African-American women: disadvantages of Color - Essay Example

African-American Women: Disadvantages of 'Color' Recent years, more and more women enter top management positions and become effective leaders. Equal opportunities, affirmative action and anti-discrimination policies open new opportunities for female leaders to apply their knowledge and skills to the organizational context. Great change and positive developments in labor market create a new problem for women leaders: feeling of guilt caused by constant pressure to be "150% as good" and social expectations put on African American women. Today, a greater percentage of women leaders are positively associated with stronger policy motivations on the part of female chairs. Tilted groups offer more opportunities for coalition building and collective action that turn policy hopes and goals into policy realities. The presence of more women in top management also seems to be a positive influence encouraging male leaders to be more inclusive in managing their committees. Since women leaders on average are more inclusive and participatory than men, the overall impact of more women leaders and managers is to narrow the difference a bit between men and women chairs on this measure. On the other hand, this situation creates pressure for many African-American women who try to meet social expectations and "be "150% as good" just to break even with her white male counterparts" (Goldsmith 2007). Critics admit that feelings of guilt deprives many African-American women a chance to find a good job and choose their life path. It means that many African-American women pick a career path which does not meet their inclinations or interests but proposes opportunities for career development and leadership. In America, many African-American women leaders 'suffer' from historical burden of slavery and false images of role models for other women. The feeling of guilt is created by a desire to be more integrative (i.e., score higher on the various measures of leadership) describe their personalities in the more feminine terms of nurturing, preferring to share power, and less dominating. "African-American women have the additional task of combating a unique and particular set of historical stereotypes--stereotypes that can affect the way academia treats them" (Bryant et al 2005, 313). As expected, masculine personality traits such as dominating are negatively associated with inclusive behaviors and positively associated with competing behaviors; both relationships have a probability of occurring by chance less. The effects of the variable sex and various personality traits combine in a fairly convincing way to show that integrative leadership is gendered in distinctly female terms. Following Bryant et al (2005): "Black women's particular prism for understanding and surviving in the world depends on understanding the intricacies of White men, White women, Black men, and themselves" (313). These data illustrate the distinction between sex and gender, the socially constructed understandings of sex, as explanatory variables. Researchers admit that the pressure and constant tension to be "150% as good" effect women's leadership styles. There is a small positive and statistically significant association between the percentage of women leaders and the two measures of policy and people motivations. African-American women leaders on average score higher than the men in terms of people motivations, so the overall effect of more women leaders is to decrease the difference between men and women on this measure (Bryant et al 2005, 314). The myths and realities surrounding this paradigm continue to be hotly debated, but one feature does seem to be widely recognized, namely that in the new economy work at all levels is characterized by increasing insecurity an inequality. Phillips (2001) focuses on the impact of this increasing insecurity and inequality on achieving a work-life balance, and how the nature and form of this balance itself takes different forms for different groups of worker and different types of household. "As a path to self-determination, education became a crucial goal of the "uplift" of African Americans" (Phillips 2001, 25). The European labour market can be describes as homogeneous in contrast to diverse American market. It is unlikely there will ever be a truly single homogeneous HR in Europe in the sense of there being a single, homogeneous culture. At work, European women leaders experience the same problems as African-American women but most of them caused by gender rather than racial differences. Today, many female leaders obtain top management positions but have to resist male dominance and gender bias. For instance, on the three leadership measures of inclusive, collaborative, and accommodative behaviors, European women average score significantly higher than do men. Men's scores on the three measures show a significant negative association with women's institutional power, whereas women's scores on the three measures of integrative behavior reveal a significantly different and positive trend. The associations between leadership styles and feminine personality traits are stronger and more often statistically significant than those between styles and sex. In particular, nurturing personality traits are positively associated with integrative motivations and behaviors. In general, European women's power shows a positive and significant influence on the integrative behaviors of women leaders but a negative and significant influence on the integrative behaviors of male employees. External stress and work overload may cause an initial lapse, giving in to temptation and indulging an impulse. This may result in an unexpected emotional response that results in a snowballing of the behavior. If this response does not occur, then the behavior may stop soon after it starts. This is losing self-awareness and feeling apprehensive about being evaluated. This is likely to happen when a person feels submerged in a group of people or when it is unpleasant to think about oneself. The situation in Europe differs because European labor market is more homogeneous then an American one. Also, European women did not suffer from slavery and racism which has a great impact on modern labor relations in America. Culture plays a strong and expected influence in shaping African-American leadership. The impact of culture is felt most decisively in its association with greater levels of women's representation in top management (Mcdonald et al 2004, 401). The potential of women's power to transform leadership behavior is most intriguing. The number and power of African-American women in top management seem to have important effects on both men's and women's leadership. Performance and interpretation potentially may conflict, and such conflicts often require an individual to invest considerable effort in negotiating gender behavior. By contrast, the more feminine images of routine care and service, interconnectedness, and mutual dependence, which are manifest in a concern for people and in participatory or inclusive behaviors, are less likely in top management. Suggestions of Stephanie Chick (cited Goldsmith 2007) is very effective because they give a chance to every women develop her unique personality and talents. It is important to note that gender shows its impact in three ways. First, sex is a significant predictor of aspects of leadership behavior even when controlling for different situational variables. The differences are not biological but presumably result from different life experiences and socialization. Second, and just as important, gender manifests itself in feminine and masculine personality traits and, therefore, demonstrates a significant influence on leadership styles. Third, gender shows its influence as an organizational phenomenon when managers specify the effects of more women in a top management or more power held by women in management. Stephanie Chick is correct stating that more balanced proportions provide opportunities for all African-American women. She also seems on point when she identifies the potential threat posed by intruders and the subsequent reaction of the majority culture. Women's power seems to offer women the opportunity for greater collaboration while at the same time prompting men to be less integrative. Leadership in public organizations tends to flow to those who embody the norms and values of the organization. Instability and greater equality might negate the powerful socializing norms evident in other organizations. Because legislatures have less stable organizational norms, different styles of leadership brought by women may offer new possibilities for influence and change. Feeling of guilt can be eliminated by HR professionals and effective policies of career development which "unleash their personal genius and effectively share their gifts with the world" (Goldsmith 2007). Recently, the literature has been awash with articles concerning the development of 'women' managers who are able to operate across boundaries and who are adept at introducing change into organizations. In order to overcome feeling of guilt, African-American women should follow self-control strategies. They involve the process that maintains an active goal, and the process of maintaining one's actions in line with one's self-concept. Initially, self-control requires a great deal of conscious effort. Those who operate in a self-regulatory mode to pursue a goal are likely to need less time to make decisions related to the goal, and do not feeling guilty if something goes wrong. They plan and initiate actions at the right times and situations. Another effective strategy is self-regulation which requires a sort of strength similar to the common notion of willpower. So failure of self-regulation may happen when leader's strength is weaker than the impulse. Following Stephanie Chick (cited Goldsmith 2007), it is important not "overstate problems. On the other hand, don't be so overcautious that the women you manage don't find out what they need to do to improve until it's too late". It is not that standards disappear or that there is a failure of self-monitoring, but rather the person feels unable to respond in line with the standards. Many actions may be easy to stop early, but may be difficult to stop once they have gained momentum, as if there is an inner force that impels continuing the behavior. Today, like a century ago, many African-American women experience problems caused by racial differences and color of skin. Feeling of guilt and psychological pressure are the main factors which prevent many women to feel happy and self-confident. European and American women leaders experience similar problems caused by gender differences and male power. Stephanie Chick suggests that self-regulation requires the least strength when it overrides a response before or soon after it occurs. Bibliography 1. Bryant, R.M., Coker, A.D., Constantine, M.G., 2005, Having Our Say: African American Women, Diversity, and Counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, vol. 83, p. 313-320. 2. Goldsmith, M. 2007, Leadership Lessons for Women of Color. Business Week. March 14. 3. Mcdonald, Th. W. Schweiger, J. A., Toussaint, L.L. 2004, Influence of Social Status on Token Women Leaders' Expectations about Leading Male-Dominated Groups. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, vol. 50, pp. 401-410. 4. Phillips, E.N. 2001, Doing More Than Heads: African American Women Healing, Resisting, and Uplifting Others in St. Petersburg, Florida. Frontiers - A Journal of Women's Studies, vol. 22, pp. 25-27. Read More