Glass Ceiling-About Race or Behavior?

Many think that when people move up the corporate ladder they are increasingly surrounded by people that care less about others' feelings and are more task-focused. To work your way upward in corporate America requires more "task-focused behaviors" and less demonstration of "communal" qualities. If this is the case then the glass ceiling is not in the way of people's race or gender but their behaviors. 


Most women are told they are "too nice" to hold an upper management positions. Could this be the reason for women hitting the glass ceiling because they are "too nice" or their behaviors are not fit for the upper management positions? 


Do senior level positions require a person task-oriented with a less feeling base of managing? If their is a certain behavior that succeeds in these positions could that be the barrier keeping many women and minorities from holding those positions? 




Article

Aimee Rankovich

Diversity

For my last blog of the semester I just wanted to tell you all how much I have learned from this topic and how I will use these things to further my college experience and career. I always thought of myself as an open minded individual and someone who enjoyed peoples differences. Before this class I don't think I actually understood that diversity was more than just differences amongst race, gender, and age. I also never looked at diversity in relation to work. I think diversity is something that everyone should embrace and be mindful of because no one person is the same. Although diversity can have some challenges it also has its advantages. I think the main thing I will take from this chapter is embracing people's differences and not just in relation to the physical but also differences in opinion, creativity, education, and any other way people are different. I think its amazing when a group or team of different backgrounds and personalities are able to get together and come up with brilliant ideas together. Some day when I'm deciding who I want to work for me I'm going to make sure I have a diverse group of people, this way the creativity, customer service, and company performance will be successful. My major is Organizational Leadership so I'm probably going to have many more classes and job experiences where I will have to work in teams. Being able to understand and embrace other peoples differences when working in teams is crucial because it affects the team dynamics, function and productivity. Also by posting this blogs I have become more aware of diversity in the workforce and which companies are successful at it. I can look at these individual companies and use the techniques that have made them successful for my own success. I can also use this information when deciding where I want to work or intern. Being involved with a company that is diverse is definitely something I consider making me satisfied with a job and as we have learned job satisfaction is very important for a great experience at work.
Quasheena Ellis
Team 2

It's not a glass ceiling, It's a sticky floor

Are you stuck by hitting the glass ceiling? Or are you stuck on the floor? 

In this book, strategies are given on how to get ahead in your career where you might think you have hit the top of the ladder. The interactive and engaging book provides a number of targeted assessments, proven techniques, tools and strategies to help you overcome or avoid the 'sticky floor'. 

Assessments help you determine what you own sticky floor is as well as your personal strengths in the workplace. This book should be read for anyone who believes they are hitting a normal glass ceiling in their career and for those who don't. Given strategies to help anyone include work/life balance, the loyalty factor, perfectionism vs. excellence, building strategic relationships, political savvy, making your words count, and asking for what you want. 

Is their such thing as a glass ceiling or is it just sticky floors? With hard work and determination you should be able to accomplish everything you want. With the right tools and help you can climb the ladder to success.  Do you believe you can work your way through the 'glass ceiling'?

Book info...

Aimee Rankovich

Manly News...

In 2011, when you turn on the news you are more likely to find a male reporter than female telling you all the news going on in your area. Only 36% of reporters are women. Behind the scenes is not much different with only 27% of top management jobs held by women. South Africa ranks the highest with women in senior management positions with 8 in 10 held by a woman.

If women held the management positions in the media world would the news change? Many think that the difference in news stories reported would vary with a female producer compared to a male. Even if that was true, the vast difference in female to male management does not account for the opinion. The behavior in the work place will vary with female management but the present is the best time to work with the change.

The progress is slow but women will work their way up in the coming years to take over senior management positions. The younger generation is growing with the normal presence of women in upper management fields. Do you think that this problem of the glass ceiling will fix itself with time and the new working generation?

Article

Aimee Rankovich

Mcdonalds and Diversity

Again this search resulted from me just exploring different company websites and reading about their diversity policies....

"Embracing and empowering a diverse workforce has been a part of the McDonald’s culture for decades."-McDonald's. McDonald's has invested in something they call Talent Management and this is a way for the company to create accelerated development programs to ensure they have high-performing, committed leaders, and  diverse pool of candidates for their companies. McDonald knows the importance of having a diverse team. McDonald's believe that the values they believe in affect the decisions they make each day. McDonald's has an annual Employee Commitment Survey that they asks their employees to partake in and in this survey they ask questions regarding the company's values. McDonald's says these surveys(as a part of the new programs they are implementing) are developing high potential directors. I think it is very important for companies to take part in getting feedback from not just customers but their employees too! We discussed in class the importance of communication and feedback and in my opinion 360 degree feedback is the best way. When companies take part in hearing from the employees they can begin to access whether companies goals are being met according to the mission/vision of the company and it looks like this is what McDonald's is doing.  In relation to diversity this talent program is allowing the company to choose from high performing candidates. These candidates are not limited to a set of criteria. As long as the people are able to generate great ideas and lead the company to success they qualify. In order to have diverse ideas and creativity in a company, firms shouldn't limit they hiring process to a specific age, gender, or race.
The questions I pose to you is if McDonald's make a public statement stating they didn't support diversity would this affect whether or not you would eat there? and have you experienced any training on diversity formally or informally? If so how do you think it has affected your work ethics?
Quasheena Ellis
Team 2

Companies and Diversity

For the past couple of weeks I've been researching Starbucks for our team paper and I came across a section on their website entitled Our Company. In this section they listed several things like company policies, the compan'y vision, and career diversity. As I read through the diversity section I thought it would be a good idea to BLOG about Starbucks Diversity. "As partners, we embrace diversity to create a place where each of us can be ourselves. And we always treat each other with respect and dignity. But don’t just take it from us"-Starbucks. Starbucks incorporates diversity in their everyday work experience. You can see how this affects the company's culture by making them a very successful business that is able to understand customer and employee needs. Starbucks has received many awards because of the great job they do at implementing diversity at work(ideas, gender, age, etc). Some of the awards include: supporting National Coucil of La Raza, lideres (young leaders) program, being honored by The Disability Rights legal Center for nurturing an environment of respect and sensitivity to people with disabilities, and named one of 40 best companies for diversity by Black enterprise Magazine. As we know diversity can be a very positve thing for companies who embrace it and manage diversity well. Starbucks has managed diversity very well and they see it in their customer and employees response to their services. If you would like to read more just go to Starbucks!

Another company I decided to research was Johnson and Johnson. Johson and Johnson also feels like diversity is a very important aspect of a company. In fact many of their ideas about diversity coincide with what we've learned in Chapter 2 of our text. "We recognize that differences in age, race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, physical ability, thinking style and background bring richness to our work environments. Such differences help us connect better with the health needs of people in communities around the world."-Johnson and Johnson. So that I won't repeat past ideas I will refer you to a video on Johnson and Johnson's website that I think really describes the companys perception of Diversity...Celebrating Differences Video.

Women in Political Leadership Roles

 http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3025456

This article i found is from a leadership conference in Canada (consisting of mostly women) discussing women that are and are not currently in political leadership positions. The speaker mentioned that politics would change for the better if more women were elected, but because these women don't know how it would be to balance work and family life, they choose not to run. Also, whenever women are active in the political realm, tend to be sexualized in the media. All of the speakers at this conference are encouraging women to fight for their rights and according to Maryam Monsef, until the women decide that every single woman is free, they will never break through that glass ceiling.

For these women to gain access to a political leadership role, there needs to be some sort of power that they individually posses. The book mentions several types of power such as Legitimate Power, Coercive Power, etc. I believe that in order for women to get into the political office, they'll need to have Expert Power and Information Power. Expert power is very important because it signifies the woman's ability to comprehend the political atmosphere and give her knowledgeable two cents in without going straight into an argument. Also, these women should have access to most, if not all legal information regarding politics for them to use to express new ideas and remind other politicians that something similar to their debate or idea has already occurred.

One thing that women can do, but again the media would end up taking it too far, is wow the crowd with their charisma. Good looking women in the media or politics somehow always get examined as being sexual and not taken seriously after the media takes control. But with their Expert Power, they can model President O'Bama and use their charisma rational persuasion for their advantage to logically convince others that what they propose is a win.

For each woman to stand up for their rights and decide to go the political route, there needs to be nonverbal, verbal, and behavior impression management in order to interact and gain respect from others. For those women that can achieve the above types of powers and tasks, do you think they should give up their family time to go into the political world knowing they can actually make a difference with other women, as well as people in the country in general? If not, why?

Thanks.

Jon Locke

Business Advantages of Diversity in the Workplace

Link to referenced article: http://www.ethnoconnect.com/html/articles_09.html

There are so many benefits for encouraging diversity in an organization.  It is crucial for an organization to stay one step ahead of United States Office of Employment statistics in order for that organization to survive.  The United States Office of Employment predicts that more than 29 percent of the labor force in the U.S. will be composed of minorities by 2008.  This has already passed so more than one third of the country's labor force comes from minority groups.

If a company's workforce does not come close to this 30% threshold, that company is not being as proactive at hiring minorities to increase diversity within the organization.  Increased diversity inherently makes an organization stronger.  The market is becoming increasingly globalized.  Just because a company is based in the U.S. doesn't mean that global markets do not affect the company.  Many companies have to take products onto a global stage to remain solvent and keeping an American cultural mentality during such a transition can be disastrous to the effort.  Often times, a company will have to adapt a product or service to a specific culture or area in order to be successful.

Diversity in a workplace increases creativity, increases productivity, introduce new attitudes into the environment, and may encourage new processes to occur.

Diversity increases creativity by combining a wide array of opinions and ideas in order to solve difficult problems.  Diversity increases the flow of idea sharing and can increase participation. Overall this advantage can help solve issues an organization has struggled with for years.

Diversity can increase productivity by involving multiple cultures into one singular goal.  Different cultures have different strengths and weaknesses.  By involving multiple cultures, one culture will compensate for another culture's weakness.  This greatly increases the productivity of the team by assigning separate roles based on strengths.

Diversity brings in new attitudes into an organization due to diverse cultures.  Americans taking into account other culture's value of time and relationship-building may increase morality and good ethical behavior.  Exposing American culture to a more collectivistic culture may rub off and improve relations with other business partners.

Diversity can also create new processes due to increased collaboration from multiple cultures.  Employees keeping an open mind is essential for new processes to occur.

Overall, diversity has immeasurable impacts on an organization.  Opening an organization to all new processes, ideas, cultures, and attitudes really does have a great impact on the bottom line of an organization.

Do you think organizations do enough to promote diversity in organizations today?  What are some ways diversity can increase?

Phase Two

For something different, I thought I would add a little humor to our blog. What do you think about women in Politics? Do you think a woman will ever be elected President of our country?

Nina Pysson

Michelle Obama Tells Girls to "Break the Glass Ceiling" at White House Ladies Night

First Lady Michelle Obama held a mentoring dinner for 120 high school girls at the White House last month. She invited more than 20 famously successful women to talk to these young girls. Mrs. Obama was quoted telling the girls that “You don’t always see was what it took for many of us to get to where we are today. You don’t always see the thousands of hours that were spent studying or practicing or rehearsing, the years spent working for that promotion, the hammers used to break glass ceilings,” she said “All of them – every last one of them – had someone in their lives who took the time to encourage them and to inspire them.  None of us are here on our own.”

Other notable guests at the evening’s festivities included Academy-Award winning actresses Hillary Swank and Geena Davis, Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Dawes, and the founder and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure Nancy Brinker.

These women were there to inspire the high school students. They talked about how they had to work hard and fight to get where they are. Many of them were not born in a life of luxury; they had to earn everything that they have accomplished over the years. Mrs. Obama told the girls that they too could make a difference if they work hard, despite obstacles, and get the best possible education.  If they do this they can surpass anyone if they really want to.

How do you feel about mentoring the children of the future? Do you think little things like this dinner will make a significant impact on their life?


Article

Nina Pysson

The Forgotten Minority: The Bamboo Ceiling

Asian Americans only make up 4.6% of the population of the United States. They make up 14% of the science and engineering work force. With these numbers one would expect a proportionate increase in leadership but this is not the case. In academia and federal institutes, Asian Americans encounter what some call a "bamboo ceiling," similar to what female scientists faced 30 years ago. Asian Americans account for 6.2% of faculty in the school systems and only 2.4% hold administrative positions this compares to the 9.4% held by African Americans and 3.5% by Latino Americans.

Many demographics are being affected by the glass ceiling so how can we fix it? Time? Most people think that time will fix this problem that with the baby boomer generation finally retiring and not being in administrative positions. The upcoming generation might have a different outlook on things. What do you think will help with the glass ceiling problem?

-Aimee Rankovich

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2009_05_29/science.opms.r0900072

Look at it this way

This week is Student Government Association 2011 Diversity Week and I thought it would be good to discuss the week and compare it to some of the concepts we've learned in MQM about diversity.

Every year SGA has diversity week and they co sponsor with many organizations on campus to have many different programs that are interesting, relevant, and fun to students. This year their week consists of different movies on race, culture and politics, discussions and panels about diversity, the different languages amongst different cultures and so much more! Here is a link to the list of events

In Organizational Behavior we have discussed how organizations, mainly companies manage diversity and the affects diversity can have on the organization. I want to take these same ideas and compare it to how ISU and different organizations on campus manage diversity and its affects on campus. 12% of Illinois States students are from backgrounds that are traditionally underrepresented in higher education. We have diversity all over the campus. Like the different majors, organizations, lifestyles, ethnicity, job titles, religions, and perspectives individuals have on campus. I work in the Office of Admissions and usually prospective students and their parents want to know about the campus statistics when it comes to diversity and we refer to the Illinois State University Fact Book. In this fact book you can view everything from male to female ratio, ACT ratios, and how many students live on campus compared to living off campus.
ISU just like corporations have to manage demographic and cultural diversity to make sure different requirements are met like enrollment. With this is mind you can see how we can apply this to the concepts we have learned in class:Just like a corporation ISU can benefit from properly managing diversity by advocating higher Creativity in decision making, which can lead to higher retention rates, and  better understanding and services for students, which can lead to a less hostile environment. By simply applying just two of the concepts mentioned in the book we can begin to see higher retention rates and higher graduation rates all because students are more satisfied with the environment. If the schools show that they care and understand ALL students needs then why wouldn't students be satisfied? If enrollments rates are good then everyone gets paid and the school can continue to running. With this being said it is imperative for our school to have satisfied students and because we live in a diverse world with diverse people, ISU must learn how to manage diversity.  Because we have such a diverse campus it is important for the university, professors, faculty, staff, students and organizations to properly help educate about these differences. The campus has over 300 registered student organizations all of which are different. This along with the campus diversity gives us a competitive advantage to other universities. With programs like diversity week I think ISU will begin to see the positive benefits diversity has on campus.
The question I have for you is how do you feel about diversity on campus? is it something you notice/pay attention to?

Quasheena Ellis

The Arab Glass Ceiling

When I was doing some research about the glass ceiling I came across this article about how the Arabs in Israel have never been able to work in a position of their potential. The article goes on to explain that the Arabs are overtrained for positions they are working because their glass ceiling does not allow them to move up in their positions. Thousands of qualified Arab engineers are either unemployed, working in unrelated fields or teaching high school even though technology is the country's main growth industry. The need for engineers are so high that around 8,000 highly skilled jobs are being outsourced even though they have the skilled workers in Israel. Most of Arabs are unemployed, working in different fields, or must drive hours to get to work everyday. This article interested me because here is a minority in another country dealing with the same conflicts. Arabs make up 20% of the population in Israel with Jews making up most of the rest. Arabs can work twice as hard as  Jew and not be looked at once for a position. I bring this up because if as a minority in Israel the same must be happening here in the United States.

Do you believe there is any way around the glass ceiling? There will always be a minority in a certain location. In the United States there are more women than men but women are the ones hitting the glass ceiling?

Here is the link to the article....
http://www.momentmag.com/moment/issues/2011/02/glass_ceiling.html

-Aimee Rankovich

Bayer Unit Accused of Sex Discrimination

Article 

I just came across this lawsuit and found it very interesting!

Bayer is a HealthCare Pharmaceuticals company.  Recently a lawsuit has been filed by 6 current or former employees. It states that the company paid women less, denied them promotions, and allowed a hostile workplace.  The lawyer representing the six women claimed that “Bayer profited off my clients’ hard work, but refused to acknowledge that hare work equitably.”  

The lawsuit also says that in the news letter from October 2010 that it suggested that men make better managers than women because women are prone to “mood swings” and “backstabbing.” It goes on to say that the senior managers of the company were against women who had to take pregnancy leaves and two even stated that they needed to stop hiring younger women. Furthermore, the suit states that two of the plaintiffs had an annual salary that was $30,000 less than that paid to men at the same level. The plaintiffs are seeking back pay, compensatory damages, and a change in the company’s policies to ensure that in the future, women will be treated equally.

Bayer plans to defend itself by denying that these allegations are true. They say that they are a company that does not discriminate and they provide an equal treatment to all employees.

Things like this are constantly happening in the work place.  People with authority sometimes think that they can get by with just about anything.  I am glad that some women in the company finally stood up for themselves, especially if all of the alligations are ture. Do you agree with what the plaintiffs are seeking?  Do you think the senior managers that made these statments deserved to be punished as well?

 

Nina Pysson

It's 2011, and Women are still looking through the glass ceiling.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/21/women-glass-ceiling-still-exists-top-jobs

According to the guardian.co.uk website article about women still currently facing the glass ceiling, 73% of women responding to a to a report says that in the UK, barriers are still strong for women wanting to get to a senior management or board-level position. On a lighter side, 38% of men that responded to this report truly believe there is a glass ceiling; assuming the other 62% don't think there is such thing as a glass ceiling.

Again, as mentioned many times before, I agree with the women that the glass ceiling does exist, and there should definitely be an end to that all across the globe. If young women get offered a promotion in large organizations, more often than not, it is more riskier to take this position than to go out and start their own business. Having to be able to negotiate their childcare lives with their new managerial lives is not a simple walk in the park. According to our Flatworld book, with negotiating, the young woman would first analyze and gather information of what this promotion might entail. Then, the woman would check out other alternatives or use her BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) to effectively think through when deciding whether to accept the offer or not. The next phase would be to present the facts to either someone close to the young woman, or any of her co-workers, including any higher-ups. After presenting, the young woman would meet with who might be offering her the promotion and go over goals from both sides to come to an agreement. Finally, the young woman would come to closure with the offerer and give them a solid answer of what they chose during all of the research and work during the negotiation process. This negotiation could end up having the young woman not being able to spend much time with her newborn, but she can definitely negotiate to make an increase in her salary in order to provide for her family, since her husband will most likely be taking a leave of absence from work.

From my first hand experience of dealing with women in managerial positions, I've been though it all: the not so smart boss, the rude boss, the boss I really like, etc. I have no idea what each are getting paid compared to their male counterparts, but I do know that each worked hard at getting to where they are at, and most of them took little to no time to get to that position. Working for a Fortune 500 company opened my eyes to see that there are a good amount of women with a lot of power and a lot of responsibilities (i.e. Pat Hemingway-Hall - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois C.E.O.). Most of the higher-up women I was in contact with was always busy and never had much time to talk like some of the men higher-ups I was in contact with. Now that I look back at it, I wonder if the glass ceiling effect could be taking place and most people there don't realize it.

My supervisor and manager (both females) were smart about dealing with stress and never took it out upon my co-workers and I. I think that part of the reason why the glass ceiling still exists is because higher-up men assume that most women can't handle the stress that comes when working in managerial positions, especially since women tend to go through different emotional phases in their lives. But now I know that this assumption is not true, I can argue that if a woman has the same position as a man, with the same amount of work, or more, there should be absolutely no reason as to why there is a pay difference.

Both IBM and Blue Cross Blue Shield (Illinois) are both famous companies around the nation that are doing great even with this economic downturn, and are ran by female C.E.O.s. Do you think that there should be more female C.E.O.s in major companies? This way female managers and supervisors can be encouraged to continue to work hard and eventually get the full dollar for every dollar a male makes. Or do you think that doesn't really matter and it all depends on the individual?

Thanks.

Jon Locke

A 'Glass Ceiling' of Misperceptions - Minorities and the Glass Ceiling

Link to article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/affirm/stories/aa101095.htm

            I decided to choose this article because it paints a very interesting picture on minorities and their perceived glass ceiling.  Although the article is quite old, I think it still holds relevance today and is very thorough in its content.  This article mainly focused on Hispanic and Asian American minorities and the differences each group experiences and perceives in relation to discrimination in life and the workplace.  I have gathered from the article that discrimination differences seem to differ based on education and socio-economic status.  In other words, if a Hispanic is well educated and has a high level of wealth, they usually believe anyone can achieve what they have achieved and discrimination was not a roadblock in reaching that achievement.  For example, the first person mentioned in the article is Richard Lopez.  His family has been in America for four generations, he grew up in a nice neighborhood, and his first language is English.  Richard Lopez does not understand how fellow Hispanics can complain about discrimination and has even been offended when asked if he has had affirmative action benefits to reach the achievements he has made.  Richard’s situation and upbringing may affect his perception of discrimination entirely.

            On the other hand, a Chinese man named Ray Chin has a different view.  Him and his family fled communist China in the 50s; he was forced to work during his teenage years doing menial jobs.  Although he is moderately successful today he states, “we’re stifled by that glass ceiling.”  Chin says that since Asian Americans have reached a certain point they are viewed as not needing any help to further advance.  The article references a study throughout the text and this study has shown that Hispanics and Asian American must battle stereotypes that can limit their full potential.  Even worse, both ethnic groups either feel stereotypical against each other or even about members of their own ethnic group.  Basically, instead of working as a team and combating discrimination together, they actually fight each other.  This obviously accomplishes nothing and simply raises that glass ceiling higher for both groups of people.

            Both groups agree that language is a huge barrier in reaching the glass ceiling.  One Hispanic recounted a story where he was refused service at a restaurant because the order taker could not understand his bad English.  It’s almost unanimous that in order to succeed in America, English is necessary.  I believe many immigrants or minorities wish to learn English and there should be programs setup in order to take advantage of that opportunity.  America can benefit from these groups by growing their ability and potential, which would grow the overall economy.  A majority of both groups agreed that they do not want government handouts.  They want protections in place and in force to protect discrimination from occurring.  This is definitely needed so minorities can break the glass ceiling that prevents them from rising up to the top.

            The article does mention a point about minorities clinging to only those within their community and only speaking their native tongue.  This isolation makes it so these minorities cannot rise up and succeed.  If they do not feel comfortable engaging with white Americans they may not make connections that could facilitate career growth.  This is why diversity and inclusion programs are essential to breaking down these barriers.  Most people would be more than welcome to make everyone feel included, but if the minority is hiding in isolation most people will not take the time to strike down those walls of isolation.  Diversity and inclusion programs could help strike down those barriers and allow more connection and growth among people to occur.

            Overall, I think this article is a very good reference point for seeing how different groups of people perceive the glass ceiling and how perceptions differ based on socio-economic class and education.

Luis Otero

How far have we come from the publish date (1995) of this article?  Are we still in the same situation with the recent influx of immigrants from Hispanic countries?  Are we handling this situation any different?  Answer below and start discussing!

Diversity is not a four letter word

Link to article
This article was very interesting! The author is Victoria Pynchon and she talks about her views on Diversity and how it has affected her and her career. She says she didn't talk about diversity for 30 years. She says "It’s a toxic topic,” I’d say to people who asked me to comment. “I don’t want to be a woman lawyer. I just want to be a lawyer.” As her career furtheres she couldn't escape the topic of diversity and explais why diversity is such a toxic topic "If you are not a minority in American culture or a marginalized majority (women) you do not have to think about your place in the society. You are the society. You are not a “male” lawyer or a “white” doctor."-Pynchon. This Article his on a lot of the diversity issues we read in chapter 2 like the glass ceiling, race diversity, and sexual orientation in the workplace. One of her suggestions for managing diversity comes from people she respects and its to make the context of conversations about diversity positive. So instead of looking at diversity like a hindurance or issue focus in the benefits of diversity. Some benefits of diversity as we all have read from the text is higher creativey in decision making, betterunderstanding and service of customers, higher company performance, and lower litigation expenses. In the article they say by focusing on the benefits rather than the problems of diversity the workforce can begin to embrace diversity policies. I believe the more aware individuals, organization and groups (level of analysis) become about diversity the more they will start to understand it and embrace it because the benefits will outweigh the problems if its properly managed.
The question I pose is do you think by making people more aware of diversity and its benefits this will lead to a more positive approach and perception of diversity?

Changing Demographics

So I like the idea that we could post videos to our blogs. Sometimes it gets boring reading all these articles so I decided to just type diversity in the workplace in the youtube search engine. I found an interesting video called "Diversity in the Workplace-Changing Demographics ". The video talks about Canada's labor source and how it will be shifting dramatically in the next fifteen years because the baby boomers will be retiring and dying. This means there will be an increase in younger workers in the workforce. Traditionally in the workforce diversity is underrepresented. With the decline in labor source, companies will begin to look for younger and immigrant workers to fill this gap. "Diversity will beome an essential asset." Therefore, companies need to prepare for changes that are inclusive in valuing diversity. One of the solutions they talk about in the video is Mentoring to prospective employees about job skills and duties, something we have discussed before in class and in our chapter readings.
Here is the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_3NcwShT6Y
I hope you enjoy it and let me know your thoughts!

Women More Affected by Technology Than Men

Article

I find this article interesting because it talks about how studies have shown that women are more affected by technology than men in the work environment. The article talks about how people are more connected now to their work because of the capabilities of BlackBerry smartphones and iPads. These devices have allowed people to have 24/7 access to the workplace.

It goes on to talk about how women feel guiltier when they interfere with the time that is normally meant for family. This is causing them more stress. In order to cope with this they need to come up with new strategies or set boundaries, so they do not feel so guilty. Guys on the other hand tend to be better at dealing with this situation.

Studies here are against the women. Does this mean that we shouldn’t hold women to higher standards? Should we leave the higher more stressful positions to the men? I believe that women will just have to try harder and prove that they can handle these situations just as well as anyone else. Some women are fully capable of doing these jobs and we should not jump to conclusions  about all women based on this study.

Nina Pysson 

Women Top Men on Skill as Managers

Article

I chose this article because it was a more positive one about women in the workplace. According to a survey, in Australia, of more than 3,000 to male and female executive’s women make better senior managers on 15 of 16 performance measures such as leadership, decision-making, and people management. They tied with the men when it came to problem-solving.
The study goes on the talk about how men and women tend to have very different views about why women are so poorly represented at the top of corporate Australia, like the workplace culture, inflexible working arrangements, pay inequity, and personal choice. Women have different priorities than men in the workplace. They are more concerned with flexible working arrangements and equal workplace culture. This is because women tend to be more compassionate and considerate.
The article states that the results show that women tend to be more attuned than their male counterparts to the nature of their workplace culture, a factor that can drive an organisation’s success.  Regardless of gender as a company you need to focus on getting right people with strong skills into the senior management positions. The study also talks about how 74% of men believe their company gives equal pay by gender, while only 43% of women believe this. This is a wide gap that can be dangerous for a company. Companies need to make sure that they treat men and women equally and don’t look like they find men superior.
Do you believe that women really do make better managers than men? Do you think that this is true in all areas of business or just certain ones?

The Gender Pay Gap

This article shows via graphs how the gender pay gap between industries vary and also with a link below shows by state where the largest pay gaps occur between genders. Just because their is a pay gap does not mean that there is discrimination. Job types are always a factor on where you live and what industry you go into.

There is not one state in the U.S. that women make more than men on average. The widest gap between wages is in Wyoming where women only make 65.5 cents per dollar to men. Washington, D.C. is the smallest gap where women earned 88.2 cents per dollar. On average in 2009 in the U.S. women made 78.2 percent of what men made.

The gender pay gap also can be classified by industry where the largest gap in wages occurs in the Financial Activities industry with women earning 72% of men's wages. The smallest gap is in the construction industry where men and women make virtually the same amount of money.

When looking into the gender pay gap by location the survey conducted indicated that  in Puerto Rico women were making 103.3 cents per dollar compared to their male counterparts.

Why do you think that their is such a difference in the gap between the U.S. states and Puerto Rico?

The Gender Pay Gap

-Aimee Rankovich

Women still struggling to break the glass ceiling

Link to article: http://www.seattlepi.com/specials/glassceiling/292359_glassceiling-main15.html

This article points out the differences between political and corporate strides in gender equity.  Since the article is from a Seattle newspaper it mainly focuses on the state of Washington, however the same can hold true for states across the country.

The article mentions that Washington state made several strides in gender equality in politics.  The state elected a female governor and two female senate members.  The picture is a completely different story when analyzing the top public corporations in the state.  Fewer than 1 in 5 women hold executive-level positions and only 14% of board seats are filled by women.  There is only one company in the entire state that has equal gender representation in executive positions and boards.

The article then goes on to explain how women have been held back throughout American history.  Not too long ago banks were allowed to not give a woman a loan without a co-signature from her husband.  Setbacks like these explain the inequity we see today.  They also shed light on how far we have come in such a short amount of time and press society to move forward with gender equality in not only the workplace but society as a whole.

The example from Washington with political gender equality can be expanded to the whole country.  A female senator from New York, Hillary Clinton, nearly made the democratic nomination for president.  She came very close to breaking the highest glass ceiling of the world.  If she almost made it it's only a matter of time before it is actually broken.

Do you think we'll have a female president in the next 20 years?  Why or why not?  Reply below!

-- Luis Otero

Survey: Women still feel glass ceiling

This article that I found in the Chicago Tribune talks about how a British study reports that three-quarters of professional women believe they're still held back from senior roles in the workplace. Therefore, they believe that a "glass ceiling" still exists. The study reached these results after surveying 3000 male and female managers.

The article then goes on to talk about different reasons as to why this might be occurring. The first issue that was pointed out was that women tend to have lower confidence and ambition than men. Out of the men and women that were surveyed 50 percent of the women managers said they have experienced self doubt, while only 31 percent of the men claimed that they have. Women also tend to have lower expectations. It is said that only 50 percent of the women expected to one day become a manager while 2/3 of the men had planned on it from the begining.

Finally, the artice discusses different ways companies can go about changing their ways to help women feel more comfortable in managment careeres. It says that companies should try harder to nuture its women. Mervyn Davies a fromer trade minister metioned that statutory quotas are being considered to increase the number of women on company boards. According to the survey, half of the women that were surveyed suppored quotas, compared to only 24 percent of men. Most of the women (62 percent) were more in favor of "positive action" to increse the numbe of senior roles.  If campanies want to start addressing the differences in the numbers between men and women in the top positions, changes will have to be made.

In class we have learned that the more diverse a company the better off it is. Do you think that companies should change their ways and cator towards the needs of women?

Article

-Nina Pysson

 

 

Glass Ceiling not breaking...

In New York, minorities including women are not equal at eateries. An article by Marlene Naanes of AM New York, addresses the issues of diversity at restaurant jobs. White applicants are twice as likely to get a job offer after an interview and women earn 22% less than men. In this situation diversity is an issue including their accents. More white people with a slight European accent were 23% more likely to be hired than white applicants with no accent. Women also were offered jobs on their looks more than any other trait about them. The New York State Restaurant Association said that inequality is not intrinsic to the restaurant industry but the association does offer seminars on hiring and firing practices, expert consultants and Spanish-language classes. In the restaurant industry in New York, not only is it gender diversity but their is an earnings gap also. With the glass ceiling in the industry, even if a minority was hired they would not be able to work their way to the top. Race diversity is another problem area where not many African Americans are being hired at all. The Glass Ceiling is a major problem in many industries but if industries do not hire the minorities they will never have the opportunity to rise above the glass ceiling.
-Aimee Rankovich
Article

Judges Diversity changing Verdicts?!

This article is based on information from Cook County, Illinois. Only men could be judges in the past and now the courts are becoming more diverse. Women held only 8.4% of circuit judge seats in 1991 which now have increased to 14.9%. Women still are the minority on the bench but are causing an impact. Studies are being done that question the verdict on cases that women are the judges. Throughout most of these studies though the determination was that women were more masculine in the courtroom then men. They are trying hard not to perform as women that they are reaching the same conclusion as the men but using a different decision-making process. There was a conclusion made though that women were imposing harsher sentences in criminal cases than their male counterparts. This article shows examples on how the diversity of a workplace or industry could cause results that may not be the same as their male counterparts, that normally would be good but could mean unequal sentencing. In the mainstream of things, women joining men on the courts is a very smart move with many voters voting in favor of women candidates. -Aimee Rankovich









Through the Glass Ceiling

Valuing Gender Diversity at WEF

I wanted to post something different this time so I am providing you with the link to a video about Ernst & Young and how they feel about gender diversity.
Video:
They brought up some pretty good points in the video:
- new quota that top partners should inlclude one female in their five delegates
- leads to economic growth
- have a gender gap report
- gender diversity is a positive thing
        -leads to broader discussions becuase of the different perpectives
        - teams are going to become diverse in the future
        - teams are either off the charts great or very poor
        - if a good culture is created within the team then high performance will result
By implementing this new policy the new teams will have different perpectives and opinions allowing them to consider alternatives that they hadn't before. This is going to increase the company's creativity in decision making. This will give the comapny a competive advantage over others but as Mr. James Turley mentioned diversity must be managed well in order to see great results. If diversity is not manged properly companies and teams kind find themsleves facing many challenges and no success. Some ways they can mange the diversity within their teams is to create a  team contract like we did in class. This way team members can aknowledge each others differences, learning and leadership styles, and come to a consensus about how they will move forward. Having set expectations and accountabilty is a great way to  start managing diversity within organizations!

Quasheena Ellis

Deloitte's Diversity Push

Although this article is a little dated  I wanted to write about this article because I found it interesting. Deloitte is a major international accounting and consulting firm and 92% of its partners and top executives are white. So Deloitte is trying to diversify its’company by going to some of the top community colleges with great business programs and a strong minority base to recruit. According to the article many recruiters are bypassing community college recruits because they say “community college students are less suited to the job.” CEO Barry Salzberg says "Many have the ability and the drive and targeting these schools offers us a unique opportunity to reach another distinct pool of diverse, top talent." The article goes on to talk about how and where they will recruit students. I thought this was an interesting article because in class and in the book it talks about how having a diverse environment can lead to great opportunities for a company like higher company performance and a more satisfied workforce. Salzberg know the benefits diversity can bring to the company and is actively pursuing to increase diversity. I do worry because the article stated that majority of the top executives and partners (92%) are white. This makes me wonder about the initial challenges the company will face by diversifying its workforce. There probably will be some strong faultlines created and a similarity-attraction phenomenon going on. Although I do believe the company will face some challenges I do think the end results (higher company performances, more satisfied workforce, etc) will be worth it. Plus, Deloitte can implement diversity training programs, make managers accountable for diversity, build cultural intelligence and start to build a culture of respecting diversity. The question I pose to you is do you think this new recruiting will be successful and what impact to you think it will have on the company’s current coporate culture? I know that the article was written in 2009 but I still want to know what you all think. I will try to find an update on the company's status and let you all know if they were in fact successful with its diversity plan!

Link to article: http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/oct2009/ca2009102_173180.htm

Quasheena Ellis

Survival of the Feminist

http://stopharass.com/article-glass-ceiling.htm

  

Once again, I found this article searching through Google. This article starts off by giving facts such as “only 7%-9% of senior managers in Fortune 1000 firms are women (Korn-Ferry and Catalyst).” Wow. That’s very sad because just about half of the workforce in the U.S. consists of women. Even more startling facts is that highly educated and well-qualified women are denied higher positions because of stereotypes, taking a risk to have them in that position, and not being able to see a high potential that women can bring to the overall company.

More often than not, women are starting to leave companies because of unwanted women in certain management positions. But these women are not heading home, they are going out and starting their own businesses and having major companies lose out on amazing amounts of talent, creativity and of course diversity.

The article then goes on to explaining what women can do to make themselves stronger and more known in the workforce. It gives good insight on networking with people as well as receiving feedback after performance of projects. The article also goes into talking about what managers should do to help promote gender differences in positive ways so everything is not always male-centered.

If you are a valuable female with great outside-of-the-box ideas working for a well-known company for many years, but have not been able to move up, would you stay with that company and try to work something out, or would you leave and start your own business? And why?

Jon Locke

Have women shattered the glass ceiling?

Link to article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-04-15-column15_ST1_N.htm

This article is written by a woman in the business world who has experienced exactly what the glass ceiling does to women.  She states that although some may say the glass ceiling has been shattered after a landmark AT&T lawsuit required the company to pay out back pay to women and minorities that this is far from the truth.  I would have to agree with the author.

The author offers very compelling evidence that backs up the claim that the glass ceiling is definitely still intact.  Among Fortune 500 companies, women only occupy 15% of board seats and only 3% of CEOs are women.  This is absurdly unequal.  Women deserve to be represented more fairly in the corporate world.  Especially since research has proved that women in senior-executive roles in a company increase profits and drive success within the organization.  The article also delves into women getting up to 23% less pay for the same exact job men do.

This really needs to change.  Women are being left out of opportunities they deserve and are being paid less for doing the same work.  The glass ceiling is far from being shattered and a lot of work from everyone needs to be done to shatter it.

What do you think we can do to help resolve this inequity in the workplace?  Comment below!

Luis Otero

Pregnant Women Affected by Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace

As I was looking at articles to write about, I found this one about pregnant women in the workplace quite interesting. This is the first article that I have came across that has really talked about how being pregnant or becoming pregnant can affect you at your job. It then goes on to talk about what you can do if you run into this problem at work.

According to this article studies have shown that women who become or may become pregnant are often discriminated against through pay, or more subtle forms of harassment in the form of jokes or quips. Some women may be able to take the jokes, but others may have a really hard time with this. They might take the jokes more serious than what it was originally tended to be. In fact, a lot of people probably do not even realize that what they are saying could bother someone since, since that is not their original intensions. During pregnancy a women's hormones get even worse, so dealing with the jokes could cause a woman unnecessary stress.

If this is going on in the work place and you do not like it, the best thing to do is talk to document the problem and take it up with the management team. Then, if this does not work one should send a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Finally, if neither of these steps work, one should speak with a local employee rights attorney.

Everyone is here because a woman gave birth to them. It is just part of life that people need to accept. Do you think it is right that women are being discriminated against just because they are pregnant or may become pregnant in the future?

Article

-Nina Pysson

Even with a Masters Degree, the Glass Ceiling is Still in Effect

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2010/03/15/glass-ceiling-is-still-solid-especially-if-you-have-an-mba/

I found this article online talking about how women are still only making 77.8 cents for every dollar men are making. I think that's ridiculous! One thing mentioned from the beginning of the article is that President Obama signed something called the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which extends the time allowed to sue for pay discriminatory. That's a good thing, but at the same time, how does that help the difference of 22.2 cents remaining for women to be paid equally as soon as they receive the job?

The article then goes on to talking about a study created by Catalyst to look at men and women who have completed their MBA programs and where they are at in their career. And of course, women are most likely to start off a at first job at a lower level salary then men do. Catalyst even came up with controls that could possibly change the results: experience, industry, geography, aspiration, and parenthood.

The results were presented to corporate leaders and most, if not all were surprised by what Catalyst has proven. Finally, the article gives an example of a real world experience with female working in New York City in a dominantly male department and industry. The female has had her MBA for 15 years and worked at the company for 6 years, and has not been offered a higher position once just because she is a female.

The book states that out of all of the Fortune 500 companies, only 12 have women CEOs. If you were offered a CEO position in one of these companies, had your MBA, and you found out a similar company with a new male CEO was getting paid more than you, how would you handle this knowing you could make a difference across the board?

Jon Locke

Women's share of jobs slipping

Article

When looking though articles about women in the workforce, I found this one titled Women's share of Jobs Slipping by Christianna McCausland, quite interesting. This article talks about how the great recession was hard on the male workers. During this time, so many men found themselves, and by October of 2009 women held a record of 46.96% of the jobs. Things were finally starting to look good for women, but not for long. The following month the numbers once again began to drop. Male dominated jobs like manufacturing started to recover and female-dominated ones like education began to cut cost and lay teachers off.

This article states that although women make up half the attendance of law schools and graduate from college at higher rates than men do, they account for only 18 percent of partners in private law practice and 3 percent of Fortune 500 executives. In recent years, research shows that more women than men have been graduating from college in major cities. It has also been sited that 73 percent of recent high school valedictorians were women. Just last year, women’s median full-time earnings were $36,278 compared to $47,127 for men. This makes us question, will women’s numbers be able to finally surpass the men’s in the future?

Nina Pysson

Diversity in the Workplace

The article I decided to write my first blog about is entitled “Does Pay?: Race, Gender, and the Business Case for Diversity” by Herring Cedric. Cedric argues that a diverse workforce, relative to a homogenous one, is generally beneficial for business, including but not limited to corporate profits and earnings. He goes on to show how results from a National Organizations Survey support his hypothesis that  racial diversity is associated with increased sales revenue, more customers, great market share, and greater relative profits and gender diversity is associated with increased sales revenue, more customers and greater relative profits. I found this article to be very interesting because when we discussed chapter two of the text (Managing Demographic and Cultural Diversity) we talked about these same topics. When companies manage diversity correctly that can see great results because it gives them a completive advantage over other companies. Cedric also have graphs and tables showing the correlation between different levels racial and gender diversity and company benefits. I will provide a link to this article and the tables. The question I pose to you is how can companies who aren’t diverse implement diversity within their companies? And how do homogenous companies manage to be successful if they don’t implement diversity within their companies? (EX: Hooters only hire women)Diversity

LINK: (http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?hid=121&sid=ce5decec-c948-4e3a-858d-364d4180c2f0%40sessionmgr104&vid=4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=sih&AN=37353174)

Quasheena Ellis

Women in the workplace and explanations for pay disparity

Link to article: http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/07/glass-ceiling-opportunities--cx_hc_0308glass.html

I stumbled across this article while researching women and the glass ceiling in corporate America.  The article states that concern over pay differences between men and women is becoming less of a concern among women.  The article also explains some reasons for the pay differences found in the workplace such as women working fewer hours and women not keeping jobs as long as men.  Even after considering these explanations, there is still a disparity in pay between men and women.

The article mentions that the concern for lower pay isn't felt as much anymore because women don't hold their job success all on pay and job status.  Women care more about their relationship with co-workers and charitable causes.

One of the most important points mentioned in the article is that women want the same power and responsibility in the workplace as men do.  In other words, women aren't holding themselves back from reaching the top of the corporate ladder; they want to reach the top.  Also, a survey shows that most executives admit to an invisible barrier (glass ceiling) existing.

Overall, women are generally happy with their pay and job positions.  As mentioned before, their happiness doesn't come simply from job title and salary.  Women seek more such as relationships with coworkers.

Here's a question for everyone.  Just because women are generally "happy" with their status in the workplace, does that mean we should do nothing to break the glass ceiling that is preventing those who are ambitious from reaching the top of the corporate ladder?

Luis Otero

Women, From a Politics Standpoint

Blog Introduction

Hi everyone and welcome to Team 2’s blog. Luis Otero, Aimee Rankovich, Jon Locke, Nina Pysson and myself Quasheena Ellis are very excited to start this project! Our blog is entitled Shattering the Glass Ceiling and we are going to be discussing diversity in the work place. We want to cover the positive and negative effects diversity can have on the workplace by offering you our opinion and some related articles. Some topics we hope to cover include but are not limited to: Individual Differences and Perception, Managing Demographic and cultural diversity, and Organizational Behavior. We also want to learn and inform you all about the different ways diversity can be managed in any organization so that we can apply it to class and future involvement.