Breaking barriers and creating inclusiveness: Lessons of organizational transformation to advance women faculty in academic science and engineering
01 Sep 2008-Human Resource Management (Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company)-Vol. 47, Iss: 3, pp 423-441
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present the experience of 19 U.S. universities, funded by the National Science Foundation's ADVANCE Institutional Transformation program, that have embraced comprehensive transformation for improved gender representation and inclusion in science and engineering disciplines.
Abstract: To increase the representation and participation of women and other minorities in organizations, workplaces must become more inclusive. For such change to be successful and sustainable, organizations must systematically break down the barriers constraining women's participation and effectiveness; improve their prevailing structures, policies, and practices; and engender transformation in their climates. This article presents the experience of 19 U.S. universities, funded by the National Science Foundation's ADVANCE Institutional Transformation program, that have embraced comprehensive transformation for improved gender representation and inclusion in science and engineering disciplines. It describes the facilitating factors, program initiatives, institutionalization, and outcomes of their transformation, and suggests a transformation model that all organizations can use to create an inclusive and productive workplace for a diverse workforce. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Citations
More filters
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them, and describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative.
Abstract: What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.
2,134 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use Brewer's optimal distinctiveness theory to develop a definition of employee inclusion in the work group as involving the satisfaction of the needs of both belongingness and uniqueness.
1,025 citations
Cites background from "Breaking barriers and creating incl..."
...Antecedents, such as climate, leadership, and human resources practices, contribute to the group processes that build the work environment for the individual’s perceptions of inclusion (Bilimoria et al., 2008)....
[...]
...In this review, several types of practices have emerged as likely to enhance inclusion, such as information access and participation in decision making (Mor Barak & Cherin, 1998; Nishii, 2010), conflict resolution procedures (Roberson, 2006), communication facilitation (Janssens & Zanoni, 2007), and freedom from stereotyping (Bilimoria et al., 2008)....
[...]
...…as likely to enhance inclusion, such as information access and participation in decision making (Mor Barak & Cherin, 1998; Nishii, 2010), conflict resolution procedures (Roberson, 2006), communication facilitation (Janssens & Zanoni, 2007), and freedom from stereotyping (Bilimoria et al., 2008)....
[...]
TL;DR: Although in the past, gender discrimination was an important cause of women’s underrepresentation in scientific academic careers, this claim has continued to be invoked after it has ceased being a valid cause, and the results reveal that early sex differences in spatial and mathematical reasoning need not stem from biological bases.
Abstract: Summary Much has been written in the past two decades about women in academic science careers, but this literature is contradictory. Many analyses have revealed a level playing field, with men and women faring equally, whereas other analyses have suggested numerous areas in which the playing field is not level. The only widely-agreed-upon conclusion is that women are underrepresented in college majors, graduate school programs, and the professoriate in those fields that are the most mathematically intensive, such as geoscience, engineering, economics, mathematics/ computer science, and the physical sciences. In other scientific fields (psychology, life science, social science), women are found in much higher percentages. In this monograph, we undertake extensive life-course analyses comparing the trajectories of women and men in math-intensive fields with those of their counterparts in non-math-intensive fields in which women are close to parity with or even exceed the number of men. We begin by examining early-childhood differences in spatial processing and follow this through quantitative performance in middle childhood and adolescence, including high school coursework. We then focus on the transition of the sexes from high school to college major, then to graduate school, and, finally, to careers in academic science. The results of our myriad analyses reveal that early sex differences in spatial and mathematical reasoning need not stem from biological bases, that the gap between average female and male math ability is narrowing (suggesting strong environmental influences), and that sex differences in math ability at the right tail show variation over time and across nationalities, ethnicities, and other factors, indicating that the ratio of males to females at the right tail can and does change. We find that gender differences in attitudes toward and expectations about math careers and ability (controlling for actual ability) are evident by kindergarten and increase thereafter, leading to lower female propensities to major in math-intensive subjects in college but higher female propensities to major in non-math-intensive sciences, with overall science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors at 50% female for more than a decade. Post-college, although men with majors in math-intensive subjects have historically chosen and completed PhDs in these fields more often than women, the gap has recently narrowed by two thirds; among non-math-intensive STEM majors, women are more likely than men to go into health and other people-related occupations instead of pursuing PhDs. Importantly, of those who obtain doctorates in math-intensive fields, men and women entering the professoriate have equivalent access to tenure-track academic jobs in science, and they persist and are remunerated at comparable rates—with some caveats that we discuss. The transition from graduate programs to assistant professorships shows more pipeline leakage in the fields in which women are already very prevalent (psychology, life science, social science) than in the math-intensive fields in which they are underrepresented but in which the number of females holding assistant professorships is at least commensurate with (if not greater than) that of males. That is, invitations to interview for tenure-track positions in math-intensive fields—as well as actual employment offers—reveal that female PhD applicants fare at least as well as their male counterparts in math-intensive fields.
701 citations
Cites background from "Breaking barriers and creating incl..."
...Bilimoria, Joy, and Liang (2008) reviewed the results of climate surveys at six NSF ADVANCE grant institutions....
[...]
TL;DR: The authors reviewed and synthesized the inclusion literature and provided a model of inclusion that integrates existing literature to offer greater clarity, as well as suggestions for moving the literature forward, and described themes in inclusion literature.
286 citations
TL;DR: Diversity management practices consist of the set of formalized practices developed and implemented by organizations to manage diversity effectively among all organizational stakeholders as discussed by the authors, and they can be classified into three broad categories:
Abstract: Diversity management practices consist of the set of formalized practices developed and implemented by organizations to manage diversity effectively among all organizational stakeholders. We review...
261 citations
References
More filters
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them, and describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative.
Abstract: What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.
32,981 citations
TL;DR: Many formal organizational structures arise as reflections of rationalized institutional rules as discussed by the authors, and the elaboration of such rules in modern states and societies accounts in part for the expansion and i...
Abstract: Many formal organizational structures arise as reflections of rationalized institutional rules. The elaboration of such rules in modern states and societies accounts in part for the expansion and i...
23,073 citations
"Breaking barriers and creating incl..." refers background in this paper
...Institutional theorists posit that compliance with the directives of external agencies, such as the government, the legal system, and funding agencies, increases an organization’s legitimacy (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Meyer & Rowan, 1977)....
[...]
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the author analyzes the maturing research in the field of organization studies - the available ethnographic methods, participant observation, qualitative research, and clinical research, concluding that culture functions to solve an organization's basic problems of surviving in the external environment and integrating its internal processes to ensure its continued survival.
Abstract: Discusses the key role of organizational leadership in organizational culture, and the intertwining problems associated with each. Organizational culture is defined as the basic assumptions and beliefs shared by members of an organization. These are learned, operate unconsciously, and essentially define an organization's view of itself and its environment. Though cultural differences are reflected in companies, each company also has an individual culture that modifies local or national cultures. Origins of culture are discussed, especially the entrepreneur's effect on cultural formation, and mechanisms of embedding and reinforcing cultural standards as a means of guiding an evolving company. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, the book analyzes the maturing research in the field of organization studies - the available ethnographic methods, participant observation, qualitative research, and clinical research. Results indicate that culture functions to solve an organization's basic problems of (a) surviving in the external environment and (b) integrating its internal processes to ensure its continued survival. Since the organizational structure and people's attitudes and perceptions constitute key artifacts of a culture, both these must be changed before the company's overarching cultural change can occur. Typically, change begins at the formative stage as a positive growth force in need of development, evolves into a complex, diverse model of culture, and finally at the point of maturation, often becomes dysfunctional. It is at this point that the leader-usually the entrepreneur - is most crucial, often turning to various change models as a means of sustaining the company. Though the leader's role in cultural formation shifts, such purposeful, foundational change in an organization only occurs rarely in mature companies and under effective leadership. In sum, cultural leadership - and especially the role of the cultural manager - needs to be assessed more clearly in light of the organization's rapidly changing internal and external environment. (CJC)
13,246 citations
TL;DR: This article synthesize the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches, and identify three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based upon normative approval; and cognitive, according to comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness.
Abstract: This article synthesizes the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches. The analysis identifies three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based on normative approval: and cognitive, based on comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness. The article then examines strategies for gaining, maintaining, and repairing legitimacy of each type, suggesting both the promises and the pitfalls of such instrumental manipulations.
13,229 citations
"Breaking barriers and creating incl..." refers background in this paper
...Interviews (Bilimoria & Valian, 2006) revealed that backing from the NSF was crucial to the success of program initiatives among administrators and male scientists in particular because it gave “moral legitimacy” to the objective of transformation and “procedural legitimacy” to the specific change initiatives (Suchman, 1995)....
[...]
...…2006) revealed that backing from the NSF was crucial to the success of program initiatives among administrators and male scientists in particular because it gave “moral legitimacy” to the objective of transformation and “procedural legitimacy” to the specific change initiatives (Suchman, 1995)....
[...]
...Legitimacy is a generalized perception and assumption that the actions of an entity are desirable, proper, or appropriate within some socially constructed system of norms, values, beliefs, and definitions (Suchman, 1995)....
[...]
Journal Article•
9,237 citations