Organizational Theory and Behavior
Homework #3
October 9, 2007
What advancement barriers did Lisa encounter?
Although Lisa Weber was a highly qualified, ambitious analyst for the firm, she never had a chance for advancement because of that glass ceiling. The idea of becoming a partner was always visible, but never attainable because of the various obstacles she had to face. The same obstacles most women face when trying to climb the corporate ladder.
Several barriers stood in Lisa’s path of becoming a partner. One such barrier was the fact that even though her credentials, commendations, and work ethic were extremely high, she was never respected by the CEO, Michael Breyer, as someone who deserved to be on an executive level. His
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Lisa was a vital asset to the company. She brought in new business, her accounts were prosperous, and her opinion was coveted on a daily basis by partners that she longed to be equal with.
What type of organizational policies and opportunities might have benefited Lisa and Pamela? One organizational policy that would have benefited Lisa and Pamela is a zero tolerance of discrimination, whether it is sexual, racial, age, or gender. Most companies today would not have tolerated the way these women were treated. Not only because it is not right, but because of the negative publicity it would cause if one of these women were to bring a discrimination charge up against the company. One accusation of discrimination or harassment against a company is usually the catalyst for whatever else may be hiding behind those closed doors.
What could the organization do to raise the gender consciousness of Michael Breyer and Lisa’s male colleagues? One thing the organization could do to raise the gender consciousness would be to do an ongoing series of sensitivity training for all staff. Along with this training would be annual assessment seminars that will teach people the different types of discrimination and harassment and the steps they need to take when such a situation is posed upon them. In the Cancer center where I am employed, women make up nearly 70% of the managerial and supervisory staff in all departments. At the executive level they only make up
2. Because Beauport is a woman or a minority she cannot handle the responsibility of advancing in the field of marketing management. She believes this because her previous employer had this mindset.
Kerrie Peterson works for a Fortune 500 company named Access. She is currently a General Manager (GM), over the corporate leading business unit. Each GM was asked to cut back their operating cost and Kerrie agreed to set her goal to 15 percent, during a quarterly financial review planning session. She was confident about meeting the 15 percent goal, but the challenge was getting her senior manager on board with the ideal. Kerrie called a meeting for her senior management team, to inform them of the changes. Kerrie stressed the fact that by their department being the largest department they must join this effort, in order to meet the goal for the greater good of the company, (Lester & Parnell, 2007, Case E). As general manager, Kerrie
Promoting women’s equality in the workplace has been a central focus throughout my professional life. As a journeywoman carpenter (prior to my current academic career), I volunteered as a project leader for the Oregon Tradeswomen Inc., OTI (http://www.tradeswomen.net/) in Portland, Oregon. In this role, I taught women in OTI’s apprentice program introductory skills that allowed them to enroll in various trade union training programs throughout the Pacific Northwest. The goal of this work was simple, to increase the number of women in careers that were predominately male-dominated. At every stage of my academic career, I’ve made a concerted effort to mentor female students, and took great joy in watching them succeed. I believe that serving
Denise is a model employee as she is always reliable and dedicated to the team as well as the business needs and has an ability to easily adapt to any last minute schedule changes , even when they involve overtime. Another individual asset she brings to our company is her ability and desire to calm an angry or frustrated customer, which is unparalleled. It is my pleasure to repeatedly ask her to mentor new employees as soon as they start training due to her excellence in multiple areas and eager attitude to
Although I have never experienced any extreme cases of gender discrimination in the workplace, the engagement interview allowed me to understand that it can still happen even in the highest levels of business. Additionally, when more businesses and corporate professionals promote gender equality it eventually becomes more successful within a company since it becomes more accepted among the people in the business. Overall, my main takeaway from this interview includes that women can be leaders in their fields through utilizing their skills to their upmost ability while also tackling gender discrimination issues. I believe that more women should continue to make gender discrimination issues aware to corporate professionals and those who aspire to become professionals in their desired
In terms of Caitlin’s interest to be further recognized, she positions to obtain a promotion as Vice President of Client Advisory Services (CAS). Yet George implements another challenging move by implying gender schemas and doubt on Caitlin’s readiness. Although, he appreciates Caitlin’s value in the company and praises for her competences, but these are not sufficient. George argues that this type of job demand for more responsibilities, such as a strategic vision, a creative thinking, a deep insight of system and a firm characteristic. In order to respond this move, Caitlin responds with a diverting turn by asserting her strength, acknowledging her weaknesses and request George to be her mentor. In this stage, Caitlin attempts to keep her BATNA for her position related Vice President promotion.
Being a strong leader in the health-care sector, Frank Calveta also knew that his family’s great reputation might be defenseless moving into different sectors. Jennifer Calveta also thought that ifher brother moved the company into other industries, it would move away from the culture company that their father spent many years building (pg.3).
It is 2oclock on a Friday afternoon when Mr. Sanders is supposed to meet with Lauren Knolls. The clock strikes 2:01 and Lauren walks through the office door. Judging by her first appearance she looks atrocious. Her hair is a frizzy mess; her business attire outfit is wrinkled and her long baggy suit hang off her arms. She strolls through the door and flashes a million dollar smile. In that moment, Mr. Sanders knows exactly what type of employee Ms. Knolls will be if he were to hire her.
Tricia Monet, 23, from an Illinois city near St. Louis, Missouri has a fiancé and a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and finds herself and her fiancé relocating their jobs to Sioux City, Iowa. Tricia, being from a very close-knit family has determined that, while she has worked for an accounting firm since obtaining her degree; less than one year, her current firm has structure, organization, and “neatness” but lacks her need for people interaction. It is this desire that draws her to apply for an assistant director position for a company called Personal Reflections, which is a national chain of personal care and household products.
Mary Parker Follett suggests that goals of the employer should be compatible with the goals of the employee (Lester & Pernell, 2006). Parker believes that the goals should be integrated rather than coming to a compromise (Lester & Pernell,2006). In regards to the self-interest in Kerrie’s organization, Follett would combat the issue by making sure that all parties involved were able to communicate their expectations. With clear, concise expectations set, Follett would facilitate a meeting to ensure the goals of both parties are aligned. However, Follett feels that there should not be any compromising. Avoiding negotiating will reduce negative backlash from the participants who are on the opposing end of the continuum.
The way to address this issue is with internal communication acknowledging that it is happening and implement a voluntary gender equality seminar (Olgiati and Shapiro). It would also be advantageous to do regular reviews and anonymous surveys to gain evaluation on how within the organisation women are feeling regarding this issue in the workplace.
From another professional view, Ms. Stewart can also be seen as a person who has chosen to go her own way and make her own path, with no disrespect to her father's profession. Ms. Stewart sparks an energy as she also plugs away at other top officials in her industry trying to get the best insight to moving the field workers ( Keitner & Kinicks,
Rebecca Dipper stared hard into the mirror in the workplace restrooms. She had always embraced a methodical, planned approach to her job and the top brass at Feldman Insurance had all agreed her chance to take on an executive position was long overdue. Presently, as she psyched herself out before the final round of interviews, she found herself agreeing with her superiors on this point.
One area to note that came up during the interview were the reasons Mrs. Lobell used for taking and maintaining her career at Highmark. Highmark was known as a workplace that empowered employees with opportunities for growth and understood the importance of a work-home balance. This proved to be particularly appealing due to the full career ahead of Mrs. Lobell upon graduating college in the 1980s. Additionally, Highmark was a well-known company in central Pennsylvania and offered competitive pay and benefits. As someone who was just starting a family, security in a reputable firm and appropriate compensation was crucial when job hunting for Mrs. Lobell. She expected to only stay with the firm for five years or so in order to gain experience that could transfer to a higher paying job, but stayed due to great upward mobility with pay increasing along with rank. As a single mom after her divorce, a stable and steady income was a strong incentive to stay in order to support her two children. In addition to the intrinsic motivators of empowerment and extrinsic factors such as pay, the culture
The key problem in the Lisa Benton case is that Lisa isn’t accepted by her team. She feels like that she is not getting enough responsibility und she doesn’t have a good feeling about her future in this company. She got to much problems with her collegues who doesn’t like her because of her MBA.