The management of the hospitality industry remains to be dominated by men. Although more women are beginning to rise to the management of the hotel and tourism industry, cultural and biased gender policies in the workplaces continue to undermine the efforts by women to increase their visibility in the boardrooms and top management positions. The research reviews the literature concerning the ways to promote women in the workplace and more specifically in the hospitality industry. While examining the means of improving women participation in the executive positions of the hospitality industry and other corporate sectors, the study analysed three variables that impede women from fairly competing with men and developing their careers. The research tested how gender inequality, family responsibilities and mentorship programs influence the prospects of women ascending into leadership. Testing the research hypothesis entailed collecting numerical data from the employees of Beefeater Grill hospitality company using questionnaires and then undertaking statistical analysis to examine correlation and compute the mean and the standard deviation. The research also highlighted the limitations encountered when collecting the data using the online-based questionnaires as that would undermine the credibility of the results. Nonetheless, the study found that the limitations encountered were minor and did not significantly alter the findings of the research.
Women and Leadership Development
Introduction
Background
Women continue to face underrepresentation in society’s most influential positions primarily in the corporate world where they have for long been the minority group compared to men. For instance, in the European Union, women only account for slightly over 10% of the senior executive positions for all the top 50 companies that have been publicly quoted (Barreto, Ryan, and Schmitt, 2009).
Research Aims
The research aims at investigating the factors such as cultural, historical and self-imposed barriers that prevent them from rising into positions of leadership in various organisations in the UK and propose measures on how they overcome these impediments. The study will focus on the innovativeness of the departments that are headed by women at Beefeater Grill hospitality company.
Reasons for choosing this topic
The research topic was selected because it will assess the success stories of some of the firms started and ran by women and also the organisations that have women occupying executive positions and the impact they create that can inspire other women to overcome the barriers that prevent them from assuming leadership roles.
Problem statement
Professional and managerial positions elicit significant respect, authority and recognition. Individuals in these positions often get higher rewards of economic pay. Nonetheless, women underrepresentation in management is a challenge that is still rampant in the UK. Over the previous years, female managers have increased in various organisations and that has tended to shift the dominance in managerial positions from male towards females. Despite the gains, there are still problems surrounding the career growth of women to senior positions of management (Ryan and Haslam, 2007).
Research objectives
§ To examine extent to which gender inequality undermines women’s representation in the hospitality industry in the UK.
§ To explore how the responsibilities of the family influences the prospects of women becoming managers in their workplaces.
§ To examine the influence of mentorship programs on the prospects of women ascending to the managerial positions in their workplaces.
Literature Review
Both Lockwood (2004) and Rocha et al. (2018) have assessed the history of the world and the first countries women broke the glass ceiling and rose to the leadership of their respective countries either as presidents or prime ministers. Lockwood (2004) highlighted the women who overcame the barriers that have prevented women from leading their countries. According to Lockwood, New Zealand elected the first woman to become the prime minister since 2000. In Finland, the first woman became the Central’s bank president since 2000; the first woman became World Health Organisation’s (WHO), director general and Ireland’s ex-president became the United Nation’s first woman Human Rights Commissioner (HRC). Despite highlighting the women who have attained tremendous achievement and rose to lead their nations and multinational organisations, Lockwood (2004) also notes that various societal and institutional barriers have prevented women from advancing in their careers and education, and this reduces their prospects of managing the organisations that have employed them.
Although Rocha et al. (2018) also mention the first instances where women became presidents and prime ministers in their countries, they differ from the research by Lockwood (2004) because they explicitly mention the first woman that broke the glass ceiling and became the president of her country and that happened in Sri Lanka 58 years ago. Furthermore, Rocha et al. (2018) also highlight other instances where women have performed extraordinarily and became heads of states. Their research is extensive because they mention 83 countries that have had women ascend to the highest offices whereas Lockwood only names New Zealand, Ireland and a few other international organisations where women have had the opportunity of leading for the first time.
Ways of promoting women leadership in the workplace
As explored by Wilson (2016), women in the UK hold less than a third of the highly influential jobs. Wilson gives an example that the judiciary has only 13.2% of women and the armed forces 1.3% in the top posts. Eliminating the barriers to the progress of women in their careers and the executive positions would require concerted efforts of the UK government who are policymakers and HR managers. Wilson (2016) proposes that women should be given equal pay just like men and also maintaining a positive attitude towards women in the workplace.
Heathfield (2017) who specializes on how women thrive in leadership roles in the organisations agrees with Wilson (2016) that the wage gap that exists between men and women is still higher because women receive lesser salary than men even when they do the same work. However, Heathfield (2017) gives further contrasting views that HR managers and policy makers in government agencies should assist women in the workplace compete fairly with men in seeking leadership roles getting exemptions on some matters such as parenting and balancing many household chores and work. Heathfield (2017) also provides more detailed opinions than Wilson (2016), by proposing that organisations should abolish gender discrimination that bedevils many workplaces and prevents women from rising to the executive positions. Women also need protection against sexual harassment since a majority of the men managers elicit sexual favours from women before promoting them to senior positions.
Examining the research by Carr and Kelan (2016) and Rhode (2017), differences emerge on the methods they propose to promote gender parity and women empowerment at work. Carr and Kelan (2016) observe that certain undeniable facts, such as childbirth, breastfeeding, impact the contribution of women in parenting. Many women often want to return to work immediately after their maternity leave or even before it elapses when they consider themselves to have adequately recovered. Thus, Carr and Kelan (2016) propose that policymakers should formulate policies that mandate both men and women to provide equal support when parenting the newly born kid as that would give women sufficient time and a choice to decide whether they want to return to work or not.
Carr and Kelan (2016) cite Maxus as one UK company that is implementing a policy that ensures both parents working in that organisation have equality of choice for parenting. The policy gives both parents paid leave for 26 weeks to encourage both the man and woman employees of Maxus to go for shared leave to reduce disadvantaging only women through maternity leave. Moreover, Carr and Kelan (2016) also explored the benefits of flexible working that allows one to work either from home or in the office provided they execute their duties and are productive. The initiative helps women who cannot come to work because of parenting to comfortably work or lead an organisation at home.
Rhode’s (2017) assessment of the ways of promoting women leadership at work proposes different measures from Carr and Kelan (2016). Rhode (2017) notes that every company should make gender equality and diversity a critical aspect of training. Moreover, firms should match senior leaders who are mostly men to the rapidly growing female talents for nearly two years. The goal is creating internal talent visibility and build confidence among women employees. Every company then measures the outcome of every coach and sets targets for every coaching staff to produce leaders of both genders that can expand the business networks and develop new capabilities.
Both Brescoll (2016) and Hakim (2016) explore means of attaining equality of both genders and improve women participation at higher leadership levels in the workplace. However, every author proposes different approaches. Both Brescoll (2016) notes that companies need to develop career roadmaps for all the staff after they complete the first year in the company. Every year the management should only adjust the career map of each employee. Setting such equal growth trajectories would provide equal promotions, development plans networking opportunities for both women and men that receive similar capability ratings in following their career plans. Brescoll (2016) emphasises that this structure eliminates the possibilities of women being oblivious of the career growth opportunities that arise at higher levels and also fosters visibility at the top management.
Hakim (2016) does not recommend the path of developing career maps as Both Brescoll (2016) explains but suggests that overcoming gender incongruities requires specific gender programs and empathy to enable them to improve the abilities that would give them the requisite qualifications to compete with men for top company managerial positions. The gender programs include mentorship to boost the confidence of female leaders and assist other women in rising to higher leadership positions and more visible in the company boards.
Studies conducted by both Elliott and Stead (2018) and Shore, Cleveland and Sanchez (2018) confirm that the government should design programs that specially target restoring gender parity through strengthening the organisations by local women to develop and execute their own agenda about equality. The women’s organisations would demonstrate the strongest evidence of sustainable and strategic changes in gender relations. The strategies that are effective in improving gender relations include; provision of support for women’s networking, analytical and enhancing their organisational capacity. Moreover, different stakeholders need to support the advocacy activities of women at social and political institutions to champion for higher representation of women at the senior level management in the corporate sector. The UK Government agencies should demonstrate accountability towards the civil society who are petitioning the government and NGOs to support gender equality policies that reduce stereotypes at the workplace regarding women’s ability to lead. In most cases, the local omen groups organisations do not have enough capacity to influence women development priorities and should thus be given sufficient resources and support to attain this objective.
Powell (2018) and Seierstad et al. (2017) both assess the methods of increasing gender balance in the civil service and the management of boards. However, Powell (2018) focusses on how a socially responsible human resource management (HRM) on women employees can offset the gender balance of supervisors in the workplace as men currently dominate it both in the private sector and civil service. Seierstad et al. (2017) address how the active amendment of national policies can help increase women percentage in boards in the UK. Powell (2018) used a sample of 200 employees and questionnaire approach from 6 different companies in the UK, and the results show that HRM practices of promoting work-family integration and equal career opportunities contribute substantially in reducing the female turnover intentions. Seierstad et al. (2017) on the other hand collect the data they used in their analysis of the actors that determine and drive the gender equality policies at the national level by holding interviews, observation and text analysis. The findings show that government leaders should fast-track the formation of national legislation that would mandate every institution to set aside some slots in the board of management and other executive positions for women as affirmative action.
Research gap
Previous research has focused on attaining gender balance in the workplace and reduce high turnover for women and strive to achieve harmony in the wage gap that for long has existed between men and women (Baxter, 2018). However, most of these studies have not adequately addressed the issue of women underrepresentation in the management level of the UK’s corporate sector. Thus, this research seeks to provide to explore the factors the prevent women from rising to top leadership positions and why they should actively get involved in overcoming this glass ceiling that hinders them from realising their potential.
Research questions
1. How has gender disparity contributed to women underrepresentation in the managerial positions in the UK’s corporate sector?
2. Do domestic or family responsibilities have an impact on the underrepresentation of women ascending to the executive positions in the corporate sector?
3. How can women attain more representation in the positions of management in the UK’s corporate sector?
Research Methods
Research aims and hypothesis
Aims
The research aims at investigating the factors such as cultural, historical and self-imposed barriers that prevent them from rising into positions of leadership in various organisations in the UK and propose measures on how they overcome these impediments. The study will focus on the innovativeness of the departments that are headed by women at Beefeater Grill hospitality company.
Hypothesis
H1: Gender disparity contributes to women underrepresentation in the managerial positions in the UK’s corporate sector.
Prediction. Inequality measures between men and women leads to the exclusion of other gender and causes social, economic and political disadvantages to the group that is being stereotyped.
H2: Family responsibilities disadvantages women and reduces their chances of ascending to the executive positions in the corporate sector and civil service.
Prediction.
The social policy that many organisations provide to women extends inequality family obligations (Schwanke, 2013). When employers only provide maternity leaves and refuse to grant men also paternity leaves, or when organisations encourage women to adopt part time work schedules after the delivery of the child, and men are exempted from such obligations, it creates a social perception that women are supposed to execute family responsibilities while men are not. The long working hours for domestic chores causes undesirable situation for women who are forced overcome themselves so that they can pursue their careers.
H3: The mentorship programs meant to build women capacity in the workplace increases the involvement of women in the management of the organisations.
Participating in the opportunities that contribute to the development of one’s career such as training or attending symposiums builds the capacity of women to serve in demanding managerial positions. The presence of clear guidelines that eliminate ambiguity and hidden expectations placed on women who desire to advance their career removes the barriers that inhibit women from securing senior placements in the workplace (Hamel, 2009).
Research design
The research design that was selected for this study is a quantitative study approach that is applied within survey research design to explore, observe record and describe the social phenomena within the confines of this research. Data collection method that would be applied for this study is survey methods using questionnaires. Questionnaires helped in collecting the numerical data from the respondents that was used to perform statistical tests to prove or reject the three-hypothesis stated above. Online questionnaires were used because majority of the employees at Beefeater Grill hospitality firm which was selected as the research center are tech savvy. Online survey would also reduce the cost of travelling to physically administer the questionnaires to the research participants.
Data Collection
Quantitative data collection methods using the questionnaire as a tool for gathering data will be used to obtain the responses of the employees who will be selected to participate in this research. Likert scale questionnaire will be appropriate for this research because it will assist in measuring the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the of the employees to the issue under study. Moreover, the Likert scale would allow the study to collect data that is easy to analyse and formulate conclusions (Johns 2010). Additionally, Johns (2010) observes that mathematical expressions can be applied to analyse the data collected from this questionnaire. The responses will be coded and they will represent agreement or disagreement to certain responses.
Sampling and respondent selection
Random sampling will be conducted in a population size of 200 with the target of getting 75 respondents. As recommended by Collis and Hussey (2003), a good sample size of any research should be large enough to get fair representation. Nonetheless, the researcher must underscore the getting a confidence level of 95 percent. Furthermore, Aguirre and Rönkkö (2015) emphasize that nature of the research, research goals and the research design also contribute significantly in determining the sample size of a research. The study sample will target departmental heads from of five departments at Beefeater Grill; Finance, Procurement and Logistics department, HR department, Operations and Security sector. 15 staff members will be selected from each department. Before the selection of the study sample, invitation emails will be sent to every employee in the target departments requesting them of their consent to participate in this research. Random sampling will be conducted on those who will complete the acceptance forms and send them back to the researcher via emails. The assumption made here is that at least 10 people from each department will return fill and return the acceptance form.
Data analysis
The analysis of the data will be conducted by establishing the correlation between the variables tested as captured in the research hypothesis. The variables will have an independent and dependent variable where one will be influencing the change in another. Descriptive statistics such as the mean and standard deviation will be computed to determine the variability of the data collected. The results will be tabulated as shown in appendix 2 and graphs shown in figure1 to 6. SPSS software will be used to tabulate and analyse the data collected using the questionnaires. The choice of SPSS software is due to the ease of entering and representing both the nominal and ordinal data collected using codes. For instance, male and female and represented by 1 and 2 respectively while the other ordinal responses are represented using the values of a Likert scale that range from 1 denoting strong disagreement to 7 implying strong agreement.
Validity and Reliability
Validity will be tested using construct validity to the test the hypothetical abstracts related to women empowerment in the workplace.
Reliability for this research study would be tested using the internal consistency of the questions asked and since they will be measured on an interval scale. The internal consistency is a measurement parameter that determines the consistency of the questionnaire across multiple responses (Sabet, Azad, and Taghizadeh, 2016). Cronbach’s test will also be conducted on the items measured with the intention of attaining reliability score of 0.7 and maintain good internal consistency.
Ethical considerations
Informed consent. The participants will be allowed to demonstrate voluntary participation. The introductory statement will explain the survey’s purpose to the potential respondents. Furthermore, it will also explain the intended purpose of the data collected, the probable risks and the procedure of the research will be explained to enable the interested participants choose to participate freely.
Confidentiality. The researcher will not share any information with the other participants. Moreover, numbering of the participant’s data and encryption technology since it’s an online survey, will minimize the probable confidentiality breaches.
Analysis and Results
Results
The data was represented according to the research questions that the study seeks to answer.
Figure1: Gender inequality
Source: own computation from SPSS
Figure 1 shows the responses of the 50 participants who answered the question of the level of gender inequality in their workplace. 15 employees drawn from different five departments answered that the level of gender inequality in their department and organisation in general is very high. Gender inequality in this case was measured by the number of men and women working at Beefeater Grill. 13 participants said that gender inequality levels was somewhat high. Only three respondents said that gender inequality was low among the staff.
Family responsibilities
Figure 2: Men and women who expressed inequality dissatisfaction with inequality
Source: own computation from SPSS.
Figure 2 shows that 12 male participants responded by saying that the level of inequality in the workforce and in their respective departments at Beefeater Grill was very high. Although only 3 women said that gender inequality levels were very high in their departments, 9 and 6 women agreed that gender disparity was high and somewhat high respectively. Of all the women polled, only 2 said that gender inequality was low.
Question 2
Family chores and women in management.
Figure 3: Family responsibilities disadvantage women to rise to managerial positions
Source: own computation from SPSS.
Figure 3 shows that 13 participants out of 50 expressed strong agreement that the responsibilities of the family such as parenting may confine many women at home instead of going to work. 22 respondents further expressed that they agreed family duties reduce women involvement in the leadership at work. Only 2 employees highly disagreed with excess domestic duties and parenting affecting the rise of women into the executive positions.
Figure 4: Responses of family responsibilities based on gender.
Source: own computation from SPSS
Figure 4 shows that seven men and six women highly agreed that delegating all the family responsibilities such as parenting and other domestic work, leads to the exclusion of women in managerial positions. Nine men and three women also agreed, six men and six women responded by saying that they somewhat agreed. Those who disagreed for male and female employees were less than three in each category. No woman highly disagreed apart from 2 men.
Question 3
Women mentorship programs and their contribution to the rise of women into managerial positions.
Figure 5: Mentorship programs for women and their involvement in management.
Source: own computation in SPSS
Figure 5 shows number of participants who expressed satisfaction or dissatisfaction as to whether there are enough mentorship programs for women in their departments and in the whole organisation. 14 participants expressed that they were satisfaction that mentorship and capacity building programs enhance the chances of women rising to the managerial positions. The women who occupy leadership positions in this organisation earned these positions after extensive and regular training symposiums. 8 participants answered that they were very satisfied with the impact of training and mentoring women into leadership. 13 employees were somewhat satisfied. Out of 50 participants, 35 expressed satisfaction while only 13 did not agree to the impact that clear guidelines and fair career training opportunities affords to women since 2 people chose to remain neutral over their comments.
Figure 6: The responses of both genders regarding the impact of women mentorship programs
Source: own computation in SPSS.
Figure 6 shows that 13 participants both male and female answered that they were somewhat satisfied with the contribution of mentorship programs for women in empowering them to ascend into leadership positions in an organisation. 8 men and 6 women expressed satisfaction whereas 5 women and 4 men were very satisfied over the impact of mentorship programs towards the transformation of women leadership and unlocking the opportunities. No woman was very dissatisfied and only a total of 4 said that they were unsatisfied and sparingly satisfied. The number of the respondents were showed dissatisfaction as less than that which showed satisfaction.
Data analysis
Data analysis will be conducted by testing the correlation between the variables specified in the three-research hypothesis and also through the computation of the mean and the standard deviation to analyse the variance of the data collected. Correlation and descriptive statistics would be undertaken with the aid of the SPSS software. The correlation of various would be tested using the Pearson correlation test.
Correlation analysis
Hypothesis 1
Gender disparity contributes to women underrepresentation in the managerial positions in the UK’s corporate sector.
Figure 7: Gender inequality and women leadership
Correlations
Gender disparity
Mean for gender inequality and women leadership
Gender disparity
Pearson Correlation
1
.872**
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
50
50
Mean for gender inequality and women leadership
Pearson Correlation
.872**
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
50
50
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Source: own computation from SPSS
Gender disparity and the mean for gender inequality and women leadership are correlated at 0.872 and the data collected is significant at the p-value of 0.01. The data was assumed to take a normal distribution. The two asterisks show that the data is significant and that gender inequality is positively correlated with the rise of women into the managerial positions. The present research was designed to test whether gender inequality prevents women from rising into the executive positions in the workplace in the hospitality industries of the UK. The data shows, in agreement with the hypothesis stated and the initial expectations, that inequality in the workplace perpetuated against women reduces their chances of becoming managers and board members in their places of work.
Descriptive statistics
Table 1: Mean and Standard deviation for Gender inequality
Descriptive Statistics
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
Gender disparity
50
5.5200
1.56805
Valid N (listwise)
50
Source: own computation from SPSS
The mean of the responses for the variable of the presence of gender inequality in the workplace was 5.52 and the standard deviation was 1.56. The value for the mean shows that most of the respondents expressed that gender inequality in their departments was somewhat high. The standard deviation is small compared to the mean and that further implies that the data did not vary by large from the mean of 5.52. Thus, majority of the participants answered that gender inequality was somewhat high. Since the hypothesis designed to test whether gender inequality lowers the prospects of women leading their workplaces, the mean and standard deviation obtained signifies that the data is statistically significant.
Hypothesis 2
Family responsibilities disadvantages women and reduces their chances of ascending to the executive positions in the corporate sector and civil service.
Figure 8: Family responsibilities and women in management
Correlations
Family duties
Mean for family duties and women in management
Family duties
Pearson Correlation
1
.946**
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
50
50
Mean for family duties and women in management
Pearson Correlation
.946**
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
50
50
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Source: own computation in SPSS
Family responsibilities and women in management are correlated at 0.946 and the data is significant at the p-value of 0.01. The two asterisks show that the data collected is significant and that more family responsibilities is negatively correlated with women rising into leadership positions. The study was designed to test whether domestic duties such as parenting and household chores reduces the chances of women ascending to top management level in the hospitality industry. The data supports the hypothesis since the Pearson correlation test shows significance between more family responsibilities which may force women to prefer working at home and that in turn reduces their interaction with the senior managers at work and also prevents them from attending seminars and talent training that their male colleagues attend while at work.
Table 2: The mean and standard deviation for family responsibilities data
Descriptive Statistics
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
Family duties
50
5.0400
1.86219
Valid N (listwise)
50
Source: own computation in SPSS
The mean and the standard deviation for the variable of family responsibilities is 5.04 and 1.86 respectively. The mean value of 5.04 denotes that the most of the respondents somewhat agreed that more family responsibilities hinder women from rising to the top-level management of the companies that have employed them. The standard deviation is 1.86 and is smaller than the mean to signify that the majority of the data obtained is closer to the mean of 5.04. Thus, the data is statistically significant and symbolizes that the society should not leave all the responsibilities of family such as parenting to the women if more women have to participate in leadership of the companies they work for.
Hypothesis 3
Women mentorship programs and clear guidelines for promotions in the workplace enhances women capacity to lead and also increases the number of women in the managerial position of the hospitality industry and many other organisations.
Figure 9: Mentorship programs and women in management
Correlations
Mentorship
Mentorship and women in management
Mentorship
Pearson Correlation
1
.944**
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
50
50
Mentorship and women in management
Pearson Correlation
.944**
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
50
50
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Source: own computation in SPSS.
Mentorship programs for women and the presence of women in management are correlated at 0.944 and the data is significant at the p-value of 0.01. The two asterisks denote that the data is statis
