Schein’s original findings in relation to ratings of men and women in general and
managers;however, they also discovered that the correspondence between
descriptions of women and successful managers strengthens when women are
depicted as managers and is very strong when women are depicted as success-
ful managers.
More recent research (Vinnicombe and Singh, 2002) investigating the
impact of sex role stereotyping on perceptions of successful managers used a
different instrument, the PAQ, developed by Spence et al. (1975). The PAQ is
derived from a model of agency and communion. Under this model, masculine
typed traits are related to instrumentality and agency, whilst feminine typed
traits are interpersonal and expressive. Individuals who have been traditionally
socialised would be seen to show more features from one dimension than the
other, whereas androgynous individuals would be high on both dimensions.
Korabik (1990) argues that androgynous managers may have an aptitude for
combining their masculine and feminine strengths to use in a wide variety of
situations. Vinnicombe and Singh (2002) used the PAQ in a large UK insurance
company to identify male and female managers’ management styles and their
perceptions of the style of the ‘successful manager’. The results showed that
women managers saw themselves as androgynous or feminine, but they saw
top managers as significantly more masculine than themselves. The authors
argue that this is likely to have a significant impact on the women’s career aspi-
rations as they seek progression. The results indicate that they are less likely to
identify with, and be seen as identifying with, the current model of leadership
in their organisation.
From an individual perspective, therefore, a number of factors relating to moti-
vation/commitment and managerial/leadership behaviour can be seen to impact
on women’s ability to progress to the highest levels of the organisation. In addition
to these factors, however, women face barriers in trying to fit their model of career
development into the traditional corpocratic career model, which traditionally is
based on the typical working lives of men. The next section looks at the impact of
organisational career systems on women’s opportunities for advancement.
Impact of organisational career systemsThe domination of men in management over many years has led career theory and
practice to reflect the patterns of men’s working lives rather than women’s. Careers
have traditionally been defined as a meaningful progression through a series of
related jobs (White, 1995). This would normally take place over a number of years,
but following a fairly tight chronological timetable and leading to increasing levels
of responsibility at each stage. The core meaning of career centred on paid work
and linear upward progression (Mavin, 2000; Still and Timms, 1998).
Perceptions of appropriate career development processes therefore tend to
reflect male workplace experiences, values and goals. A key feature of this
364 International Human Resource Management