Motivation and success : Mixed motivations for women in small business in regional Australia
- Authors: Newton, Janice , Wood, Glenice , Gottschalk, Lorene
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural Society Vol. 13, no. 1 (2003), p. 5-21
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- Description: In this paper, factors that motivate women to take up and stay in small businesses in rural and regional areas are analysed in relation to research undertaken in 2001 with 359 women from the Western Region of Victoria. A modification of a typology of business motivation developed by Baines and Wheelock (1998) is posited to acknowledge the variety of motivations and aspirations operating among the women. There is a strong theme of family and personal survival and security that in all likelihood reflects a push factor from the macro-economic context of rural decline. On the other hand there is also strong evidence of an achievement theme, showing commitment to entrepreneurial culture and growth, but this is inextricably bound to notions of personal achievement and self-worth, a legacy perhaps from a history of women's invisibility in the rural context.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000603
What does it take to get to the top : Do middle and senior managers agree?
- Authors: Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Women in Management Review Vol. 18, no. 3/4 (2003), p. 122-131
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- Description: Women constitute only approximately 3-5 per cent of Australian senior managers. One possible explanation of their failure to enter senior management in greater numbers is that women in management may have differing perceptions of the necessary prerequisites for promotion to senior roles. This study explored this possibility with 351 male and 156 female Australian middle managers, whose views were contrasted with senior managers’ perceptions. Gender differences in perception were found between middle managers and middle and senior managers in terms of the importance placed on personal qualities such as attractiveness, deference to superiors, likeability, personality, popularity and powerful allies (perceived charisma) as attributes considered necessary for achieving senior management promotion. In particular, female middle managers believed more strongly than their male counterparts, that senior managers would value the personal qualities encompassed in perceived charisma when considering middle managers for further promotion. However, senior managers did not consider this group of attributes to be important in promotion-seeking behaviour.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000613
Start up and beyond : Evolving training needs for rural women in small business
- Authors: Newton, Janice , Gottschalk, Lorene , Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of New Business Ideas and Trends Vol. 2, no. 1 (2004), p. 29-42
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- Description: The rural decline in Australian industry restructuring and the withdrawal of infrastructural services (ABS, 1998), gives rise to the hope of a turnaround in regional and rural Australia arising from the growth of new business ventures. There has been a trend towards an increase in both small business and the involvement of women in recent years (ABS 1301.0, 1997). This combination is important for a sustainable rural future, and therefore, a greater understanding is needed of how women stand in relation to sound business preparation, and attitudes to professional training.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003000792
Career advancement in Australian middle managers : A follow-up study
- Authors: Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Women in Management Review Vol. 21, no. 4 (2006), p. 277-293
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- Description: Purpose - The current study followed up middle managers who had participated in a survey on attitudes to promotion in 1996. The vast majority of the original sample had responded favourably to the question: "Do you want to obtain a senior management position during your managerial career?" In addition, respondents were asked "How confident are you that this will happen?" and "How soon do you feel this will happen?" The aim of this follow up qualitative study is to contact as many of these individuals as possible, to explore the outcome to these questions, and to track what has happened to them in their management careers over the past eight years. Design/methodology/approach - Interviews were conducted with 19 male and 11 female managers. Outcomes of promotion aspirations were sought, and factors that contributed to success and personal strategies that may have been set in place were explored, as were factors that had hindered their progress. In addition, views were sought on future aspirations for promotion. Findings - Results indicated gender differences in outcome of promotion, in both proportions of women achieving senior roles, and the time it took for males and females to obtain these promotions with more male middle managers achieving their promotion to senior roles, in less time, than their female colleagues. Practical implications - The findings were considered in relation to the ongoing career advancement of men and women in management, and in particular, the continuing disproportionate numbers of men and women in senior management roles. Originality/value - As a follow-up study, confirms that fewer female managers are being promoted to senior roles despite an obvious desire on their part such promotion and their confidence in obtaining it fairly quickly. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001778
Childlessness and women managers : 'Choice', context and discourses
- Authors: Wood, Glenice , Newton, Janice
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Gender, Work and Organization Vol. 13, no. 4 (2006), p. 338-358
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- Description: Childlessness is increasing and might reflect acceptance of diversity, scope for individual choice and a creative 'social imaginary' about being feminine without being a mother. Childlessness also appears to have a contextual manifestation arising from the recognition that the long-hours work culture in many organizations does not support appropriate parenting. A qualitative study of Australian managers reveals the contradictory discourses of childlessness around enlightened equality, maternalism, an elusive, ideal 'work-life balance' and individualism. The article explores a contextually nuanced, dynamic, generative theory of agency which does not hinge on the mother-child dyad, in explaining women managers' choices to remain childless. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003002074
Malaysian and Australian male and female middle managers
- Authors: Wood, Glenice , Jogulu, Uma
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: The international journal of knowledge, Culture amd Change Management Vol. 6, no. 3 (2006), p. 109-119
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- Description: This paper outlines the rise of women in management worldwide, and considers why so few women achieve senior or executive management positions. This slow advance of women into senior roles is unexpected given that the changes in organisations today are believed to require more ‘feminine leadership’. A decrease in the emphasis on masculine characteristics for managers is reported, and a requirement that more ‘feminine leadership’ needs to be adopted by organisations in order to ensure their survival in the future (Powell, Butterfield & Parent, 2002, p.189). Recent empirical research reports that there are differences in leadership style between male and female managers, and the findings suggest that women exhibit more transformational leadership than their male counterparts, with this style being strongly equated with effective leadership (Eagly, Johannesen-Schmidt, van Engen, 2003). However, these findings are based on western research, and it may be that cross cultural research will yield a different picture (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, & Gupta, 2004). Leadership and leadership styles may be conceptualised differently in a more paternalistic society. To explore this possibility, a cross cultural study was conducted in Malaysia and Australia. It is hypothesised that countries that are paternalistic in cultural values will exhibit a stronger constraint on women in management roles, which may impact on workplace attitudes, aspirations for promotion and style of leadership exhibited. Therefore, it is possible that the career advancement of women may be more problematic for Malaysian managerial women than their Australian counterparts. Results from an initial pilot study in Malaysia and Australia are outlined, and highlight some interesting similarities and differences to what are reported in the western literature.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001775
The role of leadership theory in raising the profile of women in management
- Authors: Jogulu, Uma , Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Equal opportunities international Vol. 25, no. 4 (2006), p. 236-250
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- Description: To consider how leadership theories have helped or hindered raising the profile of women in management and leadership roles. The paper reviews the major leadership theories, and links these to a timeframe to illustrate how women were not visible in a management context until relatively recently. Such an omission may have contributed to the continuing low numbers of women who advance to senior management and leadership roles.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001718
“Facing the wall” – “equal” opportunity for women in management?
- Authors: Wood, Glenice , Newton, Janice
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Equal Opportunities International Vol. 25, no. 1 (2006), p. 8-24
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- Description: Purpose – To explore the failure of equal opportunity policies to counteract the barrier of children for women in management by considering male and female managers’ views on work culture, family division of labour and childlessness. Design/methodology/approach – Thirty Australian managers (19 male, 11 female) were interviewed as a follow up to a larger study in 1996, in order to extend inquiries around the issues of children, childlessness and senior management aspirations. Findings – Managers acknowledge the impediment that children are to a woman’s career path. They also have an awareness of patterns of delayed childbearing and potential childlessness. This awareness is confirmed through first hand experience in the families and at work. Managers also use a language of sacrifice and loss regarding their own or others’ failure to partner and procreate, as well as some reference to freedom and lifestyle. Furthermore there are diverging discourses on company loyalty and company greed given in relation to competing family loyalties and obligations. Finally, acknowledgement of gendered inequality (and some blindness to it) is indicated by both male and female managers. Research limitations/implications – Although based on a small sample from one country, the findings do imply that it is unwise to assume that women committed to a career do not want children. The option of having both is not made easy. Practical implications – Family policy for senior management should continue to be considered. Originality/value – Recognition of the complexity and diversity of attitudes to children, family and work contributes to a critique of overdrawn notions of types of women (Hakim, 2001).
Power struggle
- Authors: Jogulu, Uma , Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: IET Engineering Management Vol. 17, no. 3 (2007), p. 36-37
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- Description: A wide range of studies have been conducted to understand the concept of leadership through an analysis of characteristics and behaviors. Contemporary leadership research highlights two prominent styles of leadership that are widely exhibited by managers in organizations that are known as transactional and transformational leadership. The transactional leadership style is defined as the transaction between leaders and followers who are rewarded or disciplined based on work performance and this style of leadership depends upon the power of the leader to reinforce work standards to ensure successful completion of tasks by staff. The transformational leadership involves establishment of the leader as the role model by gaining the trust and confidence of the followers and these leaders develop their staff by empowering and instructing them to excel beyond the organizational vision and creating awareness of the direction that the followers should be heading.
- Description: C1
Sixteen Australian managers ten years on : Rhetoric and realities
- Authors: Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Book
- Full Text: false
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- Description: A1
- Description: 2003005166
A cross-cultural study into peer evaluation of women's leadership effectiveness
- Authors: Jogulu, Uma , Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Leadership and Organisational Development Vol. 29, no. 7 (2008), p. 600-616
- Full Text: false
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- Description: The present paper is based on a cross-cultural exploration of middle managers in two diverse cultures and aims to focus on how the leadership styles of managerial women are perceived and evaluated. In particular, female and male peer evaluations of leadership effectiveness in Malaysia and Australia are to be explored.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003006154
Gender stereotypical attitudes : Past, present and future influences on women's career advancement
- Authors: Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Equal Opportunities International Vol. 27, no. 7 (2008), p. 613-628
- Full Text: false
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- Description: The purpose of this paper is to describe a longitudinal study which followed up middle managers who had participated in a survey on attitudes to promotion eight years earlier. The aim was to contact a sample of these individuals to ascertain their current views on women's career advancement in management.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003006152
Perceptions of effective leaders : Cross cultural influences
- Authors: Jogulu, Uma , Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management Vol. 8, no. 1 (2008), p. 113-120
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- Description: This paper suggests that values, attitudes and behaviours are strongly culture specific. Therefore, it is contended that if culture exerts an influence in behaviours and attitudes of people it will be evident in the way leadership is perceived or traits of effective leadership is distinguished in organisations around the world. In the Western leadership literature, effective leadership appears to be correlated with organisational performance and profitability, subordinate extra effort and subordinate satisfaction with the leader. The Western literature also suggests that the measure of effective leadership at an individual level involve rating “by subordinates, superiors and peers and leaders themselves” (Eagly, Karau, & Makhijani, 1995, p. 128). However, there is limited knowledge and specific details of leadership characteristics that may constitute effective leadership practices outside the West, nor how universal the Western theories and models may be beyond the Western settings. There is a need to expand the existing knowledge and findings to understand whether Western leadership behaviours and practices are acceptable, appropriate or relevant in other cultures. In order to address this broad topic, the present paper will explore the perceptions of effective leadership in two diverse cultures of Malaysia and Australia. The middle managers in four industry types participated in the present research and the study found differences within and between female and male middle managers in both countries in terms of how leadership effectiveness is perceived and evaluated.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003006153
Revisiting women managers and organisational acceptance
- Authors: Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Gender in Management Vol. 24, no. 8 (2009), p. 615-631
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- Description: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to revisit earlier predictions by Judi Marshall in 1991 to explore whether similar issues were evident in a sample of contemporary female managers. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative data from six Australian female managers who had participated in a longitudinal study over a period of ten years were examined. Career advancement aspirations and outcomes were compared with those of male managers, and reflections on the managerial role, and organisational practices were sought. Findings: Examples of organisational resilience "to involve women in organisations on equal terms" were evident in all the six female managers in the study. In addition, even when levels of success were achieved, it could be questioned whether these women could be seen as "definers of meaning (or culture)". Practical implications: Organisational culture appears to continue to create difficulties for contemporary women in management. A system of accountability is strongly recommended, based on a similar reporting programme adopted by the Equal Opportunity for Woment in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) to measure the equal opportunity programmes on offer in the workplaces of organisations with 100 or more employees. Originality/value: The paper is highly original as it seeks to compare predictions made by an eminent UK scholar in the field of women in management in 1991 with the experiences of a small sample of contemporary Australian female managers over a ten-year period in their management roles. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
- Description: 2003007354
Australia
- Authors: Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: International Research Handbook on Successful Women Entrepreneurs p. 10-25
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- Description: 'This collection on successful women entrepreneurs is timely. Entrepreneurship and small business creation and management are vital to tackle the current worldwide economic recession. Various stakeholders - policy-makers, academics, budding entrepreneurs - will find this book of interest. A number of country-level initiatives that serve to support women's entrepreneurship are offered that can work almost anywhere. The focus on successful women entrepreneurs is valuable in showing that women can do it and how they achieved their successes. Readers will find the women's voices reported here to be inspirational.' © Sandra L. Fielden and Marilyn J. Davidson 2010. All rights reserved.
Women in management in Australia
- Authors: Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2010
- Type: Book chapter
- Relation: Women in Management Worldwide: Progress and Prospects p. 225-245
- Full Text: false
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- Description: This chapter aims to present a current picture of women in Australia in relation to their participation in the labour force, the roles they typically fill, their educational achievements and their entrepreneurial activities....
Lessons from a student engagement pilot study
- Authors: Errey, Robert , Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Universities' Review Vol. 53, no. 1 (2011), p. 21-34
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- Description: Better learning outcomes flow from higher levels of student engagement. When the perception is that student engagement is in decline, there is genuine concern amongst committed academic teaching staff. This paper reports on a pilot study designed to foster an understanding of the factors that influence engagement in undergraduate students in the business school at a regional Australian university. Two focus groups were conducted with the assistance of 22 students enrolled in the major study areas of the school, and the information obtained informed the development of an on-line questionnaire aimed at exploring the drivers of engagement and disengagement. Eighty-five students completed the questionnaire, and 67 usable responses were available for analysis—a response rate of 17 per cent, which could be seen as illustrative of student disengagement. However, the findings of the pilot study suggest that the majority of students believed themselves to be engaged with their studies. Students reported that the instructors’ approach, class and assignment structure, learning support and other personal factors affected their level of engagement. A preliminary model of student engagement was developed from the findings. Key factors have been drawn from this to inform learning and teaching policy and practices within the School.
- Description: 2003008925
Women managers' career progression : An Asia Pacific perspective
- Authors: Jogulu, Uma , Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Gender in Management Vol. 26, no. 8 (2011), p. 590-603
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- Description: Purpose: The increase in general managerial roles held by women has failed to translate into senior management positions in many countries. The paper aims to focus on the experiences of two groups of female and male managers in two diverse countries and how these groups of employees view career advancement and how this perspective may relate to the lack of women in senior managerial roles. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts deductive reasoning to understand social practice as a means by which and how senior management identities are perceived and whether these roles are attainable. A survey was administered to female and male managers in Malaysia and in Australia. Findings: The findings indicate that women in two countries studied still have significant responsibilities for performing family duties, and bringing up children. In particular, the Malaysian respondents viewed family and personal responsibilities as their greatest impediment to attaining senior management positions. Hence, they are unable to contemplate both careers and families, a view strongly supported by the Australian women as well. Originality/value: Societal expectations on women in certain cultures are still strongly entrenched because they believe that they are required to comply with the social roles by prioritising marital obligations over any desire for senior management careers. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
A cross-cultural study in the UK and Australia of pay expectations and entitlements : A case of vanishing differences?
- Authors: Davidson, Marilyn , Wood, Glenice , Harvey, Jack
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Gender in Management Vol. 27, no. 3 (2012), p. 165-185
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- Description: Purpose: Previous US research has consistently revealed females reporting lower pay expectations and entitlements compared to their male counterparts. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether these gender differences still exist, specifically in British and Australian business students, or whether there has been a generation shift in attitudes. Design/methodology/approach: Quantitative data were analysed from 481 (252 females and 229 males) university students, on their responses to what they "expected" to earn five years after graduation and what they thought they "deserved" to earn. Students from two British universities (n=285) and two Australian universities (n=196) participated. Findings: Results revealed that the presence of very high values (outliers) reported by a small proportion of male respondents led to apparent gender differences in perceived entitlement (deserved salary). However, appropriately modified analyses showed no significant gender differences in expected salary, deserved salary or salary difference. Differences were observed between countries; in the UK expectations and views on deserved salary were higher than those expressed in Australia. In addition, in both countries' students from higher ranking universities expected higher salaries and believed they deserved a higher salary. Research limitations/implications: The sample is restricted to University business students and may not generalise to other groups. Practical implications: Implications of these findings reflect on gender pay inequities, along with methodological issues for future research. Originality/value: This paper challenges the long-held view that, in general, males have more positive expectations of their future salaries than females. While this has been reported in the past, the paper illustrates that in a contemporary sample across two countries, the great majority of male and female students had very similar expectations for their future salary. The paper proposes some explanations that may account for this phenomenon. The only clear gender difference observed was the presence of a small proportion of males with extremely high salary expectations; the paper highlights the necessity for appropriate statistical analysis of such highly skewed data. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Minorities in entrepreneurship : an international review
- Authors: Wood, Glenice
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Book
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed: