The Impacts of Gender on Organizational Work Unit Teams
Nada Nafissa
Morgan State University
The influence of women in society has undergone a paradigm shift in America over the last century. Indeed, women have gone from being solely relegated to the roles of mother and housewife to legislators and CEOs, from not having the basic right to vote to being elected officials, Supreme Court Justices and frontrunners for the office of President of the United States. But while the power of women in society has grown exponentially during this time, American society remains largely bureaucratic and male-dominated in many ways. Gender differences remain part of the American landscape, and throughout the world. While America can be viewed as setting the bar for women’s rights on a global scale, gender inequity remains part of the fabric of our society. This multi-disciplinary study will concentrate on the identification of the impacts of gender on organizations and organizational work unit teams, an ever-increasingly important dimension in organizations. It is expected that findings will include increased productivity of heterogeneous teams across disciplines.
Keywords: gender, diversity, performance, efficiency, teams, organization
Among the six elements or principles of a bureaucracy, Max Weber noted that formal selection of individuals, whereby people are selected for employment based upon technical qualification alone, was a component thereof (Weber, 1922). Accordingly, only
The author provides many eye-opening statistics pertaining to the significant gap between women and men. For instance, Sandberg writes “women hold roughly 25 percent of senior executive positions, 19 percent of board seats, and 19 percent of our elected congressional officials.” This statistic is both shocking, yet not too surprising given how she explains how the term feminism. Feminism is not solely about women’s rights but can benefit men as well. The author provided numerous observations which served to motivate and inspire readers, especially women; not to be afraid to speak up in the workplace. She urges readers not to ignore the fact there are distinct biases between both genders which are taking place and considers herself a “feminist”. This book helps to further raise awareness to a seemingly obscure yet ever-present
"In 1950 about one in three women participated in the labor force. By 1998, nearly three of every five women of working age were in the labor force" (Heatherfield, n.d., para. 4). In 2008, the U.S. Department of labor estimates that women will make up 48% of the workforce (Heatherfield, n.d., para. 6). As the number of women in the workforce rises so do the numbers of women who hold higher titles such as Chairman, CEO, Vice Chairman, President, Chief Operating Officer, Senior Vice President, and Executive Vice President. This number has increased from 7.3% in 2000 to 9.9% in 2002 (Diversity statistics, 2006).
Over the past few decades, great strides have been made by women in the workplace. This increased number in women in the workplace does not mean equality however. Even with equal qualifications and achievements, women are still not given all the opportunities that men have. The chapter in the textbook, “Gender at Work”, shows us more of these inequalities in the workplace. Such inequalities cause gender segregation of jobs and can be linked with the pay inequality in the labor force. Even in jobs that are predominantly filled by women, men earn more than women. Women are often stereotyped as being family focused and not as able to travel, therefore they tend to get passed up for promotions (Garson p.353). This invisible barrier that keeps women from moving up the executive ladder is referred to as the “glass ceiling” (Baxter and Wright p. 346). Women also tend to do more domestic work, or unpaid labor and caregiving. This extra unpaid work is referred to as “the third shift” and is largely rested on the shoulders of women (Gersel p. 352). Consequently, this seems to be one of the biggest things holding women back from taking on jobs that are normally considered male
This myth has been perpetuated throughout history and in result; we have barriers such as the glass ceiling in existence. If we were to pull up a list of the Board of Directors for any given company, the probability of it being a predominately male group is high. This notion alone shows how companies have continued to dwell in olds days where men are considered more capable than women. The Glass ceiling effect has continued to place barriers against women endeavor in achieving success in their careers and participation in their work place. Women have not been able to realize their potential in their work places since they are not offered equal chances as compared to their men counterparts who enjoy great opportunities in organizations. The fact that an organization is ran by men, may cause an adverse effect on the performance of men. Obviously, a man thinks differently than a woman. It is likely that a decision made by men only is likely to ignore the interests of women in the organization. This creates a domino effect because it affects the woman’s performance in business since they only get limited chances to learn, and limited job assignments that will enhance their skills. Hence, low or limited skills and experience will lower their overall
The research utilized an exploratory case study method through the application of various academic articles and significant statistical data in the development of the study. This study explicitly explores women working within all federal agencies of the government at different grade levels. In this research one classification system was reviewed, the Senior Executive Services classification.
On the other hand, it is said that women are seen as being more supportive and less managerial. Women tend to display high levels of compassion and team-building skills. Additionally, women leaders are able to view situations from many different perspectives, enhancing their persuasive ability and making them better at persuasion than males. Women are also said to like a challenge. “An international study found that 70% of businesswomen asked their bosses for new challenges at work, which is less than half of the businessmen that did so.” Lastly, it is said that women are honest and hard workers. It was found that 54% of women worked 9-11 hour days compared to 41% of men. It was also found that women are more likely to do work during their vacations and less likely to spend their “sick days” playing hooky.
For many years in the United States, women have been faced with equality issues. Men were regarded as superior, which made women feel inferior and insignificant. One place this has occurred is the workplace. This type of inequality dates backs centuries and comes from the common belief that since men were the breadwinners, women should take care of the home and children. As a result, men were believed to be more efficient in their careers. This is also known as systemic discrimination (Kennedy et al., 2008). When women were given the right to vote, they began to progress and take their place in the workforce. As they increased in numbers, there became a need to for fair
Gender diversity was not taken into consideration and most companies have very little knowledge on how to take advantage of it.
For my research question I will be asking: “How is America making progress on gender equity?” Fundamentally, I believe that women are still misrepresented, and are still facing many challenges in the workplace, especially in the business world. The gender stereotypes play a considerable role in the way the society sees women as leaders. However, it will be judicious to consider the small but noticeable changes that have been made over the past years concerning gender equality in the American workplace.
When compared to men, women are often left behind when it comes to advancement even if they have the same educational background and work experiences. But the work place is now changing. "Women are shooting to the top of high-tech companies, dot.com startups and Internet favorites, with a speed that promises to permanently change the way we think about women, work and power" (Gerber, 2000). Despite women’s advances in the workforce, they still strive to emerge and grow out of male oppression and move to a higher social position where they belong.
The presence of women in the workforce has been rapidly increasing. Now, more than ever, women can be felt in nearly every aspect of the workplace. Even though we have come a long way from the unfair treatment of women, inequality still remains in the workplace. Women still receive less pay, are not promoted as quickly, and are generally discriminated against in the workplace due to stereotyping. It is the common stereotype of women as housewives that holds women back. Women 's stature in the workplace is far better than it was 50 years ago, but there is much improvement still to be made before women have an equal place.
It is no secret that there is a gaping gender divide in the information technology (IT) sector. Women make up more than half of the U.S. professional workforce, but only a small fraction of the IT sector. However, it is well-known that gender equality in the workforce has significant benefits for an organization. The presence of women in an organization and its leadership structure has been proven to increase its operational efficiency and bottom line. While businesses across all industries stand to benefit from gender equality in the workplace, the IT sector has an even greater opportunity to reap the benefits of gender diversity. Despite this
In every organization you would find all types of the bases of power because they used Raven bases of power to make the organization a better place for employees. According to the research articles Raven bases of power inn organization had influences positive and negative effects on the organization. I would be defining the types of bases of power and how it has affected the organization. But in addition to that I would examine how gender has an effect on the different kind of power depending who is in charge or in control of the organization. I will explain how gender role has an impact on the bases of power by giving examples from the review articles about this effects.
Some studies show that there are companies that have the best records for promoting women who was able to outstrip competition when it comes to profitability and performance. Yet, many believed that women still fail to attain high level positions in the organization (Johns, 2013). And for many years women had fought this right not only in the society, but as well in their place in the organization. Eventually, when women gained their rights in the society such as the right to suffrage in 1928 via the People Act 1928, this opened up new doors and opportunities for women. This paved way for women to be treated not just as a second class citizen at home, workplace and in the society (Breitenbach, 2014). Soon, debate arose on whether women should be entitled to equal pay and equal treatment in the workplace. Since the feminist movement had first achieved its goal of equality in the workplace, still many wonder if glass ceiling does still exist in the US organization. Reviewing some related information on women in the workplace, studies on the relationship between gender diversity in company performance and literature on women’s rights, this article explores the main point that glass ceiling no longer exists particularly in organizations dominated and handled by female species.
Even though numbers are slowly rising in the United States, there are still more men in executive positions than women. According to one survey, female workers only made up 43% of legislators, senior managers, and senior officials whereas male workers made up 57%. In congress, congresswomen make up only 17% of representation compared to congressmen making up 83% (Ferrante, 2011, p. 312). Gender stratification is one explanation for the tremendous gap. Ferrante (2011) describes gender stratification as the unequal distribution of opportunities and resources amongst male and female employees. (p. 311) For example, male workers have an increased opportunity to receive a promotion than a female worker. According to Tinsley (2013), women are more likely to receive executive positions when a company is doing well, rather than when a company is suffering. Some companies stereotype that women workers will leave the workforce soon to bear children, limiting their chances of achieving executive status (Ferrante, 2011, p. 316).