Problem 8
- Is there such a thing as a “glass ceiling”?
- What are the explanations of it?
- Is it for everyone and is it everywhere?
- How does gender affect your career success?
DA PATER – GENDER, JOB CHALLENGE, AND CAREER STATUS
- women are underrepresented in management positions – even when they have
similar education and background
- glass ceiling effect: women being stuck at middle management levels
- why do men and women differ in their career success?
Determinants of career success and the gender gap in career success
- 2 broad categories: organizational/contextual and individual variables
Contextual determinants:
- Opportunity structure variables:
- organization size, promotion ladders, organization growth, line vs staff jobs,
functional area research shows inconsistent results
- type of occupation may be important:
- men and women choose to work in different industries
- high-paying industries have higher concentrations of men
- typical women dominated jobs have below average wages and fewer
opportunities for progression
- Social structure variables:
- gender composition of the hierarchy
- jobs highly occupied by women pay less than jobs occupied by women
with a low percentage
- male managerial hierarchies reduce women’s managerial
advancement
- gender of subordinates
- proportion of female subordinates is positively related to women in
management positions
- demographic similarity in organizations: inconsistent results
- interpersonal context variables:
- informal social networks are positively related to individual’s income
- women have less access to informal networks than men
- men’s careers benefit more from informal networks
- mentoring relationships:
- mentoring is positively related to management positions
- mixed evidence about whether gender differences related to this
contribute to gender gap in success
- encouragement for career advancement:
- positively related to promotions, but not managerial level
- especially helpful for women more than men, but women receive less
career encouragement
1
, - promotion processes:
- promotion velocity: starting at a higher managerial level and being promoted
leads to more promotions and higher levels
- women enter at lower organizational levels, this hinders promotion
opportunities
- Statistical gender discrimination: men gain more managerial promotions and
pay, attain higher levels
Individual determinants
- traits:
- traits are stable dispositions which predict work related outcomes
- traits related to career success: ambition, proactive personality, extraversion,
emotional stability and self-monitoring
- women’s alleged lower skills, abilities and motivations are explanations for
slower career progression???
- family status variables:
- single managers have less career success than married managers
- having children is not related to promotion rate, managerial level or pay
- if analyzed for men and women separately family negatively impacts
women’s careers and positively impacts men’s careers
- human capital:
- refer to personal investments to enrich their value in workplace
- education, training and work experiences are strongest and most consistent
predictors of career success
- no gender differences in human capital (except female managers have less
formal training and fewer years of work experience)
Quality of work experiences and their impact
- job challenge: experiences when there are unusual problems to solve, difficult
obstacles to overcome and risky decisions to make contributes to managerial
development and career success
- Explanations for the impact:
- management learning: challenging situations provide the opportunity and
motivation to learn, expands capacity for effective managerial action
- individual characteristics: internalization of positive job attitudes and high
standards, increase self-esteem and self-efficacy, ambition, tolerance of
uncertainty, inner work standards, and range of interests
- sources for organizational power: visibility to others, interpersonal networks,
resource availability
- cues for promotability: employees who perform complex tasks cue
managerial potential
Attainment of challenging job experiences:
- women and men differ in types of tasks they choose to perform
- even in the same occupation, men and women pick different specialties
- self-efficacy explains one’s self-interests and occupational choices
- people pursue tasks for which their self-efficacy is high
2
- Is there such a thing as a “glass ceiling”?
- What are the explanations of it?
- Is it for everyone and is it everywhere?
- How does gender affect your career success?
DA PATER – GENDER, JOB CHALLENGE, AND CAREER STATUS
- women are underrepresented in management positions – even when they have
similar education and background
- glass ceiling effect: women being stuck at middle management levels
- why do men and women differ in their career success?
Determinants of career success and the gender gap in career success
- 2 broad categories: organizational/contextual and individual variables
Contextual determinants:
- Opportunity structure variables:
- organization size, promotion ladders, organization growth, line vs staff jobs,
functional area research shows inconsistent results
- type of occupation may be important:
- men and women choose to work in different industries
- high-paying industries have higher concentrations of men
- typical women dominated jobs have below average wages and fewer
opportunities for progression
- Social structure variables:
- gender composition of the hierarchy
- jobs highly occupied by women pay less than jobs occupied by women
with a low percentage
- male managerial hierarchies reduce women’s managerial
advancement
- gender of subordinates
- proportion of female subordinates is positively related to women in
management positions
- demographic similarity in organizations: inconsistent results
- interpersonal context variables:
- informal social networks are positively related to individual’s income
- women have less access to informal networks than men
- men’s careers benefit more from informal networks
- mentoring relationships:
- mentoring is positively related to management positions
- mixed evidence about whether gender differences related to this
contribute to gender gap in success
- encouragement for career advancement:
- positively related to promotions, but not managerial level
- especially helpful for women more than men, but women receive less
career encouragement
1
, - promotion processes:
- promotion velocity: starting at a higher managerial level and being promoted
leads to more promotions and higher levels
- women enter at lower organizational levels, this hinders promotion
opportunities
- Statistical gender discrimination: men gain more managerial promotions and
pay, attain higher levels
Individual determinants
- traits:
- traits are stable dispositions which predict work related outcomes
- traits related to career success: ambition, proactive personality, extraversion,
emotional stability and self-monitoring
- women’s alleged lower skills, abilities and motivations are explanations for
slower career progression???
- family status variables:
- single managers have less career success than married managers
- having children is not related to promotion rate, managerial level or pay
- if analyzed for men and women separately family negatively impacts
women’s careers and positively impacts men’s careers
- human capital:
- refer to personal investments to enrich their value in workplace
- education, training and work experiences are strongest and most consistent
predictors of career success
- no gender differences in human capital (except female managers have less
formal training and fewer years of work experience)
Quality of work experiences and their impact
- job challenge: experiences when there are unusual problems to solve, difficult
obstacles to overcome and risky decisions to make contributes to managerial
development and career success
- Explanations for the impact:
- management learning: challenging situations provide the opportunity and
motivation to learn, expands capacity for effective managerial action
- individual characteristics: internalization of positive job attitudes and high
standards, increase self-esteem and self-efficacy, ambition, tolerance of
uncertainty, inner work standards, and range of interests
- sources for organizational power: visibility to others, interpersonal networks,
resource availability
- cues for promotability: employees who perform complex tasks cue
managerial potential
Attainment of challenging job experiences:
- women and men differ in types of tasks they choose to perform
- even in the same occupation, men and women pick different specialties
- self-efficacy explains one’s self-interests and occupational choices
- people pursue tasks for which their self-efficacy is high
2
