Leadership

The focus on leadership has intensified in recent years as organizations become flatter, team-based, fast-paced, and global. Women and people of color currently make up the majority of new entrants into work organizations, yet they hold an insignificant percentage of leadership positions in the workplace. At the same time, an interesting paradox has emerged: recent research suggests that women exemplify a majority of the traits associated with effective leadership, yet all too frequently are not considered leaders.

In our work at CGO, we apply our gender lens to:

  1. shed light on under-researched and under-recognized aspects of leadership, and
  2. give voice to the experiences and knowledge of women leaders of varied racial, class, ethnic, national, and sexual identities, largely marginalized until now in the research and discourse on leadership.

Our dual agenda approach illuminates new ways of defining and enacting leadership. Our work on leadership reflects the Simmons School of Management mission of educating women for power and leadership.

Projects

Women in Corporate Latin America

In April 2005, CGO Faculty Affiliate Dr. Sylvia Maxfield published a monograph entitled "Women on the Verge: Corporate Power in Latin America." Based on surveys of 75 firms and more than 100 interviews with senior business women in the region, the report documents women's presence in the Latin American business world; investigates differences across sectors, functions, and generations; and conveys views of obstacles and opportunities for advancement. Together, the quantitative and qualitative data from which she draws her conclusions constitutes the first and only regionally comprehensive report on women's roles in corporate Latin America. The monograph expands upon research undertaken as part of CGO's project Women Business Leaders in Latin America, led by Dr. Maxfield.

Click here to read the monograph in English.
Para leer la monografía en Español, hacer click aquí.

“Forging New Ground: Opportunities and Challenges for Women of Color Entrepreneurs”: A CGO/Simmons SOM Event

The emergence and growth of women of color-owned businesses have contributed to the global economy and to their surrounding communities. The presence of women of color driving entrepreneurial organizations has had a tremendous impact on employment and on business environments worldwide. While one in five women-owned firms is owned by a woman of color, it has been estimated that they are growing at six times the rate of all US firms.

On March 21, 2005, CGO and Simmons School of Management hosted six noted scholars for a panel discussion on the opportunities and challenges facing women of color entrepreneurs. Panelists discussed the latest research findings and case studies that highlight the internal and external opportunities, strategies, and challenges that are integral to how women of color entrepreneurs design, operate, and grow their businesses for themselves and for their communities. The event, part of Simmons School of Management’s Leading Women Entrepreneurs event series, was sponsored by Citizens Bank and the Simmons College Diversity Council.

The panel consisted of:

  • Dr. Bonita L. Betters-Reed, Professor of Management, Simmons School of Management

  • Dr. Laquita C. Blockson, Assistant Professor of Policy, Management and Ethics, University of Northern Iowa

  • Dr. Lynda L. Moore, Associate Professor of Management, Simmons School of Management

  • Dr. Jeffrey Robinson, Assistant Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship, NYU Stern School of Business

  • Dr. Sammie Robinson, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Illinois Wesleyan University

  • Discussion Framer: Dr. Patricia G. Greene, Dean, Undergraduate School and President’s Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship, Babson College

  • Moderators: Dr. Stacy Blake-Beard, CGO Faculty Affiliate, and Dr. Jill Kickul, Elizabeth J. McCandless Professor of Entrepreneurship, Simmons School of Management

CGO Faculty Present at Women of Color Leadership Conference

Dr. Evangelina Holvino, Senior Research Faculty at CGO, and Dr. Stacy Blake-Beard, Simmons School of Management Associate Professor and CGO Faculty Affiliate, were invited speakers at the Spelman College Leadership Symposium and Conference, held on May 12-14, 2004. The first national leadership conference of its kind, the conference was entitled Women of Color Leadership in the 21st Century: “It's Our Turn.”

Bringing together a cadre of nationally renowned leadership experts, diversity scholars, and corporate, political and community leaders, the conference attracted women of color from across the country. Dr. Holvino spoke on two panels: “Gender Schisms and Other 'isms': The Deadly Intersections of Women of Color” and “The Call to Lead: Strategies for Collaborative Leadership Models and Initiatives.” Dr. Blake-Beard spoke on a panel entitled “Mentoring and Sponsorship for Women of Color.”

Click here to read an article authored by Dr. Holvino & Dr. Blake-Beard on the importance of conferences for women of color, such as Spelman's.

CGO Event: “New Leadership Models: Are They Really Helping Women?”

On March 25, 2004, CGO presented “New Leadership Models: Are They Really Helping Women?” The event was part of our 2003-2004 events series Gender at Work: A BOLD New Perspective. A panel of CGO faculty addressed the question of whether the “female advantage” exists or is a myth, and explored new leadership models and the reasons why they aren’t delivering the expected results for women. Presenters: Dr. Stacy Blake-Beard, Dr. Joyce K. Fletcher, Dr. Deborah Merrill-Sands, and Dr. Karen Proudford.

Click here to read the abstract of The Paradox of Post Heroic Leadership: Gender Matters (CGO Working Paper #17) by Dr. Joyce K. Fletcher, which elaborates on the topic of this event.

Latinas at Work: Journeys to Leadership

Latinas at Work: Journeys to Leadership is a multi-phased study exploring the life stories and leadership experiences of Hispanic women professionals and executives in profit and not-for-profit organizations. With the Hispanic labor force projected to increase faster than any other group—36% between 2000 and 2010—this study is particularly timely. Despite the growing number of Latinas in professional and management positions, little is known of their unique experiences in work organizations, the issues they face, or the strategies they use to manage and succeed. While recent studies have begun to address the experiences of women of color in corporations, the situation of specific subgroups within this larger category of “women of color” also needs to be understood.

Using a variety of methods, including literature reviews, surveys, focus groups, and interviews, this study will identify: 1) the contributions Latina leaders make to the fabric of organizational life in the United States; 2) the strategies they use to successfully meet the challenges they face; and 3) the recommendations that flow from the findings for policy and organizational changes to support Latinas’ leadership and contributions to their organizations. Latinas at Work: Journeys to Leadership will improve understanding of the diverse Latina population in the U.S. and chronicle Latinas’ growing impact on companies’ bottom lines. It will inform debate on critical issues relating to workplace equity and the need to implement strategies that will enhance the recruitment, retention, development, and advancement of Latinas in the workplace.

Madrinas: A Latina Leaders Network has endorsed the study. Qualitative and quantitative findings from each phase of study will be widely disseminated. Dr. Evangelina Holvino, Senior Research Faculty at CGO, is the principal investigator.

Women Leading Women

CGO is investigating the hidden dynamics of women leading women. In November 2002, CGO held an internal learning seminar with Dr. Jean Bartunek, Professor of Management at Boston College and former President of the Academy of Management. The seminar was convened to deepen our thinking on this topic by reflecting on our own experience of women leading women (at CGO as well as in other organizations) and drawing on the expertise of Dr. Bartunek. Dr. Bartunek integrated findings from her longitudinal study of leadership succession in a women’s group with an empowerment agenda [“Dynamics and Dilemmas of Women Leading Women.” Organization Science: A Journal of the Institute of Management Sciences, Nov/Dec 2000, 11(6)], with insights from her own leadership experiences.

Women Business Leaders in Latin America

This project addressed the scarcity of data on women in business in Latin America and the dearth of women business leaders in the region.

In November 2002, CGO held a 1 1/2 day workshop bringing together Center for Gender in Organizations faculty and Simmons School of Management faculty together with seven researchers from Latin America to discuss papers reporting results of interview-based research on women business leaders in Latin America. The papers covered seven countries including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, El Salvador and Venezuela. Each investigator surveyed existing work on women's experiences in corporate careers and reported on roughly 25 interviews each covering topics related to the successes and challenges senior corporate women perceive in their careers. The papers will be compiled in an edited volume.

Some of the findings of the country studies include:

  • Preliminary quantitative indicators suggest women constitute a higher percentage of senior managers in the Andean region, particularly in Colombia, than in the Southern Cone, Brazilian or Central American regions.
  • Women constitute a higher percentage of senior managers in large nationally-owned or multinational firms than in smaller and medium-sized firms.
  • Women throughout the region face a glass ceiling. They see board room jobs as reserved for men and do not expect this to change.
  • Women also face “glass walls” in Latin America. In senior management women tend to concentrated in firms in the services and commerce sectors and in functions such as human resources and marketing.
  • Latin American women see the stereotypical ‘machista’ culture giving way, in the words on one interviewed, to “an understandable paternalism” or fading entirely.
  • As many as half of the Latin American corporate women interviewed did report gender-based discrimination.
  • By far the biggest obstacle to advancement for these women is work-family balance. In general women in Latin American corporations are more likely to be married and have more than one children than their US counterparts.

This project was undertaken in collaboration with the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, DC and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University.

Unpacking Leadership: Who Gets to Lead and Why? 2001-2002 Seminar Series

The topic of leadership has received much attention-from the Greeks to Machiavelli to today’s management gurus-yet this interest has emphasized some ideas at the expense of others. In our seminar series, we “unpacked” the concept of leadership. We explored both traditional and alternative notions of “leading” and “following” to understand whose interest and what purpose these concepts serve. We heard from a variety of academics and practitioners who challenged conventional wisdom, expanded our understanding, to address such questions as:

Leadership for what and for whom? Who is allowed to lead and why? Why do certain models of leadership take hold while others do not? How do organizations cultivate leaders?

A Generation of Professional Women in Leadership: Findings from Three New Research Studies

Jill Silverstein, Vice President and Director of Corporate Education, State Street Research and Management Company
Laurie Slavitt, Executive Director Winds of Change Foundation
Marion Ruderman, Research Scientist Center for Creative Leadership

Where Does Leadership Lead?: New Ways of Thinking About a Familiar Topic

Mona Harrington, Program Director, Workplace Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alison Bowens,Executive Director, Women's Institute for Leadership Development (WILD)

Who Do We Follow and Why?

Patricia Romney, President and Founder of Romney Associates
Kathy Kram, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Boston University
Marion McCollom Hampton, Southwind Associates

Racial Taboos and the Dynamics of Leadership

David Thomas, H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
Marion McCollom Hampton,Southwind Associates

Voices from the Field: Leadership for Social Change

Lucía Rayas, President of the Board of Directors, Association for Women’s Rights in Development; Regional Policy Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean at IPAS
Shamillah Wilson, Young Women and Leadership Program Manager, Association for Women’s Rights in Development

Deloitte and Touche Leadership Survey

Deloitte and Touche (D&T) is a major professional service company with over 80,000 employees providing assurance, and audit, tax and management consulting services worldwide. Deloitte and Touche has been a leader in moving women into significant leadership positions in the firm. D&T wanted to learn more about how its managing partners viewed leadership opportunities within the organization. Working in collaboration with CGO, D&T designed a survey, administered in 1999, that allowed the firm to test some of its assumptions about why men and women were attracted to leadership roles and what barriers to such positions existed for each. The survey also assessed the skill set of men and women partners as a means of not only planning for succession, but also for devising the kind of developmental opportunities that would enable partners to move into leadership positions.