and leveraging women’s and men’s unique styles into complementary
approaches. It is this approach which Adler advocates as most conducive to
sustained, long-term global effectiveness.
This perspective does not provide an explanation as to the reason why so few
women are sent. We need to look, therefore, at the role of the home country selec-
tion process to see how this might contribute to women’s low participation rates.
Supervisor–subordinate relationship
Varma and Stroh (2001) investigated reasons why women might not be made
offers on international management assignments. They used the Leader-
Member Exchange (LMX) model, which states that because of time pressures,
the leader can develop close relationships with only a few of his/her key sub-
ordinates (the ‘in-group’) while maintaining a formal relationship with the rest
of his/her subordinates (the ‘out-group’). Individual characteristics such as
gender, race and educational background may be related to LMX and may
determine the quality of the relationship between a supervisor and his/her
subordinates. The authors argued that a poor quality relationship between
female subordinates and primarily male superiors was the primary cause of the
low number of female international assignees.
The results from the study were not conclusive, mainly due to problems
with the sample make-up (the survey targeted women who were on an inter-
national assignment, together with their current supervisors and hence was
unable to address the issues surrounding the LMX of potential women
assignees and their supervisors). The focus on the informal interpersonal rela-
tionship between potential women assignees and their supervisors is, however,
significant in the light of research into the role of the home country selection
process as a key determinant of low female participation rates.
Home country selection systems
Until recently, research into women in international management had focused
on issues outside of the organisation’s control, namely, personality, family and
host country national issues. The role of organisational selection processes as a
determinant of participation rates was mainly overlooked. However, an exten-
sive body of literature from both North America and Europe highlights the per-
vasive influence of discrimination in selection processes. This work addresses
the issue of ‘fit’ from both a sociological and a social psychological perspective.
From a sociological perspective, selection is seen as a social process, to be used
by those in power within the organisation as a means of determining the con-
tinuing form of the organisation by recruiting and promoting only those indi-
viduals who most closely conform to organisational norms. Individuals would
therefore be judged more on the basis of their acceptability than their suitability
(Jewson and Mason, 1986).
Social psychological studies explore the role of individual values in
perpetuating discrimination in selection through the use of schemata and
Women’s Role in International Management 373