The Situation Organization Theory Sociology Essay Example
The Situation Organization Theory Sociology Essay Example

The Situation Organization Theory Sociology Essay Example

Available Only on StudyHippo
  • Pages: 15 (4053 words)
  • Published: July 30, 2017
  • Type: Research Paper
View Entire Sample
Text preview

Harmonizing to Kiaye, in an unfastened and competitory labor market, Organisations which focus on the persons attempt and the administrations demands can help adult females accomplish senior direction places. Situation centred theories are concerned with the nature of the work environment faced by adult females taking direction places. Harmonizing to April ( 2007 ) , the work environment determines their destiny more than their ain traits, accomplishment or behavior as outlined in individual centred theories.

Group kineticss in the workplace plays a function in doing adult females experience unwanted due to the negative attitude of workers towards female directors and seeing them as mere nominal assignments. Token assignments are the unintended effect of employment equity statute law. Alternatively of adult females being empowered by the statute law they pay a heavy monetary value for their authoriz

...

ation by being labeled or non being promoted ( April, 2007 ) . With assermative action besides lending to the authorization the antecedently disadvantaged, what is emerging is a phenomenon termed `` rearward favoritism '' where the antecedently advantaged feel they are being discriminated against. Harmonizing to April ( 2007 ) a common perceptual experience of affirmatory action, is that persons who lack the necessary makings, accomplishments, webs and experience are being appointed to executive leading places without the needful support constructions.As a effect affirmatory appointees are being consciously set up to neglect, non because they are non competent but because of the fact that they are being denied entree to instruction and the attach toing support mechanisms such as farther instruction and societal webs. There is the perceptual experience that adult females are being appointed based on the gender mar

View entire sample
Join StudyHippo to see entire essay

cards instead than the professional accomplishments of their appointees. Tokenism has created a stigma for the antecedently disadvantaged particularly adult females irrespective of whether they are competent in footings of possessing the needed accomplishments, experience, preparation and makings. Harmonizing to April ( 2007 ) tokenism consequences in a lose-lose state of affairs wherein those who do non profit from affirmatory action withdraw psychologically and those who benefit are perceived by co-workers and other employees as holding been appointed to their occupations on the footing of their position and non on virtue or competency. This `` nominal '' quandary leads to adult females experiencing isolated from their co-workers particularly if they accept the place and for those who yearn for group credence will make their best to lose their visibleness. Therefore, the statute law which was meant to enable the mobility of adult females has been made handicapped.

Social function theory

Social functions and societal stereotypes play a major function in suppressing the advancement of adult females.

( Kiaye,2013 ) asserted that the being of the glass ceiling was attributable to gendered societal systems where work `` designed by work forces and for work forces '' and where patriarchate defined work functions by gender has led to gender favoritism and stereotyping. Where publicity systems work in a gender biased manner, it is expected that calling waies for corporate leaders are to be unbroken. Such systems work to except adult females who take pregnancy leave or parttime work or those who relocate due to their partners ' calling moves adding to the glass ceiling. Terjesen farther explained that adult females 's household duties are what hindered or were perceived to

impede their committedness to the organisation and attendant deficiency of engagement in corporate webs that provided entree to powerful people. Around mid-career, when a male opposite number is scaling the corporate ladder, the female may in most cases opt to take calling interruptions in order to raise a household or attend to household demands: interruptions that so can forestall adult females from being seen as possible corporate campaigners ( April 2007 ) . She asserted that gender typical functions ( breadwinner versus the housewife ) ascribed to work forces and adult females, severally, shaped their behavioural outlooks and beliefs about their endowments and accomplishments. This position aligns with societal function theoreticians who suggest that adult females are non associated with managerial effectivity due to their nurturing, communal and supportive nature which is seen as non consistent with top direction shrewdness, taking to subconscious gender function pigeonholing. Pigeonholing adult females with being sort and lovingness and work forces as tough and achievement-oriented has been labeled `` think leader think male '' . Social function theoreticians associate adult females with being more of attention givers and therefore less committed to their callings: a state of affairs that is incongruent with leading and less chances for publicity adding to the glass ceiling ) . Lewis ( 2001 ) contradicts the averment that females are chiefly care givers. On the reverse he states that professional adult females who concentrate more on their callings are less likely to acquire married and have kids and those who do acquire married are likely to hold fewer kids.

W portents are at higher hazard than work forces of enduring from increased emphasis degrees and

fire out due to the multiple functions they play, labeling adult females as their ain worst enemies. However, it can be concluded that work forces and adult females experienced similar degrees of work interfering with household and household interfering with work. Whilst findings present a new dimension to societal functions, the other research shows that gender stereotyping has chiefly impacted negatively on the calling chances of adult females.

Interaction -centered theory

Harmonizing to Terjesen, ( 2008 ) from an interaction centered point of view, adult females limit their ain promotion because of their reluctance to self advancing themselves through networking. Furthermore, they do non actively pull off their callings by clearly saying their calling aspirations to gatekeepers who influence publicity determinations. Womans do non easy voice out their sentiments go forthing them behind. The attendant consequence of this is that direction assumes that adult females are happy to keep the position quo. Male equals on the other side, harmonizing to interaction centered theory give clear indicants to promotional gatekeepers about their calling aspirations, calling successes and their preparedness for the following measure doing their motion higher up the hierarchy even faster, a phenomenon which has been termed the `` glass escalator '' ( Terjesen, 2008 ) .

Human capital theory

The human capital theory premiss of the under representation of adult females in direction is attributed to the free picks made by adult females with respect to their engagement in the work force, the type of work and determinations they make to put in their instruction and preparation. Women tend to put higher value on their domestic duties ; therefore their voluntary picks related to work differs from those

of their male opposite numbers. Harmonizing to Powell ( 2000 ) the major defect in this theory lies with the premise of `` free pick '' , and the theory 's failure to recognize the differences in power between that of the employer and employee which may function to forestall the advancement of female employees.

Furthermore, the theory does non explicate why adult females with uninterrupted callings do non make senior direction. Thus, far, the human capital theory has non been supported by sufficient empirical grounds. What must be concluded is that no affair what theory or point of view is used, adult females are non progressing quickly plenty immaterial of where they are working in the universe.

For case South Africa being in 15th place has made major paces in a really short clip to crush the planetary norm. `` The fact that South Africa outperforms the planetary norm can be attributed to the accent placed by authorities on gender equality and employment equity '' ( SA Business Women Beat Global Counterparts, 2011 ) . The Grant Thornton International Business Report ( 2011 ) found that South African adult females in senior direction places were employed as: human resources managers ( 21 per cent ) , main fiscal officer/finance manager ( 20 per cent ) , gross revenues managers ( 9 per cent ) and marketing officers ( 8 per cent ) . A major concern raised by the survey is that merely 3 per cent of the companies surveyed employed female CEO 's. There were no statistics to demo what degrees adult females occupied in information and communications engineering, operations and supply concatenation direction.

Despite gender

equality statistics in South Africa demoing betterment and with enabling statute law in topographic point the disparity between the figure of work forces and adult females keeping senior direction places still exists, touching to the being of the glass ceiling.

Mauritius Present at all major international gender forums ( Africa Platform for Action in 1995,

Beijing World Conference on Women in 1995, and a signer to the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women ( CEDAW ) ) , since 1984, Mauritius was one of the first UN members to put up a Ministry for Women ( Ramgutty-Wong, 2000 ) , although it has been seen that Mauritanian population comprises of 51 percent adult females and they are every bit represented at all educational degrees, they were unluckily ever seen to stay secondary citizens in all sectors such as political, societal, and economic. Women constitute 17 % of members of parliament and merely 6.4 % of councilors. While the state has experienced an increased per centum of adult females in its labour force from 25 % in 1972 to 35.6 % in 2005, over the last 15 old ages the unemployment rate for adult females has increased from 4.9 % to 16.5 % ( compared to merely 5.8 % in the instance of work forces ) . Womans have continued to be concentrated in low skilled and low paying occupations. Harmonizing to a recent clip usage study adult females in Mauritius earn, on norm, 36 % less that work forces ( UNDP and Ministry of Women 's Rights, 2005 ) . The spread is 44 % in the rural countries compared to 28

% in urban parts. The survey found that while the unaccounted for part of adult females to the economic system is 11.3 % to 24.1 % that for work forces is 3.9 % 6.6 % . This is because most of the work that adult females execute in the place and in the community is non remunerated, in other words the exploited work force. Although comprehensive statistics are yet to be com piled, the `` gender division of labor '' is glaringly evident in the staff composing of local authorities. There are no adult females in the top direction ladderof local authorities. Women comprise about 30 per centum of center and senior direction. Women comprise the bulk of the secretarial/clerical staff. No marks have been set for accomplishing gender balance in all countries and at all degrees of local authorities by 2015, as required by the extroverted SADC under Protocol on Gender and Development. Although there is no favoritism in enlisting ( in other words occupations adult females and work forces are every bit eligible to use for different stations advertised ) there has been no `` positive favoritism '' to bridge gender spreads where these be for illustration openly encouraging adult females to use for more senior direction.

Equally long as the glass ceiling is perceived to be in administrations, adult females will be deprived from making their full potency in the workplace. This survey will place the barriers forestalling the advancement of adult females in the workplace and supply recommendations to ease their upward mobility First, homosociality, which implies that work forces have a inclination to prefer work forces for ego contemplation, relaxation and

societal support ( Channar, 2010 ) .

Second, prevailing of the male chauvinist attitudes for illustration work forces are better suited to leading place than adult females ( Ackler, 1990 ) . Such attitudes can be used by the work forces in schemes to procure power, authorization and other privileges. Third, statistical favoritism, have shown where employers avoid advancing adult females because adult female is believed to be the group who is absents more from work because of kid bearing or household committednesss.

There are three degrees of glass ceiling barriers that were explored for the current research survey and are related to the perceptual experiences of the barriers that impeded the promotion of adult females into senior leading places. These barriers are can be social and internal structural

Social barriers have two major constituents: ( a ) supply barrier, defined as educational chance and attainment, and ( B ) the difference barrier, defined as stereotypes, biass, and prejudices. The difference barriers integrated cultural differences every bit good as race and gender differences ( U.S. Department of Labor, 1995 ) .

The 2nd degree of barriers, internal structural barriers, defined as the enlisting patterns of the organisation, the organisational clime, and the organisational civilization that may distribute negativeness toward adult females. The organisational clime defined as the communicating attempts of the members of the organisation. Harmonizing to the U.S. Department of Labor, organisational leaders may turn to what behaviour was deemed appropriate from all members with respect to adult females in the organisation and what behaviours will be tolerated.

Organizational barriers or societal constructions defined the attitudes and beliefs of the organisation 's members. One such barrier was the belief

that adult females are non good leaders and that work forces are better leaders The organisational barriers that described the organisation 's civilization or environment are sometimes labeled the gendered organisation. The label indicated that the civilization of the dominate sex in the organisation will be adapted to the organisation. Pipeline barriers are concerned with communicating attempts throughout the organisation and the way and support from the leading of the organisation. Pipeline barriers included the deficiency of direction preparation and professional development and the deficiency of mentorship within an organisation ( U.S. Department of Labor, 1995 ) .

Gender Discrimination

Gregg in 2010 says there has been no jurisprudence which has attempted to specify what 'discrimination ' is, in the context of employment, though it can be defined as giving of an unjust advantage or disadvantage to members of the peculiar group in comparing to the members of other group. The disadvantage normally consequences in the limitation or denial of employment chances, or in an inequality in the footings of benefits of employment.

Discrimination is a all right and complex phenomenon that assumes two wide signifiers:

1. Unequal Treatment: This is an knowing favoritism intervention. For illustration, it would include engaging or advancing one individual over an every bit qualified individual because of the person 's race, sex, colour or paying a male more than a female to execute the same occupation.

2. Adverse Impact: is a effect of an employment pattern being the same criterions for every one which consequences in more rejection rate for a minority group than it does for the bulk group in the business. It is a construct ensuing from an seemingly impersonal, even unwilled

employment pattern effect. For illustration, constabulary section 's same demand of tallness and weight for both males and females. ( Channar, 2010 )

In 2002, the chief aim was to advance equal chances between gender and therefore forbiding favoritism at workplace. The set up of the equal chances committee and equal chances tribunal have been put in topographic point for turning away of gender favoritism.

When the equal chance act is non runing decently, it consequences in the Glass Ceiling effects, originally applied to favoritism against adult females ( Hiau, 2005 ) .

Since the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, the universe has taken a deep committedness to eliminate all types of favoritism against adult females. Gender favoritism in the labour market with respect to recruitment, publicity, preparation and wages constitutes a major blow to the authorization of adult females. Recent Gender favoritism applies when work forces and adult females who are every bit productive and efficient obtain different labor market wagess for executing the same occupation. ( Khadaroo, 2006 )

The presence of gender favoritism implies that portion of the net incomes derived function between work forces and adult females is due to the fact that the properties of work forces are rewarded at a higher rate than the properties of adult females in the labor market. For illustration in the instance of a adult male and a adult female who are every bit productive Tellers in a bank, it is non acceptable that the adult male earns a 5 % increase while the adult female earns merely a 3 % increase for an excess twelvemonth of experience. The 2 % derived function in increment constitutes gender favoritism.

In

2006, A.J Khadaroo discusses about a farther ground behind gender favoritism in net incomes relates to the inclination of employers to prefer enrolling work forces compared to adult females. Employers find it more convenient to use work forces because there is no break to work due to pregnancy go forth and child bearing. This penchant for work forces is non based on their being productive statements and really boosts up the demand for work forces which in bend discourages the demand for adult females by employers. The terminal consequence, ceteris paribus, is higher net incomes for work forces but which constitutes gender favoritism. Khadaroo A.J, ( 2006 )

Gluey Floor

Gluey Floor is defined as `` The state of affairs where indistinguishable work forces and adult females might be appointed to the same graduated table or ranks, but adult females are appointed at the underside and work forces further up the graduated table '' . The gaps widen at the underside of the pay distribution ( Channar,2010 ) . Gluey Floor besides refers to the horizontal favoritism against adult females, which means that females are discriminated in assignment, preparations and assignments.

Margaret and Konrad ( 2009 ) link the gluey floor hypothesis to the demand for employers to incentivize workers to achieve the specific human capital needed for employees to lend value-added to the house. Consistent with earlier conceptualisations of the internal labor market, they argue that the initial pay addition associated with a publicity represents the house 's incentive for workers to exercise the attempt needed to get specific human capital. Further pay additions, they argue, are unneeded in the absence of outside offers to particular employees.

'596 dealingss industrielles ' / industrial dealingss - 64-4, 2009 that adult females are more trussed to a specific geographic location for household grounds than work forces are ( Bielby and Bielby, 1992 ) and that employers might prefer work forces over adult females due to existent or perceived supervisor, coworker, or client favoritism ( Margaret and Konrad, 2009 ) , work forces are likely to hold more outside offers, which result in additions in their wage. Race favoritism in employment and deficiency of entree to informal webs that lead to better occupation chances ( Bielby and Bielby,1992 ) likewise consequence in Whites holding more outside offers than members of racial minority groups. Hence, both adult females and seeable minorities are more likely than their white male opposite numbers to remain at the floor of the wage graduated table for their peculiar occupation class.

This statement implies that gender and race do non needfully impact the chance of publicity itself. That deduction merely holds, nevertheless, under the premise that there is no practical bound to the sum of pay scattering that can be within occupation classs and that publicities are non valued in their ain right. Because publicities result in increased occupation satisfaction ( Pergamit and Veum, 1999 ) , chances to make more complex work ( Pekkarinen and Vartiainen, 2006 ) , and greater ability to exert authorization, many employees value publicities. Promotion to a higher-level occupation rubric besides constitutes a signal to other employers of the employee 's productiveness, bring forthing more outside chances, which raise opportunities for increased rewards. Hence, to retain extremely desirable white male workers who receive the most outside offers,

employers are likely to give them more publicities, in add-on to higher rewards with each publicity. As a consequence, white males are likely to hold a higher chance of publicity than tantamount adult females and seeable minorities.

Glass Cliff

The twelvemonth 2006 marked the twentieth day of remembrance of the phrase the glass ceiling ; an extension of the glass ceiling is the phrase glass drop. The metaphor represented the decision that organisational leaders set adult females up for failure and left them hanging on a drop. Organizational leaders with glass drop patterns had a inclination to give adult females boring and hard leading places and tasked and gave work forces easier undertakings. The adult females who inherited these hard places are blamed for any failures of the organisation.

Womans may be provided leading functions and chances for different grounds than work forces. Research workers suggested that as a preliminary to the glass drop, adult females were given the less attractive leading places because adult females 's leading accomplishments differ from work forces. Womans were likely to take the incrimination for the failure of the constituent under their leading. The constituent may hold already begun a downward spiral before the adult female 's assignment, and the adult female is faulted and blamed for the entire failure of the constituent. A negative factor of the glass drop was that adult females may believe that organisational leaders have rendered them expendable while keeping that work forces in the organisation are non. Organizational leaders placed adult females in hazardous and hard leading places. The positive facet of the glass drop phenomenon was that organisational leaders believed that adult females were better

suited for the less popular leading places because of adult females 's ability to execute disciplinary action. The original construct of the glass drop was concerned with ailing executing organisations. Recent research indicated that the phenomenon was non limited to ill executing organisations. Empirical research indicated that adult females may seek hard assignments in these types of organisations because if the adult female was successful, her attempts may progress her calling and she may derive the experience and leading capacity necessary to travel frontward in the organisation ( Channar, 2010 ) .

The glass ceiling phenomenon had three cardinal points. The first point elaborate adult females 's troubles with seeking to make senior degree leading functions and the recognition of stereotypes and biass against adult females. The 2nd cardinal point was that the glass ceiling phenomenon model is a agency for apprehension of the organisational civilization and the affect the civilization has on the adult females in the organisation. The concluding point was that organisational leaders identified and reviewed barriers that impeded adult females 's advancement into leading places.

Organizational leaders must understand the benefits of mentorship plans in the organisation in an attempt to battle the phenomenon ( Channar,2010 ) . An account of glass ceiling barriers and the glass drop was provided. A treatment of how these barriers explained the hindrance of the advancement of adult females progressing into senior leading places was besides presented.

Backlash Effectss

Harmonizing to Channar ( 2008 ) , backlash effects are `` societal and economic reverberations for disconfirming normative gender stereotypes '' ( p. 64 ) .

Although favoritism directed towards adult females in the workplace may hold lessened, the barriers presented

by the glass ceiling are still unabashedly present. For case, there is plentifulness of empirical grounds ( Moris, 2010 ) demoing favoritism still occurs even when adult females are undeniably successful at their occupations. In fact, research workers ( e.g. , Heilman & A ; Okimoto, 2007 ; Heilman et al. 2004 ; Rudman, 1998 ; Rudman & A ; Glick, 2001 ) have demonstrated that even when adult females make their manner into the upper direction they are still discriminated against in some signifier or the other. For many adult females, this favoritism may take the signifier of negative public presentation reappraisals, denial of publicities and lower wage or refusal of taking a leave. In the late 1990 's Laurie Rudman began analyzing the quandary for adult females who display the agentic traits frequently viewed as necessary for many higher-level occupations and the communal traits ascribed to the feminine gender function. The job is that adult females must prosecute in self-promotion to foreground their strengths and successful public presentation ; nevertheless self-promotion of this sort is counter-normative for adult females ( Heilman and Okimoto,2007 ) .

Rudman predicted that go againsting female stereotypes in this manner might take to a recoil against agentic females in the workplace. Her research on `` backlash effects '' ( p. 629 ; Rudman, 1998 ) has so supported this anticipation ( Rudman,2001 ) .

The Problem of the Glass Escalator

The major similarity amongst each of the theories, theoretical accounts and surveies reviewed above is that adult females are penalized or discriminated against because they are perpetrating a misdemeanor of norms. In other words, they are either come ining into a

`` adult male 's occupation '' or they are moving more in line with male-gendered stereotypes ( i.e. , competitory, aggressive ) than with female-gendered stereotypes ( i.e. , fostering, sympathetic ) . If these kinds of concluding do so explicate the implicit in mechanisms involved when adult females face the glass ceiling or are penalized for success in sex typed occupations so the same justification should keep for males in feminine gender-typed professions. That is, males who work in stereotypically female professions such as nursing or simple instruction should be subjected to similar prejudices, harmonizing to the accounts offered above. Indeed, males working in callings normally thought of as `` female occupations '' should besides be perceived to `` non suit in '' based on the female gendered stereotypes that are associated with these

Get an explanation on any task
Get unstuck with the help of our AI assistant in seconds
New