Female Managers: Perspectives on Sexual Harassment and Career Development

Abstract

Seventy-eight female managers in the tourism industry were administered a questionnaire containing selected scales of the Personality Research Form (PRF) as well as questions concerning their perceptions of sexual harassment on the job. Our purpose was to investigate the validity of the managerial stereotype while assessing perceptions of harassment in order to aid management in understanding the issue. Results suggest that the managerial stereotype of an achievement-oriented, aggressive, and dominant personality may be changing. Implications for management are discussed. In addition, respondents indicated that sexual harassment is a problem in the tourism industry. Implications for management policy are assessed with a framework for strategically addressing the harassment issue presented.

Women in hospitality management: general managers' perceptions of factors related to career development

“…The survey instrument was developed after in-depth interviews with six female and four male general managers regarding their careers and the issues they believed were important to address regarding career development. An extensive literature review was undertaken to determine the variables associated with mobility in organizations generally and advancement in the hospitality industry in particular (Anthony, 1986;Christensen, 1987;Cohen and Neilson, 1988;Fernsten et al, 1988;Williams and Hunter, 1992;DelSesto, 1993;Lobe1 and St. Clair, 1992). The literature on women in management and issues related to the glass ceiling was also examined (Bernstein, 1990;Blanksby, 1987;Carbone, 1992;Wentling, 1992: Snyder, 1993).…”

“…Researchers, educators, and practitioners alike have been troubled by the fact that women have not made more substantial career progress during the past several decades; a growing body of literature now documents this concern (Wentling, 1992;DelSesto, 1993;Williams and Hunter, 1992;Silberman, 1991;Fernsten et al, 1988). Fortune magazine, for example, recently polled 201 chief executives of the nation's largest companies.…”

Sexual harassment: overlooked and under-researched

“…Most of the papers that refer to sexual harassment from an economic/managerial perspective were published more than 10 years ago, in hospitality journals. These papers tend to explore managers' views (Fernsten et al, 1988;Gilbert et al, 1998;Woods and Kavanaugh, 1994), offer managerial tools (Aalberts and Seidman, 2001;Eaton, 2004;Eller, 1990;Sherwyn et al, 2000;Weber et al, 2002) and portray sexual harassment in the context of the impacts of tourism development on the local community (Haralambopoulos and Pizam, 1996). However, this line of managerial research tended to overlook the main victims of sexual harassment -the employees, mostly women.…”