Major ATN WEXDEV Research Project: Senior Women Executives and the Cultures of Management
From late 2001 to mid 2004 Dr Colleen Chesterman (Australian Technology Network Women's Executive Development Program) has been part-time senior research associate on an Australian Research Council - SPIRT funded project to conduct an Australia-wide examination of the characteristics of management cultures that demonstrably support and sustain women in senior managerial positions. The chief investigators were Dr Anne Ross-Smith (UTS) and Dr Margaret Peters (UniSA).
The subject of the research project was Women executives in Australian organisations: an investigation of their role in the transformation and maintenance of managerial cultures. The industry partners were the 5 ATN universities, the state public services of NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, and two major financial institutions.
The project had three major objectives:
- To provide an in-depth analysis of the lived experience of women and men at senior executive levels.
- To identify, document and evaluate extrinsic (work/family policies) and intrinsic (cultural, relational and deep-structural) factors that support and sustain women in senior managerial roles.
- To investigate the extent to which the presence of senior women in substantial numbers has transformed managerial cultures in selected organisations.
Organisations were selected because of their demonstrated commitment to gender equity; all had a high proportion of women (around 30%) in senior executive positions (in the top three tiers).
Interviews with senior executive men and women in the 19 organisations in these three sectors were undertaken in 2001 and 2002. Senior men were involved to compare their experiences and to gain their views of their female colleagues. 255 interviews were completed, with 168 women and 87 men. The breakdown across the three sectors was as follows:
Private Sector |
Public Sector |
Higher Education |
|||
72 |
102 |
81 |
|||
Men |
Women |
Men |
Women |
Men |
Women |
21 |
51 |
35 |
67 |
31 |
50 |
Research Outcomes
The outcomes of the research, including reports, papers and articles are described on the Research Outcomes page.
Senior Women Executives and the Culture of Management Conference
- Conference report: November 2004