3 October 2008
Women doubt that corporate culture is a meritocracy
Females more likely to view their workplace as a competitive culture, study shows.
Women believe the workplace is a competitive culture and don't buy in to the idea that the corporate culture is a meritocracy – so found Climbing the Technical Ladder: Obstacles and Solutions for Mid-Level Women in Technology, a new report that highlights barriers many mid-level technical women face in advancing their career.
This mid-level career stage, the study says, is a critical juncture for both women on the technical ladder – a complex set of gender barriers converge at this point – and the high-tech firms that employ them.
Diversity is barely a blip on some radars
Produced by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology in conjunction with the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research, the report says that men are 2.7 times more likely to be in a high-level position than are women, and that women make up an increasingly smaller proportion of the workforce at every level of the technology corporate ladder.
These findings suggest there may be many unaddressed corporate culture issues lurking in many businesses. What role can communicators take in reversing this trend? How can you help change workplace attitudes and procedures to promote diversity for the benefit of your organization?
Over 68% report limiting their amount of sleep to achieve their career goals.
Exclusion from social networks
One suggested solution is to make efforts to increase the social networking opportunities available to women.
Research cited in the report shows that senior managers with more social capital (in the form of social network ties that bridge different groups) are more likely to get promoted.
But women in lower positions on the technical ladder (from entry- to mid-level) have fewer opportunities to network outside their immediate department. "Due to their minority status in the high-tech workplace, women require broader networks for career advancement. This means that many successful women must find alternative network routes to the top," the report says.
Women aren't "fitting in" with their company culture
Outlining the areas that communicators can focus on to address the barriers to career advancement for women in the technology sector, the study provides advice to high-tech companies, which includes:
- Technical women in management positions are perceived as less technically competent than their male counterparts, creating an environment where women are viewed (and can view themselves) as "not fitting in" with the company culture.
- Mid-level women are more likely than men to believe that extended work days are a requirement for success, which may lead to the perception among women that those who can't regularly stay late are less likely to advance.
Increase women’s representation on your company’s board of directors and executive ranks.
- While both men and women value family, men are nearly 4 times more likely than women to have a partner who assumes the primary responsibility for the household and children. The report shows that 34% of mid-level technical women have deliberately delayed having children to achieve career goals.
- Women are more likely than men to perceive the workplace as a competitive culture and do not believe the corporate culture is a meritocracy.
- Women are more likely than men to suffer poor health due to excessive work-related stress, and over 68% report limiting their amount of sleep to achieve their career goals.
Stereotyping a barrier to women’s advancement
Stereotyping, the report says, most often occurs when there's a clear “out-group” member, such as a single woman on a technical team of men.
In this instance, the sole woman will likely be the subject of more stereotyping than any of the male team members. This type of stereotyping is known as “tokenism” because one person clearly belongs to a minority group.
Tokenism means that the majority (male) group members treat their female co-worker as someone who represents all the stereotypical characteristics of women in general.
An extract from the report on this subject:
"This scrutiny is palpable to the technical woman, who sees her performance and communication style judged differently from that of her male peers. For example, cultural attitudes that reward men who act assertively simultaneously punish women who exhibit similar behaviors. This has real career consequences. Moreover, women are stereotyped as “family focused” and “unwilling to travel,” and are more likely than men to be passed over for promotions. Women who have “out-group” status are also more likely to be pushed toward tasks that are stereotypically feminine, such as support work.The end result for many “out-group” members is that they are more likely to leave their companies."
Problems retaining key mid-level women
Indeed, the study says that 29% of women are planning to leave their mid-level positions at high-tech companies in the next year and pursue alternative options.
"One of the most powerful ways to improve retention and advancement rates for women is to promote women to senior technical positions," says the report. And a diverse leadership team, the report suggests, is also essential to fostering a culture that values diversity.
"Employees can clearly see a company’s commitment to diversity by looking at the... executive ranks. Diversity breeds diversity. Increase women’s representation on your company’s board of directors and executive ranks," says the report.
Communicators can do their bit to help promote diversity by educating managers to be aware that company hiring practices can reproduce gender inequality simply by hiring men with homogeneous backgrounds, for example. Managers will also need training in identifying potential problems that could occur simply as a result of team composition, or risk losing valuable female employees. (See the sidebox, above, for more tips on this issue.)
Lack of female representation at the top
Lack of diversity isn't just confined to the technology sector. The Hub reported earlier this year that only 20% of executive committee members are female. In the survey cited – The Changing Face at the Top – although 78% of respondents said diversity is an important strategy, only 13% said they believe the number of minorities in executive positions will increase during the next 3 years.
Nearly half of the 400 respondents, made up of senior HR executives from 24 countries around the world, reported no females at all in C-suite positions (chairpersons, CEOs and members of the executive team).
What the experts say: Angela Sinickas
We asked the Hub's communication measurement guru, Angela Sinickas, (pictured, right) for her advice about how communicators can address the issue of diversity.
"What I recommend is incorporating how diversity affected the outcome of projects or initiatives that are being covered in your corporate communications. Then diversity is implicitly – and subliminally – connected to successful projects."
"This doesn't happen magically, however," Sinickas continues. "Communicators need to have a list of questions they ask sources about nearly every story they research to make connections between the current 'news' and the big-picture goals."
Examples of diversity questions
Two of those questions should always relate to diversity, Sinickas says. For example:
- "In developing the approach you used for this successful project, how did you make sure you took into consideration various perspectives of looking at the problem to be sure you understood it fully?"
- And "How did you involve different perspectives in testing the likelihood of success for different potential solutions?"
"Those different 'perspectives' generally come from people who don't fit the typical cultural mold of the organization," Sinickas says.
Recognize key contributors
To use communication to help promote diversity, try Sinickas's approach to internal news coverage. When interviewing the key source on a project team, to publicize in, say, an internal news article, Sinickas advises that we should "always identify all the people who played a key role in the project's success, not just the team leader."
Always identify all the people who played a key role in the project's success, not just the team leader.
"When we find a team member who was female, or non-white, or any other minority group within the organization's make-up, we should be sure to follow up in getting more information about the project from those individuals and quote them. Of course, they should also be visibly included in any photos accompanying the story."
But beware of the word "diversity", Sinickas says. "I think the worst thing communicators can do to maximize readership about the topic of diversity is to use that word in a headline or in a link to another webpage. That approach is guaranteed to get people to skip the information, just like the topics of mission, vision, values."
Diversity levels: communicating for change
In terms of measuring diversity levels within your organization, most HR surveys include questions about perceptions of discrimination and diversity.
From a communicator's perspective, Sinickas recommends doing a content analysis of the materials that are distributed to employees. "This ensures we're sending out the right balance of content to reflect the organization's goals, values, brand characteristics, geographical dispersion, and so on – as well as being sure we're including quotes and pictures that reflect the diversity of our audience."
Figures 1 and 2 below show a content analysis of the diversity in job levels being quoted in an employee publication, as well as diversity in photos. "It's from a health-care organization, so it was important to reflect employees working in the clinical setting, not only executives in the offices," says Sinickas.
Figure 1. Health-care organization's content analysis approach
Figure 2. Visual representation of different employee groups
Communications' role in promoting diversity
"Studies have shown that, for a variety of reasons, workforce diversity boosts a company's bottom line," states Dr. Caroline Simard, director of research for the Anita Borg Institute and co-author of the Climbing the Technical Ladder study.
"This fact, combined with the lower number of men and women entering technical fields, makes it critical for high-tech companies to focus on eliminating the barriers to retention and advancement of their technical women."
Especially during times of economic downturn it's vital to make every effort to boost your company's profitability, and if showing diversity's positive effects on the business is one way communicators can prove their worth, then what's stopping you promoting it?
The full report is available for download on the Anita Borg Institute website.
Have your say
How do you fly the flag for diversity at your organization? Is it an uphill struggle to ensure you're communicating to all niche groups, cultures, languages and generations?
Do you agree with Sinickas's view that "the worst thing communicators can do to maximize readership about the topic of diversity is to use that word in a headline or in a link to another webpage"?
And perhaps a one-size-fits-all approach to communication actually works at your organization? Share with us your suggestions for how to make sure diversity is promoted, not just tolerated, at your organization.
Recommended resources:
Communicating a diversity initiative at Lehman Brothers
Launching into a brave new world at IBM
Only 20% of executive committee members are female
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