In Northouse (2018) case study 15.3 Marina experiences a barrier to her job status because of gender biases, prejudice and discrimination against her due to pregnancy. As a managing director for a manufacturing company for ten years, Marina has worked extremely hard and proven herself through her performance to reach a responsible position and develop herself through her studies. Her motivation and commitment to her work and the company is apparent as she is driven to obtain promotion for a top executive position.<\/p>\n
It speaks volumes of the \u201cpreconceptions and institutionalized discrimination\u201d (Northouse, 2018, p. 415) that is present within society that Marina was reluctant to share the news with her boss, Roy, about her pregnancy. Marina is fearful and anxious about the possibility of losing her position. Her awareness to the history of the firm releasing women prior to or shortly after giving birth, confirms pregnancy discrimination is an issue within the company. Additionally, lack of \u201ccommitment to employment and motivation\u201d (Northouse, 2018, p. 408) are implied when the news is delivered to Roy which further supports gender biases for women in leadership roles.<\/p>\n
Roy\u2019s response after Marina shares with him the news about her pregnancy highlights these gender biases and discrimination. \u201cI knew this was going to happen sooner or later; it always does\u201d (Northouse, 2018, p. 420). This mentality is represented in the literature that implies these gender stereotypes \u201csignificantly alter perceptions and evaluations of female leaders and directly affect women in or aspiring to leadership roles\u201d (Northouse, 2018, p. 412). Despite Marina offering a thorough plan to distribute her work while she is off, receptiveness to this idea was avoided as a hidden agenda was already in motion. What Roy should have said in response to Marina\u2019s news, additionally to congratulations, would be asking her what her plans prior to and after her leave would be. To expand on this, taking on a transformational servant leadership approach to understanding Marina\u2019s situation and needs. Focusing on organization goals by reviewing her plan to distribute her work and seeking to understand her needs and goals on a professionally and personally level, would have been the appropriate response. As described in the preceding paragraph, Marina is committed to the company and motivated to advance in her position. With this in mind, without engaging Marina in a discussion about her future professional endeavours these gender stereotypes of women of lacking motivation and commitment to her work is confirmed.<\/p>\n
To ensure that Marina\u2019s work will be covered in her absence, Roy should include Marina in the process of delegating her work or in mentoring a replacement. This would not only ensure that her work portfolio was effectively looked after but also provide her the comfort and encouragement that her work efforts won\u2019t fall apart during her time away. Marina\u2019s assurance that her time off will not hurt her advancement can be supported by Roy taking the time prior to and during her leave to connect, check in and plan with her accordingly. Engaging in a professional growth and development planning session prior to Marina\u2019s leave may also help assure her that her goals for advancement won\u2019t be damaged as their will be mutual understanding of her goals. Also, having a discussion on record between Roy and her about her career objectives and how she plans to reach them helps negate those gender bias about commitment and motivation that were preconceived.<\/p>\n
In this case study, organizational changes are imperative to ensure that gender biases and pregnancy discrimination does not occur or influence women in leadership positions. To start, legalities around the Family and Medical Leave Act should be front and center for an organization (Northouse, 2018). Senior administrators and divisions heads should have this legal education embedded into their practice and organizational policy and immediate action taken place if violated. Furthermore, training sessions and education for the firm to bring awareness to gender discrimination in the workplace is also warranted. Specifically, to expose subtle and disguised prejudices about gender biases as they relate to commitment and motivation for women in leadership positions; especially as they balance professional and personal life choices (Northouse, 2018). To finish, a change in an organization to adopt a \u201cfamily-friendly reform\u201d (Northouse, 2018, p. 413) to ensure job protected maturity leaves and dispel myths as pregnancy being a barrier to job status would benefit Marina and other pregnant women in this organization.<\/p>\n
Daneen<\/p>\n
Reference<\/p>\n
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Northouse (2018) case study 15.3 Marina experiences a barrier to her job status because of gender biases, prejudice and discrimination against her due to pregnancy. As a managing director for a manufacturing company for ten years, Marina has worked… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-unit-8"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":481,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions\/481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/daneen85\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}