues and communication processes. Female talent is ultimately lost as working mothers fail to achieve effective flexible work arrangements and abandon demanding corporate careers.

Flexibility needs to move from the margins of organisational life. It needs to be treated as a strategic intervention designed to enhance organisational capacity and maximise talent contribution. If policy is to move from rhetoric to practice, the introduction of flexible work practices must gain support and co-operation from across the workforce. This requires leadership to challenge cultural attitudes and traditional principles of good business, and to herald in new ways of thinking about the role of men and women in society, sustainable workforce planning, social capital and responsibility to community. There are limits to the adoption of flexibility opportunities when business remains locked in a mindset that privileges work over private life.

1.3.5 Navigating a leadership presence

The study finds a level of scepticism among women regarding the effectiveness of diversity strategies to support them through to leadership positions. This is particularly so in predominantly male, monocultural environments where the notion of talent and assessment of merit are influenced by stereotypical beliefs about leadership incumbency, leadership behaviour, and gender relations.

While there are extraordinary women who successfully navigate all domains of corporate culture, they are the exceptions.The study finds that a number of women in mainstream corporate Australia gain seniority through compliance and patronage. A deep level of cultural resistance to female authority excludes an authentic female presence.While the ability to adapt is a skill many successful leaders share, women need greater space to exercise authenticity if they are to be truly effective leaders. Women need more than just a seat at the executive table. They need to command respect and loyalty from their colleagues in order to achieve significant and sustainable outcomes for business. To this end, a greater acknowledgement of the different 'look' of female authority is needed.

A majority of ambitious women struggle to gain recognition and reward in the prevailing business environment. They become trapped between an impenetrable male paradigm and an unpalatable female stereotype. Their position as cultural outsiders from senior management inhibits their authentic participation in daily working life. Organisational recognition and reward for their contributions remains elusive.

Corporations attempting to address the gender imbalance have traditionally perceived that female attributes and behaviours are responsible for the problems that women face. Organisational strategies have commonly adopted a person-centred approach, encouraging women to adapt and reform their behaviours to achieve a better cultural fit within a male-dominated environment. This approach gives women stilts to play on an uneven playing field, but doesn't flatten out the field itself. The 'person-centred' or 'deficit equity' model continues to characterise Australian and international business strategies to facilitate a greater retention of female talent.

The current approach of 'tilting the playing field' to seek equal outcomes has, at best, produced change at the margins. Removing the cultural straight jacket that restricts the participation of women in corporate life requires strategies that address organisational rules and cultural dynamics.

The study supports research that demonstrates a 'tipping point' effect in the form of 'female friendly' cultural change that occurs once women represent significant and powerful minorities at senior levels of management. Researchers have tracked the impact of a critical mass of senior women on organisational culture. Findings consistently indicate that constructs of good leadership and therefore suitability for promotion, are influenced in favour of female candidates when they represent a significant minority of senior appointments. Most importantly, a critical mass enables women to take up authority that is authentic and unencumbered.Women are free to be themselves, rather than conform to a survival script. These organisations embrace a diversity of leadership styles, which reflects the heterogeneity of their incumbents and the situational requirements of their business.

The forces that define and undermine female authority are subtle and complex.They go to the heart of some of the most unpalatable dynamics between men and women. Conversations about the place and treatment of women in the corporate world are not easily conducted in the workplace.The real conversation about women in business is not yet occurring in the open.

1.4 The diversity challenge

1.4.1 Creating awareness

An honest conversation between men and women needs to begin in order to raise awareness of the subtle inhibiters to women's experience in the workplace. Leaders must create and leverage awareness around the principles and values of diversity in business. A review of the corporate leadership paradigm is required to shift models of authority away from a narrow, technical, short-term orientation that rewards some men and isolates most women. Leadership expectations need to be made explicit throughout management ranks, drilled down through organisations, and underpinned by specific performance indicators and incentives that change behaviours.

The honest conversation needs to create a climate where deeply embedded values and practices can be brought to the fore and examined. Areas for examination include the items listed below.

1.4.2 Taking action

As part of a concerted effort by senior leadership to raise awareness of inhibitors to women's work experience and to enhance women's promotional opportunity, senior management needs to commit to on the ground initiatives that see diversity incorporated in core business activity. Such initiatives include:

 

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