Women In Senior Management Research Articles

Getting to the Bottom Line: An Exploration of Gender and Earnings Quality

For stakeholders, such as investors and lenders, to appropriately assess a company's financial performance, the reported accounting earnings must closely reflect the economic reality of the organization's financial activity throughout the reporting period. The degree to which reported earnings capture economic reality is called earnings quality. Managers have an ethical obligation to report high quality earnings to interested stakeholders in a timely matter. Accounting research has identified conditions within an organization, such as management compensation contracts and pending litigation, that can impact earnings quality. We extend this line of research by exploring whether another characteristic of an organization, gender diversity in senior management, influences the quality of reported earnings. Companies with more women in senior management are found to be more profitable and have higher stock returns after initial public offerings than those with fewer women in the management ranks. Our findings suggest that the improved bottom line for companies with more women senior executives is not produced through the management of earnings or lower quality earnings. Instead, earnings quality is positively associated with gender diversity in senior management.

Diagnosing Discrimination: Stock Returns and Ceo Gender

A vast labor literature has found evidence of a “glass ceiling,” whereby women are under-represented among senior management. A key question remains the extent to which this reflects unobserved differences in productivity, preferences, prejudice, or systematically biased beliefs about the ability of female managers. Disentangling these theories would require data on productivity, on the preferences of those who interact with managers, and on perceptions of productivity. Financial markets provide continuous measures of the market's perception of the value of firms, taking account of the beliefs of market participants about the ability of the men and women in senior management. As such, financial data hold the promise of potentially providing insight into the presence of mistake-based discrimination. Specifically, if female-headed firms were systematically under-estimated, this would suggest that female-headed firms would outperform expectations, yielding excess returns. Examining data on S&P 1500 firms over the period 1992–2004 I find no systematic differences in returns to holding stock in female-headed firms, although this result reflects the weak statistical power of our test, rather than a strong inference that financial markets either do or do not under-estimate female CEOs. (JEL: J7, G14, J44)

Diagnosing Discrimination: Stock Returns and CEO Gender

A vast labor literature has found evidence of a glass ceiling, whereby women are under-represented among senior management. A key question remains the extent to which this reflects unobserved differences in productivity, preferences, prejudice, or systematically biased beliefs about the ability of female managers. Disentangling these theories would require data on productivity, on the preferences of those who interact with managers, and on perceptions of productivity. Financial markets provide continuous measures of the market's perception of the value of firms, taking account of the beliefs of market participants about the ability of the men and women in senior management. As such, financial data hold the promise of potentially providing insight into the presence of mistake-based discrimination. Specifically if female-headed firms were systematically under-estimated, this would suggest that female-headed firms would outperform expectations, yielding excess returns. Examining data on S&P 1500 firms over the period 1992-2004 I find no systematic differences in returns to holding stock in female-headed firms, although this result reflects the weak statistical power of our test, rather than a strong inference that financial markets either do or do not under-estimate female CEOs.

Work/life balance: senior management champions or laggards?

PurposeThis paper seeks to examine the experience of, and attitudes towards, work/life balance (WLB) by female and male senior managers in a major Irish organisation for which WLB is now a strategic corporate objective.Design/methodology/approachBoth quantitative and qualitative data were collected using an electronic questionnaire survey designed to obtain the views of female and male managers on strategies that would contribute to a better gender balance, promote diversity and raise leadership capacity in the organisation. Work/life balance emerged as a major issue in impeding the career progression of female managers. All female managers and a sample of male managers were surveyed. This paper concentrates on the responses of the two senior management grades below Executive Director on the issue and strategies to promote work/life balance. Additional qualitative data were drawn from interviews (with eight women and five men) and three focus group sessions with all male, all female and mixed gender groups.FindingsThe greatest obstacle to achieving WLB is seen as the “long hours” culture in which availing oneself of flexible options (e.g. working from home/reduced hours/flexitime) is incompatible with holding a senior management post. Many of the senior men have followed the “breadwinner” model by being able to delegate family and caring activities to their wives. This option has not been possible for the majority of women in senior posts. Hence, men seek WLB to resolve commuting/working time issues. Women want to avail themselves of more flexible arrangements for family/quality of life reasons. Both men and women in senior management recognise that their own careers would be seriously jeopardised by taking up WLB arrangements.Originality/valueIn the absence of role models willing to display any contrary behaviour there is a pragmatic need to align corporate policy and practice with prevailing and future family structures and demonstrate, by senior management example, how WLB can work and provide assistance for managers/staff who seek to avail themselves of it. WLB policies are not enough in themselves to ensure take‐up and acceptance. It will require trust, courage and a range of interventions to champion WLB, not just at management level.

The Gendered Impact on Organisations of a Critical Mass of Women in Senior Management

This paper reports on the findings of a recent Australia-wide empirical study that investigated the impact of the presence of senior women executives on management cultures. The study involved interviews with 255 senior executives in Australian organisations from the higher education, public and private sectors. It sought to analyse gendered organisational practices and procedures embedded within such cultures. We found that both men and women clearly agreed that the presence of women in senior roles had changed management cultures and influenced methods of decision-making. Yet we also found that the influences that women were seen to have on management cultures were often described in terms that reinforced traditional gender stereotypes. The paper argues that valuing management based upon traits and orientations traditionally associated with women and “the feminine” has the potential to further engender inequality at senior levels in organisations.

Senior management women and gender equity: a comparison of public and private sector women in Australia

Gender inequity is constructed and reproduced differently in response to varying organisational contexts. In order to challenge gender inequity, EEO policies must be monitored and managers need to enact appropriate strategies that enable change. This article compares the views and strategies of 251 senior management women in public, and 338 in private, sector organisations towards issues of gender equity. The aim is to contrast and compare the views and reported behaviour of senior management women in each sector towards gender equity, and examine the strength and nature of any differences arising from the different organisational contexts. The results highlight the importance of an identification with feminism, personal experience with sexual discrimination, and the assistance of amentor as enabling forces that predispose senior women managers in both sectors to enact change strategies that address gender inequity. However, women in the public sector are significantly more predisposed, than private sector women, to enact strategies that challenge gender inequity. The results are discussed with regard to their implications for gender equity goals in each type of organisational context.

Academic Career Paths: Women in Senior Management in Malaysian Higher Education

Women have made great strides into higher education where they now account for half of all undergraduate and postgraduate enrolments in OECD and most ASEAN countries. Yet globally women are a minority in university senior management. The question many educators and sociologists have asked is: What is the problem? What accounts for this gender imbalance? This case study on women in higher education management in Malaysia investigates women's experiences and perceptions of cultural and structural “glass ceiling” barriers. It is argued that glass ceiling politics cannot be generalized across cultural and nation-state differences. Although universities the world over share more or less similar bureaucratic, organizational, and governance structures, local cultural adaptations shape women's opportunities in culture-specific ways. Main themes identified in this study are: (1) women's difficulties in balancing professional careers with family and domestic responsibilities; (2) cultural values that maintain double standards for men and women in public life; (3) the prevalence of male academic culture that shuts women out; (4) women's reluctance to self-promote their abilities and achievements which can make them institutionally invisible; (5) women's exclusion from the politics of appointments at the most senior levels; and (6) Chinese and Indian women's perceptions of “ethnic concrete ceilings”.

PAPER ABSTRACTS GENDER & DIVERSITY IN ORGANIZATIONS.

Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings includes abstracts of all papers and symposia presented at the annual conference, plus 6-page abridged versions of the “Best Papers” accepted for inclusion in the program (approximately 10%). Papers published in the Proceedings are abridged because presenting papers at their full length could preclude subsequent journal publication. Please contact the author(s) directly for the full papers. ArticlesPAPER ABSTRACTS GENDER & DIVERSITY IN ORGANIZATIONS.Published Online:13 Dec 2017https://doi.org/10.5465/apbpp.2000.5439160AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsDownload CitationsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail AbstractThis article presents abstracts of articles related to gender and diversity in organizations including "The Impact of Legal Age Discrimination on Women in Professional Occupations," by Nancy Kurland, "Cultural Diversity: A Configurational Theory for Overcoming the Negative Consequences," by Amy McMillan and "The Persistence of Gender Inequality in Management Over Time: Evidence from Senior Women Managers in Europe," by Margaret Linehan.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 2000, No. 1 Permissions Metrics in the past 12 months History Published online 13 December 2017 Published in print 1 August 2000 InformationCopyright of Academy of Management Journal is the property of Academy of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.KeywordsABSTRACTSWOMEN employees -- AbstractsSEX discrimination in employment -- AbstractsWOMEN executives -- AbstractsDIVERSITY in the workplace -- AbstractsDownload PDF

The under‐representation of women in senior management in UK independent secondary schools

Statistics show that women are under‐represented in senior management posts in UK independent schools, especially in the secondary sector. Reviews recent studies on women in senior roles in independent schools, concentrating on the secondary sector and comparing the situation with some studies from the maintained sector. Suggests that much needs to be done to improve the status of women in many independent schools, but that further research needs to be done across the whole independent secondary sector to assess how widespread negative attitudes are. Also suggests that training courses should be suited to women’s needs and that mentoring should be more widely available.

Some issues concerning women in senior management: a case study from Ghana

This article considers issues concerning women's managerial careers in the Ghanaian Civil Service, which have emerged from an analysis of data collected in Accra as part of a Government of Ghana project supported by the United Kingdom Department for International Development. This examined the position and status of Women in Public Life in Ghana and was known as the WIPL project. Within this project, information was collected from women civil servants, and it is this which is presented here. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Some issues concerning women in senior management: a case study from Ghana

This article considers issues concerning womens managerial careers in the Ghanaian Civil Service which have emerged from an analysis of data collected in Accra as part of a Government of Ghana project supported by the United Kingdom Department for International Development. This examined the position and status of Women in Public Life in Ghana and was known as the WIPL project. Within this project information was collected from women civil servants and it is this which is presented here. (authors)

Caught in the Crossfire: Women and Corporate Restructuring

AbstractSenior women managers who voluntarily left a crown corporation in the midst of corporate restructuring were interviewed to explore the factors leading to their departure. Several themes associated with the restructuring process emerged, some of which appear to be unique to women.RésuméIl s'agit ici d'un entretien mené avec des femmes cadres supérieures qui, de leur plein gré, ont quitté leur poste au sein d'une société de la Couronne en pleine restructuration interne. L'entretien, qui vise à explorer les facteurs qui ont amené ces femmes à partir, fait ressortir plusieurs thèmes associés au processus de restructuration, dont certains semblent ětre spécifiques aux femmes.

An exploration of the current under‐representation of senior women managers in Australian universities

More than a decade after Australian universities first responded to the requirements of the EEO/AA legislative framework, women remain marginalised and seriously under‐ represented in Australian universities. This paper provides a snapshot of the current status of women’s participation in the senior levels of universities and examines some of the reasons why universities are still providing a “chilly climate” for women and other minority actors. It is argued that Australian universities can no longer afford to frustrate, alienate and marginalise some of their most creative organisational actors when they are facing a new era of rapid change and competition.

The glass ceiling in local government: A case study

Barriers to women's progress in senior management are often referred to as ‘the glass ceiling ‘. This research investigated these barriers in one local authority where an equal opportunities policy was well established. Interviews with employees in six departments focused on perceptions of and experiences of women in senior management. This study provides some evidence that change has taken place and staff in some departments suggest that a new climate of working relations has been fostered through policies and training. This change continues to be mainly limited to non‐management grades. This research questions why there are so few women in senior management in the local authority and raises issues about their experiences.

Writing women into management or writing ourselves out: a dilemma for women as authors

Examines the response of the discipline of management to the problem of the underrepresentation of women in senior management. Analyses 14 leading scholarly management journals and demonstrates that the journals ignore the problem of women’s underrepresentation and that this has important consequences for women. Women are largely underrepresented as authors in management journals and, when they do publish, they do not publish on the problems of women in senior management. Moreover, the exclusion of women in management as a topic in the journals does not appear to be positively influenced by the presence of female editors or the representation of women on editorial boards. Explores the manner in which the knowledge produced by women about women in senior management in journals such as Women in Management Review works in ways that are simultaneously liberating and self‐disciplining. Concludes by posing a profound dilemma for women who, as a consistent first choice, choose to publish in “gender journals” such as Women in Management Review.

The construction of women’s management skills and the marginalization of women in senior management

Observes that over the past two decades a body of literature on perceived differences in the management skills of men and women has emerged. Demonstrates, in a detailed examination of sex/gender differences literature, that attempts to establish differences in management style and behaviour are inconclusive. Locating the article within feminist post‐structuralism, argues that it is important to focus not on the results of the sex/gender differences literature, but on its function and effects. Feels that the sex/gender differences literature functions to construct women’s management skills and its effects are to both regulate and marginalize women in senior management.

High‐flying Women in Senior Management

High‐flying Women in Senior Management

Senior women managers and processes of change in the National Health Service

Abstract The authors completed a survey of the career paths of one‐sixth of senior women managers in the National Health Service, UK. The report ‘Women managers in the NHS: a celebration of success’ was published by the Department of Health in November 1992. All the women in the survey had experienced being dependent on senior males who donated their power to them and who established the conditional nature of masculine support. A pattern emerges of the ways in which women are used in male organizations. There seem to be two distinct kinds of patronage which represent two different stereotyped views of female ability. Women are often matched to posts which are seen as ‘women's work’ and denied access to other posts defined as male. Alternatively, at times of change, the appointment of a woman to a key post may be made in order to symbolize a commitment to change amongst those appointing her. This paper considers the conditional nature of women's promotions and the experience for women at the top of an orga...

Human Resource Development and Senior Women Managers in the North‐East

Considers how women have progressed in their careers to middle/senior management levels in the North‐East. Focuses on the individual experiences of 40 such women and covers the impacts of their work and environment, education training and development, personal circumstances, and contributions and barriers to success. The data were collected via interviews and questionnaires during 1992/3. Our findings point to a highly qualified group of women who stress the importance of networking and mentoring at different stages in their careers. Personal characteristics are highlighted as contributors to success. Organizational issues and peer pressure are among the key barriers to success.

Women in Management: Organizational Socialization and Assessment Practices that Prevent Career Advancement

This paper reviews some of the literature on women in management in the UK, with particular emphasis on the biographical data collected in major studies. In view of the small proportions of women in senior management it seeks to identify the potential barriers that assessment procedures create for women wanting to progress to top positions. As organizations are encouraged to increase the‘fairness’and 'sophistication’of these procedures, they may in fact be reinforcing the very nature of the discriminations they are supposedly attempting to reduce. This paper outlines how this may be happening.