Business Ethics and Equality at the Top Women in Positions of Leadership

Business Ethics and the Art of Inclusion: Women in White Collar America
The quantity of female CEOs at Fortune 500 companies decreased by 25% in 2018, falling from 32 to 24: this means that only 4.8 percent of the most profitable 500 firms in the world are run by women in America (Stewart, 2018). How one can achieve inclusiveness within the workplace is definitely a hot-button issue in today’s workplace, particularly given the climate. Social movements for equality and safety in the workplace for all genders such as the #metoo and #timesup movement have made companies large and small look inwards and attempt to clean house, revising their practices. This is in part because of numerous corporate scandals such as the ones at Nike and Uber that have shown white collar America still often does not provide a balanced work environment for women, even in the 21st century. This paper examines the challenge to inclusiveness as discussed in the article, “Women and Workplace Respect: The Challenge for Corporate Leaders” by Gael O’Brien.
O’Brien’s article is so insightful because she pinpoints how many of the thigns that big corporations say post gender-bias scandal (or any other scandal that demonstrates a hostile work environment to women) is that they will enact a “zero-tolerance” policy towards such an unhealthy culture. As O’Brien has found, such promises are often “hollow” as she says, and something that these corporate spokespeople just say as a means of saving face for the media. Instead, O’Brien engaged in researching a company that actually claimed to have zero tolerance policy and was able to consistently fulfill these goals year after year. Paul O’Neill was able to change the company policy at Alcoa by instituting a zero incidence policy: this meant vocalizing repeatedly that there was a strong expectation that the company would have zero occurrences of sexual harassment, while putting a spotlight on mutual respect (O’Brien, 2018). Perhaps the most important aspect of this method was that there was an emphasis on repeating the message. This is one of the wisest elements of their protocol because it prevented a negative culture from seeping in. In order to maintain high standards, a company needs to consistently remind all of its members that a high level culture is part of the standard and expectation. This quite frankly, keeps everyone on their toes. O’Neill discusses how he created an environment where all employees were safe and the number of incidents were so low it was negligible. This created an environment of complete transparency: if any incident with safety should occur, O’Neill made sure that there was a clear lesson learned. This was if an incident happened, no one on the team felt like they were taking a step back in their own development: it was all part of a greater lesson of learning and personal growth. O’Brien’s article is useful when it comes to determining how to create a more inclusive work environment.
However, there is also the issue of how to open a pathway so that more women aren’t hitting a glass ceiling in the business world. The article, “The Impact of Three or More Women on Corporate Boards” by Konrad and colleagues (2008) found that when there were three or more women on corporate boards, it could be transformative of the corporation. Problems were approached in a more nuanced manner. There was a more communicative and inclusive environment. More people felt comfortable expressing alternative ideas and viewpoints. Konrad and associates also discusses the way in which more women can be recruited to boards and how more corporations need to feel a responsibility in recruiting both women and minorities. Hence, creating work environments at the highest level of corporate America that are more inclusive to women is an act that is beneficial to everyone.
A similar research paper, “Do women in top management affect firm performance? A panel study of 2,500 Danish firms” found that when women are in more positions of leadership in the workplace, everyone benefits (Smith et al., 2006). The researchers of this study gathered data for over 2500 firms during the years 1993-2001 and assessed the connection between the number of women in top leadership roles (such as CEOs) and the overall company financial performance (Smith et al., 2006). The results were simple to interpret. The more women in power, the better a company fared. One can’t help but wonder if women are such an asset to a company, in that they offer superior communication, problem solving and innovation, why aren’t more companies in a hurry to put them in charge? No doubt the answer still lies in antiquate sexism, misogynistic policies and general inertia.
In summary, the O’Brien article does a superior job of shedding light on a complex issue. It is so useful because it offers practical evidence and pointers regarding a how a company can avoid sexual harassment scandals while creating a work environment where everyone can thrive. The O’Brien article offers practical tactics that employers can implement, in a manner which will prevent them from engaging in empty platitudes about change or zero tolerance. O’Brien article is supported by a host of research which supports the necessity and benefit that companies reap when they put women in positions of power—on corporate boards or as CEOs. Given that the research is so consistent about the benefit of women in leadership roles in corporate America, it speaks to the necessity of a stronger recruitment push to reach equality and inclusion in that regard. From an ethical standpoint, this is the duty of the men in power.
References
Konrad, A. M., Kramer, V., & Erkut, S. (2008). The impact of three or more women on corporate boards. Organizational dynamics, 37(2), 145-164.
O'Brien, G. (2017, April 14). Women and Workplace Respect: The Challenge for Corporate Leaders | Business Ethics. Retrieved from http://business-ethics.com/2017/04/14/12925-women-and-workplace-respect-the-challenge-for-corporate-leaders/
Smith, N., Smith, V., & Verner, M. (2006). Do women in top management affect firm performance? A panel study of 2,500 Danish firms. International Journal of productivity and Performance management, 55(7), 569-593.
Stewart, E. (2018, June 8). Women are running for office in record numbers. In corporate America, they're losing ground. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/6/8/17413254/women-fortune-500-ceos-politics-blue-wave