The silicon ceiling : women managers and leaders in ICT in Australia

When I was in high school, it was always talked up that women could do science, engineering and technical [work] too. While we are just as capable as men, when we get into these industries, we face other challenges. There have been brave women who have done their bit to overcome these challenges, but it also requires brave men to challenge the attitudes of these industries to women participating in their workplaces. (APESMA, 2010) Silicon: Elemental silicon has a large impact on the modern world economy ... Because of wide use of silicon in integrated circuits, the basis of most computers, a great deal of modern technology depends on it. (Wikipedia, 2011) The chapter begins with a historical and current analysis of female participation in the workforce, in education and in leadership. The second section focuses on the information and communication technology (ICT) workforce in particular. The third section presents findings from a recent case study that gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from a diverse group of professional women in ICT. The case study provides a view into the ICT profession from the female perspective and identifies a selection of factors that would make a significant difference to female participation and longevity in the profession. The conclusion reached after this investigation is that the silicon ceiling is certainly not visible, yet remains fixed due to nonessential job characteristics that persist in the industry. The future looks bleak unless more female managers and male champions ensure that these nonessential employment characteristics are removed from ICT positions.

Feminism's marginal problem: Women in management

Contemporary feminism has, from its inception, been ambivalent in its responses to the issue of women in management. On the one hand, feminists have recognised as a problem the limited numbers of women in management and the barriers that they encounter. They have promoted the development of programs such as affirmative action with, arguably, greater, or lesser success. At the same time, there has been a reluctance by some feminists to attach too much importance to the issue, given the manifestly more severe forms of discrimination encountered by other groups of women. According to this view, the problems of a privileged elite are a lesser priority, that is, marginal to more pressing feminist concerns.

This paper is based on research into career success predictors. It draws on work on culture and models of change in higher education to show that while interventions such as legislation granting maternity leave are significant initiatives to be strongly supported, the impact of such policies is mediated by the social rules of the organisation. These rules are a corollary of enduring value structures which are embedded in organisational cultures.

Research findings showed that the value systems, and especially the social rules which operate within organisations impact on men and women's career success differently. This research provides valuable insights into the mechanisms operating at several levels (at the organisational level as well as at the level of individual women) which tend to construct women as marginal in management.

Seeking to understand the marginality experienced by women in management has benefits that extend well beyond improving the lot of individual women managers. This is because better conceptualisations of marginality and, concomitantly, power in organisations can provide leverage for more far reaching changes for women generally.

`Zealotry or nostalgic regret`? women leaders in technical and further education in Australia : agents of change, entrepreneurial educators or corporate citizens?

Education has been restructured in many Western post-industrial nation states during the 1990s. The Australian Technical and Further Education sector (TAFE) has been particularly susceptible to discourses of responsiveness to the market and the new entrepreneuralism. This article explores how women have been repositioned in contradictory and ambiguous ways as the new entrepreneurial middle managers by existing and emergent discourses that circulated in and through TAFE organizations. In turn, it points to how discourses of change management and client responsiveness took on particular readings within specific institutional and professional cultures of the eight Technical and Further Education institutions (TAFEs). At the same time, the restructuring that arose from the corporatization of TAFE, in a highly gendered process, through the twin strategies of marketization and the new managerialism produced new possibilities for individual women educators who moved up into middle management. Yet these individual women were positioned within highly masculinist 'neo-corporate bureaucratic cultures' that co-opted their passion for the capacity of education to make a difference and incorporated these new entrepeneurial work identities.

Using organizational justice to predict in-role and extra-role performance works in different ways for men relative to women

Distributive, procedural, interpersonal and informational justices were included in this study of gender differences in in-role and extra-role behavior. Distributive justice predicted performance, organizational commitment and OCB for men but only performance and job satisfaction for women. Procedural justice predicted job satisfaction for men and did not predict any outcomes for women. Informational justice predicted job satisfaction for both male and female respondents. Informational justice predicted female but not male organizational commitment and in-role performance. Interpersonal justice predicted male but not female organizational citizenship behavior. The study demonstrates important distinctions between the four organizational justice types and how men and women respond differently to those distinctions. The differences in the drivers of in-role performance between men and women may also have practical implications for managers. For example, distributive justice was a direct in-role performance driver for both genders, but informational justice provides an incremental direct effect for women.

A cross-cultural study into peer evaluations of women's leadership effectiveness

Purpose: The present paper is based on a cross-cultural exploration of middle managers in two diverse cultures and aims to focus on how the leadership styles of managerial women are perceived and evaluated. In particular, female and male peer evaluations of leadership effectiveness in Malaysia and Australia are to be explored.

Design/methodology/approach: Surveys from 324 middle managers from Malaysia and Australia were quantitatively analysed. The sample for the study was drawn from organisations in four industry types in both countries.

Findings:  Findings suggest that evaluations of female managers' leadership styles in general, and within the respondent's own organisations, were strongly culture specific, especially in Malaysia. The results reflected the strongly held values, attitudes and beliefs of each country. While this is not unexpected, it does highlight a need to be cautious when interpreting Western research results and attempting to transplant those into other cultures. In Malaysia, female managers were not seen as effective in the leadership styles they adopted in their roles when compared to the Australian female managers' evaluations. Such an evaluation may have had little to do with an objective appraisal of the female managers' capability, but rather with a strongly held cultural belief about the appropriate role of women in society, and in organisations in particular.

Research limitations/implications:  It is suggested that national culture manifests itself in the values, attitudes and behaviours of people. Cultural influences are therefore likely to impact on the way women and men behave in the workplace, particularly when roles of authority and power are evident, and the way in which that behaviour will be evaluated by others. Further research using different samples in different cultures are recommended. In addition, the influence of ethnicity, race or religion in plural countries such as Malaysia and Australia is also worthy of investigation.

Practical implications:  This research suggests that values and attitudes are strongly culture-specific and therefore have the ability to influence evaluations at an organisational level. Such an awareness of cultural influences should guide appropriate human resource practices, particularly within a globalized environment.

Originality/value:  The inclusion of a gender comparison in the data analysis in this paper is a significant attempt to add to the extant knowledge of the cross-cultural research. This is a unique contribution because of the omission of a gender perspective in the previous two seminal studies in culture literature (i.e. Hofstede and House et al.). In addition, the findings suggest that culture-specific influences are important determinants that impose expectations on the role of women differently from men in society and within organisations hence, making the gender comparison of the findings more significant.

Women in international assignments in multinational enterprises

Research in the US, Europe and Australia shows that women's participation in international assignments is low. This book seeks to understand why this is the case. A conceptual framework of the factors related to the participation of women in international assignments was developed. Areas covered include the organisational environment, interpersonal factors and support, individual variables, characteristics and repatriation factors. Three studies were conducted using international assignees, repatriates and human resource managers. The conceptual framework was empirically supported by the three studies. It is anticipated that this knowledge will assist women, HR managers and the HR function to develop selection systems, environments and attitudes that are supportive of women participating in international assignments in MNEs. The research should be useful to practitioners, and academics who are interested in the field of international human resource management, and to women considering participating in an international assignment.

The role of leadership theory in raising the profile of women in management

Purpose: To consider how leadership theories have helped or hindered raising the profile of women in management and leadership roles.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper traces the earlier leadership theories through to the contemporary research on transactional and transformational leadership styles and offers a viewpoint on how each theory has contributed, or otherwise, to an awareness and acceptance of women in management and leadership roles.

Findings:  In 1990, research began to report gender differences in leadership styles with female managers being seen in positive terms as participative, democratic leaders. More recent work reports that women are believed to exhibit more transformational leadership style than their male colleagues, and this is equated with effective leadership.

Research limitations/implications:  All of the earlier theories on leadership excluded women and this exacerbated the problem of women not being seen as an appropriate fit in a management or leadership role. Recent findings clearly describe that the transformational qualities of leadership that women exhibit are required by the flatter organisational structures of today. Therefore, a more positive outcome for women advancing to senior roles of management or leadership may be observed in the future.

Originality/value:  The paper reviews the major leadership theories, and links these to a timeframe to illustrate how women were not visible in a management context until relatively recently. Such an omission may have contributed to the continuing low numbers of women who advance to senior management and leadership roles.

Malaysian and Australian male and female middle managers : a cross-cultural comparison of workplace attitudes, aspirations for promotion, and self-rated leadership styles

This paper outlines the rise of women in management worldwide, and considers why so few women achieve senior or executive management positions. This slow advance of women into senior roles is unexpected given that the changes in organisations today are believed to require more ‘feminine leadership’. A decrease in the emphasis on masculine characteristics for managers is reported, and a requirement that more ‘feminine leadership’ needs to be adopted by organisations in order to ensure their survival in the future (Powell, Butterfield & Parent, 2002, p.189). Recent empirical research reports that there are differences in leadership style between male and female managers, and the findings suggest that women exhibit more transformational leadership than their male counterparts, with this style being strongly equated with effective leadership (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, van Engen, 2003). However, these findings are based on western research, and it may be that cross cultural research will yield a different picture (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004). Leadership and leadership styles may be conceptualised differently in a more paternalistic society. To explore this possibility, a cross cultural study was conducted in Malaysia and Australia. It is hypothesised that countries that are paternalistic in cultural values will exhibit a stronger constraint on women in management roles, which may impact on workplace attitudes, aspirations for promotion and style of leadership exhibited. Therefore, it is possible that the career advancement of women may be more problematic for Malaysian managerial women than their Australian counterparts. Results from an initial pilot study in Malaysia and Australia are outlined, and highlight some interesting similarities and differences to what are reported in the western literature.

Executive women in Australia

Women currently comprise approx. 25% of the Australian workforce in the Australian Bureau of Statistics category of Managers & Administrators. Little is known of their health status. HBA Health Management made available the results of corporate health assessments of 600 female clients in this category to carry out this health status study based on a range of medical, lifestyle and fitness indicators. Comparisons were drawn from women working within other occupational categories. Analysis showed there to be few detrimental health effects associated with being employed as a Manager & Administrator or with being married. Being a mother and employed does have some negative health effects.

The story of Lijjat : women's entrepreneurship and empowerment in India

This paper narrates the story of an Indian women's organisation called Lijjat which is not only a case in women's empowerment but one of a very successful business enterprise by any standards. Lijjat has grown over a period of half a century from its humble beginnings in 1959 to a growing organisation symbolising women's empowerment through an enterprise that has a turnover of l. Rs. 4.85 billion and an envious brand image for its consumer products. The Lijjat business model offers us insights and solutions in the third and fourth world context to fight poverty and restore dignity. More importantly, it offers us a business model to empower women and thus their families living at C.K. Prahlads "bottom of the pyramid" not only as consumers, but in this instance, in full measure as entrepreneurs and business managers.

Women in ICT project management and society : snapshot of a decade and a conduit for sustainable progress

In the past decade, the power of pervasive Internet has permeated global businesses, as the world became interconnected. During this momentous decade, the proportion of women working in the information communication technology (ICT) industry as project managers increased, triggered by the opportunities presented by this brave new networked world. This trend posed new complexities in organizations and resulted in some significant changes in the societal composition. This paper provides a snapshot of the progress of women project managers in the ICT sector over the past decade, their challenges and the approach of some businesses to address these, leveraging on opportunities presented by emerging or evolving technologies. The research reported in this paper synthesizes literature reviews, previous research and a cross-sectional global survey that was conducted in 2010, within ICT sector that sought perceptions of women who work in the ICT sector regarding the constructive role of organizations and ICTs in their progress over the decade.

Failure to thrive: mid-career women in higher education

Gender underrepresentation in higher education (HE) is a persistent global phenomenon. The purpose of this research was to re-examine it through symbolic interactionism (SI). Eight women aspiring to leadership were invited to participate in semi structured interviews after attending a leadership programme specifically designed to enhance their prospects. Analysis indicated ambiguities and contradictions surround notions of leadership, as well as opportunities for leadership. This was evidenced by their appraisal of the existing leadership, speculations regarding their leadership capacity, how the participants position themselves and are positioned in their workplace. Actively “paying it forward” was seen as facilitating promotion, and line managers’ familiarity with the work undertaken by aspirants. Formal leadership training was advocated rather than experiential processes. 

Challenges for sport development: women's entry level cycling participation

Sport participation is an issue of relevance to sport managers, yet it is an often-neglected area of sport management research. Cycling is a particularly complex form of participation to examine given its many formats, including sport, recreational and commuter cycling, and the multifaceted nature of the cycling landscape involving a broad range of stakeholders. In Australia, women are underrepresented in cycling participation and membership (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012; Cycling Australia, 2014), yet women show an interest in cycling training courses. The present paper explores motivations, supports and constraints reported by a group of entry-level female cyclists who participated in a training programme accredited by AustCycle, an initiative led by Cycling Australia. We draw on a health and sport development driven framework, informed by social ecological theory (Rowe et al., 2013), and suited to examining the issue of women's cycling participation in Australia. Results show that a range of individual characteristics, and factors within the social and physical environment, were perceived by study participants as barriers to participation. Of these, skill level, confidence, traffic/road conditions, and social support networks held particular relevance. Participants also discussed specific cycling barriers and supports of relevance to certain forms of cycling. Preliminary insights into perceptions held by a group of entry-level female cyclists highlight overlaps between cycling formats and indicate that conceptual advancements in the development of sport, and development through sport could be collectively considered in the context of women's cycling participation. Further research opportunities were also identified.