Browsing by Author "Singh, Val"
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Item Open Access The 2002 Female FTSE Report: Women Directors moving Forward(2002-11-01T00:00:00Z) Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanFTSE 100 COMPANIES THE GOOD NEWS: After two years of slippage, there is evidence that companies are again taking advantage of the diversity and talent that women directors can bring to their boards, by appointing new women. 61 companies now have women directors, up from 57 companies in 2001, but still not yet reaching the post-election “mini-boom” year 1999 when 64 companies had female directors. It is good to see that more companies have women executive directors, who now hold 3% of all executive board seats. In fact, women executive director numbers have increased by 50% since last year, up from 10 to 15. THE BAD NEWS: 88 of the UK’s top 100 companies still have no women executive directors. Chairmen and CEOs must take more responsibility for recruitment and development of their corporate talent pool to include women and diverse groups, to improve decision- making and bring variety and new voices into the boardroom. Indirectly, women directors act as powerful role models to younger, more junior female manItem Open Access Conceptualizing and investigating organizational politics: A systematic review of the literature(Cranfield University, 2007-08) Doldor, Elena; Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanIn the last decades, there has been a growing academic interest for the concept of organizational politics. Although this body of literature is expanding, the research remains fragmented in terms of theoretical and methodological approaches, and several conceptual ambiguities persist despite the accumulation of empirical data. Using a systematic review methodology, this paper analyses the existent literature in the field of organizational politics by exploring two main sources of information: journal articles and books. The process of searching and assessing the literature is described in detail and the decisions made with respect to the inclusion/exclusion of the sources are accounted for at every stage. Overall, fifty one journal articles and seven books were systematically reviewed. In the conceptual analysis of the core sources, the focus was on the way the concept of organizational politics is conceptualized and investigated in the existent literature. In a first part, the strengths and the shortfalls of various theoretical frameworks are discussed, in an attempt of conceptual integration. The findings are organized around three umbrella-concepts: organizational politics, political behaviours and political skill. In a second part, the research methods used in this field are carefully examined. Qualitative approaches were found to be less frequent than quantitative ones. Moreover, these last ones have been grouped into a methodological taxonomy. This in-depth analysis of the literature points out the implications that methodological choices have for the conceptual clarity of the field. Finally, several limitations of this systematic literature review are acknowledged. Opportunities for future research in the field of organizational politics are discussed, as related to the progress of the doctoral project.Item Open Access Constructing a professional identity: how young female managers use role models.(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z) Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, Susan; Turnbull James, KimRole models are often identified as important for aspiring managers as they seek insights into how to develop themselves in their careers. There are, however, still few female role models at the top of companies. This project explores how young careerminded women use role models. It draws on previous research into how professionals experimented with their identity projections to become partners in US professional service firms. In-depth interviews with ten young professional women revealed that they actively draw on role models from different domains. In some cases, the role models were personally known to the individual women, whilst in other cases, they were personally unknown to them. The women revealed that they preferred to use the learning from external role models rather than focus on individual women from the top of their own professions. This research adds richness to our understanding of young female managers’ use of role models, and contributes up-todate empirical evidence in a field which has been somewhat neglected in recent yearItem Open Access Diversity management: Practices, strategy and measurement(Cranfield School of Management, 2002) Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, Susan; Schiuma, Gianni; Kennerley, Mike; Neely, AndrewItem Open Access An exploration of male and female managers' perspectives on the meaning and assessment of commitment: Cases from leading British and Swedish engineering companies(Cranfield University, 1999-07) Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanThis thesis explores the issue of why female managers’ commitment is so often reported as being less of that of males, despite research evidence that there is no gender difference in levels of commitment. No previous research was found which reported managerial meanings of “commitment”, usually conceptualised with an affective component resulting in loyalty and effort, and a continuance component, the desire to stay in an organisation. Meanings of “commitment” in three major engineering companies were elicited through interviews with 37 engineering managers in the UK and Sweden. The sample included sixteen male/female pairs matched on age, qualifications and job position, from top, middle and junior levels of management. The meanings important to managers were the manifested behaviours of commitment at work. The most common of the 36 elicited meanings were task delivery, putting yourself out, involvement, and quality. Overall, male meanings were more similar to top managers’ meanings than female meanings. Top women’s meanings were similar to those of top men, sharing meanings of being proactive/using initiative, being ready for challenge, being creative/innovative, and being business aware. More women overall gave meanings oriented towards the organisation, particularly good citizen behaviours, which would be less visible to managers, whilst more men overall gave meanings, benefiting themselves as well as the organisation, which were very active and highly visible. Five types of commitment meanings were identified: Virtuous, Volunteer, Virtuoso, Vanguard and Gender-Shared. In a later questionnaire, the sample were asked to rate the importance of their 36 meanings of commitment in terms of their own view and their perceived view of how their organisation would rate them. Through gaps between individual and perceived organisational ratings, tensions were identified and mapped, providing a guide for an indepth analysis of meanings with the greatest tensions, particularly on hours over the norm perceived to be valued more by the organisation, and on getting balance, enjoying work, thinking of oneself as well as the organisation, and being people-concerned. Interviewees at all levels indicated the importance of getting work/nonwork balance, most rejecting the notion of commitment meaning working additional hours. Attitudes to managers seeking maternity/paternity leave were reported. Through the Swedish comparison, a trend was identified that where most male managers take extended paternity leave, the issue which is seen as a woman’s individual problem in the UK becomes an organisational planning issue in Sweden. Thus, perceived lesser commitment is transformed into less unplanned availability for a short period. The process of commitment assessment has also been explored and a number of dimensions drawn out, particularly the tacit nature of the evidence, the subjectivity of assessment, and the manager’s susceptibility to influence. These affect the way in which commitment behaviours are interpreted by the manager, as both males and females use impression management strategies to demonstrate their commitment. The contribution of this thesis is to the commitment field, in identifying managers’ meanings of commitment, and to the women in management field, where evidence is presented of the differences in male and female meanings of commitment, and the importance of visibility of commitment to managers. As women’s meanings are less visible than those of men in this sample, this suggests an explanation of why women’s commitment is still challenged.Item Open Access An exploration of chief executives' conceptions of successful leadership in the Scottish public sector(Cranfield University, 2007-01) Collins, James; Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanThis thesis explores leadership in context. In particular, through an analysis of texts and interviews, it explores the meanings of successful leadership for leaders of public bodies in post-devolution Scotland. In the first stage of the research, 140 documents were examined in order to inform the context in detail. Analysis of these documents found contrasting messages. The language emanating from pro-devolution interest groups, government departments and public bodies promoted a discourse consistent with the ideas of transformational leadership and new public management. These documents reflected the promise that devolution would herald "new ways different from the rituals of Westminster ". However, in media news stories referring to executive departure, a contrasting language reflecting far from transformational action was found. These sources suggest that Scottish public service CEOs are treated as scapegoats for failure. In the second stage of the research, in-depth interviews were employed to explore constructions of successful leadership held by leaders of Scottish public organisations. The 21 participants were all current or former chief executives of public bodies, appointed by ministers to lead organisations involved in the provision of a range of public services in Scotland. As indicated in the discourses of the media, the CEOs reported that a culture of blame and risk aversion dominates the Scottish public services. This culture is particularly prevalent in the political and civil service domains. The chief executives believed that transformational, visionary and charismatic approaches to leadership to be an idealistic form of leadership, incompatible with the leadership requirements of a Scottish public body. CEOs reported that, rather than having collective responsibility, they are individually blamed for failure or poor performance in the public services. To be successful leaders, CEOs stated that they required support or endorsement from important stakeholders in order to be able to take the leadership decisions crucial for success. They conceptualised this support in terms of "credit". Identifying a variety of stakeholders, CEOs stated that, through a process of exchange relationships with government ministers, the chair of their organisation and senior civil servants, credit had to be built with these important stakeholders. In their view this credit is the key to successful leadership. This thesis therefore explores this construct in depth. A model describing the processes which contribute to the development, and erosion, of credit is presented. This principally concerns the management of relationships, profile and performance in order to develop positive stakeholder perceptions about personal and organisational attributes and credibility. The transformational leadership paradigm has been dominant for over two decades. It is frequently presented in a way that depicts transformational action as morally superior to a transactional alternative. However, the findings show that, in an environment in which a risk-averse blame culture dominates, transactional social exchange, such as the appropriate use of political behaviour and impression management to raise personal and organisational visibility and profile, in order to build credit, is a more apposite paradigm for successful leadership. It is here that that this thesis makes its primary contribution. The consequences for public sector chief executives, and the implications for the public sector generally, are considered, and suggestions made for further research.Item Open Access An exploration of male and female managers' perspectives on the meaning and assessment of commitment: Cases from leading British and Swedish engineering companies(Cranfield University, 1999-07) Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanThis thesis explores the issue of why female managers’ commitment is so often reported as being less of that of males, despite research evidence that there is no gender difference in levels of commitment. No previous research was found which reported managerial meanings of “commitment”, usually conceptualised with an affective component resulting in loyalty and effort, and a continuance component, the desire to stay in an organisation. Meanings of “commitment” in three major engineering companies were elicited through interviews with 37 engineering managers in the UK and Sweden. The sample included sixteen male/female pairs matched on age, qualifications and job position, from top, middle and junior levels of management. The meanings important to managers were the manifested behaviours of commitment at work. The most common of the 36 elicited meanings were task delivery, putting yourself out, involvement, and quality. Overall, male meanings were more similar to top managers’ meanings than female meanings. Top women’s meanings were similar to those of top men, sharing meanings of being proactive/using initiative, being ready for challenge, being creative/innovative, and being business aware. More women overall gave meanings oriented towards the organisation, particularly good citizen behaviours, which would be less visible to managers, whilst more men overall gave meanings, benefiting themselves as well as the organisation, which were very active and highly visible. Five types of commitment meanings were identified: Virtuous, Volunteer, Virtuoso, Vanguard and Gender-Shared. In a later questionnaire, the sample were asked to rate the importance of their 36 meanings of commitment in terms of their own view and their perceived view of how their organisation would rate them. Through gaps between individual and perceived organisational ratings, tensions were identified and mapped, providing a guide for an indepth analysis of meanings with the greatest tensions, particularly on hours over the norm perceived to be valued more by the organisation, and on getting balance, enjoying work, thinking of oneself as well as the organisation, and being people-concerned. Interviewees at all levels indicated the importance of getting work/nonwork balance, most rejecting the notion of commitment meaning working additional hours. Attitudes to managers seeking maternity/paternity leave were reported. Through the Swedish comparison, a trend was identified that where most male managers take extended paternity leave, the issue which is seen as a woman’s individual problem in the UK becomes an organisational planning issue in Sweden. Thus, perceived lesser commitment is transformed into less unplanned availability for a short period. The process of commitment assessment has also been explored and a number of dimensions drawn out, particularly the tacit nature of the evidence, the subjectivity of assessment, and the manager’s susceptibility to influence. These affect the way in which commitment behaviours are interpreted by the manager, as both males and females use impression management strategies to demonstrate their commitment. The contribution of this thesis is to the commitment field, in identifying managers’ meanings of commitment, and to the women in management field, where evidence is presented of the differences in male and female meanings of commitment, and the importance of visibility of commitment to managers. As women’s meanings are less visible than those of men in this sample, this suggests an explanation of why women’s commitment is still challenged.Item Open Access The Female FTSE Report 2004(Cranfield University, 2004-11) Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanItem Open Access The Female FTSE Report 2005: New look women directors add value to FTSE 100 Boards(2005-01-01T00:00:00Z) Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanSeventy-eight FTSE 100 companies, a new record number, now have women directors, up 13% from last year. But the breakthrough is in who these new female directors are and the diverse experiences they bring to the boardroom. The new female directors are more likely to be international, have board experience and have much richer, more varied work backgrounds than the men. Six FTSE 100 companies appointed their first ever woman director (Intercontinental Hotels, Capita, ITV, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Sage). However, only eleven FTSE 100 companies now have female executive directors, down from 13 in 2005 and worryingly, below the 2002 figure. Still 22 of the FTSE 100 boards are all-male, an anachronism in 2005.Item Open Access The Female FTSE Report 2006: Identifying the New Generation of Women Directors(2006-01-01T00:00:00Z) Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanOnly 77 FTSE 100 companies now have women directors, down 1% from last year. Five FTSE 100 companies appointed their first ever woman director (Cairn Energy, Rexam, British Land, Reed Elsevier, Shire), but some boards reverted to all-male status. Thirteen FTSE 100 companies now have female executive directors, up from only 11 in 2005, but still indicating a major under-development of female talent after more than three decades of mandatory equal opportunities policies. However, in line with Higgs’ recommendations, the balance between executive and non-executive directors is changing, resulting in 20% reduction in executive seats since 2002, so competition for executive seats is keener than beforItem 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 Female Presence on Corporate Boards: A Multi-Country Study of Environmental Context(Springer Netherlands, 2008-11) Terjesen, Siri; Singh, ValA growing body of ethics research investigates gender diversity and governance on corporate boards, at individual and firm levels, in single country studies. In this study, we explore the environmental context of female representation on corporate boards of directors, using data from forty-three countries. We suggest that women's representation on corporate boards may be shaped by the larger environment, including the social, political and economic structures of individual countries. We use logit regression to conduct our analysis. Our results indicate that countries with higher representation of women on boards are more likely to have women in senior management and more equal ratios of male to female pay. However, we find that countries with a longer tradition of women's political representation are less likely to have high levels of female board representation.Item Open Access Item Open Access The impact of gender demography on male and female role interpretations and contributions: A qualitative study of non-executive directors of Icelandic boards(Cranfield University, 2010-03) Jonsdottir, Thoranna; Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanThis thesis, submitted for the Cranfield DBA programme, examines and explores the impact of gender demography on male and female director’s role interpretations and contributions. The study was inspired by the scarcity of females on corporate boards and a desire to seek an understanding of how women and men contribute to boards. The study brings together the literature on females on boards, and on board roles and processes, revealing that both bodies of literature could benefit from more in-depth understanding of board processes. The thesis reports the results of two empirical studies based on in-depth interviews with male and female non-executive directors on Icelandic corporate boards. The first study of non-executives of male dominated boards supported many of the findings reported in earlier studies. Females were found to be active in critical questioning and pushing for better decision making. Males on the other hand stressed the importance of informal interactions. The study offered an understanding of the exclusion and low social and power status of females on male dominated boards. The second study, conducted two years later, on non-executives on both male dominated as well as gender integrated boards and an all female board, revealed in much more detail the nature of traditional board interactions and the benefits of a more balanced composition or even an all female composition. Males on gender integrated boards adopted the valuable role of questioning and holding management accountable, previously found to be mainly adopted by females. In addition, a shared understanding of roles and purpose between males and females was found to prevail on those boards. The gender integrated boards and the all female board possessed a much higher degree of openness, interaction and trust, resembling to a large extent the description of exemplary boards found in the literature, and the females on those boards were found to be quite confident. Finally, the findings question if the importance of informal relationships can be generalised, as those were found to have no relevance on gender integrated and all female boards. The study adds to the growing body of literature on board roles and processes, and the female board literature, and has significant implications for practice. It reveals the shortcomings of male dominated boards and challenges them to fundamentally change the ways they act and perform. It demonstrates how female non-executive directors bring valuable contributions and that a better gender balance can positively affect the dynamics of the board.Item Open Access Intersecting Gender and Ethnicity in the Workplace: A Systematic Review of the Literature(Cranfield University, 2008-08) Atewologun, Adedoyin; Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanGender and ethnicity represent key bases upon which we differentiate ourselves from others and are also key fracture lines along which inequalities in the workplace manifest. The continued growth in the management literature on organisational gendered processes remains slightly ahead of the management literature investigating race/ethnic differences in organisational outcomes. However, both streams of literature have historically tread separate, parallel paths, resulting in limited understanding of the organisational experiences of people who fall through the ‘fault lines’ of gender and ethnic management research – ethnic minority women. This paper posits that much can be gleaned from adopting an ‘intersectional’ lens for investigating the workplace experiences of employees. It acknowledges that the experiences of ethnic minority women in the workplace, at the intersections of gender and ethnicity, qualitatively differ from those of groups under which they are typically subsumed. The aim of this review was to investigate the extent to which intersectionality has been used to examine organisational experience and to shed light on the ways in which employees’ ‘gender-ethnicity’ is conceptualised at work. A systematic review of the literature was conducted, entailing searching, selecting and evaluating literature on intersecting gender and ethnicity in the workplace. A detailed methodology is presented, with descriptive and thematic findings discussed. Overall, the findings reveal that studies on gender and ethnic intersectionality at work typically examine women’s stories about how race and gender influence their work experiences, often against the backdrop of a particular profession. These studies are likely to be fairly recent (within the last 10 years) and are likely to be conducted within and beyond the typical North American hub of demographic diversity literature. Studies adopt one of three approaches to investigating intersectionality (as a demographic unit, individual perspective or a framework for engaging with the research process) and the role of theory and researcher are important considerations. Additionally, intersectionality is conceptualised in three key ways: as a source of tension, as a way to provide voice, and as contingent on cultural, national and professional context. Implications for further research are considered and limitations of the systematic review discussed.Item Open Access An investigation into the experiences of managers who work flexibly(Cranfield University, 2008-09) Anderson, Deirdre A.; Singh, ValThis thesis explores the experiences of managers who work flexibly. Flexible working policies are prevalent in all organizations in the UK because of the legislation giving specific groups of parents and carers the right to request flexible working. Many organizations extend the policies to all employees, yet the take-up is not as high as expected, particularly among staff at managerial levels. This thesis explores how managers construe and experience flexible working arrangements while successfully fulfilling their roles as managers of people. The exploratory study consisted of interviews with eight managers with unique flexible working patterns. Analysis of the interview transcripts identified concepts of consistency and adaptability. Consistency refers to meeting fixed needs from the work and non-work domains, and adaptability refers to the adjustment of schedules to meet the changing demands from those domains. The concepts of consistency and adaptability were further explored in the main study which is based on interviews with 24 women and 10 men who held managerial positions and had a flexible working arrangement which reduced their face time in the workplace. The research offers three main contributions to the literature. At a theoretical level, I propose a model which demonstrates how individuals use consistency and adaptability to meet the fixed and changing demands from the work and non-work domains. This model extends understanding of the complexity of the segmentation/integration continuum of boundary theory, explaining how and why managers use flexible working arrangements as a means of managing boundaries and achieving desired goals in both domains. Four distinct clusters emerged among the managerial participants in terms of the type and direction of adaptability, indicating the range of strategies used by managers to ensure the success of their flexible working arrangements. A detailed description of managers’ flexible working experiences is provided, adding to what is known about the role of manager through the exploration of the enactment of that role when working flexibly.Item Open Access Newly appointed directors in the boardroom: How do women and men differ?(Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam., 2008-02-01T00:00:00Z) Singh, Val; Terjesen, Siri; Vinnicombe, SusanThis paper investigates the human capital profile of new appointees to corporate boards, exploring gender differences in education, profile and career experiences. Findings from a study of UK boards reveal that women are significantly more likely to bring international diversity to their boards and to possess an MBA degree. New male directors are significantly more likely to have corporate board experience, including CEO/COO roles, while new female appointees are significantly more likely to have experience as directors on boards of smaller firms. Our evidence contradicts the view reported by some chairmen that women lack adequate human capital for boardroom positions.Item Open Access Report on Female Directors in the Top 100 Companies Index 2001(2001-11-01T00:00:00Z) Singh, Val; Vinnicombe, SusanItem Open Access Systematic review of studies which examine the flexible working practices of managers and professionals.(2004-08) Anderson, Deirdre; Singh, ValThis systematic review examines studies of flexible working practices when used by managers and professionals. The various definitions of the term “flexible working” which appear in the literature are discussed and the need for a case relevant definition in any study is put forward. Particular attention is given to spatial and temporal flexibility. The benefits and disadvantages of flexible working practices to both organizations and individuals are discussed, revealing the contradictory nature of this subject. Conflicting evidence is revealed about the effect of working in a non-traditional way on career advancement or potential, and the language used is seen as an important factor in understanding this. Theories are used to increase understanding of a field where research is very practitioner driven with little theoretical underpinning. Institutional pressures may be key factors in this organizational response to individual role conflict. Similarly, resource dependence theory, agency theory and the transaction cost perspective are considered as possible explanations for the introduction of flexible working practices as part of work/life balance policies. The importance of aligning such policies with organizational goals can be a crucial factor in their take-up and success. Theories of role conflict and identity are explored as these may inform us about the motivations of individuals in adopting such practices, linking to boundary theory which explains the segmentation or integration of work and nonwork domains. Most of the extant literature is written from the practitioner’s perspective and implications and recommendations are therefore put forward.