Women globally are seen as key contributors to the economic development and ‘bottom-line’ of businesses, but their presence and representation is still lacking in senior positions and the boardroom. Although after 20 years of democracy, the South African government has made significant progress towards empowering women in all spheres of business, inequalities and imbalances remain huge stumbling blocks. Embracing diversity and advocating gender equality makes business sense; this includes developing women as leaders through effectively implementing succession planning. Research shows that most companies have a succession plan document in place, but whether it is correctly implemented and effective remains to be investigated. A company’s leadership and human resources management together need to create a robust succession planning framework which aligns the vision of the company and talent management. The purpose of this research study was to determine the perceived success of succession planning for women in businesses in South Africa. The study’s primary objective was to develop and explore a succession planning framework for women in the South African Aviation Industry. A detailed literature review was conducted on women in business, leadership and succession planning. A qualitative case study approach was used as the most appropriate research methodology for this study to test whether the six propositions developed by the researcher applied to this single case or not. A questionnaire was developed to be used as a guide when interviewing the female respondents. The results were analysed and based on the findings, recommendations were made for further research. The main finding of this research was that the selected company lacks the correct implementation of the succession planning process. A possible solution to this issue would be the recruitment of a succession planning coordinator who has strong knowledge of the company’s policies, procedures and culture to establish strategies to roll out the succession planning programme.

South Africa is held up internationally as a beacon of good practice in terms of its efforts to promote gender equality and, the increased number of women in leadership positions in all spheres of government is testament to this. The representation of women in all spheres of government is advocated for and promoted by legislation and policies that aim to promote a gender focus on all government procedures and programmes. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of women leaders, including their reasons for maintaining leadership positions. It also addressed the challenges these women faced on their journeys and described their definitions of successful leadership based on their experiences. The qualitative nature of the research project made it possible to tell the stories of the participants’ experiences in order to understand their career progression and how it pertained to their concept of leadership. The three participants recruited for the study were women in positions of influence within their municipality including managers, directors, and executive directors. Purposeful sampling was used so that the chosen participants would have experience with the central phenomenon being studied. All of the women contacted to participate in this study readily agreed to share their experiences. There was some level of diversity regarding the age, ethnic backgrounds, and education level of the participants. Semi-structured personal interviews were conducted to collect the data. Open-ended questions were used so the responses of the participants could guide the development of themes and the direction of the study. Once the data were collected through recorded interviews, codes were assigned to sections of the text to help identify themes. A coding table was developed to illustrate how the themes for the discussion emerged from data obtained during the interviews. The stories of the participants were interwoven based on the themes and also analyzed in terms of the existing research. A discussion of the findings incorporated the literature and provided evidence of connected concepts. Strategies including inter-coder agreement, rich description, and clarification of biases were used to strengthen the study’s findings. Ethical issues were addressed throughout each phase of the study. All participants were asked to sign an informed consent form that outlined the procedures of the study. The identity of the participants was kept confidential through the use of pseudonyms.

Despite modest increases in the appointment of women in top management levels over the past 10 years, the proportion still remains low at 20% in 2012 (Department of Labour Republic of South Africa, 2013). Even with substantial evidence showing a positive correlation between gender diversity and business performance, women are still underrepresented at senior management, executive management and board levels. The purpose of this research was to identify the key organisational culture factors which are influencing gender diversity levels in companies, particularly in senior and top management levels. Through quantitative descriptive research methodology, the research aimed to identify which of these factors are promoting and inhibiting increased gender diversity levels in companies. The data were collected from women and men working in South African organisations by means of a questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by 69 respondents. This research study determined that organisational culture factors promoting increased gender diversity in organisations with higher gender diversity levels are different to factors inhibiting increased gender diversity in organisations with low gender diversity levels. The research brought insight into which organisational culture factors can be used as enablers to create an organisational culture which is conducive for increasing gender diversity / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / zkgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / Unrestricted

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A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Business Executive Coaching Wits Business School, Johannesburg February 2017 / This research was conducted to explore the career experiences and career transitions of African women Chartered Accountants in the South African business environment where employment equity of race groups is sought. The international pursuit of gender transformation at the executive level, together with the South African employment equity targets, makes professional African women a key group for employers. Their lived experiences and career transitions challenges were the focus of this study. Qualitative research was deemed the most suitable approach to obtain depth of understanding of an area that has not previously been researched. Semi-structured interviews provided insight to participants who experienced transitions within professional services firms (PSF), returned to PSF, and transitioned out of PSF to other corporates. Since career transitions of this group of professionals did not appear in the literature, a theoretical framework of related literature was derived, which informed the development of a semi-structured interview guide. Sixteen interviews were conducted with participants from South Africa’s Gauteng province. Participants fell into four groups: those who remained in PSF, those who returned to PSF after having left, those who left and were at a managerial level, and finally, those who had left and were at executive levels. Interviews, with permission of the participants, were recorded, transcribed and analysed using ATLAS.ti software. The analysis resulted in 145 codes, 23 categories and 10 themes. The increase in black women professionals in organisations is slower than would have been expected, with monitoring emphasis placed on overall racial transformation rather than gender-specific change. This research found that African women CAs experienced being regularly targeted by recruiters and employers for positions. Participant career transitions were found to be impacted by South Africa’s employment equity legislation, resulting in career fast-tracking initiatives and being targeted as new hires by organisations. Participants’ lived experiences highlighted that their first transition into the work environment established a basis for comparison when experiencing subsequent transitions. Career transition challenges experienced include racial tensions resulting from perceived fast-tracking, organisational unpreparedness in assisting newcomers, and a lack of role models and structured support. Tenure is impacted by ineffective transition experiences. Organisations lack sufficient programmes to cater to the unique challenges faced in these career transitions. Thus, coaching is proposed as a suitable intervention. Family backgrounds, role models and other significant networks are not generally available as support resulting in a need for coaching. Based on different types of transitions identified in the study, a model was developed to guide business coaches in assisting future clients in preparing for transitions, going through career transitions, as well as establishing themselves within new organisations. Further research should take in a wider sample, as this study was limited to participants within Gauteng. Studies focussing on other professions such, as the legal, medical and engineering profession, are recommended to establish the lived experiences of African women’s career transitions. / MT2017

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This study was conducted to investigate the importance of dress in the implementation of hiring, promotion, and termination practices among female retail executives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Appropriate interview and on-the-job dress for department and specialty store executives was studied. A questionnaire was used to obtain information from retail executives. Based on the data obtained, it was found that appropriate business dress was indeed important for female retail executives. Skirt suits or skirt and vest ensembles were considered most acceptable by the executives surveyed, both for interview and on-the-job situations.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1985 H34 / Master of Science

The purpose of this research has been to investigate the current situation of selected women in administrative positions in community colleges. This study proposed: (1) to develop a profile of selected women in community college administration positions in the United States community colleges to identify the kind of women who aspire to and succeed in community college administration; (2) to determine areas in which these selected women feel they need more training in order to advance or maintain a position in community college administration; (3) to examine the problems and rewards that these selected women find in their careers in community college administration; and (4) to determine how these selected women feel about themselves as women and administrators. The population for this study were women chosen for the Leaders for the 80's Professional Development Project sponsored by the American Association of Women in Community and Junior Colleges and the League for Innovation in the Community College. From this group of 309 women, 228 responded to the Women in Community College Administrative Positions Questionnaire. The data were aggregated from the usable questionnaires and analyzed by frequency distribution with percents to report findings. The study showed this national sample of women either in educational administration or slated for administration represented a new generation of female educational administrators. Many have been hired since the advent of affirmative action policies and antidiscrimination laws went into effect. These women, women in most professions, have made progress in the last decade. Unquestionably, there are many reasons for this progress, including the existence of affirmative action legislation, the resurgence of the women's movement, and growing awareness levels on the part of women, both collectively and individually, of their own potential, capabilities and aspirations. If the progress for women in educational administration is to continue, they must look first to themselves, through their influence, determination, and competency. This study has shown that these selected women are very traditional and conventional in both their personal and professional lives.