Case 15.3 Pregnancy as a Barrier to Job Status<\/p>\n
Question 1: What advancement barriers is Marina encountering?<\/p>\n
Based on the history of women promotion in Marina’s organization, it seems that pregnancy and promotion cannot coexist. This is due to the gender-based prejudice deeply implanted in the organization culture. I am saying this because it is mentioned in the case that “several other women who were eased out of their positions before they gave birth or shortly thereafter” (Northouse, 2016, p. 414). Clearly, it indicates that little effort has been taken to fight for this unfair treatment. This phenomenon implicitly has become pervasive and been tacitly approved by the staff in her organization. Once the prejudice has been institutionalized in the organization, the female employees will face greater difficulty in the way of promotion (Northouse, 2016).<\/p>\n
Question 2: What should Roy have said when Marina told him she was pregnant?<\/p>\n
Roy could have shown his concern toward Marina first, to care about her status of health during the pregnancy and ask the date of the delivery. Then, Roy could discuss the workload Marina is taking right now with Marina to see if she needs to distribute some to other staff. For example, if Marina is influenced by the changes of the hormone during pregnancy and feeling incompetent to accomplish some part of her work, she could get support from other staff. I think if it is used appropriately, this is an effective way to form the supportive culture within the organization. After that, Roy should ask Marina’s future plan about her work, including getting promotion and how to balance the domestic responsibility with work. At last, Roy should tell Marina that no matter what will her plan be, her job would be guaranteed. This act would comfort not only Marina but also other female workers in the organization, which is conducive to build organizational consensus.<\/p>\n
Question 3: What could Roy do to ensure that Marina’s work will be covered during her absence and that taking this time off will not hurt her advancement?<\/p>\n
The best way I can think of is that Roy could view the absence of Marina as being away for lengthy training. According to the case, Marina has a master’s degree in chemical engineering, and she has gained an MBA during work. Apparently, Marina is a mature adult learner who is eager to gain more knowledge and well organized in balancing the process of learning and working (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 1972). Based on this information, Roy could assign relevant training material, such as books, articles, and conference reports, to Marina for her to read during the three-month leave of absence. At the same time, Marina should keep track of her work during her absence, such as how the work has been distributed to other staff and to what extent they could accomplish the work. Roy could make a team including Marina and other staff who is going to take charge of her work. The team member should regularly report the process of the work to Marina via\u00a0high-tech means. I am sure that Marina would be an effective and considerate team leader for women incline to demonstrate transformational leadership and to employ contingent-reward strategy\u00a0(Northouse, 2016). Additionally, after Marina get promoted eventually, it is very crucial for her to publicly appreciate the members of the team during her pregnancy and absence and make sure the others know their contributions (Kotter, 2012). Not only the staff who have helped Marina would feel they are valued, but also the rest of the staff, regardless of the gender, would feel the warm power from Marina’s leadership. In turn, the organizational culture would change to the equal treatment towards female workers, and the other females would get more chances to be promoted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Question 4: What type of organizational changes can be made to benefit Marina and other pregnant women in this organization?<\/p>\n Northouse (2016) summarizes several ways of organizational changes to help female staff reach top positions in the organization. First, the culture of the organization should be changed. For example, the impression of some roles which are defined can only be accomplished by male should be changed; the notion of “uninterrupted full-time careers” (p. 406) should be abandoned. Second, the organization can “augment women’s career development by involving them in career development programs and formal network and offering work-life support” (p. 406). Further, “assigning more women to high-visibility positions and developing effective and supportive mentoring relationship for women” (p. 407) could greatly facilitate the selection and promotion.<\/p>\n I would like to add another organizational change which can change the situation of the female workers: mergers and acquisitions. There are five basic rules of mergers and acquisitions which include tackling the cultural issues (Cameron & Green, 2012). When mergers and acquisitions are happening, it will lead to the integration of the two types of culture. I believe this process in which we can redefine or restructure the culture will change the culture of the whole company from the core. Especially mergers with women-owned companies can significantly remedy the biased gender stereotype against females.<\/p>\n References<\/p>\n Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2012). Making Sense of Change Management<\/em> (3rd edition ed.). New Delhi, India: Kogan Page Limited.<\/p>\n Knowles, M. S., Holton, E., & Swanson, R. (1972). Andragogy<\/i>. NETCHE.<\/p>\n Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change, With a new preface by the author.<\/em> Boston, MA: Harvard\u00a0Business Review Press.<\/p>\n Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice.<\/em> Sage publications.<\/p>\n