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Keywords: Glass Ceiling, Employee Performance The thorough analysis of the literature represents that when women in the organizations are not promoted to higher managerial levels despite their merit, the phenomenon is called ‘Glass Ceiling. It has been observed that women are allowed to move freely at any position below a specific level. The main focus of our article is on glass ceiling and how it can influence the performance of the women employees in the organization. Glass ceiling is an artificial barrier which top management creates to restrain the women employees to reach higher levels of management.
Men also face the problem of glass ceiling but their ratio is very low as compared to women. Most people are against having women as their bosses at the same time they prefer to have a female colleagues and assistants in the organizations. Glass ceiling can influence the employees’ performance at any level of the organization but it also plays very important and significant role to improve the employees’ performance as well. The earliest contribution on the work performance of employees was made by Taylor (1911) where he identified various factors which were directly related to working conditions and overall scenario.
He introduced the concept that the reward system of the organization was the main agent affecting performance of the employees. Women have now become an eminent part of the workforce around the lobe and therefore organizations now prefer to hire these qualified women. That emerging phenomena is meant to increase the women emancipation in the corporate sector hence that male female mix in the organization can enhance its productivity. Globalizes operations of the firms in modern era now demand managers with international experience.
Twentieth century is marked by the 7 increased participation of the women in the labor market of the world but there is a significant inequality between number of male and female managers both at home country and at international level as well (Caligula and Tuning, 1999). Since women have become an important component of global workforce structure, their failure to reach the top positions of management evolved great concerns over it. There are certain factors which can measure the performance of the employees in the organization such as employee contribution to organizational decisions, employee organization etc.
Employee performance can lead to enhanced employee satisfaction and productivity level. Background Glass Ceiling The term ‘Glass Ceiling refers to an unseen barrier which is created at workplace to restrict women to reach at top level of management in the organization. The concept was originated in the middle of asses. It actually defines those artificial hurdles which are created in the business world that keep women away from promotion to upper management and other higher leadership positions in business world.
These obstacles are hierarchical in nature and are apparently impenetrable. The definition mainly focused the difficulties faced by the women but later it also included male and female racial and ethnic minorities. Women are considerably represented in the world labor force and even at the middle level of the management but their ratio at Enron executive positions are still very low. The 20th century has witnessed many improvements for women contribution to business world yet the supporters of equal rights think there is a long way to go ahead.
The phrase Glass Ceiling was first introduced by Gay Bryant in an Decade Profile who was the editor of Working Women Magazine. Boded (2012) quoted her 8 saying, “Women have reached a certain point?I call it the glass ceiling in the top of middle management and they’re stopping and getting stuck. ” Employee Performance Employee performance refers to activities which are expected from workers as a part f their Jobs and also how well those activities are executed by the employees.
The performance of is assessed by the top management on yearly or quarterly basis in order to suggest areas that need improvements. Fiddler and House (1988) state that successful leadership enhances the employees’ motivation which results in active performance of employees. Compensation is a major element that drives the employees’ performance. If employees believe that organization offers a reasonable compensation to them they will feel motivated and it ultimately improves their performance.
Robbins (2001) stated when employees are satisfied with their insemination plan their level of motivation will boost and finally it will increase the performance of the employees as well as organization. High performance of an organization depends upon the efforts of all employees rather than one or two individuals. It is a multidimensional concept that is strongly associated with the strategic goals and targets of the organization. Employee performance refers to productivity and efficiency which is an outcome of employee growth.
Relationship between Glass Ceiling and Employee Performance Glass Ceiling is an independent variable which has substantial impact on the reference of employees as well as organization. The greater the glass ceiling the lower will be the motivation and satisfaction of women employees as a result their which are the main causes of glass ceiling including balancing home life and career, isolation and loneliness, constant awareness of being a woman in men’s world, lack of social networks, having to prove oneself to others, less time available for work due to domestic commitments etc.
These factors will provide bases for the glass ceiling in the organization and ultimately female employees will bear the brunt in terms of their low performance. Past researches indicate a bi-directional relationship between the glass ceiling and job performance but modern studies indicate that there exists a nun-directional relation between them I. E. Low or no glass ceiling leads to improve Job performance of employees and vice versa. Significance of Research In modern dynamic era of business women have become an important element of labor force.
Organizations are now more open to accept women but still are reluctant to appoint them at corporate level of management. The research focuses how women perceive the concept of glass ceiling and what are the various factors which provide he foundation of it in the organizations. Moreover, how their performance can be influenced by these artificial and unseen barriers and ultimately finding solutions to break those barriers through their abilities and organizational commitment. From the female perspective why does glass ceiling exist?
How does glass ceiling impact the performance of females in organization? What strategies can be used to shatter or dismantle glass ceiling in the organization? Limitations of Research In this research we have questionnaires for our data collection and only the impact of glass ceiling on employee performance was Judged. Further study can also be done on the other factors that may have direct or indirect impact on employee performance. We used cross sectional method in this research which means that research is conducted only once.
But we can also use 10 Longitudinal Method for the better results by making comparison of previous research with the current research. It will more helpful for the researcher and the Literature Review The glass ceiling metaphor is frequently used to describe the obstacles and barriers in front of women seeking promotions to the top levels of organizations (Burke and Vindictive, 2005; International Labor Office, 2004; McLeod, 2008). In countries like Australia, China and South Africa there are strong evidences of under-representation of women in leadership and executive positions.
Wryer (2007) examines that scarcity of female leaders is the main reason that causes bias and prejudice against women. Women who become mothers often encounter an array of prejudice against career advancement that creates a maternal wall (Crosby, 2004). Yakima (2006) proposes preference theory citing gender differences in life goals, values, abilities and competitive behavior that cause hurdles for most of the women. Eagle and Karma, (2002) in their congruity theory of prejudice state the main two different propositions for glass ceiling.
Firstly, they discuss communal attributes such as nurturing, helpful and sympathetic which are strongly associated with females. Secondly they describe the Argentina factors such as assertiveness, ambitiousness, independent, forceful and self-confident. Such attributes are mainly related to males hence they have better chances of progress than women. They pointed out that female leaders are likely to be evaluated less favorably when they exhibit Argentina behaviors because this interdicts the prescriptive stereotype that women should be communal.
These two forms of prejudice are at the foundation of the phenomenon of glass and their influence is pervasive because women as well as men can accept these stereotypes. 11 Kim (2000) states that women in US are more concentrated in lower earning industries and organizations than men are under-represented in managerial and executive vasoconstriction of power, decision making and influence. These disparities in earnings, status, and position cannot be completely or largely explained by differences in the education, Job tenure, or experience of working women, leaving such to be attributed to employment discrimination (Blab et al. 1998; Cain, 1986). Among many other factors, sexual harassment is also an obstacle that foster glass ceiling against women and prevent them to occupy executive and managerial positions (Ross and Gate, 2001). Farrell and Harlan (1982) found that women working in non-traditional, craft worker Jobs experienced frequent harassment. Similarly, women who were blue-collar trade and transit workers, also Jobs not traditionally held by women, were more likely to be harassed than were secretaries.
Such sexual harassment may be deliberate and resentful behavior, designed to deter omen from entering historically male Jobs (Kemp, 1994; Martin, 1989; Miller, 1997; Tangier et al. , 1982). Maier (1997) has suggested that feminist alternatives be considered in organizations, rather than continuing to “take the prevailing masculine managerial paradigm for men as well as for women, given the prevailing perceptions and dysfunctional inherent in masculine assumptions. He argued that these assumptions disadvantage women, parents (including men), and reduce overall organizational performance.
He suggests that “feminist-based organizational transformation” would promote gender equity as well as more effective and ethical organizational behavior. Wright (1989) identify in his research that 25% to 30% of the employees in the developed countries are women and among them the portion of higher level women is Just 1% 12 hardly. Herman (1990) found that the women portion in the organizations in most of the US companies is very lower but women can still move at any level in the lower levels of the organizations.
The share of women top level managers is increasing gradually with the passage of time but still there is a need of improvement (Fisher, 1992; Seal, 1992; Corn/Ferry International, 1990; Morrison, 1987). Stump and London (1981) found that the decisions about management positions are mainly divided into two different categories that should be keep in mind while promoting any employee in an organization. These involve Job relevant criteria and job irrelevant criteria.
A Job relevant criterion actually represents the factors which are considered for promoting employees either males or females such as experience, skills and education level etc. On the contrary, Job irrelevant criteria are the elements which should be avoided while taking management related decisions such as age, gender etc. Feldman (1997) states that researchers also point out that many employers simply feel an aversion to taking a risk by hiring a woman, or not clearly planning their careers or Job assignments to benefit them and, what is more, less than 1% of Coos see the development of high potential of women as a priority.
Android (1997) stated that Even though women can have a real chance to receive the higher education similarly to men but this does not necessarily mean that they will and actually have the real opportunities to realize the acquired skills, abilities and knowledge in their professional life. To put it more precisely, the recent researchers reveal the fact that 81% of wildlife’s women who can occupy top positions face serious barriers engendered by the existing stereotypes and preconceptions which are basically generated by males and accumulated in the society where male ideology is dominating. 3 Cotter and colleagues (2001), they examine three criteria for discerning the effects of advancement of women and minorities. In measuring discrimination, analysts often control for education, work experience, tenure with the current employer, and familial factors affecting productivity (e. G. Marital [parental status). A second criterion for investigating the concept of a glass ceiling is that one must use longitudinal data to examine Job transitions over time.
A third criterion for the existence of a glass ceiling is that inequality grows over the life course; this implies that the barriers to mobility existing early in a career become more severe later in the career. Powell and Butterflies (1994) found that for promotions to the highest organizational levels, women experienced an advantage over equivalent male counterparts and they add that in the same organization, race had no impact, either costive or negative, on promotions at the highest organizational levels.
Other evidence suggests that women experience large promotion disadvantages in occupations that are located at the lowest organizational levels (Baggage and Oils, 2006). According to Yap and Conrad (2009), promotions are linked to so many important outputs, gender and race effects on promotion outcomes that mention differential access to an important source of resources, benefits and satisfaction. Gender discrimination may have been directly influenced by past personnel decisions about omen, making it more difficult for them than for men to obtain the necessary preparation for top management positions.
Also, there could be gender differences in the distribution of Job market skills such as education and work experience. Women consistently report to have lower salaries and lower levels of satisfaction than their male colleagues, and in academia they are less likely to be tenured or on the tenure track. Although respondents from both sexes respond positively to their work, indicating that it is 14 intellectually challenging and provide a desirable level of autonomy in decision asking, women report fewer opportunities for promotion and indicate more often than men.
Becker (1971) suggests that workers make rational choices regarding investment in their own education and careers. If women create less human capital over time than men, then their career development, including ascendancy to top management positions, would be more restricted. Finally, "gender discrimination may have influenced prior evaluations of employees’ human capital, with women given less credit for their education, work experience, and so on than men.
Loafer (2003) indicates that the ћdifferent needs” of women lead them to create a ellipsoid glass ceiling, in this manner only artificially seeming as if a glass ceiling would block their careers. Confronted with the ever-present glass ceiling, it is no longer possible, as has often been the case, to talk of the "choice of women for family’ in explaining the absence of women in applying for certain vacancies, whilst at present many women uphold both a successful career and children. It is therefore obstacles.
George (2005) states that having children brings a lot of responsibilities to a family life and this is the reason why many women decide to leave their careers armature’s so as to raise their children sufficiently. For this reason, employers occasionally hesitate to promote women because they are afraid that women will choose their families first. Nonetheless, an increasing number of companies are realizing the fact that women need some time out and have undertaken attempts to encourage women to remain longer in their careers as the participation of women is vital to the diversity and to the successes of corporations. 5 The realization of organizational work-family initiatives is perceived to pave the way for women to make it to the top. Especially as programs such as child care support services, maternity leave arrangements or part-time working enables women to balance their family needs without sacrificing work (Straus, 2007). Powell (1999) mentioned that the "typical executive Job has enormous responsibilities, time demands and pressures, which eventually calls for considerable sacrifices in personal life”.
As a consequence, women are often less willing than men to make such substantial sacrifices as many want to have children, spent time with family or simply do not want such a huge responsibility in their daily work. Deemed and Frederick’s (1999) retain that there are 4 mental behaviors which block the career progress of women managers and these are: a sense of factorization, limiting personal convictions, single-mindedness, paying attention to the status quo. Research shows that in societies where gender based roles are imposed, a working women perceives her in a different position than men.
Initially, since being a wife and mother is prior for women they choose not to travel and work for long hours which affects their career progress. Employee Performance According to Fiddler and House (1988), Marital (1995), Risotto, Amos and Statue (1999), successful leadership helps in accomplishment of employees’ need which results in active performance. Kettle (1988) claims that growing significance of leadership in organizations is because of major changes in business environment such as change in competitive forces and the desire for more involvement of total workforce.
Cummings and Schwab (1973), claim that leadership is the most significant factor for judging the employee performance. According to Marital (1995) and Bass (1997) leadership is the most significant factor for examining the employee performance. For an organization to be outstanding, it need to have an 6 George (2000) note that leaders are efficient when they influence their subordinates by effectively achieving the organizational objectives. According to Bas (asses) leadership is the most important aspect for determining the organizational performance.
Compensation is the major element that affects the employee performance. If employees are satisfied that organization is offering a good compensation then their motivation level is enhanced and as a result their performance to work also increases. Robbins (2001) said when employees feel happy about their compensation they are more motivated towards their work and the reference of the company also boosts. Cameron and Pierce (1996) said that all organizations use pay, promotion and benefits to give confidence to better performing employees.
Management of the organization often anticipates depending on the power and responsibility of such employees and these expectations are different from organization to organization. Testate & Setters (2006) have described the significant relationship among employee performance and compensation practices. According to Shaded (2008) there is a direct link between employee performance and compensation practices. According to Cohen & Single (2001) there is lot of pressure on the management of the organization to turn into a friendlier one.
Grover and Crooked (1995); and Cassandra and Lankan (1997) have found that the sense of employees’ obligation to organization become more positive when flexible time scheduling is being adopted by the organization. Brandt, Crackly & Kowalski (2008) examined that there exists a disagreement among personal life and employees’ performance. According to All and Bloch (1999) commitment affect the personal life of employees which results in low reference of employees. Amine (2008) said that work and family conflict is inversely linked to employees’ performance.
It is examined that work and family conflict decreases employee satisfaction, increases employees stress and decreases performance. Theoretical Framework There are two variables which are under study. Job performance is dependent variable which is of primary interest and changes or variations in Job performance will be explained by independent variable which is Glass Ceiling. This situation is referred to as a "ceiling” as there is a limitation blocking upward advancement, and "glass” (transparent) because the limitation is not immediately apparent and is normally an unwritten and unofficial policy.
This invisible barrier continues to exist, even though there are no explicit obstacles keeping females from acquiring advanced Job positions there are no advertisements that specifically say "no females hired at this establishment”, nor are there any formal orders that say "females are not qualified” (largely due to the fact that Equal employment opportunity laws forbid this kind of discrimination, and open admittance of it is