Women and the glass ceiling in corporate America - Annotated Bibliography Example

? Henrietta Francis Liberty BUSI 501-D04 Dr. Robins Hoggins-Blake November 25, This brief annotated bibliography helps to shed light on the glass ceiling as experienced by women in corporate America. As such, the author has researched the topic and provided a litany of sources and explanations which will help in provided a detailed research overview of the topic. Furthermore, the sources provided help to give a research centric focus to a problem that is often considered a sociological construct. By means of achieving this, the author hopes that the end result will be that the researcher is able to draw measurable inference on the ultimate research question. Bowling, C. J., Kelleher, C. A., Jones, J., & Wright, D. S. (2006). Cracked Ceilings, Firmer Floors, and Weakening Walls: Trends and Patterns in Gender Representation among Executives Leading American State Agencies, 1970–2000. Public Administration Review, 66(6), 823-836. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6210.2006.00651.x This research analyzes key trends in the presence of females in what the authors term “responsible governmental positions”. The gender representation at the governmental level is an interesting topic as it is indicative of a more nationwide trend and less culturally dependent and/or bound than the ways that the glass ceiling might be exhibited within the private sector; a sector more bound by group dynamics and cultures than that of the governmental sector. Examination of such a determinant is necessary and important as it gives key insights into the broad/over-arching definitions of the glass ceiling as is evidenced through a large cross-section of our current society/government. Bruckmuller, S., & Branscombe, N. R. (2011). How Women End Up On the "Glass Cliff". Harvard Business Review, 89(1/2), 26. This particular article discusses the key aspects of the “glass ceiling” that has kept women from being promoted to positions of upper management and other key roles within firms. Furthermore, the researchers found what they referred to as a glass cliff exists for the women who are able to eventually break through the glass ceiling. In this way, the glass cliff refers to the fact that oftentimes women are given key leadership roles due to the fact that key shareholders wish to rapidly shake up the management/leadership process. As such, it is oftentimes the case that these positions are awarded to women as a means of providing a sudden change of direction that the CEO or other leadership figure hopes will change the fortune of the company. When this does not occur or does not occur at the rate that the aforementioned key shareholder(s) desire, the woman is then dropped for a successive candidate. Guyot, J. (2008). Is the Ceiling Truly Glass or Something More Variable?. Society, 45(6), 529-533. doi:10.1007/s12115-008-9154-9 This particular study discusses the means by which women in different levels of state and federal government advance based upon the career paths they have chosen. This study has been included within the research due to the fact that it is one of the few demonstrable proofs that exists with reference to the fact that certain factors (to include economics) can have a profound effect on the level to which the glass ceiling is implemented. Furthermore, as the reader can quickly note, not all fields exhibit the glass ceiling to the same extent as any other. However, it can be fairly safely assumed that the existence of the glass ceiling is nearly uniform in its existence throughout the workforce. Haslam, S., Ryan, M. K., Kulich, C., Trojanowski, G., & Atkins, C. (2010). Investing with Prejudice: the Relationship Between Women's Presence on Company Boards and Objective and Subjective Measures of Company Performance. British Journal Of Management, 21(2), 484-497. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8551.2009.00670.x The authors of this particular article seek to examine a swath of 100 companies within a specific time period (2001-2005). As such, the researchers hope to answer key questions concerning perception of net worth as a dependency of key women on the board of directors and/or represented in leadership. The researchers found that although the presence of women on the board of specific companies did not necessarily affect profitability, it did however decrease the valuation of the firms with respect to investment by nearly 40%. As such, the reader can readily see that although a glass ceiling might not exist within every company or culture, it is however pervasive within our society as even non-aligned valuation groups put a lower premium on such firms. Hogue, M. (2010). The relevance of the glass ceiling for women today. Psychology Of Women Quarterly, 34(2), 265-266. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2010.01568.x This particular article discusses the changes that the “glass ceiling” has experienced over the past decade. Rather than being a static concept, the author relates the fact that this glass ceiling is redefined and re-engineered in almost every firm that it is extant within. Furthermore, since it is not a static concept, the author argues that it is possible for the term to morph and change throughout time and within the organizations that are affected. Furthermore, the author seeks to denote the changing influence that societal culture has had on how the glass ceiling is both defined and interpreted by women currently in the workforce as opposed to women in the workforce over a decade ago. Finally, the author notes that although many changes have taken place, the glass ceiling and its traditional interpretation and implementation have remained largely unchanged. HOOBLER, J. M., WAYNE, S. J., & LEMMON, G. (2009). BOSSES' PERCEPTIONS OF FAMILY-WORK CONFLICT AND WOMEN'S PROMOTABILITY: GLASS CEILING EFFECTS. Academy Of Management Journal, 52(5), 939-957. doi:10.5465/AMJ.2009.44633700 In this piece, the authors examine the glass ceiling through a different framework. Rather than accepting its existence outright, the authors attempt to understand some of the causal mechanisms for why the glass ceiling exists and what individual employers and HR managers might do in order to ameliorate its effects. Their research notes that one of the primary factors that contribute to the glass ceiling is the fact that social role theory, as exhibited within management, helps to stymie the progression and development of women in their respective occupations. Although this could be considered a type of common sense, the relevant level of analysis and statistical data that the authors employ to come to this judgment leaves the reader fully convinced that this is the preeminent factor which helps to congeal and hard the figurative glass ceiling. As long as employers continue to think of elements of their workforce as somehow non-committed child-bearing temporary employees, the situation is unlikely to improve. Kaul, A. (2009). Gender and Workplace Experience. Vikalpa: The Journal For Decision Makers, 34(4), 79-83. This particular source has been utilized due to the fact that it draws a special level of focus on to the unique levels of gender diversity and disparity that are exhibited within the workplace of different occupations. Whereas it has been previously convenient to lump all female members of the workforce in to a readily congealed group as a means of comfortable analysis, the authors of this particular piece do no such thing. Instead, they choose to approach the topic by weighing in on how women from different occupations find their respective work environment with relation to the existence/non-existence of a glass ceiling. Some of the occupations that are considered include: Banking, Financial, IT, Consulting, Pharmaceutical, and NGO sectors. The analysis ends by stating that although key divergence is experienced within these different occupations as it relates to the level of constraint that women in the workforce experience, one key underlying facet remains. As the author states, it is painfully evident that employers must work harder to ensure that the unique needs of the female participants within the workforce are met so that not only the glass ceiling will be raised but effectively removed. Jackson, J. L., & O'Callaghan, E. M. (2011). Understanding Employment Disparities Using Glass Ceiling Effects Criteria: An Examination of Race/Ethnicity and Senior-Level Position Attainment Across the Academic Workforce. Journal Of The Professoriate, 5(2), 67-99. This research focuses upon the ways that the glass ceiling is currently exhibited within the academic circles of the United States. Furthermore, in much the same way as the first source that was referenced for this annotated bibliography, the authors attempt to take a measurement of how the academic glass ceiling is indicative of the broader understanding of such a notion in the private and public sectors of the remainder of the economy. Further, the authors seek to take a broad based study with reference to the ways in which the glass ceiling has grown and evolved over the past 20 years within the field of academia. As such, the analysis focuses on a 20 year period of time that seeks to measure pay gaps, motivational barriers, exhibition of women and minorities within senior-level positions etc. McGinn, L. K., & Newman, M. G. (2012). Lessons Learned in Looking Back: Perspectives from Trailblazers. Behavior Therapy, 43(4), 698-700. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2012.02.003 This particular piece analyzes how the situation has improved but still has a long way to go in ensuring that women can even begin to realize a degree of similarity between men and women in the workforce. Accordingly, the authors take the time to represent statistical information regarding the growth of female’s salaries over time in the workforce but also note that even though these statistics have improved, they are still consecutively multiple percentage points lower than their male counterparts. Furthermore, the authors spend a great deal of time discussing the disparity between the overall number of women obtaining college degrees and graduate degrees and compare this with the low number of women represented in dynamic positions of leadership with companies. As the gender gap has narrowed and now favors women in the college environment, one can only reasonably hope and expect that within time, the glass ceiling will be nonexistent. Similarly, the analysis considers the key actions that have been taken by the “trailblazers” as the authors relate to them. These trailblazers are of course those women that chartered a course ahead with respect to clearing a path for women to integrate more fully into the workforce. Pompper, D. (2011). Fifty years laterMid-career women of color against the glass ceiling in communications organizations. Journal Of Organizational Change Management, 24(4), 464-486. doi:10.1108/09534811111144629 This particular study opens up another layer of nuance in helping to analyze and determine the extent to which racial and ethnic determinants compound and/or add to the level and extent to which the glass ceiling is employed at different organizations. Although each of these factors is of primary importance in determining the way in which the employee is accepted, appreciated, and promoted within the structure, the author takes a keen and definitive look at the means by which these additional causal factors impact upon the strength and permeability of the glass ceiling. Furthermore, by categorizing and measuring each of these determinants, the reader is able to understand the level and extent to which the glass ceiling is nuanced by more than just a few simple determinants as previous research might have indicated. Powell, G. N., & Butterfield, D. (1994). INVESTIGATING THE "GLASS CEILING" PHENOMENON: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF ACTUAL PROMOTIONS TO TOP MANAGEMENT. Academy Of Management Journal, 37(1), 68-86. doi:10.2307/256770 These researchers attempt to answer the question of the actual decision making matrix by which firms chose to promote men over women. Contrary to what they presumed to find, the researchers noted that the job-irrelevant variable of gender was actually a net asset for women in the job hunt. Although this was an important factor, the study also noted that the strongest factor was not dependent on the gender of the applicant but whether or not the applicant was currently employed and if so in what position. Ragins, B., Townsend, B., & Mattis, M. (1998). Gender gap in the executive suite: CEOs and female executives report on breaking the glass ceiling. Academy Of Management Executive, 12(1), 28-42. doi:10.5465/AME.1998.254976 This article discusses ways in which companies can seek to dismantle their gender gaps/glass ceilings. By analyzing key trends within the affected industries, the researchers sought to grasp an understanding of how key female CEO’s have been able to break through or dismantle the glass ceiling that prevented them from taking charge of their respective firms. In order to accomplish such a task, the researchers set out to analyze Fortune 1000 CEOs and gain inference on how the women that were represented within such a group came to prominence in their respective firms. In so doing, it was the hope of the researchers that it would provide a useful baseline for both future studies as well as individual shareholders who wish to employ and/or copy such a model in order to aggregate a degree of further success in the corporate world. Russo, G., & Hassink, W. (2012). Multiple Glass Ceilings. Industrial Relations, 51(4), 892-915. doi:10.1111/j.1468-232X.2012.00705.x The authors of this piece approach the issue of the glass ceiling from a different perspective. Due to the fact that wage growth can be effected at both the horizontal and the vertical bounds of mobility, it is necessary to consider both factors with relation to women in the workforce and determine if the same level of wage discrimination is evidenced in the horizontal mobility that is exhibited in the vertical mobility. The authors note that as they expected, this it is indeed the case that horizontal mobility is also stymied as a result of the glass ceiling in the corporate world. This leads the authors to introduce the concept that “many glass ceilings” exist for women in the workforce and working to alleviate the issues associated with the most prominent one will help, but may not be sufficient, to relieve all of the issues associated with such a form of discrimination. Smith, P., Caputi, P., & Crittenden, N. (2012). How are women's glass ceiling beliefs related to career success?. The Career Development International, 17(5), 458-474. doi:10.1108/13620431211269702 The authors of this work seek to understand the key determinants that give rise to the “glass ceiling” that so many authors have referenced. In this way, the authors break down the glass ceiling to define it in overall terms of career satisfaction, happiness, psychological well-being, physical health, and work engagement. Furthermore, with relation to these determinant measurements, the researchers found that the results indicated that each of these factors exhibited differing levels of determinacy with regards to how they helped to define the way in which women related to their occupation as well as how their employers related to the job that was being performed. Wrigley, B. J. (2002). Glass Ceiling? What Glass Ceiling? A Qualitative Study of How Women View the Glass Ceiling in Public Relations and Communications Management. Journal Of Public Relations Research, 14(1), 27-55. This particular study examines a unique aspect of the glass ceiling as it exists for women in the workforce. The authors set out to analyze and draw inference from two fields that have experienced increasing levels of feminization: public relations and communications management. As such, the authors had hoped to find a direct correlation to the fact that since these fields had been successfully permeated by large numbers of women in the workforce that they would necessarily show a much higher percentage of women in leadership positions. The authors were surprised to note that this was indeed not the case. Rather, the research showed that of the cases analyzed, it was demonstrably proven that a statistically insignificant number of women were exhibited in key leadership positions within these fields as opposed to other fields in which women had less successfully permeated. As such, the study is useful in noting that the total overall numerical advantages that women may experience in any given line of occupation is not a correlation to the level to which key leadership positions will be held by them within such a field. Read More