Women's role in management is an important issue. This is based not just on moral, but also on economic grounds. In many countries female participation rates in labour markets have increased, but a similar expansion into managerial posts has commonly lagged behind this, often an indication of the resilience of the so-called 'glass ceiling'. We use South Korea as an example to explore this. We review the literature in the area and provide theoretical explanations and a lens through which to view developments which indicate that social and cultural, rather than economic, reasons often underpin the situation. We go on to outline some possible ways to confront female managerial discrimination and to increase women's roles in management.

The benefits of teams and teamwork are popular and propounded in management discourse. The use of this lexicon is based on beliefs in the resultant mutual gains for both organizations and individuals. Yet, are all teams, irrespective of the characteristics of membership composition, the same in terms of such beneficial outcomes? This study investigates the importance of team member characteristics, particularly cognitive and demographic, on team effectiveness and which characteristics matter more in team activities, especially where labour turnover is high, such as in software development. The Shared Mental Model is outlined and used as the representative construct for cognitive similarities; while age, tenure and gender are the demographic aspects used. From the relevant literature we develop a hypothesis and subject it to a range of tests based on empirical fieldwork using software development teams in South Korea. Our analysis shows that team effectiveness is more influenced by cognitive than demographic similarities. The implications and limitations of this work are detailed, with its wider relevance to international management, business and practice and other countries, noted.

Our paper focuses on Asian female managers and the influence of individual and organizational factors on objective and subjective career success. We use a survey and interviews of female managers in South Korea post-1997 Asian financial crisis and pre-2008 global financial crisis. Importantly, we find male-dominated business and societal cultures stemming from the context to be crucial. The implications of our findings include the greater need to take into account the restraints on individual actions and the need for state and management support. We conclude that the role of context is too often underplayed and needs to be more fully addressed in analysis of female careers in not only Asia, but also more widely. Key points1 The article examines the influence of individual versus organizational factors on objective and subjective career success using both a survey and interviews of female managers in South Korea post-1997 Asian financial crisis and pre-2008 global financial crisis. 2 The article finds male-dominated business cultures stemming from the spatial context a crucial impact on female careers and the implications include the greater need to take into account the restraints on individual actions and context, and to provide more business and management support and understanding of female careers. 3 The article concludes that the role of context is too often underplayed and needs to be addressed in research on female careers.