Re-Inventing the Workplace for Greater Gender Diversity

ALEENA RAZA
Assignment no. 1: Case Study
Re-Inventing the Workplace for Greater
Gender Diversity
(BMO6506) Work and Organisation Systems
Sunaina’s Class
Student ID: s4683704

In this case study on “Women Matter” series, McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) has researched
various companies and organizations to highlight factors that can play important role to include
women at workplace, more significantly at higher positions. Moreover, the research indicates a
correlation between female leaders, their employment rate, and their hours of unpaid work. In
addition, the survey results depict that companies are striving hard to include gender diversity at all
levels and addressing barriers that prevent women from being promoted to leadership positions.
Considering gender diversity at executive positions, women managers are more empathic and
sensitive to ethical concerns as compared to males, and high representation of females in top
management enhanced employee commitment to work throughout the organization. The findings in
(Monteiro, A.P., García-Sánchez, I. & Aibar-Guzmán, B. 2022) indicated that women as managers
possess unique skills, knowledge, experiences, and strategic thinking skills. It also showed that
presence of women in higher roles provide organization with gender-relevant values, which are
beneficial for stakeholders, and society as a whole. In a literature, (Furlotti et al., 2019) pointed out
that women as managers are more concerned about social issues, aimed at reducing biasness and
improve working conditions at organisations. Moreover, they focus and make positive impact on
Cooperate Social Responsibility activities in their organisations.
As mentioned in (Robbins, SP, & Judge, TA, 2018), there are negligible differences between men and
women in terms of problem-solving, analytical, and learning skills. One study found that women
score higher than men on performance measures. Moreover, a meta-analysis of 95 leadership
indicated that both male and female are equally effective leaders. However, some stereotypes still
exist which showed that managers are influenced by gender bias during recruitment process. For
example, hiring ratio of men is higher in male-dominant positions (Robbins, SP, & Judge, TA, 2018).
Not only this, but females are given fewer challenging tasks that impact their future promotions in
company. Notably, working mothers face many challenges because they are not considered for new
positions after they have children. On the other hand, some countries, such as Australia have rules
and regulations and believe in giving equal rights to both genders at all levels.
To support the analysis, results of a survey conductd by MGI showed that a greater number of
organizations have taken initiatives for gender diversity at higher level, while many are striving to
see some considerable results. Moreover, survey concluded that women, as leaders also face
barriers that prevent them from promotions. The concept is supported by a study of (Ramos, A.,
Latorre, F., Tomás, I. & Ramos, J. 2022) , who analyzed the relationship between women’s barriers
to accessing managerial positions and organizational justice, organizational commitment,
satisfaction, individual behaviours, and performance. The authors suggested that women who
perceive injustice and unfairness at workplace, feel less for organisation’s success and the
negative perception contribute poor attitudes and less work engagement.
In this case study, the three game changers are identified through research in the year 2016, which
can increase women representation at all levels. These are persistence, CEO commitment and
Comprehensive transformation programs. Firstly, companies need to sustain gender diversity
programs, as every initiative takes time to make an impact. Frequent feedbacks, assessments,
establishing and monitoring gender diversity indicators are significantly important for desired
outcomes. Secondly, CEOs of reputed companies consider gender diversity as a strategic goal and
place it within the top 5 priorities of their strategic agenda. In addition, their commitment is
reflected at all levels of the organization. Lastly, successful companies have also introduced
transformational programs to implement policies, principles and processes that support gender-
diverse culture. In an experimental study in (Özbilgin, M, & Chanlat, J (eds), 2017) on diversity