Designing a Glass Ceiling Management Model for Female Employees (Case study: Shiraz University of Medical Sciences)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 PhD student, Department of Management, Payame Noor University (PNU), Tehran, Iran

2 Full Professor, Department of Management, Payame Noor University (PNU),Tehran, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Department of Management, Payame Noor University (PNU), Tehran, Iran

4 Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, Payame Noor University (PNU), Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to design a glass ceiling management model for female employees in a case study at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Glass ceiling refers to artificial and invisible obstacles, organizational decisions, and prejudices of the organization's officials that prevent the progress of qualified people or minorities (especially women) within organizations. The glass ceiling in this study is defined as obstacles to women in managerial positions at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.
Methods: This is an exploratory research with a qualitative approach which was conducted through theme analysis. Its population included 15 experts in the qualitative phase, and 31 experts in the quantitative phase from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and university professors. They were selected through forming a panel of experts for data collection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. After collecting and summarizing the data, Atlas software and SPSS16.0 were used, respectively.
Results: 67 indicators were identified. Using the experts' opinions, validity analysis (cvr) and Cronbach's alpha in the experts' panel, these indicators were reduced to 49. They were placed in 7 components including individual, group, cultural, political, regulatory, structural, procedural, and content factors. These components were categorized into three dimensions.
Conclusion: Based on the results of this study in the behavioral dimension, the organization should divide the type of work based on physical and gender characteristics, and to consider social respect for women at the individual and group levels when defining their  jobs. In the environmental dimension, women, due to their subtlety in affairs, can act as evaluators of the organization's strategies to respond to the environment (the environment includes consumers, competitors and facilities). Also, in the organizational dimension, policymakers need to be careful when legislating, so that managers pay attention to women's power when appointing them in managerial positions and cannot destroy equal opportunities for them by violating the laws.
 

Keywords


1. Weyer B. Twenty years later: explaining the persistence of the glass ceiling for women leaders. Women in management Review. 2007;22(6):482-496. doi: 10.1108/09649420710778718.
2. Mirghfouri SH. Identifying and ranking the effective factors in not appointing women to managerial positions in organizations Government of Yazd Province. Journal of Women’s Studies. 2006;4(1).
3. Ghafouri M, Naseri Fars, Naseri H. The Impact of Glass Ceiling Breaking Strategy on the Effectiveness of Workforce Finder among the Employees of Exceptional Schools in District 4 of Mashhad. 09 March 2019. Karaj: Third International Conference on New Achievements in Management and Economics.
4. Moore C, Mayer DM, Chiang FFT, Crossley C, Karlesky MJ, Birtch TA. Leaders matter morally: The role of ethical leadership in shaping employee moral cognition and misconduct. J Appl Psychol. 2019;104(1):123-45. doi: 10.1037/apl0000341.
5. Azadan M, Koozechian H, Bashiri M, Norouzi Seyyed Hosseini R. Glass Ceiling Status and its Effect on Women’s Reduced Empowerment in Sport Organizations (A Case Study of East Azerbaijan Sport and Youth General Office). Sport Physiology & Management Investigations. 2015;7(1):39-49.
6. Glass C, Cook A. Do women leaders promote positive change? Analyzing the effect of gender on business practices and diversity initiatives. Human Resource Management. 2018;57(4):823-37. doi: 10.1002/hrm.21838.
7. McGuinness PB, Vieito JP, Wang M. The role of board gender and foreign ownership in the CSR performance of Chinese listed firms. Journal of Corporate Finance. 2017;42:75-99. doi: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2016.11.001.
8. Fritscher L. The Glass Ceiling Effect and Its Imapct on Women. Retrieved from Everday Health; Last Updated, 2017.
9. Sue DW. Microaggressions and “Evidence”. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2017;12(1):170-2. doi: 10.1177/1745691616664437.
10. Offermann LR, Coats MR. Implicit theories of leadership: Stability and change over two decades. The Leadership Quarterly. 2018;29(4):513-22. doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2017.12.003.
11. Nasiri F, Beheshtirad R. Investigating the role of the glass ceiling on perceived organizational justice reduction (A case study of female staff of Urmia University). Women’s Studies Sociological and Psychological. 2015;12(4):149-72.
12. Schlepphorst S, Moog P. Left in the dark: Family successors’ requirement profiles in the family business succession process. Journal of family business strategy. 2014;5(4):358-71. doi: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2014.08.004.
13. Wirth L. Breaking through the glass ceiling. Women in Management. 2014;2(13):1-12.
14. Offermann LR, Foley K. Is there a female leadership advantage? Oxford: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management; 2020. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.61.
15. Shafi A, Etebariyan A, Ebrahimzadeh Dsjerdi R. Identifying the Effect of Factors on the Creation of Glass Ceiling for Women Employed at the Headquarters of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company Based on the-Interpretative-Structural Approach (ISM). Quarterly Journal of Women and Society. 2018;9(34):155-90.