Senior Leadership Positions Research Articles

Enabling and empowering women in leadership in South African universities – Assessing needs and designing a response

Gender equity and women’s access to senior leadership and management positions in universities are a major challenge not only in South Africa but on the African continent, too. For women to take up senior leadership roles more potently, it is essential that they not only cope with and compete in patriarchal systems but more so, are equipped to change patriarchal hegemony and shift the management discourse and culture to a pluralistic leadership culture where transformational leadership becomes the norm and praxis. This paper examines a needs analysis for leadership and professional development competencies of women in senior leadership positions in South African higher education and presents the discussion on these findings, based on the data collected from 74 participants. The conclusion reveals the participants’ enthusiasm for personal leadership development as well as their readiness for impacting their leadership contexts. These findings, in turn, shape the content development of the Women in Leadership programme, designed by Higher Education Leadership and Management under the auspices of Universities South Africa.

Women in Higher Education: Are They Ready to Take Up Administrative Positions?—A Mixed-Methods Approach to Identify the Barriers, Perceptions, and Expectations

Higher education is anticipating vacancies in senior leadership positions over the coming years. Women are likely to be candidates for these openings, as the number of women pursuing doctoral degrees is rising. However, in the present scenario, there is a dearth of women in senior leadership positions in India. With a purpose to identify the factors influencing the decision of women to take up senior leadership positions, a cross-sectional survey was planned in India. Female faculty ( n = 136) employed on a tenure basis in state public universities were the respondents. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and focus group discussions. About 48% of the participants expressed that they decline opportunities for administrative positions. The distance to the workplace was found to be a barrier to take up senior leadership positions. Recommendations to promote the readiness of women to take up senior leadership are discussed.

Are NHS England and NHS Improvement serious about equality, diversity and inclusion?

Despite 6% of pharmacists and 2% of pharmacy technicians being black, there is little black representation in the senior leadership positions of many pharmacy organisations. Some have a total lack of black faces in top positions, such as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), General Pharmaceutical Council, National Pharmacy Association and Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK […]

Ethnic inclusion in medicine: the ineffectiveness of the 'Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic' metric to measure progress.

The medical profession is a success story for ethnic diversity. Approximately 45% of hospital doctors and at least 32% of GPs in the United Kingdom are from minority groups.1,2 Fourteen per cent of the UK population is non-White, with a further 5.5% identifying as a minority White group.3 However, success is marred by problems of ‘inclusion’ of minority ethnic doctors.4 Inclusion is defined as ‘ the achievement of a work environment in which all individuals are treated fairly and respectfully, have equal access to opportunities and resources, and can contribute fully to the organisation ’s success. ’ 5 The King’s Fund, a health think-tank, has recently highlighted that senior leadership and managerial positions are predominately held by White British and male persons.6 There has been longstanding discussion regarding inclusion in medicine on the basis of characteristics such as gender and socioeconomic status.7,8 However, the events of 2020 — such as the death of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the impact of COVID-19 on ethnic minority groups — have led to a focus on race and ethnicity. The use of a ‘Rooney Rule’, a form of affirmative action to improve racial diversity and/or inclusion, has been touted as a solution to a lack of ethnic inclusion in British medicine. This rule was created in 2003 by the National Football League (NFL) — where at least one candidate from a minority ethnic group must be interviewed by an American football team for the head coach position.9 Affirmative action is a quick way to reduce — or attempt to reduce — racial inequality and exclusion. That does not necessarily make it the best or the only way. In 2003, when the Rooney Rule was introduced by the NFL, there were …

Gender-Based Disparity in Academic Ranking and Research Productivity Among Canadian Anesthesiology Faculty.

PurposeDespite increasing numbers of women entering anesthesiology training, women remain underrepresented in senior academic positions and leadership roles. This study aims to determine the extent of gender disparity in Canadian departments of anesthesiology. In addition, we explore the correlation between publication productivity and academic rank in this cohort.MethodsThe Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS) was queried to identify 17 training programs for anesthesiology. Department websites were searched to determine the names of faculty members, as well as gender, leadership roles, and academic ranks. The SCOPUS© database was used to generate the number of publications, number of citations, publication range, and h-index of each faculty member.ResultsIn our study cohort of 1404 academic anesthesiologists, 30.1% were women. Women held a minority of 130 leadership positions (27%, n = 35). With increasing academic rank female representation decreased (p = 0.009), such that 21% of full professors were women. Overall, male anesthesiologists had a higher h-index, number of publications, and number of citations (p = 0.001, p = 0.001, and p = <0.001, respectively) than women.ConclusionDespite growing numbers of women entering the academic workforce, women are underrepresented in senior academic ranks and leadership positions. In addition, men and women have significant differences in measures of publication productivity. This study underscores the importance of directed efforts to promote equity in career outcomes.

The Seeds of Leadership: Experiences of Malaysian Women in Senior Leadership

The scarcity of women in top leadership is a global gender equity issue. Men dominate senior leadership positions in almost all industries. As such, countries are not leveraging on the business case for diversity in top leadership. This gap is problematic in Asia and Malaysia, as well. The 2020 WEF Global Gender Gap Report shows that only 20.4 % of women held senior roles in Malaysia as compared to men at 79.6 %. Though numerous global studies have investigated the barriers and challenges of women leaders, few studies have investigated the lived experiences of women business leaders who have successfully navigated to the top. These elites are not only scarce but challenging to reach. Keywords: leader identity construction, leadership development, hermeneutical phenomenology, women in senior leadership.

Deterrents in Taking up Nursing Leadership Positions in Kenya: A Qualitative Approach

Leadership is a highly sought-after commodity and equally valued. However, the question of what makes good leaders continue to linger in most peoples' minds. Subsequently, to have a sustainable workforce in nursing, it is critical to have effective nursing leadership to address the ever-growing health care system challenges of which when resolved culminates to positive patient care outcomes. A job title does not make one a leader. For a long time, to qualify to be a nursing leader was dependent on the number of years worked. Promotion was based on the nurses' experience and the number of years worked. With time, young, learned and experienced nurses have been declining to take up senior leadership positions. Thus, the deterrents to taking up higher leadership position were explored from seven nurses in leadership positions in a private city hospital. A qualitative study was done adopting the phenomenological approach to explore the registered nurses' experiences while in leadership positions. Purposeful sampling was used. Datawas obtained through in-depth interviews. Data analysis was done usingqualitative data analysis software:f4analyse. Five themes emerge which included: lack of work life balance, too many responsibilities, inexperience in people management especially the millennials, perception of micromanagement by the senior nurses,incentives not commensurate to their responsibilities. A conclusion was drawn with recommendations on implementation of policy on work life balance, developing the nurses on people management and delegation strategies.Furthermore, mentorship programs in leadership and coaching in with a well aligned succession plan would add value. To commensurate the remuneration with the responsibilities would require assessment of the external environment, perform market surveys to gain competitive advantage, attract and retain talents.

Career Progression of Women Academics in Pakistani Universities: Enablers and Barriers

There is a dramatic increase in the number of women students in higher educational institutions but this had not been matched by growth in the number of women in senior leadership positions in Pakistani Universities. The current study was designed to explore the barriers and enablers that influence the professional development of women academics in Pakistan. Furthermore, the study investigated how female academicians manage the balance in their personal and professional life. Semi-structured interviews followed by a probing strategy were conducted to seek responses to these questions. 10 female academicians were selected purposively from two public sector universities of Lahore. Thematic analysis was conducted by using an inductive approach. Member check was applied for the reliability of themes drawn from the data. Each theme was explored in-depth and themes emerged from a smaller number of women were treated separately under the category of unique theme. Women considered their professional career development as a source of pride and gratification. Women academicians at the senior level enjoyed leadership roles as compared to young academicians; who were more involved in teaching and research. Females complained that they had not the information on policies relevant to their job and merit is neglected most of the time by higher authorities. Females claimed that they faced a biased attitude of their senior male colleagues/heads of departments but were highly motivated to face these challenges at the workplace.

NIH's scientific approach to inclusive excellence.

The representation of women and scientists from underrepresented groups (URGs), including Black/African Americans, Hispanic/Latinx, Pacific Islanders, and American Indians, diminishes as individuals advance in their careers from training to senior leadership positions. Correcting this imbalance requires integrated strategies to achieve inclusive excellence within the scientific workforce reflected by creating and sustaining environments, in which diverse talent thrives. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Scientific Workforce Diversity office has led the charge to develop and implement evidence-informed interventions toward achieving this goal that undergirds NIH's mission to improve the nation's health. Past and current efforts aiming to enhance workforce diversity but targeted to individuals are necessary but insufficient for lasting change. Thus, NIH-funded institutions should develop and prioritize integrated, systems-targeted efforts as foundational components of a well-supported, productive workforce. At the heart of these endeavors is institutional accountability that ties progress toward inclusive excellence to institutional values and reward systems.

A case study of the experiences of women leaders in senior leadership positions in the education district offices

This research was inspired by two critical factors relating to women leaders in senior positions in education district offices. Firstly, women leaders are continually plagued with stereotyping, and secondly, women are repeatedly undermined by male colleagues. Although the South African Constitution and other related legislation prohibits any form of gender discrimination, inequalities and injustices against women still prevail. Women are subjected to a false notion that they lack the resilience and experience desired when faced with hard-hitting or threatening situations. The primary focus of this study was to explore the experiences of women leaders in senior positions in the Gauteng East Education District office. To underpin this study, intersectionality and feminist theories were selected. Using a qualitative case study, one of the main findings of this study revealed that women in senior leadership positions in education districts persistently struggled to balance their work and family life amidst rooted patriarchal systems and cultural traditions. These women primarily lacked the aspiration to apply for senior leadership positions, but through formal mentorship, dedication and resilience took up senior leadership positions in education district offices.

ENVISION: A Tool to Improve Communication in Hospice Interdisciplinary Team Meetings.

Hospice interdisciplinary teams (IDTs) are required to meet regularly to update care plans for terminally ill patients and their family caregivers. Although providers see value in these meetings, they also experience frustration over meeting inefficiencies and communication challenges. The current article presents ENVISION, a tool designed to improve communication in hospice IDT meetings by providing attendees with access to up-to-date patient and family data to inform clinical decision making. In the current qualitative descriptive study, researchers explored the perspectives of hospice providers (n = 21) and family caregivers (n = 10) regarding ENVISION's usefulness and ease of use. Numerous factors influenced participants' perceptions of the tool as useful, including its impact on task efficiency, effectiveness, and difficulty. Perceptions of ENVISION's ease of use focused on ease of learning, operating, and interpreting data the tool provided. Findings suggest ENVISION would benefit hospice nurses in care management and senior leadership positions. [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 46(7), 9-14.].

Performative contortions: How White women and people of colour navigate elite leadership roles

How do non‐traditional leaders negotiate their entrance and inclusion in elite leadership roles? This study explores the intentional strategies used by non‐traditional leaders to obtain and sustain elite leadership positions. While previous research has documented the barriers that limit the advancement of White women and people of colour, this study extends our understanding to the deliberate, intentional strategies outsiders use to negotiate their entrance to and inclusion in elite leadership roles. We use Bourdieu’s concept of habitus and Puwar’s bodies out of place perspective to analyse the ‘performative contortions’ of outsiders who occupy elite roles. Our analysis relies on 32 in‐depth interviews with White women and men and women of colour who occupy senior leadership positions in large organizations. Our findings uncover a range of embodied, cultural and interactional strategies outsiders employ to gain entrance to top positions and thus reveal the ways gender and race are embedded in the ‘hidden curriculum’ of elite organizations. The ongoing labour required of organizational outsiders to negotiate their own inclusion sheds light on the continuing failure of current efforts to achieve equity and inclusion among elite leadership ranks.

US Psychiatry Faculty: Academic Rank, Gender and Racial Profile.

The gender and racial underrepresentation persist in academic psychiatry faculty appointments. Our study investigated the gender and racial distribution and its temporal trends in academic psychiatry faculty positions across the USA over a 12-year period. Using the annual reports of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), a retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. Simple descriptive statistics analyzed the time trends and the distribution of gender and race across academic ranks, tenure, and degree types. Over the 12-year study period, the White race was the most represented at each rank. In the lower academic ranks, there was an increased representation of Asians, while the minority race/ethnicities experienced minimal increment. Similarly, males were overrepresented at higher academic ranks, with females increasing in proportion at lower academic ranks. Females and minorities remain underrepresented in academic psychiatry faculty positions, especially among senior academic and leadership positions. Differences in tenure tracks and degree types may contribute to the overrepresentation of White and male academic physicians.

Practical Heutagogy: Promoting Personalized Learning in Management Education

The purpose of this article is to highlight the benefits to both organizations and individuals in adopting heutagogy within management education to develop individual capability. This conceptual paper is based on a systematic review of the literature relating to heutagogy and learning theory. This article calls for the adoption of heutagogic learning within management education alongside traditional pedagogy and andragogy. It provides a number of practical examples of how heutagogy may be implemented in a variety of contexts, ranging from undergraduate study to senior leadership positions within organizations. This article contributes to the growing interest and literature related to new forms of student-centered learning and, in particular, heutagogy. This article is an original contribution to the discourse on student-centered learning and the contribution that heutagogy may make to the professional development of individuals.

Mapping the terrain of leadership: Gender and leadership in higher education

This article considers the ambivalent and contradictory positions that women in senior leadership roles in universities occupy. And while women continue to be numerically in the minority in senior leadership positions, this relative invisibility can work to their advantage; they are neither inside nor outside of the university hierarchy. Inside/outside presents a useful metaphor as it foregrounds the ambivalences and contradictions women leaders experience. Drawing on a two-year project, I tease out ways in which women navigate their institutional and individual positioning as leaders. These offer a glimpse into the formal and informal ways in which women shape and contest prevailing leadership practices.

The silence/ing of academic women

ABSTRACT The underrepresentation of women in the most senior ranks, and senior leadership positions in the academy, is a global phenomenon. How and why women academics experience the higher education profession differently to their male colleagues has been the subject of extensive research. This paper brings a new, original conceptual dimension to our understanding of this complex and enduring issue. Based on the rigorous analysis of 35 interviews with women academics from three world leading research-intensive universities, the paper introduces the concept of the silence, and silencing of, academic women. The theoretical frame of ‘micro-inequities’ – that is ‘small events’ which are hard to prove and covert – is used to analyse why academic women remain silent and how academic women are silenced.

Women speakers in healthcare: taking steps towards balanced gender representation

International evidence suggests that although the proportion of women speakers at medical conferences has increased during the last decade, women continue to be significantly underrepresented.1 Women comprise the majority of the health and social care workforce in the UK, yet occupy approximately 41% of seats on NHS organisational boards and remain underrepresented in senior leadership positions across the sector.2 Conferences offer unrivalled opportunities: to showcase diversity and inclusivity, for networking and as a lever for cultural and organisational change. Female representation at healthcare events is important in …

Cracked Pots: The Lived Experience of Church of England Clergy with Responsibility for Fragile Rural Churches

ABSTRACTThis paper listens to the voices of nine incumbent-status clergy with responsibility for multi-church groups of four or more churches to explore their experience of caring for ‘fragile rural churches’, and to identify the impact such responsibilities may have on clergy. The voices heard here lead to the conclusion that, while there are considerable stresses upon the clergy who have responsibility for ‘fragile rural churches’, which should give those in senior leadership positions cause for thought, reflection and action, the rural church is by no means without hope, even where it is small and ‘fragile’.

Achieving leadership and success: A 28-year follow-up of college women leaders

Using a life span perspective focusing on establishing early leader identity, we examine the relationship of achievement orientations, career aspirations, personal and organizational factors, and family choices of 101 women college leaders surveyed in 1985 to ascendance into senior leadership roles and occupational success 28 years later. College-age orientations toward leadership and competition best predicted later-life outcomes. Higher college-age leadership orientation differentiated between women subsequently achieving senior leadership positions and those who did not. Networking and family support positively related to career outcomes; women with and without children had similar outcomes. Women who took leaves beyond a standard maternity absence reported similar career satisfaction to those continuously employed but were less likely to reach senior leadership positions and paid a significant economic penalty in salary. College-age achievement orientations, including leadership orientation, significantly predicted adult achievement orientations, suggesting the college years as an important period for leadership development and intervention.

Have Women Broken the Glass Ceiling in North American Dental Leadership?

In the last few decades, the number of women graduating from North American (NA) dental schools has increased significantly. Thus, we aimed to determine women's representation in leadership positions in NA dental and specialty associations/organizations, dental education, and dental journals, as well as the proportion of men/women researcher members of the American Association for Dental Research (AADR). We contacted NA dental associations to provide us with the total number and the men/women distribution of their members. Men/women distributions in leadership positions were accessible from the internet, as were data on the sex of deans of NA dental schools. Data on the editors in chief of NA dental journals were gathered from their websites, and the AADR provided the number and sex of its researcher members. Collected data underwent descriptive statistics and binomial tests (α = 0.05). Our findings suggest that women are underrepresented in leadership positions within the major NA dental professional associations. While the median ratio of women leaders to women members in professional associations is 0.91 in Canada, it is only 0.67 in the United States. The same underrepresentation of women is evident in the leadership of the Canadian Dental Association and the American Dental Association. We found that women are underrepresented as deans and editors in chief for NA oral health journals. Only 16 of 77 NA dental school deans are women, while 3 of 38 dental journals have women editors in chief. The probability of finding these ratios by chance is low. However, the number of women dental researcher AADR members underwent an overall increase in the past decade, while the number of men declined. These results suggest that, despite the increase in women dentists, it will take time and effort to ensure that they move through the pipeline to senior leadership positions in the same manner as their male colleagues.