Women in International Management - Assignment Example

Title: Women in international management Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Name and Code: University: Date of Submission: Women in international management All around the world, the contribution of women towards management is fast taking shape. Countries are moving away from gender discriminative society to one that allows women to maximize their potential. Today’s world boasts of renowned world leaders, such as Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, Johnson Sirleaf, Zipi Livni and many others. What remain to be established are the reasons why, women are still left behind in terms of getting the top management jobs, both in Business. This has been a major issue that has raised a lot of controversy, as far as management is concerned. So many have come up with myths as to why women are not given the opportunities to serve, as international managers in foreign countries. Cultural factor in Women’s Contribution to international management The values and the expectations that regards women’s role in the society in a great way, affects the movement of women up the ladder of management. For some time in the Japanese cultures, women have been left out of the upper cadre jobs, due to cultural beliefs towards their role. Since, women were seen as the ones to take care of the family, while the husband is away, many women could not be allowed to climb up the ladder of management. They were only confined to the clerical and part time jobs, so that they could find ample time to deal with domestic family matters. Employers due to these could not facilitate the training of women for the top management jobs as they were part of the culture. As such many women were locked out of the managerial and supervisory posts. In order to accommodate more women in international business management, there is need for cultural change. This means that efforts should be made to do away with stereotypes on women and leadership. This requires efforts from various stakeholders. These stakeholders could include: state governments, business organizations and international world bodies such as the United Nations (Ferguson, 2005). Women need to also take the front position in advocating for their rights. They should be in a position to unite them and lobby their home governments, to provide favorable environment for women, both in their local country and in foreign missions. The potential of women in management is high, but only if it can be nurtured through this necessary environment. Limited Women expatriate managers Models Role models play a great role in bringing up the zeal to achieve something in life. Given that men are dominating the number of expatriates in the world, does not mean that women are not so successful in being expatriate managers. This is mainly because of enough examples on those that have succeeded in being top manager expatriates. This puts the women at a vulnerable position, one that gives room for accusation of incompetence (Meyer, 2008). The young generation has however played a key role in changing the trend in management positions to accommodate women. Given that the younger generation is more accommodative to change, 60 percent of the Japanese women are employed. The level of competitiveness in businesses has also seen several large companies in Tokyo, taking up women in managerial positions, so as to facilitate positive public image of companies and attract more customers. However, what remains to be a challenge is that still the disparity in the number of men and women is still large in the top most positions. Failure by Executives to send Women Expatriates- Discrimination at home and away There is likely to be some more limitation on managerial opportunities for women as expatriates, if they are discriminated right from their home countries. This explains the phenomenon why most American expatriates, are usually less discriminated against, as compared to other countries. This has given the American women more opportunities to work as expatriates. However, the managerial positions that are available for American women expatriates are not proportional to home figure of 25 of the managerial positions. This anomaly can be traced from the very reasons that keep the women in these countries out of the managerial ranks. The cultural expectations, only allow a few expatriates to get into those managerial positions (Evans, 2004). Studies have indicated a strong willingness of women in working abroad. This goes against certain beliefs and assumptions, that women do not have willingness to work abroad. Adler of North American women did a major study on women expatriates and management and came up with findings that women are very willing to work as expatriate managers. The findings of this study also, found that whenever they are given such a chance, they usually come out successful. This means having few women expatriates, does not mean that women are not willing to take up these positions. The reasons given are that women do not want expatriate managerial jobs, it happens to be a myth that some male managers use, with the aim of locking out female candidates and satisfying their selfish interests (Paik & Vance, 2002). A major stumbling block to getting women expatriates abroad is the failure, by executives in North America, to send women to other countries as executives. This makes getting the assignment to be a very difficult task, for women. The main reasons as to why these executives are reluctant, in sending women as expatriates is the fear that the women might not be taken seriously in those countries. These executives have the notion that, just like in the home country, where they are discriminated upon, then they will be treated equally or even worse abroad. There is also some assumption that certain countries will be resistant to such managers, hence, affecting organizations operations. Adler did a research on 52 female expatriate managers, in which assumptions that women would be discriminated against if sent as expatriates, were found to be questionable. Adler found out that, in Japan, a woman who is a foreigner is totally not expected to be the same or behave the same way as the local woman. As such, foreign women are more likely to be accepted to work in top managerial positions as expatriates. This is not so, if a local woman was to be picked for the same position. In their findings, Adler and Izraeli accomplished that, female expatriates are perceived as foreigners who occur to women, not as female who occur to be foreigners. This was adversely supported by other females who took part in the study (Liker, 2004). It is proven that the human resource policies that are inconsistently applied, or are based on false data, often declines the workers morale, deteriorates loyalty of an employee towards the organization and may increase the vulnerability of the organization, to legal penalties. It is with these views that small organizations, should produce and keep in record a written copy of its HR policies and the contexts in which, those policies come in place. Business owners should address the following issues of Human resource, when drafting down policies. These policies include: equal Employment Opportunity policies and practices, employee classifications in the work place and ranking procedures and criteria. It should also address workers understanding of workdays, holidays, paydays, and pay advances. Overtime compensation and criteria of rewarding effort by employees should too be known by employees. Other areas that business owners should address, should include the meal and break periods, vacation policies, payroll deductions, holidays, sick days, performance evaluations, performance improvements and termination policies. Vested Interests Vested interests have also played a part in seeing women not getting to management in foreign countries. While women have the qualifications to get this jobs, some are locked out of the positions by executives, who may not want to be seen working under women. This makes it difficult for women to get into these positions of leadership. This is also done with the view that top managers are usually appointed from those that have had both local and foreign experience. If experience is the only basis over which appointments are done, then most women would definitely be locked out of such positions. Given that women take longer to study the business environment, before making managerial decisions; their decisions are usually well informed. This makes women to be very successful, when given the opportunity to serve as International managers. Giving the women such positions therefore, puts the positions of other managers at a threat. This in one way or the other that makes men in the executive positions and those with appointing authority to look down upon women, when it comes to international appointments. Ability to initiate rapid change Businesses have been forced to change the way they manage their operations, both at the home countries and those that are abroad. This has been greatly contributed by the increased rate of change in terms of technology, product life cycle and the fast communication. International management therefore, calls for more levels of employee involvement. This also calls for the flexibility of the organizational structures, so as to give room for change. While both men and women can easily initiate these changes, women are found to take much longer time to initiate these changes, once they are at the top management level. While this is because of the longer time they take to analyze the business environment, executives that would want such changes to be done, in short periods of time may not root for posting of women expatriates in foreign branches. The international manager may therefore, perform functions that may be seen to be same to a domestic manager; they have the challenge of adjusting to varied business environments. This means that the core functions of management has to change, if one has to cope with the foreign market (Linehan & Walsh, 1999). The taking up of leadership by Chinese managers is taking shape. Stories of a couple of Chinese managers, who run international companies, point to the role that the women in China play in international management. For instance, Bush is a businesswoman in China who has quite performed well, as an international manager. Having an experience of running a consultancy firm, she has greatly contributed to the establishment of Western firms business in Asia. Her efforts and esteem to building a great business empire, prompted her to engage Xinhua News Agency (XNA) Beijing’s official wire service, to allow her provide her name to be used in coming up with a financial news service that would be based in China, Xinhua Financial Network. With no experience in the Journalism profession, her request was granted and she allowed getting on. She actually got exclusive rights of distribution outside China. This tends to support the notion that women managers are viewed as women, but when sent outside the countries they originate, they are not seen as women but as expatriates. Women are faced with various challenges in trying to get in the expatriates positions as managers and challenges when performing their duties as managers. As such, there is need for provision of hands on knowledge from women expatriates. The home countries therefore, need to facilitate the provision of contacts of such expatriates to promote female managers. This will positively impact on female managers from such countries as the performance is likely to be high (Harris, 2001). Ideally, in a bid to boost the work of women expatriates, they should be sent to host countries to study their business environment, before being given the assignments as expatriates in those countries. This is keeping in mind that women take longer in making decisions than men. This will ensure that once given the assignments, female expatriates will take shorter time to settle and make far reaching decisions to positively transform the companies. By taking this expatriates to the host countries, before the assignments in one way helps in asserting the competency and the backup that the company has on such an expatriate. From as broad perspective, there is need for the home countries to establish policies that root for a fair and equal treatment of women. These policies should support merit based analysis and not gender. These policies in one way or the other would open ways, through which more women can get the opportunities they have longed for to serve as international managers. In China for instance, connections are the determinants the level at which one can move up the management level. This is disadvantageous to women as they tend to have fewer connections than their male counterparts. Merit has not been a key factor in choosing expatriate managers. Women that have managed to reach managerial levels, have only reached the lower management positions and stagnate up to their retirement time. Positive impacts of women manager in international organisations Consultative Leadership Women are found to offer the best services as international managers, due to the nature of being consultative. As a virtue of leadership, consultation is very important, as it makes one to make informed decisions. As an international manager, consultations are very important as through this, manager is able to learn more from the business environment and stakeholders of the company. This will make manager to make decisions that are sound, than if they were to do them singlehandedly. This is not so with men managers, who consult less before deciding to make consultations. Studies have shown that most American international managers are good at making consultations, hence end up making more informed decisions than other women in the world. While women are at times accused to being indecisive, this may not be so. Their approach is what makes them to be different. However, the American women seem to be more aggressive than other women found in other countries in the world. African women are less aggressive and would take longer in making managerial decisions (Adler, 1993). This is due to the level of accommodation that their home societies give to the women. They therefore take longer to make decisions in what they believe would be a way of asserting their authority and competence. Increase in Sales By having women in the international managerial positions, international companies are able to sell more of their products, especially to the women customers. Given that women are attracted to their own being in leadership, they are lured into buying the products of that company. By virtue that a woman is in the leadership of a given international conglomerate, so many women would be inspired by such a position, that they would end up buying the products or services of such a company. From a marketing perspective, the incorporation of women as manager expatriates, managers helps in boosting the sales of the company. Research has shown that women would make better marketers than men, in the same business environment. As such, companies are now tapping on this fact to maximize on profit, through the appointment of women in the managerial positions in the international companies. This calls for communication that is considerate to women. Effective communication with women has to involve things that women put a lot of attachments in them. For instance, in an organization set up awards, are form of communication (Pynes, 2008). It is a way of saying ‘thank you for the job well done’. In such a case awarding women with what they treasure in their lives would do a good job. For instance, instead of awarding them with Wall Clocks, kitchen equipments would do better. Timing is an important aspect to consider, when communicating with an audience with both genders. This is due to the fact that women tend to be available at particular times, more than other times depending on their activities. In such instances, communication that deals with women affairs should be made by considering their availability. Women leaders tend to be more sensitive to reaction by their juniors towards their leadership and commands than men do. As such, it is important for juniors to be very careful in their actions, lest they be misinterpreted. Proper explanation needs to be given, why an order given by a woman leader was not executed, especially if the junior is a male. Facilitate gender sensitivity Women in the international management positions have played a great role in facilitating gender sensitivity. This has in one way or the other increased the participation of women in the management of business organizations. A case in point is the running of international organizations in South Africa. South Africa boasts of hundreds of multinational companies that are engaged in various types of business activities. These ranges from banking, mining and other types of business. These companies have numerous number or women expatriates at the management level. As such, the local women have been motivated to rise up above the ordinary and provide services to such companies with high self esteem. The presence of the women expatriates in South Africa has been a great motivation, which has led to support for women at the management levels. This has been shown by the increase of women expatriates from the country. Men in South Africa have learnt that women can also be of great help in managing foreign organizations, and business branches. Today, South Africa Boasts of being the largest African country, with women expatriates in the world (Linehan, Scullion & Walsh, 2001). References Adler, N. J. (1993, September 12). Women managers in global economy - scarcity of female expatriates - Going Global. HR Magazine, 52–55. Linehan M. &Walsh J.S. (1999). "Senior female international managers: breaking the glass border", Women in Management Review, 14 (7), 264-272 Linehan, L., Hugh, S., & James, S. W. (2001). "Barriers to women’s participation in international management", European Business Review, 13 (1), 10 – 19. Harris, H. (2001). "Researching discrimination in selection for international management assignments: the role of repertory grid technique", Women In Management Review, 26 (4), 78-89 Yongsun, P. & Charles, M. V. (2002). "Evidence of back-home selection bias against US female expatriates", Women in Management Review, 17 (2), 12. Evans, M. (2004). Policy transfer in global perspective. Beijing: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. Ferguson, I. (2005). Globalization, global justice and social work. Chicago: Routledge. Liker, J. (2004). The Toyota way: 14 management principles from the world's greatest manufacturer. London: McGraw-Hill Professional. Meyer, S. (2008). Globalization, Culture and Work. Chicago: GRIN Verlag. Pynes, J. (2008). Human Resources Management for Public and Nonprofit Organizations: A Strategic Approach. New York, NY: John Wiley and Sons. Read More