FEMALE MANAGERS

Can female managers within the Chicago central business district move into senior level management roles?

Acknowledgement

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor? family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

Table of contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

Introduction1

Statement of the Problem3

Background of the Study4

Purpose of the Study5

Nature of the study/ Theoretical Framework5

Research Questions6

Scope7

Limitations7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW9

Perceptions and reality of senior jobs11

Views on the route to success13

Views on the consequences of children for careers15

Implications for men and women of the promotion process16

Training and career development20

Promotion policies21

Compensation practices22

Behavioral and cultural explanations23

Behavioral double binds24

Gender and communication styles25

Gender-based stereotypes26

Preferred leadership styles30

Women and power32

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY40

Introduction40

Research Questions40

Nature of the study41

Research Design42

Population Sampling43

Contacting Subjects45

Instruments46

Data Collection46

Data Analysis47

Ethical consideration48

REFERENCES50

Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduction

This study highlights many issues related to “Female managers within the Chicago central business district and gives a broad analysis of “senior level management roles of females”. The dramatic changes in women's work patterns since the 1960s include a growth in the proportion of women entering the formerly male-dominated field of general management.

Women managers are more likely to be found in traditionally female service sectors like retailing in Chicago central business district. This? together with legislation and many leading retailers presenting themselves as equal opportunities employers? suggests that there is now no barrier for those women who wish to progress and go ahead and shatter the glass ceiling. By contrast? the continuing tendency for senior positions to be held primarily by men has led to initiatives? like Opportunity 2000? to encourage the promotion of women to senior levels.

In spite of such initiatives? while corporate complacency continues the blockage persists? and there exists an implicit assumption that women themselves make a career choice which prioritizes family life. The assumption that women are less motivated and less committed to their work than men is an enduring one and can be seen to be influential in the career opportunities offered to women.

Women are traditionally excluded from management jobs because they are judged less serious? less highly motivated than male employees. In particular they are supposed to demonstrate low organisational commitment because they do not assign their jobs precedence over all other life areas? may leave to have children? and demonstrate less company loyalty than do male colleagues.

Early organizational work on women's exclusion from management was keen to move away from the psychological studies which suggested that women lacked the personality traits necessary for leadership positions. Instead it stressed the ways in which women were discriminated against by a range of organizational structures and processes. For many such accounts were overly deterministic? creating women as victims seen as unable to influence their own careers. Over the past few years the pendulum has swung in the other direction. American gurus suggest that any? sufficiently competent? woman can succeed providing she is determined? understands 'the rules'? and follows them (Morrison 1992; White 1992). A rather more negative twist has been put on this scenario by Hakim who appears to argue that women who are committed to career ...