Article by Judith A. Starkey

Women in Business:  A Cultural Change

Recent data reflect the growing impact of women in U.S. business, yet women continue to make relatively slow progress in the overall management ranks of U.S. organizations.  Reasons for this slow growth rate are often rooted in deep-seated cultural values, which traditionally have defined men as directors and women as supporters.  As long as these values rule organizations, women will continue to have difficulty breaking the so-called "glass ceiling" to upper management levels.

Culture change is required for our economic survival.  In a survey published by The Wall Street Journal Rose Jonas, former personnel manager at Monsanto Company, said, "If culture doesn't change, nothing will change for women."  Jack Hall, vice president of employee relations at Ford Motor Company, agreed:  "If we don't change the culture, we're not going to survive."

By focusing on successful models where change is occurring, however gradually, we can gain insight toward development of a new culture with a more balanced view of genders in the workplace.  Let's start with two more companies cited in the above study.

Sara Lee Corporation was unwilling to wait for women's progress through the ranks.  Beginning in the 1980's they began hiring women into high-level jobs and watched the cultural changes trickle down.  "The more women in top management jobs, the more women are attracted to them," says Gary Grom, senior vice president of human resources.  These changes required a firm commitment from then Chairman John Bryan, former civil rights activist.  He noted, "We are the largest company in the world named for a woman, a distinction we are proud of.  It gives us responsibility to be ahead of the curve on women's issues."  He added, "Besides, since one of our product lines is Hanes pantyhose, it didn't make sense to have a bunch of old men sitting around trying to figure out the business."

Wells Fargo & Co. was also found to have a high percentage of women in management, reflecting a trend in the financial industry.  Wells Fargo had many mergers and acquisitions, and women had an opportunity to show they could handle large projects; they seemed to thrive in the company's decentralized, nonhierarchical structure.

This latter example supports findings of other organizations such as the Society of Human Resource Management, where leadership styles of successful male and female small business owners were examined.  They found that male and female employers did not differ significantly in personal characteristics and personnel practices.  On the other hand, female managers had better track records for hiring women, and their employees in general were happier with their jobs than were employees who worked for male owners.  Also, contrary to popular opinion, women enjoyed working for other women.  Both male and female employees reported similar positive levels of job satisfaction.  Younger, better-educated males in particular, appeared to enjoy working for female employers.

Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and the Blade:  Our History, Out Future, identified two basic kinds of corporate structures.  The first, which she defines as the "dominator" model, is patterned after the military system and is largely hierarchical.  The second, the "partnership" model, stresses cooperation and collaboration.  She suggests that this second model, which is gradually replacing the first, is ideal for women managers whose skills traditionally have flourished in this type of setting.

Sally Helgesen, in her book, The Female Advantage, compares the two models to games learned as children.  Men have historically used football as a business model, with its organizational structure, tenacious focus on objective, concentration on blocking the competition, emphasis on deployment of efficient units, and requirement that team players do what they are told and not question the coach.  Girls, on the other hand, have preferred more interpersonal games, such as hopscotch, house, dolls, jump rope, all emphasizing cooperation and role-playing. The more flexible games prepared women to improvise, concentrating more on the process than the goal.  The ability to respond quickly to changing business conditions is becoming an increasingly valuable trait in today's world.

It is interesting to compare these studies with anecdotal data derived from one of our own  workshops.  A group of women participants defined:

"Women (as a cultural group)" as "sensitive, adaptable, determined, having fortitude and emotional strength, doers with a high work ethic, nurturing and caring, open, communicative, confrontive in a positive sense, and having integrity."

Conversely, a group of men defined:

"Men (as a cultural group)" as "confident, aggressive, head of the family (including finances), open to change, involved in sports, a hero, we 'fix' things, run the company and the country, are leaders, decision makers, successful, and bond with other males."

So, one could conclude that the successful cultural model we seek of bringing male and female perspectives into balance would create an organization:

• Whose structure is fluid and can adapt quickly to change;

• Where directiveness is tempered with strong interpersonal skills;

• Where process is defined through consensus-building collaboration; and

• Growth opportunities are provided equally to women and men.

Key to achieving this goal is understanding communication between genders.  Deborah Tannen, in her book, You Just Don't Understand, asserts that men value independence over intimacy, while women value connection over status.  These values were learned as children, according to her studies of Americans raised before the 1970's.  (Since then, boy and girls have been taught more similar values in the U.S., although recent studies indicate that the old messages are still being learned subliminally.)  In addition, since men often associate intimacy with sex, they can misinterpret the efforts of women to establish an "intimate" or genuine relationship with a coworker.  This difference in interpretation can lead to mixed signals and sexual harassment complications.  Other gender-based communication differences can occur through the use of language, boundaries and power, all of which experts agree are very similar to the gaps occurring among different ethnic cultures.  Periodic training in cultural (including gender) communication can ease strains due to these differences, but ongoing organizational policy changes need to reinforce the culture change.

Judith Tingley, author of Genderflex:  Ending the Workplace War Between the Sexes, points out that an effective interpersonal strategy is "to temporarily use communication behaviors typical of the other gender in order to increase potential for influence."  Beth Milwid interviewed successful businesswomen for their strategies in Working With Men: one manager said that she acts like a man in the boardroom, where male traditions of military leadership still rule, but with staff she uses participatory management.

At the current rate women will not achieve parity with male managers for at least another 20 years−if then.  Can we afford to wait?  The opportunities open for U.S. business could multiply rapidly through more effective utilization of its female workforce.  The sooner cultural change produces a workplace environment where women can fully realize their potential, the sooner greater prosperity will ensue.

___
 

Author Judith A. Starkey is president of The Starkey Group, Inc., a consulting and training firm providing multicultural strategies.  For more information see www.StarkeyGrp.com.

For permission to reproduce this article contact StarkeyGrp@aol.com or the address below.

Contact Us:
Judith A. Starkey, President
The Starkey Group, Inc.
3180 N. Lake Shore Drive, Suite 17G
Chicago, Illinois 60657-4867 USA
Phone:  773 348 0421
Fax:  773 348 3683
E-Mail:  jas@StarkeyGrp.com or StarkeyGrp@aol.com
Website.  www.StarkeyGrp.com
MultiCultural Strategies

We respect your privacy and will not reveal your identity without authorization.
See our Products for more information.

Copyright © 2011 The Starkey Group, Inc., All Rights Reserved.