none

No description available.

This project investigates some aspects of why a minority of ICT project management professionals in the Chinese ICT sector are female. It investigates differences between sexes in their perceived image and knowledge of ICT work, and the relationship between their career paths and gender roles. A literature review identified that little research on women in ICT in China had been carried out prior to this project. The literature on women in traditional male industries (e.g. ICT, engineer, civil engineer) in western countries yielded certain insights and transferable research methods. A pilot interview survey of four parents, six tutors, six students and eight ICT practitioners was undertaken to develop the main semi-structured interview survey instruments. The main survey yielded responses from thirty students and thirty ICT practitioners. The data interpretation and analysis method adopted grounded theory since, as mentioned above; there little relevant research has been carried out on the topic in China. The results are presented in a consistent way to make the data more comparable. Conclusions are drawn based on findings arising from the body of work and academia as a whole. There were found to be some differences between sexes in certain aspects of their views of ICT (project management) work and aspiration to career choice and advancement. The ICT sector has as a working environment is characterised by conflict (androgynous and male-dominant working style), competence, and keeping abreast of developing ICT technologies, which are thought to be more suitable to men. Gender division actually exists, and family responsibilities hold women back in their career advancement in the ICT sector in China.

No description available.

The gender distribution in the Canadian labour force has changed significantly over the course of the past few decades. Women have gained employment in areas of industry and occupational sectors where they were previously significantly underrepresented. A key sector of interest is management occupations as they are often associated with high levels of power, prestige, and income. Historically this sector has employed a much larger proportion of men than women and is especially true for senior management occupations. This thesis takes a detailed look at how women have changed their representation over time in management occupations in the Canadian labour market as well as identifying key variables that can help to predict women’s employment as a manager. This is achieved by using both Canadian Census and General Social Survey data that spans a total of 16 years. Analyzing data that covers multiple periods in time rather than a single year allows for a better assessment of the changes that have taken place for women in management occupations as well as the Canadian labour force as a whole. This thesis assesses where women have made the largest and conversely the smallest increases regarding their representation in the management sector including management major groups and unit groups. The industry division that these management major groups are located within is also taken into account as they have a significant influence on the number of female managers employed, including the ratio of men to women. In addition to assessing the changes in the gender distribution of Canadian management occupations, this thesis identifies key variables within the General Social Survey that impact Canadians earnings as well as those which may help to predict employment as a manager. Identifying these key variables aids in understanding how women may be able to improve their likelihood of being employed as a manager as well as increasing their income. Investments in one’s human capital is said to improve their annual personal income, thus, these variables are of central importance to this research. While human capital theory became popular decades ago, due in large part to the work of Gary Becker (1975), it is true that there is still much validity to his theory. The four research questions and fifteen hypotheses that guide this thesis are addressed in two data analysis chapters. The first uses Canadian Census data and begins with a broad view of the Canadian labour market by assessing the occupational sector distribution, including the distribution of both men and women in these sectors. As the chapter progresses the scope narrows, moving from occupational sectors, to management major groups, and then to management unit groups. The number of men and women in each of these management groups is assessed. In addition, the ratio of men to women is presented for management major groups. Senior management occupations is the management major group where women have the worst representation and as a result the gender distribution for industry divisions is separately assessed for senior and non-senior management occupations. The analysis of this data shows that women have significantly improved their representation in management occupations over time but that they are still most underrepresented in senior management occupations. The impact of industry divisions on the ratio of men to women is significant; it is only when the data is broken down to this level that women seem to outnumber men in a number of different management major groups, including senior managers for particular industry divisions. The second data analysis chapter draws on Canadian General Social Survey data to assess the impact that human capital, background, family, and other independent and interaction variables have on a person’s annual income. The same types of variables, with the exception of interaction variables, are also used to predict management status. Through the inclusion of four different survey years the impact that these variables have on income, their ability to predict management status, and how this has changed over time is assessed. This research shows that human capital variables are the most significant predictors of management status at each survey year and are associated with the largest returns on annual personal income.

The gender distribution in the Canadian labour force has changed significantly over the course of the past few decades. Women have gained employment in areas of industry and occupational sectors where they were previously significantly underrepresented. A key sector of interest is management occupations as they are often associated with high levels of power, prestige, and income. Historically this sector has employed a much larger proportion of men than women and is especially true for senior management occupations. This thesis takes a detailed look at how women have changed their representation over time in management occupations in the Canadian labour market as well as identifying key variables that can help to predict women’s employment as a manager. This is achieved by using both Canadian Census and General Social Survey data that spans a total of 16 years. Analyzing data that covers multiple periods in time rather than a single year allows for a better assessment of the changes that have taken place for women in management occupations as well as the Canadian labour force as a whole. This thesis assesses where women have made the largest and conversely the smallest increases regarding their representation in the management sector including management major groups and unit groups. The industry division that these management major groups are located within is also taken into account as they have a significant influence on the number of female managers employed, including the ratio of men to women. In addition to assessing the changes in the gender distribution of Canadian management occupations, this thesis identifies key variables within the General Social Survey that impact Canadians earnings as well as those which may help to predict employment as a manager. Identifying these key variables aids in understanding how women may be able to improve their likelihood of being employed as a manager as well as increasing their income. Investments in one’s human capital is said to improve their annual personal income, thus, these variables are of central importance to this research. While human capital theory became popular decades ago, due in large part to the work of Gary Becker (1975), it is true that there is still much validity to his theory. The four research questions and fifteen hypotheses that guide this thesis are addressed in two data analysis chapters. The first uses Canadian Census data and begins with a broad view of the Canadian labour market by assessing the occupational sector distribution, including the distribution of both men and women in these sectors. As the chapter progresses the scope narrows, moving from occupational sectors, to management major groups, and then to management unit groups. The number of men and women in each of these management groups is assessed. In addition, the ratio of men to women is presented for management major groups. Senior management occupations is the management major group where women have the worst representation and as a result the gender distribution for industry divisions is separately assessed for senior and non-senior management occupations. The analysis of this data shows that women have significantly improved their representation in management occupations over time but that they are still most underrepresented in senior management occupations. The impact of industry divisions on the ratio of men to women is significant; it is only when the data is broken down to this level that women seem to outnumber men in a number of different management major groups, including senior managers for particular industry divisions. The second data analysis chapter draws on Canadian General Social Survey data to assess the impact that human capital, background, family, and other independent and interaction variables have on a person’s annual income. The same types of variables, with the exception of interaction variables, are also used to predict management status. Through the inclusion of four different survey years the impact that these variables have on income, their ability to predict management status, and how this has changed over time is assessed. This research shows that human capital variables are the most significant predictors of management status at each survey year and are associated with the largest returns on annual personal income.

Since the 1970s women have clearly made great advances toward equality in education and in the resultant employment opportunities afforded by an excellent education. Today women are graduating from universities at a rate unparalleled in history (Mitchell 2012:56; Townsend & Twombly 2007:208), and are also entering management positions at a greater rate than we have ever seen (Cejda 2008:172). While the rate of women university graduates taking up entry level management positions is almost on a par with men (Bosak & Sczesny 2011:254), the rate of women professionals who move into senior management positions decreases as the position becomes more senior until, at the highest level management positions, women hold only between 3% and 5% of the top posts. (Mitchell 2012:56). Through the analysis of in depth interviews of women holding higher level management positions (including President, Chancellor, or Vice Chancellor,) at universities in four different English speaking countries, the study sought to investigate the reasons why there are so few women found in top management positions in universities. The results of the study indicate that the factors having the greatest effect on the success of women managers at university are those of identity; being able to overcome academic bullying in the workplace; having key support at critical times, especially from a spouse or from family; and developing the strategies to overcome career obstacles through the use of metacognition. The study also found that informal, multiple, mixed gender mentoring was the most effective type of mentoring for women. As a result of the study findings, new theory is proposed for advancement of women managers that offers the concept of identity as a lynchpin factor. Identity develops concurrently with sets of personal and management skills that are interwoven into the experiences of women as they work in management.

Examining the impact of gender leadership differences on organisational change management outcomes in Nigeria, Africa was one of the main aims of this study. Existing literature reports that only one third (30 per cent) of change programmes in organisations meet the desired outcomes, thereby leaving 70 per cent of organisational change programmes failing to achieve anticipated expectations. Some scholars (e.g., Paton and Dempster, 2002) report that the gendered aspect of organisational change management has been largely ignored, and may be one of the contributing factors to organisational change programmes not meeting desired outcomes. Given the increasing rate of change implementations in organisations and the reported failure rate, this study reviews the current trends, strategies and approaches adopted by change leaders. Furthermore, it examines men and women’s differences in their approach to organisational change management in Nigeria, and the impact that this might have on organisational change management outcomes. This research was undertaken in order to identify and recommend strategies that will assist with successfully managing change programmes in organisations. Qualitative research methods through the use of 40 semi-structured interviews were conducted in five organisations (one federal medical health centre, two banking organisations and two government parastatal/ministries). Analytical tools including inductive content analysis, descriptive data analysis, thematic template and cross-case analysis were used to analyse the obtained data. The results show that there may be some differences in the way that men and women approach and manage change scenarios in organisations, which may have some potential impacts on OCM outcomes. However, certain factors appear to affect the observed leadership behaviour and adopted styles. Firstly, leaders’ behaviour and choice of leadership style is influenced by national and sector culture, therefore some of the leaders are unable to adopt their preferred way of approaching and managing the implemented changes as they have to conform to organisational set principles in managing the change programmes. Secondly, the results further show that leaders’ leadership behaviour and style is influenced by the gender and behaviour of the followers. Thirdly, gender leadership differences emerge as a result of leaders’ age and personality, and not necessarily because of their gender or sex. In summary, both men and women may bring intrinsic benefits to the management of organisational change programmes, and these may have a significant and positive impact on the outcome of organisational change programmes. This is based on the perspective of the larger sample of this study’s respondents and some existing views in the literature. This study suggests a gender-inclusive methodology developed from the empirical findings of this study and existing literature, which provides comprehensive guideline on how organisational change programmes can be approached and managed from a more gender-inclusive perspective. The results from the present study raise many interesting issues for both the academic community and practising managers and agents. This is the first study of its kind that has looked at the impact of gender leadership differences on organisational change management outcome in developing countries like Nigeria.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration, University of Zululand, 2002. / This study seeks to evaluate the leadership style of female principals in the Inanda District high schools. The researcher made use of interviews and questionnaires to evaluate the perceptions of parents and educators towards the leadership style of female principals, and how effective female principals are when carrying out their managerial duties at school. On the basis of the views expressed by respondents, the study concluded that the leadership styles of the female principals in the area studied, were effective in areas such as promoting order and discipline and keeping accurate records of all financial transactions. The research project, however, established that although the majority (70%) of respondents perceive female principals in the area where the research was conducted as effective, there was a sizeable number varying between twenty-five per cent and thirty per cent (25%-30%) of respondents who were either uncertain or did not agree that female principals are effective. Recommendations and concluding remarks suggest a possible way forward towards improving the situation, for example: Female principals must be democratic in decision making.

M. S.