High-level Positions Research Articles

The Ability to Deal With Difference: Turkish-Dutch Professionals as Go-Betweens in the Education Sector.

Based on sixteen semi-structured interviews, this article examines how second-generation Turkish-Dutch education professionals experience their professional position in the ethnically homogeneous upper echelons of the Dutch education sector. The analysis shows that second-generation education professionals, being newcomers to higher-level positions in the sector, have to engage with diverse cultural repertoires at work. Instead of being stuck in-between these repertoires, second-generation education professionals actively "go-between" repertoires, employing their ability to deal with difference. In the increasingly super-diverse Dutch classrooms, this "go-between" attitude functions as a second-generation advantage and is conceptually better suited than in-betweenness to describe the position of second-generation professionals.

A call for improved transparency in financial aspects of clinical trials: a case study of the CREATE-X trial in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Introduction Globally, laws and guidelines for managing conflict of interest are increasingly implemented to achieve transparency in financial ties between physicians and pharmaceutical and medical device industries, yet little information is available regarding the limitations of the current frameworks for disclosing these financial ties. Case In June2017, theCapecitabine for Residual Cancer as Adjuvant Therapy (CREATE-X) trial was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. In this study, which suggested the post-surgery addition of capecitabine would improve survival of high-risk breast cancer patients, the cost of capecitabine for off-label use was illegally claimed to the Japanese public health insurance system, rather than being covered by the research budget. This illegal claim led to the profit of more than 100,000,000 JPY(approximately 0.91 million USD) for Chugai Pharmaceutical Company (CPC), which manufactures capecitabine. Additional evidence suggests that the CPC made donations of at least 100,000,000 JPY (approximately 0.91 million USD) and 236,000,000 JPY (approximately 2.1 million USD) to the Japan Breast Cancer Research Group (JBCRG), the study's sponsor and funder where the majority of the Japanese authors served high-level positions, and the Advanced Clinical Research Organization, the other study funder, respectively, during the study period, though the total amount has not been clarified. Neither the CPC's involvement nor its undue profit was mentioned in the published article. Conclusion This case report highlights the lack of financial transparency in the CREATE-X trial, and discusses the potential limitations that may exist in the current frameworks for disclosing financial ties between physicians and relevant industries in clinical trials. Achieving improved transparency is essential to heighten credibility in the findings of clinical trials.

Cancer control in war-torn Iraq

Before 1980, the Iraqi health system was described by the UN as the best health-care system in the Middle East with respect to its infrastructure, medical expertise and universal health coverage through its free of charge services. The repercussions of the war against Iran (1980–88), followed by the Gulf wars (1990–91 and 2003–11), and the civil war initiated by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (2014–17), resulted in a severe decline in the availability of medical resources, funds, and medical personnel; factors that were exacerbated by an excess of bureaucracy, corruption, and turmoil at a time when the health sector was not considered a priority by the Iraqi Government. In 2017, the International Organization for Migration registered over 3 million internally displaced Iraqis, which added a further burden on the Iraqi Ministry of Health. Much of the focus from high-income countries centers on the aftermath of the second Gulf war in Iraq, but it is important to realise that this country has been in a continuous state of war for about 40 years, claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens in which it is of little surprise that health-care service and provision of the country has suffered. During the Gulf war, Iraq and the surrounding regions were exposed to various weapons, including depleted uranium-tipped ammunitions, which raised a hitherto unresolved debate on the potential carcinogenicity of the weapons. The UN sanctions, undertaken to restrict Saddam Hussein's capacity to manufacture weapons of mass destruction, imposed an embargo on a range of cancer diagnostic and treatment equipment, including linear accelerators, some chemotherapy drugs, radioisotopes, and analgesics, which were blocked on the assumption that they might be converted into chemical weapons. The 2003 Gulf war saw the destruction of 12% of hospitals and public laboratories, while many others were either looted or destroyed. In 2004, David Kerr visited Basra to explore the residual robustness of the health service under the auspices of the British Army, and witnessed the extraordinary pressure that clinical colleagues and health-care professionals were under from sectarian, authoritarian, and criminal organisations to comply with living within dangerous and mysterious circumstances. Unsurprisingly, many senior clinicians had to put the safety of their families first and seek employment elsewhere, which substantially expanded the Iraqi medical diaspora. At such a time, individuals in high-level positions were specifically targeted—eg, Muhammed Alwan, Dean of Mustansiriya Medical College, was mysteriously killed by a car bomb in 2011. Why this hard working, universally acclaimed surgeon was targeted was much speculated on, but no clear motives have been discovered to date.

Can Quotas Increase the Supply of Candidates for Higher-Level Positions? Evidence from Local Government in India

A one-third quota rule for women in local political leadership seats in India increases the number of female candidates who later contest seats in state and national legislatures. This arises from the candidacy of beneficiaries who gained political experience due to the quotas and career politicians who continue contesting in longer-exposed areas. The policy accounts for a substantial portion of the increase in female candidates for high office since the mid-1990s. Women have a higher probability of a top finish when running on major party tickets or contesting in areas that overlap with their local constituency.

El techo de Cristal en México

The “glass ceiling” is defined as the obstacles that obstruct a woman to achieve high-level positions in organizations. The aim of this paper is to analyze the current situation of women in senior management positions in the Mexican context, in order to measure how much the glass ceiling affects their professional development. For that, a documentary research was conducted by collecting information from both, companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV, according to its initials in Spanish) companies, as well as recent publications by the business sector in Mexico. The main finding of this study shows that on average, women who make up the Board of Directors in companies listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange companies, only reaches 4.56%, additionally, of the 500 best companies to work in Mexico, only 3% are directed by women, and, of the 50 most powerful women in Mexico, only 14% are company executives. Which shows that despite the advances that have occurred in relation to gender equality is still difficult for women to overcome theglass ceiling.

Labor Market Quotas

Under-representation of women in high level positions is widespread and persistent. We analyze the consequences of labor market quotas for the wages of women in high level positions. The key point of our paper is that quotas cause asymmetric information about why women work in high level positions. Firms know why they have assigned their own female employees to high level positions, but do not know why women at other firms have been assigned to those positions. A winner’s curse, reducing competition for women in high level positions, results. This widens the gender pay gap. We show that ex ante women are better-off without quotas. Next, we investigate how quotas affect incentives for employers to learn the abilities of women to make better job-assignment decisions. Then, under specific conditions women may benefit from quotas.

Through the glass ceiling: is mentoring the way forward?

Over the past 30 years, the term the 'glass ceiling' has come to be known as a metaphor for vertical segregation, symbolising an invisible barrier that prevents women from progressing in their careers. Increasingly women are found in higher level positions and mentoring has often been touted as an important way to help women break through the glass ceiling. This paper explores the continued relevance of the glass ceiling and the use of mentoring programs as a means to help women to overcome it. The findings suggest that although some women have penetrated the glass ceiling, further work is needed if a more equitable number of women are to advance to senior level positions. Whilst mentoring can play an important role in helping women to achieve more senior positions, mentoring is not a panacea but only one of many strategies that must be adopted to effectively address the phenomenon of the glass ceiling.

Through the glass ceiling: is mentoring the way forward?

Over the past 30 years, the term the 'glass ceiling' has come to be known as a metaphor for vertical segregation, symbolising an invisible barrier that prevents women from progressing in their careers. Increasingly women are found in higher level positions and mentoring has often been touted as an important way to help women break through the glass ceiling. This paper explores the continued relevance of the glass ceiling and the use of mentoring programs as a means to help women to overcome it. The findings suggest that although some women have penetrated the glass ceiling, further work is needed if a more equitable number of women are to advance to senior level positions. Whilst mentoring can play an important role in helping women to achieve more senior positions, mentoring is not a panacea but only one of many strategies that must be adopted to effectively address the phenomenon of the glass ceiling.

Can Quotas Increase the Supply of Candidates for Higher-Level Positions? Evidence from Local Government in India

A common argument for quota policies is that they can increase the participation of targeted groups in positions that are not directly subjected to quotas or after quotas are no longer in place. I investigate this hypothesis empirically in the context of India, where one third of local political leadership seats are randomly assigned to be held by a woman in each election cycle. Quotas increase the number of female candidates who later contest seats in state and national legislatures, where such policies do not exist. This effect arises from the candidacy of beneficiaries who gained experience in local government due to the quotas and career politicians who continue contesting in longer-exposed areas. Effect magnitudes imply that the policy accounts for a substantial portion of the increase in female candidates for these bodies since the start of the policy. The new candidates have a higher probability of a top finish when they run on major party tickets or contest in areas where the local constituency overlaps closely with that of the contested seat.

Can Quotas Increase the Supply of Candidates for Higher-Level Positions? Evidence from Local Government in India

A common argument for quota policies is that they can increase the participation of targeted groups in positions that are not directly subjected to quotas or after quotas are no longer in place. I investigate this hypothesis empirically in the context of India, where one third of local political leadership seats are randomly assigned to be held by a woman in each election cycle. Quotas increase the number of female candidates who later contest seats in state and national legislatures, where such policies do not exist. This effect arises from the candidacy of beneficiaries who gained experience in local government due to the quotas and career politicians who continue contesting in longer-exposed areas. Effect magnitudes imply that the policy accounts for a substantial portion of the increase in female candidates for these bodies since the start of the policy. The new candidates have a higher probability of a top finish when they run on major party tickets or contest in areas where the local constituency overlaps closely with that of the contested seat.

Inclusive Pathways to Elite Leadership: Lessons from Caribbean Women and Men

This qualitative study of 39 women and 39 men in three Caribbean countries (Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica) examines the pathways to elite leadership. In this developing country context, elites emerged primarily from poor and working-class families (74 of 78 interview participants), and all had attended top-tier “prestige” secondary schools. In-depth interviews revealed three important themes rooted in childhood and early youth and sustained throughout the career lifetime: 1) proactivity, 2) mentorship and sponsorship support, and 3) values-based action. All of the elites reported taking on leadership roles during childhood, an indicator of early emergence of proactivity and leadership talent. All of the elites ascribed critical importance to role models, mentors and sponsors in childhood and youth. These important adults provided support for academic success and emphasized the importance of values as the foundation for a positive life trajectory. All of these elite leaders evidenced sustained proactivity and values-based action throughout their careers, attaining their high-level positions through unwavering focus on goal attainment, values-driven advancement, and the resulting store of career capital. The findings form the basis for a conceptual model with 10 propositions regarding inclusive pathways to elite leadership.

Protesting gender discrimination from within: women’s political representation on behalf of Islamic parties

In recent decades, Islamic political movements, and their subsequent political parties, have been increasingly recruiting and nominating women to high-level decision-making positions despite the fact that the ideology they espouse often acts to dissuade women from assuming positions of political leadership. My ethnographic research on religious women’s activism in Iran and Turkey helps explain this unexpected trend by shedding light onto the role of Islamic party women in challenging the gender discriminatory attitudes and behaviours of their male party leaders. In particular, I highlight the role that a number of high-ranking Islamic party women with close ties to the ruling elites played in pressuring their male party leaders to address women’s political underrepresentation in formal politics. Women’s close ties to the ruling elites consisted of formal ties with key Islamic leaders that evolved thanks to women’s long-term devotion to the Islamic movement or learning at Islamic seminaries. I demonstrate that such close ties to the leaders, as well as the presence of a public discourse in favour of women’s increased access to politics, enabled influential Islamic women to leverage a form of ‘internal criticism’ as an important strategy to enhance women’s political rights and status from within the Islamic movements.

Elections, Ideology, and Turnover in the U.S. Federal Government

A defining feature of public sector employment is the regular change in elected leadership. Yet, we know little about how elections influence public sector careers. We describe how elections alter policy outputs and disrupt the influence of civil servants over agency decisions. These changes shape the career choices of employees motivated by policy, influence, and wages. Using new Office of Personnel Management data on the careers of millions of federal employees between 1988 and 2011, we evaluate how elections influence employee turnover decisions. We find that presidential elections increase departure rates of career senior employees, particularly in agencies with divergent views relative to the new president and at the start of presidential terms. We also find suggestive evidence that vacancies in high-level positions after elections may induce lower-level executives to stay longer in hopes of advancing. We conclude with implications of our findings for public policy, presidential politics, and public management.Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.

Case Study #3: When I Was a Lad & Modern Major-General by William S. Gilbert

“When I Was a Lad” is from H.M.S. Pinafore, a nineteenth century British operetta by William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. It’s sung by a man who has become “the ruler of the Queen’s Navy.” Through the song, he tells about his climb to success. “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” is from Pirates of Penzance. Sung by the major-general, it extols his many qualifications and hints at his ambition.Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operas often involved political satire, and this is the case with both of these songs. Both songs describe the talents, experience, qualifications of a government official. Both songs poke fun of officials and their self-importance. Both songs point to the benefit of having a broad, generalist education for higher-level positions. And both songs make the point that public officials need appropriate qualifications and experience. But the characters singing these songs display many differences as well, and very different outlooks on how to succeed. As you follow the lyrics, what do you make of the two gentlemen? Who would you want to work for? Who would you want working for you?

Female Dominance in Human Groups

Compared to men, women less often attain high-level positions and generally have lower status in society. In smaller groups, the relative influence of men and women depends on gender composition, but research is inconclusive regarding the relation between gender composition and female influence. Studies of nonhuman primates show that when females are in the minority they become more dominant over males, but only when conflict levels are high, because under these conditions men fight among each other. Similarly, here we show, in two studies with mixed gender groups (N = 90 and N = 56), that women were more dominant in groups with a high percentage of men and high levels of conflict. This depends on gender differences in aggressive behavior, inducing more aggressive behavior in women eliminated this increase in female dominance. Our work reveals that status relations between the genders among nonhuman primates can generalize to humans.

Women at Work

Using a unique sample of 5,022 workers in 94 large German workplaces, the authors explore whether and how women’s access to higher level positions, firms’ human resources practices, and workers’ qualification levels are associated with gender differences in earnings. First, they find that having more women in management reduces the gender earnings gap for jobs with low qualifications, but not those with high qualifications. Second, they find that while men’s compensation is positively affected by having a male supervisor, women with a female supervisor do not receive such an advantage. Finally, they find that human resources practices and job-level qualifications moderate the association between gendered power and gender earnings inequalities. Integrating women into managerial and supervisory roles does not automatically reduce gender inequalities; its impacts are contingent on organizational context.

The Islamic State and the connections to historical networks of Jihadism in Azerbaijan

ABSTRACTThis article provides an empirical account of connections between the Islamic State (IS) and jihadi networks in Azerbaijan. Prior to the Syrian civil war, jihadist groups in Azerbaijan were primarily connected to the insurgency in the North Caucasus. However, the crackdown on Salafi groups after the 2008 Abu Bakr mosque bombing and the re-established Forest Brothers in 2012 led to the departure of many jihadists. Drawing on primary online and social media sources, the article traces how these individuals became the vanguard of Azerbaijani groups in Syria. While initially holding some high-level positions in foreign fighter groups in Syria, Azerbaijanis have suffered hardships as part of the IS. Many of their leaders appear to have been executed by the IS and many fighters were used as cannon fodder during the battles of Kobane and Tel Abyad. Despite a possible early policy of allowing jihadist aspirants to leave the country, the Azerbaijani government has stepped up efforts against returnees. Overall, the IS does not appear to be a major threat to Azerbaijan in the near to midterm.

Signaling ability and grit to academia

Education In many professions, getting ahead requires evidence of both effort and ability. This is especially true if one is not a member of the dominant group and thus surmounting social norms. Breda and Hillion show that oral examiners of candidates for teaching positions in the French education system reward such applicants. Specifically, women applying for high-level teaching positions in male-dominated fields, such as physics and philosophy, are favored, as are men who apply in female-dominated fields, such as literature and foreign languages. Science , this issue p. [474][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaf4372

Men and women in positions of responsibility - A qualitative analysis of organizational readiness in France and Finland

This paper examines whether male and female managers hold different opinion on women in managerial and higher level positions, depending on their different cultural background. Furthermore, the paper deals with managers’ perception of organizational readiness to accept women in managerial positions. The paper is looking at this aspect from a cultural perspective, by comparing France to Finland. The research is based on 16 interviews, 9 from France and 7 from Finland, with individuals in different managerial positions in 10 private companies located in both countries. Findings indicate that regardless of the country and of the cultural backgrounds, organizations are not ready to let women climb the hierarchical ladder as men do. Results also show that despite a positive mind-set toward gender-equality, Finnish women still face a strong masculine corporate culture.

Working Toward Achieving Significant Representation: Changes In Diversity And Their Implications In The Accounting And Auditing Profession

The purpose of this paper is to examine the demographic changes to the accounting and auditing profession over the past several decades on two levels of diversity (gender and minorities). Using data from a variety of sources, we find significant improvement in the representation of women and minorities in accounting degrees and entry to the profession. However, we also note areas where additional efforts are needed to provide more significant representation including the wage gap and greater representation in higher-level positions.