{"id":162,"date":"2017-11-13T20:47:16","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T04:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/?p=162"},"modified":"2017-11-13T20:47:16","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T04:47:16","slug":"unit-8-activity-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/2017\/11\/13\/unit-8-activity-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Unit 8 Activity 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unit 8, activity 1 <\/span><\/p>\n

The term \u2018Glass ceiling\u2019 was first coined by Hymowitz & Schellhardt (1986), who were Wall Street Journal reporters. The glass ceiling is defined by Wikipedia as <\/span>\u201ca metaphor used to represent an invisible barrier that keeps a given demographic (typically minorities) from rising beyond a certain level in a hierarchy\u201d. A very famous example of this in recent times is Hillary Clinton not getting elected to the US presidency despite being a very qualified candidate. Eagly & Carli (2007) argue that this term is a misnomer, as it inadequately represents the challenges that a certain demographic might face on their way to the top. They argue the term ceiling implies that the lower positions are more easily accessible, and that there is this \u201csingle, invisible, and impassable barrier\u201d. They propose an alternate term- \u2018the glass labyrinth\u2019- representing the challenges that women must face at multiple levels, and not just at the top. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Case Study 15.1 (NOrthouse, 2016) is a classic example of this metaphor. The glass labyrinth model as described by Northouse, citing several authors, gives three types of explanations for this phenomenon (Northouse, 2016, p. 399-406) \u2013 difference in investment in human capital, gender differences in men and women, and prejudice. In the case of Lisa the first explanation does not seem to be applicable; from her educational achievements we can assume that she is at par with her colleagues. There is also no mention of family commitments. She does appear to have a different style of leadership from her peers. She appears to be engaging more in a transformative style of leadership, by being available for advice to her peers. She also has trouble with self-promotion as is evidenced by her reluctance to correct her boss\u2019 misconceptions about her competence. She is eager to be seen as a team player. Eagly and Johnson (1990); van Engen & Willemsen (2004), say that \u2018women lead in a more democratic, or participative, manner than men\u2019. Lisa is epitomizing this statement. The third explanation of prejudice seems to be very much in play here. For undisclosed reasons her boss seems to be convinced that her male colleagues have more knowledge than her. She is forced to make the decision to quit the firm because she does not see a future for herself in the face of such bias. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the section \u2018Navigating the labyrinth\u2019, Northouse (2016, pp. 406-408), the authors propose some solutions- changing gendered assumptions, encouraging flexibility and diversity in hiring, women starting their own ventures etc. What I found interesting is that there isn\u2019t much discussion about how to tackle work place prejudice. Lisa is stuck working for a boss who is clearly prejudicial. Bosses like everybody else are a product of their upbringing and background; biases and prejudices included. I think everybody who is making decisions about promotions, should have education and training in recognizing their bias. There should also be personality tests to promote awareness among leaders about their often-unrecognized biases. A great example of gender bias was reported by Goldin & Rouse in 2000, where they found that orchestras that auditioned applicants while hidden behind a screen increased the proportion of women applicants being selected. How can this gender blindness be applied to hiring and promotions is a challenge that organizations needs to take up. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our Unit notes mention that somehow blinding resumes could help reduce the bias. While this would help getting women selected to a position within an organization, this does not ensure they will be given an equal chance at promotion, as was the case with Lisa. Organizations must focus on training and education to ensure that gender discrimination is acknowledged and dealt with, so that women leaders are allowed the same opportunities as their male counterparts. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

References<\/span><\/p>\n

Eagly, A.H., & Carli, L.L., (2007). Through the labyrinth: The truth about how women become leaders. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. <\/span><\/p>\n

Eagly, A.H., & Johnson, B.T. (1990). Gender and leadership and style: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 233-256. <\/span><\/p>\n

Goldin, C., & Rouse, C. (2000). Orchestrating impartiality: The impact of \u201cblind\u201d auditions on female musicians. American Economic Review, 90, 715-740. <\/span><\/p>\n

Hymowitz, C., & Schellhardt, T.D. (1986). The glass ceiling: Why women can\u2019t seem to break the invisible barrier that blocks them from the top jobs. The Wall Street Journal, pp. D1, D4-D5.<\/span><\/p>\n

Van Engen, M.L., & Willemsen, T.M. (2004). Sex and leadership styles: A meta-analysis of research published in the 1990s. Psychological Reports, 94, 3-18.<\/span><\/p>\n

Glass Ceiling. (2017, November 12). In Wikipedia. Retrieved November 12, 2017), from <\/span>https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Glass_ceiling<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unit notes. <\/span>https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/ldrs500\/unit-8\/unit-8-notes\/<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unit 8, activity 1 The term \u2018Glass ceiling\u2019 was first coined by Hymowitz & Schellhardt (1986), who were Wall Street Journal reporters. The glass ceiling is defined by Wikipedia as \u201ca metaphor used to represent an invisible barrier that keeps a given demographic (typically minorities) from rising beyond a certain level in a hierarchy\u201d. A […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":147,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ldrs500","category-unit-8","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9i0gL-2C","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/147"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/create.twu.ca\/icandothis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}