Management Education for Women—and Men?

Abstract

The thesis of this chapter is that the traditional content of most MBA and other higher education programmes on management should be reconstructed to consider the special problems faced by women in management and employ strategies to teach both men and women how to mitigate them. This chapter begins by discussing gender inequality in management positions and reasons why women are under-represented, despite general acceptance of the importance of gender diversity for organizational success.

It reports examples of informal activities to improve women’s position in the workplace, such as mentoring and efforts to enhance the status of women by ‘spreading the word’ of their professional competence through conferences, workshops, ‘women in business’ groups, and literary publications. Formal management education programmes for women are summarized, including those offered in collaboration between academic institutions and business companies. Arguments are made for the introduction of transformative learning to management programmes, by which participants might move from a paradigm in which women are assumed (by themselves as well as men) to be poor managers in need of masculine support, to another which empowers women to recognize their unique strengths and capitalize on them.

Examples are provided of teaching methods for transformative learning, such as creating classroom environments that convey a sense of trust and security, in which students feel free to experiment with new behaviour in learner-centred approaches that promote student autonomy, participation, and collaboration. An appendix contains the details of an ‘ice-breaker’ game as an example of an exercise for the start of a management education course that includes transformative learning, to encourage new students to relax and get to know each other as a constructive prelude to their studies.

Appendix

Matrix

An active learning exercise designed by Elizabeth Christopher

Echristopher051@gmail.com

February 2018

Purposes

The purposes of this activity are that it shall be:

• A ‘warm-up’ at the start of a teaching or training session whose participants are from widely different backgrounds and mostly unknown to each other;

• An introduction to the subject matter of the session, especially useful for transformative learning, that is, when learners are shown how to use their previous interpretations of given situations, events, people, concepts and so on, to enable new or revised perceptions and possibilities for change in behaviour.

The activity involves students experientially in several ways:

• They move around the room, meeting many or all their fellow participants for the first time and engaging with them.

• They learn something about each other.

• Because the statements can be changed by the session presenters, the activity can be tailor-made to suit specific teaching and learning needs.

• Because the activity is both entertaining and personal, it creates a comfortable and mutually supportive learning environment for the teaching or training session to follow.

Procedure

• Size of group: probably around 20 people, but the activity will work well with fewer (though probably no fewer than, say, 8) or as many as the space will permit.

• Playing time: About half an hour, including discussion, and depending on numbers.

• Classroom layout: Participants must be free to move around. If a sufficiently clear space is not available in the classroom, presenters might make use of an adjacent room or somewhere outside the building, for example, in a garden, then recall the players for a plenary session in the classroom when the game is over (15–20 minutes).

• Resources:

  • Each player will need a copy of the set of statements. These will not necessarily be the same statements as illustrated below. Presenters may want to change them, depending on the nature of the programme to follow the warm-up, but the format and number of statements should remain.

  • Each set should be printed on paper as heavy as possible. Alternatively each set might be pasted onto a cardboard backing, cut to fit.

  • Each player will need a pen or pencil.

  • One, two, or three small prizes will be needed for the winner or winners.

Briefing and Administering the Game

• 1. Presenters explain that the object of the game is for players to gain insights to their own and others’ culture-related values (depending on how these are understood in the context of the teaching or training session to follow).

  Players will move around to find somebody who can truthfully reply ‘yes’ to ONE of the statements on the sheet they will be given. When they do so, the respondent (including themselves) will sign their name across the relevant box and move on. No player may sign more than one box. The winner(s) will be players whose papers have the most signatures after a playing time of 20 minutes, and each will receive a small prize.

• 2. All players are then issued with a copy of the statements (as in the example below but the statements can be changed to fit the occasion) and the game begins. Presenters call a halt after 15–20 minutes. If any player submits a winning entry before that time, presenters keep it on hand and allow the game to continue. They do the same for any other winners before time is up.

• Debriefing: When the game is over, presenters initiate a general discussion and respond to players’ comments on their experience.

Matrix

Instructions

The object of the game is to gain insights to your own and others’ culture-related values. Find somebody (you can include yourself) who can truthfully reply ‘yes’ to ONE of the above statements. Ask them to initial the relevant box and move on. No player may initial more than one box. The winner(s) will be the player(s) whose paper has the most signatures! You have 20 minutes to complete this exercise and the winner(s) will receive a small prize. Good hunting!

I believe that men are from Mars and women are from Venus	Democracy is the best form of government for all nations	I have friends from different backgrounds including race and sexual orientation	My parents are of different nationalities (from each other or from me)
I have been arrested by the police	I support gay marriages	I have experienced discrimination	I need to spend time on my own each day
I have taken part in a protest demonstration	I am a member of a social minority	If facts appear to refute a theory, I will question the facts before rejecting the theory	I hold strong views (for or against) Brexit
I am a people-person	Each country should have its own form of government	I have climbed a mountain and/or been deep sea diving	Same-sex marriages should be banned
Personal use of recreational drugs should be decriminalized	There is no such thing as ‘society’; only individuals	Society is more important than individuals	Never mind the theory, give me the facts
I judge by first impressions	I listen first and speak last	My country is part of ASEAN	I speak first and listen afterwards
I believe my seniors are wiser than I	I live in the present	I look to the future	I believe in myself
I like to travel	Home is best	I am open to new ideas	I am cautious about change