Search results

Diversity, notably gender diversity, is growing in health care, both at the level of teams and the level of organizations. This paper aims to describe the challenges for team leaders and leaders of organizations to manage this diversity. The authors believe that more could be done to help leaders master these challenges in a way that makes diverse teams and organizations more productive.

Drawing on previously published research, using gender diversity as an example, the paper first describes how diversity can both have a positive and a negative influence on team productivity. Next, it describes the challenge of gender diversity at an organizational level, using Switzerland as an example.

The first part of the paper espouses the causes of gender diversity, undoes some of the myths surrounding diversity and presents a model for effective management of diversity in teams. The second part looks at gender diversity at an organizational level. Drawing from sources inside and outside healthcare, the effects of the “leaking pipeline”, “glass wall” and “glass ceiling” that prevent health-care organizations from leveraging the potential of female talent are discussed.

The authors propose a model developed for intercultural teamwork as a framework for leveraging gender diversity for better team productivity. Proposals are offered to health-care organizations on how they can tip the gender balance at senior levels into their favor, so as to get the maximum benefit from the available talent.

Applying the “how to” ideas and recommendations from this general review will help leaders of health-care organizations gain a better return on investment from their talent development as well as to increase the productivity of their workforce by a better use of diverse talent.

First, this paper aims to demonstrate that there are specific obstacles to the progression of women to top positions. Second, it aims to give advice to individual women leaders and to organizations how to go about removing such obstacles.

The paper reviews current research on gender differences in leadership, career progression of women, gender diversity in organizations, and leadership development methods such as 360° evaluations. It also refers to case studies of successful women leaders as evidence.

Women on their way up the corporate ladder get caught in two traps: the assumption that women and men have the same leadership qualities and the belief that they must imitate male leadership behavior in order to succeed. These traps not only prevent women from reaching their full potential but also prevent organizations from maximizing available talent.

To avoid these traps, the business community must recognize that women and men have different leadership competencies, use those differences to their advantage, and learn how to effectively manage the variety of perceptions of women as leaders. At the same time, the paper identifies often used, yet ineffective strategies to develop women's careers.

The paper questions assumptions about gender diversity in leadership and methods about how to improve gender balance at the top of organizations. It identifies specific and tangible obstacles to women's career progression and offers concrete advice on how to remove those obstacles.

The eradication of gender discrimination at work has been a prominent feature of the UK political and business agenda for decades; however, the persistent business gender leadership gap remains. The concept of second-generation gender bias has recently been proposed as the primary cause. This paper aims to evaluate how women experience second-generation gender bias in construction organisations. It examines key manifestations of second-generation gender bias and how it impacts women’s career progression into leadership positions in the UK construction industry.

This paper adopts a broad feminist interpretative lens aligned with the general aims of feminist critical inquiry through semi-structured interviews with 12 women experiencing career journeys of at least five years in the construction industry.

This paper reveals that second-generation gender bias hinders the career development and leadership identity of some women and the persistent business gender leadership gap is unlikely to change without addressing it.

There is little or no research that speaks exclusively to the experience of second-generation gender bias and female managers working within the UK construction. This paper provides further insight into the barriers women face when attempting to progress into senior management roles, particularly in construction.

Globalization of organizations necessitates the development of a network organizational configuration. This new form of organization requires managers to become boundary spanners between the various organizations aligned in the global business network. The question becomes how are these boundary‐spanning managers going to be identified and selected for global assignments. This paper examines the staffing options for marketing managers of integrative (i.e. relational) and market (i.e. transactional) modes of norm‐based control of global channels of distribution. Both transaction cost analysis and focus theory are used to identify which control mechanism would be most appropriate for each inter‐organizational situation.