Women Executives in Gladiator Corporate Cultures: The Behavioral Dynamics of Gender, Ego, and Power
39 Pages Posted: 4 Apr 2011
Date Written: 2006
Abstract
Although women have fifty percent of the managerial positions in large corporations in the United States, the number of women CEOs and directors is low and progress is stalled. Many scholars maintain that we should promote women executives so they will acquire experience, not because they will transform corporate decisionmaking. Under this view, one should not classify a corporate actor as a woman, but as a manager who happens to be a woman. Alternatively, some researchers assert that women's "outsider" status increases corporate accountability because they bring distinct moral perspectives to business decisions. This Article seeks to bridge efforts to advance women to upper-level management and attempts to foster more ethical corporate cultures. Traditionally, corporate law scholars have not examined issues involving gender. Social psychology, however, has produced many studies that use gender as a lens to analyze organizational behavior. This Article examines how societal norms restrict both men and women to avoid a one-sided analysis that limits the use of gender as an analytical tool.
Keywords: women, women executives, gender, ego, power, behavioral dynamics, corporations
JEL Classification: J16, K20, K22, K30
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation