Coaching Urged For Women
女性需要怎样的职业发展指导
Inadequate career development has kept women from reaching the top rungs of the corporate ladder, according to a report set to be released Tuesday by management consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
The report, which examines barriers to women's advancement in corporations, is primarily based on a 2011 survey of 2,525 college-educated men and women, including 1,525 individuals employed by large companies, mainly in management.
Despite efforts by major companies, just a handful of women have ascended to the leadership pinnacle, the McKinsey report concluded. Only 11 chief executives of Fortune 500 companies are women, down from a peak of 15 in 2010, according to a spokeswoman for Catalyst Inc., a nonprofit women's research group. There were two Fortune 500 female CEOs in 2000, up from one in 1995, Catalyst said in a 2000 report.
Similarly, the McKinsey study cited a 2010 Catalyst report that said 37% of lower-level and middle managers are female, while just 26% of vice presidents and other senior managers are women at Fortune 500 companies.
To crack the upper echelons of corporate America, McKinsey said companies must groom a deeper bench of female middle managers for advancement.
'By increasing the number of women who make it from middle management to the vice presidential level, corporations could vastly improve the odds for building diversity in top management,' the report added. Even a 25% increase in the ranks of middle-management women reaching the next level 'would significantly alter the shape of the pipeline,' it said.
McKinsey plans to release its report during a 'Women in the Economy' conference sponsored by The Wall Street Journal in Palm Beach, Fla.
Joanna Barsh, a McKinsey senior partner who co-wrote the report, said companies need to spend more time coaching women and offering leadership training and rotation through various management roles before their ambitions sour.
Ms. Barsh said the McKinsey study found that companies weren't 'systematically watching these women at the middle management level and putting in programs that would help them develop and get over the next [promotion] hurdle.'
The paucity of such assistance partly explains why women's ambitions decline over time, said Ms. Barsh. 'Barriers become insurmountable,' especially for working mothers, she added.
Based on the survey, McKinsey researchers found that female ambition declines sharply at middle age. About 64% of women ages 45 to 54 years old expressed a desire to advance professionally, compared with 78% of the men in the same age range. The comparable figures were 92% and 98%, respectively, for women and men aged 23 to 34.
A female former senior executive for a major insurer who wasn't involved in McKinsey's research agreed with the recommendations. Businesses committed to gender diversity at the top shouldn't just give 'lip service by having tokens,' this executive said. They should be 'actively grooming women, making sure they have mentors and actively promoting their careers.'
As part of its research, McKinsey also analyzed the makeup of executive committees at Fortune 200 companies and found women make up just 15% of the top management panels.
These 'women are doubly handicapped' because 62% occupy staff jobs 'that rarely lead to a CEO role,' the study said. In contrast, the report found that 65% of men on executive committees hold line jobs, which typically involve profit and loss responsibility for an operation.
To remedy this situation, the McKinsey report proposed that businesses work harder to change the mind-sets limiting women's opportunities, such as the popular notion that a woman can't juggle certain jobs and family duties.
As further encouragement, the report said that the performance of top managers should be judged partly on their ability to groom and promote female talent.'A diversity program by itself, no matter how comprehensive, is no match for entrenched beliefs that prevail,' the report said.
管理咨询公司麦肯锡(McKinsey & Co.)于4月5日发布的一份报告显示,由于缺乏足够的职业发展指导,女性难以跻身公司管理层的最高梯队。
这份报告研究了阻碍女性职业发展的因素,主要依据是该公司2011年对2,525位受过大学教育的男性和女性进行的调查,其中包括1,525位受聘于大公司的职员,主要是管理人员。
Getty Images2010年6月,全录公司(Xerox)CEO柏恩斯(Ursula Burns)与微软(Microsoft)总裁盖茨(Bill Gates)(左一)、通用电气(General Electric)CEO伊梅特(Jeff Immelt)在一起。柏恩斯是少数登上美国企业最高领导层的女性之一。尽管大部分公司都在努力,但只有很少一部分女性登上了最高领导层的位置。据非营利性女性研究机构Catalyst Inc.的发言人称,《财富》(Fortune)杂志世界500强公司中只有11位女性首席执行长,较2010年高峰时的15位有所减少。Catalyst 在2000年的报告中称,2000年世界500强公司中有两位女性首席执行长,1995年只有一位。
援引了Catalyst 2010年报告的麦肯锡的研究报告称,在世界500强公司中,有37%的中低层管理人员是女性,而在副总裁和其他高级管理人士中,女性只占25%。
麦肯锡称,要想实现公司上层管理梯队的性别多样化,美国公司必须预先培养数量更庞大的女性中层管理人员。
这份报告补充说,通过增加从中层管理人员升至副总裁职位的女性员工的数量,可以大大提高公司高层管理团队性别多样化的可能性。报告称,即使只有25%的女性中层管理人员升到更高职位,也能大大改变今后高层管理团队的性别构成情况。
麦肯锡在《华尔街日报》主办的“女性与经济”(Women in the Economy)会议上发表了这份报告。此次会议在佛罗里达州的棕榈滩举行。
参与撰写这份报告的麦肯锡的高级合伙人琼安娜•巴什(Joanna Barsh)称,在女员工的职业抱负磨灭之前,公司需要花更多的时间来指导她们,提供领导能力方面的培训,让她们轮换各种不同的管理岗位。
巴什称,麦肯锡的研究发现,公司并没有系统地关注处于中层管理位置的女性,没有制定计划帮助她们发展并克服接下来的晋升障碍。
巴什称,从一定程度上来说,正是由于得不到这种帮助,女性的职业抱负随着时间的推移而减弱。她补充说,升职障碍变得不可逾越,尤其是对有孩子的职业女性来说。
根据这项调查,麦肯锡的研究人员发现,进入中年以后,女性的职业抱负急剧下降。在45-54岁的女性当中,大约有64%的人表示有进一步的职业发展意愿,而在同一年龄层的男性当中,这个比例为78%。在23-34岁的人群中,女性和男性的可比数据分别为92%和98%。
原先在一家大型保险公司担任高级管理人员的一位女士对麦肯锡的建议表示赞同,她并未参与此次调查。这位管理人士称,有志使高层性别多样化的公司不应该仅仅口惠而实不至。这些公司应该积极地培养女性,确保她们获得导师的指点,并积极推动她们的职业生涯。
作为此项研究的一部分,麦肯锡还分析了《财富》杂志200强公司管理人员的构成情况,发现女性在高层管理团队中仅占15%。
这项研究称,这些女性面临双重的不利条件,因为她们当中62%的人担任的都是鲜少能升至首席执行长一职的职务。相比之下,管理团队中65%的男性身居一线要职,这些职位通常涉及某项业务的盈亏责任。
麦肯锡的报告提出,为了补救这种局面,公司应该更加努力地改变那些限制女性职业发展机会的思维定式,例如认为女性无法兼顾某些工作和家庭责任这种颇为普遍的看法。
报告称,作为进一步的鼓励措施,应该把培养和促进女性管理才干的能力作为判断高层管理人员业绩的标准之一。
报告称,单凭一项性别多样化计划,无法撼动根深蒂固的普遍看法,无论这项计划有多么完善。 |