Women’s Role in Managing Communications

Introduction

The role of women in the management of organisations, as well as the prospects of gender roles in businesses is a current critical issue. Sheryl Kara Sandberg’s article ‘Industry must celebrate ads that celebrate women’ takes issue with social media firms to be at the forefront in advocating for women’s roles (Sandberg 2013). Categorically, Sandberg wants the social media to assist in marketing adverts, which celebrate the womenfolk. She acknowledges the existence of stereotypes among women and cultural differences, but goes ahead to recommend the celebration of advertisements that tend to break them down. Sandberg takes issue with the media industry. The management at the industry has to accept the need to appreciate the few ads that try to eliminate the existence of gender disparity between females and their male counterparts (Sandberg 2013).

In leadership, the Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) describes the need to inspire women to take up leadership roles in the current global and dynamic world. The role of the media industry should be to encourage women to achieve their best by celebrating ads that fight stereotypes everywhere across the globe. In this aspect, change management should be centre stage in all organisations. Organisations should be flexible in their management systems in order to handle women affairs in non-stereotypical ways. According to the article, Andrew Robertson, the President and overall CEO of BBDO agrees that in producing adverts that are not gender sensitive, the society will gradually change their perceptions on women across all sectors (Sandberg 2010).

Increasing women’s participation

In the current management systems, the inclusion of women faces numerous challenges from the top. Most firms do not recognise the inclusion of women in the high posts. It is the responsibility of marketers to ensure that any information taken to the masses does not portray women in a bad light. Women can be inspirational and transformational leaders if they believe fully in their potentials. Empowerment both for women and for girls in our societies is not only the right or reasonable thing to do in this century, it creates an economic sense for the progress and continuity of the society (Hersch 2006, p. 31). Some researchers have roundly indicated that countries that invest in promoting the social and economic well-being of women have registered lower poverty rates in ranking. How this can be defeated involves giving women equal opportunities in employment and offering equal salary scales for both men and women in the service sector. Many researchers have attested to the fact that the differences that exist between men and women when it comes to making career choices is partly a result of the inequalities or social prejudices that the society dictates for the female gender(Gow and Middlemiss 2012, p. 175).

Empowerment of women for organisational growth

Empowering women is perhaps one of the most frequently cited social objectives of most humanitarian programs. The impact of gender equality on women empowerment in our institutions is perhaps equal to societal growth (Mayoux 2010, p. 585). Women’s empowerment is a multi-faceted concept and an enduring process; therefore, embracing it in our institutions is in itself a noble duty that all business organisations must adopt. As the definition of women empowerment indicates, the empowerment process is a force to reckon with. Women empowerment in our institutions, though complex, is a multi-dimensional process expected to deliver all humanity to economic freedom (Mayoux 2010, p. 587). A comprehensive intervention that embodies different domains of this process is essential for empowering women on a substantial scale. If this aspiration has to extend beyond every institution, then there is a great need for women participation, unrelenting emphasis on education, and creation of awareness among all members of the society.

In terms of organisational management, Henri Fayol’s 14 significant principles are both intuitive and rational. In many cases in which they have been used appropriately, they have always yielded better results for the firms irrespective of the leadership at the top. Among the most remarkable Fayol’s principles are division of work, authority, unity of command, the scalar chain, and equity each of which is attainable under sufficient communication management. Fayol observed that equity for workers was paramount and viewed organisational transformation as developing from the bottom upwards, making individual employees more important. His principle of division of work mirrors Smith Adams’ division of labour whose foundation stone is specialisation. Fayol maintained that this principle offers a model of communication paradigms in firms. These management principles have in no way discriminated any gender; women should be at the forefront in occupying leadership positions. Subordination of individual interest to the general interest recognises the fact that the interest of an organisation is supreme to individual-personal interests.

Gender disparities

Although gender parity in the concept of leadership at the global level is close to being achieved, gender disparities in business institutions remain high in certain developing regions (Hersch 2006, p. 37). In implementing the objective, organisations will be effective in supporting efforts towards the realisation of the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment (Noe and Noe 2012, p. 39). As a result, Sandberg has rolled out a multifaceted strategy for strengthening women’s rights and promoting gender equality (Sandberg 2013). Sandberg’s article seeks to restructure the legal framework in our institutions to improve the recognition of women in management capacities. As the indirect approach in its valuation, a gender perspective must form part of policy and decision-making for the full realisation of their potentials (Piirto 2003, p. 25).

The participation of women in the productive sectors, especially as entrepreneurs, can be nurtured through policy assimilation, capacity building, and institutional support among other things. It is undeniable that in our societies, poverty has often been synonymous with women and this is so because of the stereotyping of the society against women (Miller 2014). Women and girls constitute three-fifths of the poor population globally, their poverty rating is worse than that of men because of clear gender disparities in various areas (O’brien 2002, p. 55). The Sandberg’ response seeks to foster active participation of women in income generating activities, with a robust focus on entrepreneurship and inclusivity of purpose, which aims to deliver women to a sustained income (Social Justice in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region 2012, p. 8). This can be achieved through enterprise development programs that address the inequalities faced by women in our societies.

Enhancing greater opportunities for women

Enhancing women’s access to credit facilities, business financing, as well as the capacity to participate in organisational management can adequately unlock the untapped human capital in women. Research indicates that global progress in celebrating women is lagging behind because most women are locked out technically on free enterprise (Vyas 2003, p. 444). There is a great need to stimulate entrepreneurship environment that does not infringe on women. Due to its integrated ideology, Sandberg has made a substantial contribution to women empowerment through entrepreneurships by providing them with the required skills to excel in business opportunities (Sandberg 2013). In partnership with other like-minded agencies, Sandberg has advanced women’s entrepreneurship program for many women initiatives in several parts of the world. Under this program, for example, the institutions would find it necessary to prepare entrepreneurship development curricula for hiring professionals based on meritocracy and not on parochial gender lenses (Vyas 2003). Sandberg further seeks to show among other things women producers have skills to improve their knowhow on business management practices to produce quality products and render excellent services. Sandberg (2013) holds that when women have access to capital, and managerial skills, it considerably increases their capacity to be more productive.

Women and Leadership Styles

With the constantly changing market demands, leadership styles have to be flexible to accommodate the alterations like the need for women to occupy managerial positions. In this situation, transformational leadership style is effective in changing the organisational culture of firms in order to admit more women in the management system. In designing and implementing the changes, the leadership system must be inclusive in their thinking to accommodate the interests of all genders. The article brings out the need to apply both transformational and transactional leadership styles in absorbing females in order to alter the existing notions about women. In these types of leadership style, women would find it easy to have their issues addressed amicably since they are never rigid in accepting new ideas. Organisational leadership is such a vital element, especially in shaping employees perceptions to work, responses to organisational change, as well as acceptance to organisational innovations aimed at achieving high performance.

Whereas transformational leadership aims at motivating and inspiring followers by paying close attention to their emergent needs, transactional leadership, on the other hand, seeks to bring about organisational exchanges and reinforcements aimed at evoking rewards that are solely reliant on performance (Clegg, Kornberger, and Pitsis 2011, p. 506). High performance work-delivery, as Noe and Noe (2012, p. 59) posit, is a working mode that offers promise for greater productivity, and one which ensures that the followers are motivated, and engaged. It summons a fair degree of autonomy among the elect. Endeavouring to achieve greater performance is often the aim of every leadership, and studies indicate that this is only possible under situations where leaders exhibit leadership styles that are appropriate for a given organisation, in a given place and time in history. According to Piirto (2003, p. 78), studies opine that the roles of the HR under these categories of leadership could also be instrumental in shaping and moulding the structure of leadership under which an organisation performs best. Given the close connection between high performance culture and the style of leadership, it is usually imperative for organisations to select leaders who exhibit contingent rewards and transformational leadership skills irrespective of their gender.

Beating cultural differences and stereotypes

In trying to beat cultural differences and stereotypes, training of women in various areas such as production, management, information technology, and systems assuring can help in realising the full potential of women (Vyas 2003, p. 444). It is worth noting that through free enterprise, women entrepreneurs in developing countries have participated in trade fairs in Europe, America, and Asia, thereby building their understanding of management and market requirements. Moreover, women entrepreneurs in rural areas have been able to participate in income generating activities thereby improving their standards of living, while some have excelled in education thus increasing their employability. With the constantly changing market demands, leadership styles have to be flexible to accommodate the alterations. In this situation, transformational leadership style is effective in changing the organisational culture of firms in order to admit more women in the management system. In designing and implementing the changes, the leadership system must be inclusive in their thinking to accommodate the interests of all genders (Vyas 2003, p. 445).

The article brings out the need to apply both transformational and transactional leadership styles in absorbing females in order to alter the existing notions about women. Inequalities based on gender are the dissimilarity between male and female usually expressed in terms of opportunities (Miller 2014). In other scales, it points to the average divide between men and women in terms of corporate opportunities. Generally, this situation suggests that even the wage gap between the genders mirrors these trends. Much of this differentiation between men and women translates in the types of positions held by different genders in the organisations (Gow and Middlemiss 2012, p. 176). These practices are popular because men generally have greater opportunities than the women do. Moreover, others view this tendency as a representation of the amount of work experience as well as breaks in employments that in most cases go against women’s competitiveness in business organisations (Miller 2014). Debate on gender inequality continues to be the cause of disagreement in most circles, to the point of seeking whether both women and men should make specific choices in these organisations due to socio-economic pressures.

Income inequality case between women and men

Given the differences that characterise men and women in their individual capacities, it would be imprudent to explore the differences that inform the various career choices that men and women have to make. The averaging lenses of rewarding both men and women at work have been misrepresentative ways used to inform public policy without necessarily giving an explanation to all that appertains to this commonplace income inequality (Social Justice in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region 2012, p. 25). According to Miller (2014), observable differences exist between men and women affecting their delivery at work, and this accounts for the difference of income inequality. Available statistical analysis that explores this situation often provides variables that account for these inequalities (Social Justice in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region 2012, p. 28). Numerous research on this field show that gender inequality is at the forefront in shaping the income inequality while tilting these advantages to men (Miller 2014). As women continue to be discouraged from lucrative jobs, men on the other hand continue to be discouraged from committing to choices at work especially by way of prioritising on job satisfaction against pay.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Increasing the number of women in leadership positions will automatically result in economic growth since there will be a few dependents as had been common with women, especially in the third world nations. Women leaders should not be comfortable at their zones, but come out to prove their worth in the management arena. Evidently, changes in management often occur when the victims take part in the change process. Even though Sandberg advices women to come out and move to the highest professional levels, she failed to note that women, unlike men, go through numerous biological changes like giving birth. From a psychological perspective, women always develop first attachment with their children. This implies that they should spend more time with the children than the male counterparts. In applying these changes at the workplaces, there is also need to consider proper family development. Attachment among family members is critical to the growth and development of children with good morals.

The family unit requires parents, especially mothers, to offer their close support to children at the early ages to avert development of psychological problems within the family setup. In essence, work and family are critical issues that future researchers should consider when analysing the need for change in the present technology-based society. There is need to balance both institutions. The 21^st century men should be supportive partners in order to reduce the numerous obstacles that are faced by women in climbing up the employment ladder. Women should not check out on work mentally, as this may make them opt to stay at home. Such a mind-set is dangerous as it results in the belief that “men run the globe.” Challenging the common workplace mentality requires unrelenting support across all sectors to eradicate the one-gender show, especially at the top management. From this perspective, institutions of work require complete overhaul of their systems to fit all genders. Women have to come out of their cocoons to concur the management positions.

References

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