Stemming the exodus of women managers

Abstract

Survey findings based on a national sample of CEOs and human resource managers indicate that over 50% of organizations have experienced moderate to great difficulty attracting and retaining women managers and professionals. Respondents perceived that the most serious career problems encountered by women revolve around organizational politics, career development opportunities, and family conflicts. Existing and needed human resource management policies in response to these problems are reported. A series of additional analyses highlight differences across industries, and according to company size and stage in the corporate life cycle. Based on survey findings, recommendations are discussed for human resource management practitioners concerned with increasing their companies' abilities to actively compete for and retain women managers.

Procedural justice in promotion decisions: using perceptions of fairness to build employee commitment

“…While Mathieu and Zajac (1990) found little direct effect of commitment on job performance, research indicates that low organizational commitment leads to high turnover (Marsh and Mannari, 1977;Shore and Martin, 1989;Steers, 1977), and high turnover rates have a negative impact on the exiting employees and the firm psychologically as well as financially (Caldwell et al, 1990;Rosen et al, 1989). Western culture does not dictate these results.…”

A Profile of Female Retail Managers: Some Insights

“…The problems encountered by female managers (lack of feedback on performance, exclusion from the informal network, absence of mentors, lack of female role models, hitting the glass ceiling, lack of support from male superiors and dual career family conflicts) were mentioned with more regularity than the male managers and accord with previous research studies [eg. Rosen, Miguel and Peirce, 1989;Crompton, Gallie and Purcell, 19961. For those with children, women (55%) were more likely than men (26%) to report ' parenthood had affected their career which, in turn, may be perceived as them being less committed than men to their careers [Arnold, 19971 or failing professionally [Gallos, 19891. Of the ways parenthood had affected careers, men said it had restricted their mobility (no women mentioned this factor), while women were more likely to report it had restricted their hours and time of work (not mentioned by men), which is interesting given the long hours they report working (Table 2).…”

25 Years On: Reflecting on the Past and Looking to the Future in Gender and Management Research

“…Women's voice research was thus concerned with highlighting gender difference in areas such as career progress and career orientation (e.g. Alban- Metcalfe, 1984;Burke and McKeen, 1994;Burke, Rothstein and Bristor, 1995;Davidson and Cooper, 1992;Gutek and Larwood, 1987;Hammond and Holton, 1991;Nicholson and West, 1988;Rosen, Miguel and Pierce, 1989;Tharenou, Latimer and Conroy, 1994), experience of career barriers (e.g. Adler, 1993;Coe, 1992;Hansard Society Commission, 1990;Marshall, 1984;Oakley, 2000;Povall, 1984) and leadership behaviours (Davidson and Cooper, 1987;Donnell and Hall, 1980;Ferrario, 1991;Loden, 1985;Rosener, 1990) with the explicit aim of achieving 'gender justice' through the removal of gender-based barriers to career success.…”