Women and Men in Traditional and Modern Organisations Psycho-Sociological Research

Introduction

One goal of this paper is to cover a range of issues that both women and men encounter in the workplace but that are not commonly explored in any depth in management or work psychology textbooks. We hope to expand the conceptualization of “human” in HRM to include both women and men. We believe that gender and sex issues have important implications for work-related and HRM issues. Unfortunately, discussions of work often refer (explicitly or implicitly) to workers as men. Therefore, any discussion of another group of workers (in this case women) is at risk of being dismissed as a specialty book (about women). However, this paper is not simply about women at work. This is a paper about people interacting with each other in the context of work organizations. Our discussion includes literature that reveals similarities and differences between men and women at work and, wherever possible, among men and women of color and of varying socioeconomic status. We hope to identify what we know about employed men and women as well as what we do not know concerning gender and important work and organizational problems.

General Information on the Survey:

The research was performed in private and state-owned companies in Romania (Bucharest as well as the rest of the country);

The three types of questionnaires used:

Questionnaires for managers

Questionnaires for employees

Questionnaires for human resources managers

The survey was completed on a representative sample for the workplace in Romania, in the months of October, November and December 2011, i.e.

656 employees and 358 managers from 65 private and state owned organisations have answered the query.

hree types of questionnaires were conceived and customized: one for employees ,one for managers and one for human resources managers.

Among the employees, 300 of the respondents were women and 356 men, while among the managers, 155 respondents were women and 203 men.

For some of the organisations, the human resources manager or the personnel inspector filled in an organizational file — in all 35 such querry files were collected.

Two focus groups trageted at employed women of ages 25 to 40, both highly and medially educated, were performed.

Other 2 focus groups had as subjects employed men, of ages 25 to 40, medium to high education.

The questionnaire structured on the issues stated above was interpreted and led to a series of conclusions which we present in the topics order:

The Main Research Domains:

Time spent at work / working hours

Evaluation and promotion

Opinions on professions, tasks and orientation in the workplace

Management styles and methods

Literature Review

For excellent reviews of the literature on the devaluation of women’s competence see Lott, 1992 and Heilman, 2001 Investigations of the evaluation of male and female performance in equivalent situations have frequently found that males tended to be rated more favourably than females when the presented evidence is identical. When presented with information on the performance of a male or female painter (Pheterson et al., 1971) or applicants for an overseas study programme (Deaux and Taynor, 1973), male performance is rated more favourably than female Research in the 1970s showed that men and women are stereotyped and evaluated differently (Dipboye et al. 1975, 1977; Fidell, 1970, Goldberg,1968; Gutek and Stevens, 1979; Haefner, 1977; Rosen and Jerdee, 1974; Schein, 1975 and Terborg and Ilgen, 1975) Females are often evaluated less favourably than males. For people to perceive a woman as more competent than a man, they must be given explicit evidence of the woman’s clear and substantial superiority (Shackelford et al., 1996). As a result of the sex stereotyping influence, women are often evaluated as less acceptable candidates for stimulating, challenging jobs (Taylor and Ilgen, 1981) and not perceived as having the necessary attributes for success in highstatus positions within their organizations (Heilman, 1984). When judging by the standard set by men, women frequently fail to measure up (Forrest, 1989). Sex role stereotyping continues to have a substantial impact on human resourcemanagement decision (Heilman, 1980, 1984; Heilman and Saruwatri, 1979; McKenna and Johnson (1981) show that females are discriminated against in a female- oriented occupation in the presence of high selection risk. Kanter (1977) has argued that many of the negative traits ascribed to women managers may be a product of the dead- end roles they occupy. than those of male articles, regardless of the sexual association of the professional field. However, using Goldberg’s original stimulus materials, or comparable ones, several investigators have been unable to find significant sex-ofauthor effects (Chobot et al., 1974; Gross and Geffner, 1980; Levenson et al., 1975; Panek et al., 1976). The research on women and how they are rated produces very mixed results. There is evidence to support Goldberg (e.g. Cline et al., 1977). There is evidence showing bias against women, even in the skill with which they shelve library books (Schmitt and Lappin, 1980). Despite this and other evidence of the bias against women, a substantial number of studies have found no differences in rating men and women (Heilman and Guzzo, 1978; London and Stumpf, 1983). Some have found that higher evaluations are given to women (Bigoness, 1976; Hamner et al., 1974; Norton, et al., 1977). Wallston and O’Leary (1981: 19) were able to conclude that, although a number of studies have not found real differences in the level of competence exhibited by women and men in specific positions, differences are perceived to exist’. Women continue to be evaluated with respect to her competence based in part on dress and appearance and wearing appropriate dress makes women feel more role confident (Bartlett, 1994; Guy and Banim, 2000). A person’s view of their attributes will vary according to their position in the organizational power hierarchy (Fagenson, 1990; Kanter, 1977). Those occupying positions at the upper corporate levels have power and are in an advantageous position.

Poor evaluations of women employees in appraisal may be helping perpetuate lack of equal opportunities (Wilson and Beaton, 1992). A study by Alban-Metcalfe and West (1991) (see also Alban-Metcalfe, 1987) has shown how women perceive themselves as more likely to show their feelings, more sociable, and more intellectual (which is not surprising if they were better academically qualified) than did men. The need for power has been shown to be closely linked with managerial success (Kotter, 1977; McClelland and Burnham, 1976). Research by Kanter (1977) has contradicted this assumption that women have lower power needs and that women would not be interested in positions of increased responsibility and influence. She found that decreased interest in responsibility and influence were functions of status power differences in organizational employment rather than a function of gender.

Paper Content

Time Spent at Work / Working Hours

Key aspects which help us anlyze the survey’s data.

A good time management implies the efficient performance of tasks within a specified timeframe, keeping control over daily acitivites at work. It leads to increased performances and allows for a good organisation in the long run.

The work of employees, either women or men, who do overtime for long periods of time loses in performance compared to employees working within similar conditions but sticking to regular working hours.

Employees who strike balace between job hours and leisure work most efficiently.

An employee is more productive (works better), if there is an equilibrium between his or her private and professional life.

Balace is given by the duration (how long) and the quality (how) of the time spet in the workplace and outside it (with family etc.).

When the employee spends too much time at work and / or when being at work is preoccupied with personal or family related issues, then he or she is out of balance(called “conflictbetween work and family life”).The same desequilibrium is present when the employee is considering work related issues off working hours or when with family.

The consequencesof this state of imbalance:

A)On the employee
a)Emotional issues (stress, depression etc.),
b)Physical issues (fatigue, burnout, headaches etc.) and
c)Social issues (isolation, difficuties in relating etc.)

B)On the organisation / company:
a)Decrease in productivity,
b)Increase in abseteism,
c)Increase in presenteeism / face time (time spent at work not actually working),
d)Procrastination,
e)Increase in break time length and frequency etc.;

C)On the family:
a) Conflicts with family members,
b)Flawed communication within the family

Conclusion:

An employee, either male or female, spending too much time at work will gradually become less effective and less efficitent.

The data of the survey substantiate:

A) That many employees / managers, both women and men:

Frequently do overtime.

Do so due to a flawed management of time, tasks and department coordination.

Experience difficulties in taking time off to solve private or family issues.

B) That many employees:

Are encouraged by the management to work beyond regular office hours, doing overtime being frequently taken into consideration in employee evaluation and promotion.

Accumulate frustrations because they are required to do unpaid overtime.

Think of family / personal issues when at work.

Think out work issues when with family or in their spare time.

C) …And that:

There are no significant differences between male and female employee behavior as far as time usage at and off work is concerned.

At least one man out of 4 and one woman out of 6 work overtime daily.

At the question:

How frequently do you work overtime?

The answers of the respondents reveal that:

Men work overtime more than women.

The fact that men do overtime more than women is influenced by the opinions on the family responsibilities of women / men: „People consider a man does not have that many family responsibilities compared to a woman and can thus do overtime or respond to any request outside working hours. While she needs to come home.” (employee opinion, focus-grup).

Expectations are that more men than women do overtime.

Men are thought of as having fewer responsibilities in the family life than women. The latter are required to strive for balace between career and family time. With men, the pressure is off radars.

Overtime can sometimes translate as travel. As per the employees’ focus groups, Women are thought of as less available for travel than men, especially when they “also have families”, “and then one naturally prefers a man, one thinks he will have the time”.

The human managers’ perspective: overtime“looks good” —an indicator in employee evaluation and a criterion for promotion. Staying overtime is seen by the interviewed managers(especially the young ones) as a way to press employees to make efforts for the targeted productivity. Some managers define employee involvement as “support granted to colleagues, participation in team building activities or availibility to work overtime if needed.” (opinion of a human resources manager, interviews)

From another perspective, some human resources managers (interviews) state that the availibility to work overtime is taken into consideration:

For Pay Raises:

“Work done (quantity and quality of work, irespect of history with company), commitment to the company, family issues. Overtime is necessary.” (opinion of a human resources manager, interviews)

“We generally take into consideration professional performance, we take into consideration the availibility to do overtime in certain cases.” (opinion of a human resources manager, interviews)

For Employee Evaluation:

„Performances and the commitment to the company, ideas that can bring profit to the enterprise, the person’s capacity to help out outside regular office hours”. (opinion of a human resources manager, interviews).

Overloading the schedule is tolerated by the representatives of the state authorities who are complacent with the assurances from the management on the paid leaves for the worked Saturdays and Sundays. (opinionsemployees, focus-groups)

The employees perspective is as follows: uncompensated, overtime can easily become a source of frustration and conflict. Employees (as per the focus-groups) correlate the discontent generated by going beyond the regular 8 working hours with the inequity resulting from both the fact that not everyone is doing overtime, and, on the other hand, the absence of the salary advantage for those who do.

Why is, most often overtime needed?

Less than any other reason, employees do overtime because they receive additional tasks, because they are minutely attentive to details, because they depend on the work of another colleague or because, they have too many responsibilities for the position they occupy (“too big a hat”). Over 65% of the questioned employees indicate emergencies as the main reason for doing overtime.

At least one employee out of 2 works overtime because of an emergency. Only 6,60% of those who do are in such a situation because they have too many responsibilities beyond their job description.

At the question

How frequently do you work overtime?

the answers of the respondent managers have shown that:

Almost one manager in 2 does overtime daily. Almost 75% of the managers do overtime daily or at least 2-3 times per week.

At the question

What is the main reason you do overtime?

the answers reveal that:

Over 50% of the managers consider that an employee who works overtime is more appreciated by the management.

At the question

Do you or do you not agree with the statement:”An employee who works overtime is more appreciated by the management.”?

from the answers we can infer that:

Over 50% of the managers have difficulties in taking 1 – 2 hours off to handle family issues.

Managers, to a greater extent than employees, declare that they have difficulties in taking hours off to handle family issues in an usual working month.

At the question

In an usual month, how difficult is it to take 1 – 2 hours off work to handle family issues?

from the answers we can see that:

There are little differences between women and men as far as the difficulty in taking time off to handle family issues is concerned. The data is presented through the rapport of women and men to the total of those who declare a certain amount of difficulty in taking hours off to handle personal issues.

At the question

How frequently does it happen that when at work, you would think of certain family or personal issues?

the answers of the questioned show that:

Differences between women and men are insignificant as far as the frequency of thinking of private matters while at work is concerned.

28% of women and 23,31% of men think of private matters frequently during working hours, and almost 61% of men and 56% of women rarely think of private issues.

At the question

To what extent do you think that providing working hours related incentives for employees with children is necessary for the employees and efficient for the company?

from the managers’ answers we can conclude that

Over 60% of the managers consider that providing working hours incentives (different opening and closing hours, reduced number of hours, different times and lengths for meal breaks etc.) is necessary for the employees.

40% of the managers consider these measures useful for them and for the company / organisation.

Regarding the incentives / schedules of employees with children, some human resources managers consider that:

They are useful because: valuable human resource are retained; less money is spent on new employees recruitment and training; people in the organisation are more motivated and more loyal as a consequence;

But that

– They cannot be in place becase they require financial, material and human resources that organisations do not have (refference is made to kindergardens for the employees’ children);

While others consider that:

They are not efficient for the company / organisationas they cause imbalances such as:

Problems arise as a result of the employee’s absence from work;

If the employee starts the working hours earlier than his or her manager, his or her work cannot be evaluated / appraised;

This kind of working hours are encouraged and more and more employees will desire to adopt it.

Evaluation and Promotion

How are employees promoted and evaluated? Who ends up being promoted? How are employees being appraised?

How are we to interpret the data?

Key aspects that help us analyze the reseach data.

A correct promotion decision is the one based on the high employee performance, that is on his or her good work results.

To offer relevant information for promotion, the employee performance is to be correctly appraised, againstindicators such as number and quality of tasks fulfilled, communication style with colleagues / superiors on relevant aspects regarding work situations, management of activities and work relations etc.

Ambiguity of promotion and evaluation processes fosters employee discrimination. The lack of objective performance indicators leads the management into making promotion decisions based on their own perceptions on performance, which could be gender construed, that is the perception of the work of men could be different from that of women.

The attitudes and opinions on women and men competencies.

The data in this survey:

Show that:

Less than half of the managers consider that “good work results” represents one of the top 3 factors accountable for their respective promotion and which determines the promotion of a certain employee in the company / organisation where he or she works.

The appraisal of the employee’s preformances is done on less standardized procedures and criteria.

Most of the employees and managers consider that women are faced with more barriers in their careers and that men are preferred for leadership positions.

Only 47% of the managers consider “good work results” represents one of the top 3 factors that determine the promotion of a certain employee in the company / organisation.

Managers consider that the desire of the employees to get involved in problem solving in the workplace is the second factor that determines the promotion of an employee (over 48% of the managers as opposed to only 16% of the employees mentioned this factor in the top 3 factors accountable for a promotion).

Employee Perceptions on Employment and Promotion Criteria

Employment and Promotion Based on Competence versus Recommendations

Employees consider that rarely is a well paid job secured on compentence criteria.

“The recommendation” counts the most and also stands for the other processes, such as: promotion from within, employee motivation, salary negotiations. Less paid employees are firlmly convinced and frustrated that a well paid position is unobtainable in the absence of high or influent relations or money.

Contrarywise, those working in multinationals are convinced by the accuracy of the permanent corporate exams and appraisals, the most important criterion in accessing a good position and preserving it being their professional skills; they do however admit that sometimes recommendations help, particularly when they come from someone already employeed within the company (focus groups). Also, the dominant opinion is that, in the private sector, employment is more frequently done on competence than in the state owned sector.

Promotion Models

A great deal of the employees are not aware of promotion models, clear criteria made known from the moment of employment in the organisation. The most difficult situations occur in the case of employees of medium education active in very small enterprises, where the promotion could be a whim of the manager and takes, as a matter of fact, the form of a bonus (most times a relatively modest amount of money for which the employee is required to work well beyond his or her powers). This kind of bonification acts like a boomerang on the employee’s efficiency, as he or she most often prefers not to make the effort.

„The more capable you are, the more obstacles are raised in your path.” „You must play the fool in order to…” (employee opinions, focus-groups).

The higher educated employees in state owned enterprises or in privately owned Romanian enterprises seem to carry on with the same pattern and not enjoy more creative or more structured bonuses. The general impression is that „there is no incentive when a certain problem has been solved, for instance when a case has been handled and closed, where the beneficiary is the employer. There is absolutely no motivation to preserve good behavior, nothing is awarded irespect of the actions taken, and one sees one’s colleagues earning twice one’s pay and it kind of brings one down.”

The only cases when we can talk of a relatively coherent promotion system is with the multinationals, where there is an employee performance monitoring and evaluation in place, based not only on subjective impressions, as is the case with most local enterprises.

Perceptions of managers and human resources managers on criteria for employment and promotion are based on Performance evaluation systems for promotion

A very small number of the reviewed companies evaluate employee performance based on valid human resources instruments. The general impression is that this chapter of human resources processes is treated at most times superficially, considered easy to handle with internal means, that is based on intuition.

„Performances and the commitment to the compay, ideas that could bring profit to the company, the person’s capacity to help beyond regular working hours”.

A person that is committed to the company does not necessarily work overtime, bud does have ideas that benefit the company.

Promotion Criteria

When talking about promotion, the managers (interviews) firstly take into consideration the involvement and the efficiency. Employee involvement is understood either as an adequate behavior with customers / clients or as a commitment to the workplace and belonging to the staff.

Efficiency is paticularly appreciated by older managers or those in corporations with a longer history on the market. The involvement is considered essential for evaluation by the younger managers, or those in corporations that have recently entered the market. As far as pormotion is concerned, very few companies can assert how long the decisionmaking process will take. In smaller companies promotion is not an option and in the medium to large companies, promotions are made circumstantially.

The promotion for top and middle-management is addressed in such terms as follows: „Do we have someone from within?”

The person in the immediately inferior position is recommended by the direct superiors. The promotion decision is generally taken within a month.” (interviews managers)

Human resources managers consider that, generally, large corporations evaluate personnel periodically, on 3 cirtieria:

Percentage of accomplishment in given tasks;

Execution quality;

Attachment / committment to the company — job involvement / participation.

Perceptions of Personnel Services Suppliers/ Human Resources Consultants on Employment and Promotion Criteria

The perspectiveon promotion criteria in the companies that are consulted by the subjects of the interviews does not differ much from what managers think on promotion. Very few could give concrete examples of more effective ways of evaluating employee performance. Either way, a combination between performance criteria and the employee’s personal profile could be, in some’s opinion, the best solution for a performant management. It is up to each person’s communication resources („personal charisma, capacity to network”). There are also evaluation systems based on figures. More and more companies resort to performance and have performance evalaution systems, management by objectives etc.Another criterion would be ther traditional one, seniority in the company. I would not believe that it is still formally in use; however, informally, senitority and experience in the company are clearly connected to performance. It is assumed that ”the longer an employee goes back with the company, the more competent, the more able and more knowledgeable…” Promotion is also done in many companies based on professional performances, but it is not a basic criterion. The personal profile is more important than profesionalism. For instance, when promoting someone to a leadership position, what is relevant is not his or her accomplishments, but the psychological profile (he or she must be accepted and wished by the team). In the case of promotions to management / leadership positions, what it is very important is the candidate’s personal profile, i.e. acceptable traits of character, desirability from the would be managed / lead team’s point of view (interviews with suppliers of personnel services).

The personnel services suppliers / human resources consultants (interviews) remind us of two performance evaluation styles:

Based on modern systems (i.e. according to management by objectives);

Traditional.

„It is assumed that the longer an employee has been with the company, the more experienced he or she is, the more able, and more knowledgeable…” (opinion of supplier of personnel services).

A small number of human resources managers (interviews with human resources managers) believe that employee performance evaluation is based on elaborated, scientific techniques. They do however opine that in practice, the informal procedures, based on intuition, are more frequently in use: „Performances, plus commitment to the company, ideas that can benefit the company, one’s capacity to help out within and beyond office hours”.

49% of the organisations included in the survey declare that they do not possess employee performance evaluation systems.

At the question:

Are there in your company employee performance evaluation systems?

From the answers we can conclude that:

51% Yes 49% No

In more than half of the organisations that declare they do possess employee performance evlauation systems, the task is handled within individual discussions.

At the question:

What is the modality whereby employee performance evaluation is carried out in your company?

The answers show that:

There are no significant method differences in employee work evaluation based on the gender of the direct rapport (the coordinating superior). Both men and women managers mainly evaluate their employees through “the analysis of their work”. In most cases, the general opinion is that, during the promotion process, differences are perceived between women and men. Men can be promoted to superior ranks easier than women, despite the latter being considered more attentive and preoccupied with their professional background. Men tend to be associated with the qualities that go with leadership and management concepts. Women, on the other hand, are seen as having more difficulties in being promoted. Most human resources managers observe that there are less successful women than men, and that it is accepted as reality and goes unanalysed, it is seen as preordained, as something that occurs without any possible intervetion to induce change. Human resources consultants resolve that more men in charge than women is an act of chance, happenstance. In several domains, exeprienced promotable individuals tend to be men. That in Romania, generally, the woman is less seen as a top manager could be, in some’s view, a model that is hard to part with.

“There probably is also a social model whereby the woman is not seen as a business person. In our country things may have taken place slower. But there are many successful women in high places. I am assuming that before 1989 this parti-pris was more pregnant, and those that learned how to do business after the revolution were men because they already had better positions, in the leadership”.

The employees consider that the promotion of a woman is done slower than a man’s, and that it generally hides a sacrifice. (focus-groups)

„People think that men do not have that many obligations as women and they can do overtime or answer to any request after hours. While women are needed at home.” „If a woman is supposed to work for 8 hours, after those 8 hours she will need to go grocery shopping, has a kid to take to school, a parent meeting to attend at school, or other issues. At home it is not the man that keeps shop with the cleaning and meal preparation. Men rarely do.”

Employees’ opinions on women promotions are, still, also determined by the level of frustrations accumulated in the workplace. Consequently, the bigger the workplace frustration, the more women promotion is coldly considered. Most times, the arguments are pertaining to injustices met in the workplace. Some of the higher educated men in this category consider that women promote easier, and, in their view, “unjustly” so. The others are under the impression that women promote harder than men because family takes up more of the time they could allot to professional development.

“They have something else, a smile, they know how to get under your skin.”

“Women promote easier than men, in my opinion.”

“Well, there are many jobs that require availibility for travel. And a women is less available for travel once she also has a family. And than it is normal to prefer a man, you would think he will have the time.”

“I have colleagues that graduated from the Polytechnical Institute, have been hired as engineers, while most girls that graduated from the same Polytechnical Institutehave started with secretarial positions.” (employees opinions, focus groups).