Browsing by Author "Sealy, Ruth"
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Item Open Access Accidental activists: headhunters as marginal diversity actors in institutional change towards more women on boards(Wiley, 2016-05-06) Doldor, Elena; Sealy, Ruth; Vinnicombe, SusanWe present a qualitative study that examines the role of headhunters as actors in a broader institutional change process aiming to increase gender diversity on corporate boards. We draw on institutional and diversity management theories to conceptualise their change agency in the broader field of women on boards. We describe their role as ‘accidental activists’ and theorise two micro-processes that define their change agency in this field: voluntaristic framing of intentionality and role redefinition by drawing on competing logics. This conceptualisation does not match the heroic image of the institutional entrepreneur driving institutional change, or that of the tempered radical championing diversity, but rather casts light into a marginal and previously neglected change role. We demonstrate the opportunistic and precarious nature of this role with regard to both institutional change and diversity management and discuss its possibilities and perils.Item Open Access Banking on a level playing field : the role of social capital in the promotion process to MD in a major investment bank : is it different for women?(Cranfield University, 2013-09) Pryce, Patricia; Vinnicombe, Susan; Sealy, RuthThis thesis analyses individual experiences of the promotion process to Managing Director within a global bank to identify the contribution made by social capital. Using Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) three-dimension framework as the theoretical lens, the thesis extends social capital research beyond its largely quantitative focus on network analysis (structural dimension) to understand more clearly the relative importance and impact of the relational and cognitive dimensions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 34 men and women in an investment bank and a template-based analysis of their accounts was made. The findings make visible, the invisible mechanisms which enable or constrain the creation, development and use of social capital and, therefore, its contribution to securing the position of Managing Director. The findings highlight the need to consider the importance of agency, relationship level and gender in this context. The study makes three key contributions. First, it extends Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) theory of social capital, in the context of career progression, by demonstrating how each social capital dimension is operationalized and interdependent. Second, the research explicitly demonstrates the crucial role social capital plays in an executive-level promotion process, thereby revealing a complex and multi-layered system. Third, the study extends our knowledge of the gendered nature of senior-level career progression by identifying the particular barriers women face, compared to men, in their efficacious use of social capital for promotion in a global bank.Item Open Access Boardroom Balance(2010-03-01T00:00:00Z) Sealy, Ruth; Vinnicombe, SusanItem Open Access Changing perceptions of meritocracy in senior women's careers(Emerald Group Publishing, 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z) Sealy, RuthPurpose – The aim of this paper is to explore how an elite group of senior women in banking represent and describe their understanding and experience of the role of meritocracy, within the context of their own career. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 senior female directors from six global investment banks. Template analysis was used in the qualitative analysis of the coding. Findings – The paper found that the women's adherence to the notion of meritocracy diminished over time, as merit appeared to be less defined by human capital (ability and experience) and more by social capital (seen as political behaviour). The paper also reveals how the concept is construed on two levels: first, on a symbolic level, demonstrating how the organization defines and rewards success; second, on a personal level, how it affects the individual's cognitions, emotions and self-belief. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the small literature on the concept of meritocracy in the management field, with an emphasis on the experiences of successful female directors in global investment banks.Item Open Access An examination of senior Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic women and men’s identity work following episodes of identity salience at work(2011-12) Atewologun, Adedoyin Olukemi; Vinnicombe, Susan; Sealy, RuthThis study addresses methodological critiques of ethnicity research in organisations by combining intersectionality and identity work frameworks. Additionally, it extends intersectionality beyond its traditional focus on multiple disadvantage and demonstrates contextual sensitivity to ethnicity. Taking an individual constructivist stance, I examined ethnicity and its intersection with gender and seniority through an identity work lens. The research question was: How do senior black, Asian and minority ethnic women and men make meaning of episodes that raise the salience of their intersecting identities at work? The study investigated how 24 senior black, Asian and minority ethnic (BME) women and men constructed an understanding of their multiple-identified selves in response to affirming, contradictory or ambiguous identity-heightening work experiences. Respondents kept journals about episodes that raised the salience of their intersecting identities. Then, in interviews, they described the sense they made of the episodes and their responses to them. Following a template-based analysis of 101 accounts, a typology emerged of Accommodating, Refuting, Reconciling, Affirming and Exploratory identity work modes, describing senior BME individuals’ identity construction in response to identity-heightening episodes. I introduce ‘intersectional identity work’ to illustrate how individual (e.g. cognitive effort to reconcile a paradox), relational (e.g. a sense of responsibility and affinity for subordinate minority colleagues) and contextual (e.g. visibility resulting from demographic distribution in one’s immediate environment) factors influence intersecting senior, ethnic and gender constructions at work. Integrating intersectional and identity work perspectives to examine ethnicity demonstrates the dynamic interplay of multiple identity dimensions during meaning-making, the range of modes adopted and the intensity of effort expended by senior BME women and men during personal meaning-making. This approach makes a methodological contribution to ethnicity and intersectionality research. It also makes an empirical contribution to UK ethnicity and identity work research through the suggestive model of identity work modes and rich insight into senior BME individuals’ experiences at the juxtaposition of disadvantage and privilege.Item Open Access The Female FTSE Board Report 2009: Norway and Spain join our census to benchmark corporate boards(2009-01-01T00:00:00Z) Sealy, Ruth; Vinnicombe, Susan; Doldor, Elena2009 marks our eleventh annual report with a small incremental increase in the percentage of women on boards. Overall, there are 12.2% women directors on the FTSE 100 boards. There is a discouraging decline in the number of companies with female executive directors to 15 (from 16). Also disappointing is a decline in the number of boards with multiple women directors to 37 (from 39). In addition there is a decline in the overall number of companies with women on boards, and once again one in four companies have exclusively male boards.Item Open Access The Female FTSE Board Report 2010: Opening up the Appointment Process(Cranfield University School of Management, 2010-12) Vinnicombe, Susan; Sealy, Ruth; Graham, Jacey; Doldor, Elena2010 saw another year of barely perceptible change in the representation of women in leadership positions of UK PLC’s top 100 companies. The incremental increases include three additional women on FTSE 100 boards taking the total to 116; one additional female executive director (ED); four more companies with women on their boards; and two more companies with more than one woman on the board, returning to 2008 levels. Overall, the percentage of women on FTSE 100 boards is 12.5%, showing a three year plateau. The number of companies with no female directors has decreased to 21 and the number of companies with more than one woman on the board has returned to the 2008 figure of 39. Only 13% of new appointments went to women.Item Open Access The Female FTSE Board Report 2012: Milestone or Millstone?(2012-03-13T00:00:00Z) Sealy, Ruth; Vinnicombe, Susan2012 has seen a step change in the number of women appointed onto FTSE 100 companies following the publication of the Davies Report in February 2011. The number of women holding 163 FTSE 100 board seats is 141, an increase of 25 on the 2010 figures. There are now 20 female executive directorships and 143 female non‐executive directorships. Overall the percentage of board directors who are female is 15, an uplift of 2½ on what was a three year plateau. The number of companies with no women on the board has dropped to 11 and the number of companies with more than one woman on the board has increased toItem Open Access The Female FTSE Board Report 2013: False Dawn of Progress for Women on Boards?(Cranfield University School of Management, 2013-04) Sealy, Ruth; Vinnicombe, SusanThe last year has seen extraordinary changes for women on boards. The number of women holding FTSE 100 board seats is 169 (holding 194 seats), an increase of 28 on the 2012 figures. The overall percentage of female-held board directorships is 17.3%, an uplift of 2.3% on last year’s figure. The number of FTSE 100 companies with all-male boards has dropped to seven and two thirds (67%) of the FTSE 100 have more than one woman on their board. In the first six months the pace of change was extremely encouraging. There was a sharp increase in the percentage of new appointments going to women on both FTSE 100 and 250 boards, peaking at 44% and 36% respectively. However, those high levels were short-lived and over the past six months they have dropped to 26% and 29% respectively, showing a considerable gap from the 33% required to reach Lord Davies’ target of 25% women on boards by 2015. That target for the FTSE 100 companies is still in sight but only if the rate of new appointments going to women regains momentum promptly and there is concern that complacency may be setting in, which the UK economy cannot afford.Item Open Access The Female FTSE Board Report 2015(2015-03-25T00:00:00Z) Vinnicombe, Susan; Doldor, Elena; Sealy, Ruth; Pryce, Patricia; Turner, CarolineThis year we have seen significant progress on FTSE 100 boards. All-male boards have totally disappeared with Glencore, the last, appointing a woman to its board. The percentage of women on FTSE 100 boards is 23.5%, almost exactly where we predicted in last year's report. This puts us on track to hit the 25% target by the end of 2015. The percentage of women in executive directorships on FTSE 100 boards is at an all time high of 8.6% with 24 women holding such roles.Item Open Access The Female FTSE Report 2007: A Year of Encouraging Progress(2007-01-01T00:00:00Z) Sealy, Ruth; Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanIn 2007, our ninth report, we see a continuing change in the balance of directorships in the FTSE 100 corporate boards. Both the number of executive directorships and total number of directorships are at their lowest levels for nine years. Meantime, the number of non-executive directorships is at its highest for nine years. Against this context we have seen several high water marks in women’s advancement onto these boards. There is an emerging polarisation between the cluster of 24 companies who are entirely male led and the newly growing cluster of 35 companies with multiple women directors. There are now 100 women occupying 123 directorships on FTSE 100 boards making up 11% of total directorships. Women constitute 20% of all new director appointments this year – the highest since Cranfield started monitoring the Female FTSE in 1999. Thirty women were appointed this year, of whom five had not previously held FTSE 100 directorships. More note worthy, there are now 122 women sitting on the FTSE 100 executive committees, an increase of 40% on 2006 and these women occupy a great variety of roItem Open Access Increasing diversity on public and private sector boards - Part 2 What is being done to improve diversity on boards and how effective is this?(2009-11-01T00:00:00Z) Sealy, Ruth; Doldor, Elena; Vinnicombe, SusanThe project was commissioned by the Government Equalities Office in order to examine the issue of diversity on boards of directors in the private and public sectors.The project addresses two main questions: Why are there so few women and other under-represented groups on public and private sector boards? and What is being done in order to increase diversity on boards? The report is published in two parts: Part I considered the available evidence on diversity on boards. It examined academic and non-academic literature in the field, in the UK and internationally, and reviewed available evidence concerning the factors accounting for the absence of diversity on boards.This second part maps out current practices aimed at increasing board diversity. It is based on interviews with several international experts in the field, giving case studies of various initiatives in four country contexts (UK, Norway, Spain and the Netherlands). In drawing together the report’s conclusion, some recommendations are formulated for further action to increase board diversity in the UItem Open Access Increasing diversity on public and private sector boards, Part 1 - How diverse are boards and why?(2009-10-01T00:00:00Z) Sealy, Ruth; Doldor, Elena; Vinnicombe, SusanThe Government Equalities Office (GEO) commissioned Cranfield School of Management to examine the issue of diversity on boards of directors in the private and public sectors.The project sought to addresses two main questions: Why are there so few women and other under-represented groups on public and private sector boards? and What is being done in order to increase diversity on boards? The report is published in two parts: Part I considers the available evidence on diversity on boards. It examines academic and non-academic literature in the field, in the UK and internationally, and reviews available evidence concerning the factors accounting for the absence of diversity on boards. Part II maps out current practices aimed at increasing board diversity based.The review of evidence reviewed revealed a persistent under-representation of groups such as women, ethnic minorities and disabled people on both public and private sector boards. However, most evidence in the UK and internationally focused on gender rather than other underrepresented groups.Item Open Access Revealing Intersectional Dynamics in Organizations: Introducing 'Intersectional Identity Work'(Wiley, 2015-04-24) Atewologun, Doyin; Sealy, Ruth; Vinnicombe, SusanLittle consensus exists regarding conducting intersectional studies. We introduce ‘intersectional identity work’ as an approach for examining individuals’ experiences at the nexus of multiple identities. Incorporating identity work as a theoretical and analytical framework, we use journals and interviews to examine identity-heightening episodes that trigger meaning-making of intersecting senior, gender and ethnic identities among British Asian and black women and men. Our analysis reveals how intersecting identities are leveraged in encounters with subordinates, superiors and clients. Intersectional locations provide resources and cues for claiming or restricting privileged and disadvantaged status in asymmetric power positions. Intersectional identity work expands and restricts identification at juxtaposed locations. It offers a prospect for elucidating intersectional dynamics present in a range of identity configurations and addresses critiques that individual-level intersectional analyses at intersections are mere narrative. We encourage further research that examines other socially salient identities using our approach to develop theory on how multiple identities play out in everyday experience.Item Open Access Standard Chartered Bank: Women on Corporate Boards in India 2010(2010-09-17T00:00:00Z) Banerji, A.; Mahtani, S.; Sealy, Ruth; Vinnicombe, SusanThis first Standard Chartered Bank: Women on Corporate Boards in India 2010 report looks at the representation of women on the boards of India's leading companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE-100) . It ranks the companies in terms of the gender diversity of their boards, with those with the highest percentage of women on their boards appearing at the top. The report also examines the general topic of gender diversity on the boards of the BSE-100 by presenting the findings of interviews with 18 female directors of BSE-100 companies.Item Open Access Women directors on corporate boards: A review and research agenda(Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z) Terjesen, Siri; Sealy, Ruth; Singh, ValReview This review examines how gender diversity on corporate boards influences corporate governance outcomes that in turn impact performance. We describe extant research on theoretical perspectives, characteristics, and impact of women on corporate boards (WOCB) at micro, meso, and macro levels: individual, board, firm, and industry/environment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive review of WOCBs, incorporating and integrating research from over 400 publications in psychology, sociology, leadership, gender, finance, management, law, corporate governance, and entrepreneurship domains. In addition, we organized our findings to provide a new lens enabling the field to be readily examined by level and by theoretical perspective. The review indicates that WOCB research is about improving corporate governance through better use of the whole talent pool's capital, as well as about building more inclusive and fairer business institutions that better reflect their present generation of stakeholders. With only one in 10 papers addressing theoretical development, the predominant perspectives are human and social capital theories and gender schema at the individual level; social identity, token, and social networks theories at board level; resource dependency, institution, and agency theories at the firm level; and institutional, critical, and political theories at the environmental level. We provide a short synopsis of findings at each level, and conclude with an outline of fruitful directions for future research. There are increasing pressures for WOCBs from diverse stakeholders, such as the European Commission, national governments, politicians, employer lobby groups, shareholders, Fortune and FTSE rankings, best places for women to work lists, as well as expectations from highly qualified women who are likely to leave if they see no women board members. Rationales generally draw on the business case; however, the moral justice case is also used by those who seek a fairer gender balance in all aspects of society. From our review, the "Impact" section charts the effect of WOCB at all four levels of analysis.Item Open Access Women on Boards: Hang Seng Index 2009(2009-11-01T00:00:00Z) Mahtani, S.; Vernon, K.; Sealy, RuthThis inaugural Women on Boards: Hang Seng Index 2009 report looks at the representation of women on the corporate boards of Hong Kong’s top companies, as listed on the Hang Seng Index (HSI). It ranks the companies in terms of the gender diversity of their boards, with those with the highest percentage of women on their boards appearing at the top. The report also examines the general topic of gender diversity on the boards of the HSI by presenting the findings of interviews with nine female directors of HSI companie