Gender, Education & Leadership Opportunity in Federal Workplaces

Introduction

Most contemporary definitions of administration conceive it as an interaction in which leaders influence followers' decisions and behavior (Neuhäuser, 2012). Great leaders constantly work to position their staff for future leadership roles. Doing so not only increases employee dedication and productivity but also simplifies the roles of supervisors by ensuring that employee advancements into key positions are predictable. This interaction can take many forms, including practices from task and relationship domains, the use of various forms of power such as reward, expert, and referent power, the development of both formal and informal relationships, and the use of economic and social exchanges (Neuhäuser, 2012). Recently, professionals and researchers alike have developed a keen interest in the topic of public sector employee motivation.

Experts are interested in discovering the impact that employee motivation in the public sector has on the essential human resource. Many believe that public service employee motivation significantly influences public worker traits, including workplace practices. Such assertions are typically supported by evidence. For instance, according to Bader et al. (2018), those who are highly motivated to work in the public sector tend to be female, more qualified, and in supervisory positions with shorter periods of time on welfare. The authors further indicate that workers with high rates of public service motivation are less certain about their own motivation than those who seek monetary incentives and desire more non-financial motivating factors. There is also evidence that professionals with high public service motivation rates appreciate progressive office procedures and flag behaviors that are detrimental to the public interest more frequently.

In many organizations, nonparametric testing has proven relevant (Byrne et al., 2017). Organizations can experience unfavorable situations, especially during downturns in economic activity. It is essential to run a successful operation, provide excellent customer service, and offer products that clients will be satisfied with. There are numerous analytical tools available to help ensure that the best decisions are made to support the success of an enterprise and keep clients satisfied. Nonparametric tests provide additional analytical options, enabling researchers to examine several aspects of two response elements, such as usefulness and satisfaction. It is important to note that the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) offers a crucial window into the opinions of federal professionals. A review of the 2018 FEVS outcomes is presented in this paper, giving respondents the freedom to share their opinions and knowledge on how well senior leaders' methods and practices work for them.

In 2018, more than 500,000 federal workers responded to the FEVS. The survey aimed to comprehend the multifaceted dynamics of public employees across a number of areas, such as supervisor–employee relationships, opportunities for career advancement, and leadership philosophies. To establish statistical significance in two different areas of inquiry, two nonparametric analyses were carried out. The Mann-Whitney U test was employed to assess significance in the first research area. The Mann-Whitney U test is less powerful than the independent samples t-test, but it should be employed when parametric assumptions cannot be met (Cronk, 2020). The Kruskal-Wallis H test was utilized in the second area of research. The Kruskal-Wallis test is a nonparametric method used to compare data from a minimum of three groups on a dependent variable measured at least at the ordinal level. Kruskal-Wallis H tests check whether samples come from the same population, functioning similarly to a one-way ANOVA (Cronk, 2020).

Theory and Literature Review

Employee satisfaction is shown to be correlated with successful leadership behaviors, such as providing encouragement and training for advancement and maintaining courteous interactions with workers. Employees tend to respond positively to leaders who ensure that promotions and recognition take performance into account and who address underachievers constructively. These value-based behaviors support the view that the most effective leaders are both transactional and transformational. This perspective advises managers wishing to improve their administrative practices to adopt a purposeful leadership approach that may differ from their current approach (Chavan, 2017). Research findings reinforce the notion that collaborative management — one that accounts for the value of employees in important discussions and decisions — can increase job satisfaction.

The first research question ascertains whether there is a significant difference in opinion regarding whether the supervisor of a federal agency gives employees the opportunity to display their leadership abilities based on the employee's sex. The nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the data and assess significance through comparison of medians. Based on personal experience and the experiences of colleagues, it was anticipated that a meaningful difference would exist in whether public service supervisors give female employees the same leadership opportunities as male employees. According to Bader et al. (2018), discrimination against women in the federal workforce and other areas of the public sector has a long history. Additionally, discrimination can persist in reducing perceived competition even when a woman occupies a leadership position (Cavaletto et al., 2019).

The second research question examines whether there is a substantial difference in opinions on whether a federal agency supervisor gives an employee the chance to demonstrate their leadership abilities based on the employee's level of education. Given that there are three groups of educational attainment — below bachelor's degree, bachelor's degree, and post-bachelor's degree — the Kruskal-Wallis H test is a suitable testing method. If one wishes to advance professionally, furthering one's education is an important consideration. Prior research has demonstrated that professional growth and leadership prospects improve alongside higher levels of education, in addition to the growth in earned income (Caricati et al., 2016).

Methods

Statistical analysis was used in this study. Non-experimental, correlational, and descriptive research designs were employed in this quantitative analysis. Through observational data collection, measurable examinations, and quantitative analysis, several phenomena can be studied. A quantitative methodology is appropriate for examining the relationships between at least two numerically estimable variables. The survey was administered electronically, enabling a large number of respondents to be drawn from among federal government employees. According to Byrne et al. (2017), the overall FEVS response rate was approximately 48.2%. The data examined in this study were evaluated by a single organization, the General Services Administration.

The purpose of the survey was to gauge how employees felt about their workplaces. More than 500,000 people responded to 71 organization-related questions and eight grouping-related questions, providing both ordinal and nominal data. The survey is designed to ascertain the relationship between employees and supervisors; more specifically, the two research questions examined here focus on opportunities to exhibit leadership across gender and educational achievement categories.

Conclusion

The two tests utilized to answer the research questions enable researchers to better understand how supervisors of subordinate staff operate within the federal public sector. Treating women differently and providing them with fewer leadership opportunities than men is a persistent pattern in this environment. Because the practice is rather widespread, supervisors — including female supervisors — may not recognize the bias they are perpetuating. In contrast to the first test, the second test suggests that educational attainment does function as a meaningful indicator of the opportunities employees receive to exhibit their skills, potentially opening pathways for advancement.

An additional interesting avenue for future research would be grouping the same educational attainment data by age cohort to examine generational differences. However, while gender identification is not an appropriate metric for supervisors to use when deciding whether to allow staff to demonstrate leadership capacity, educational advancement is a substantively relevant factor. Public administrators can use quantitative research to identify patterns that may affect organizational success. This study determined through statistical analysis that there are significant differences in opinion regarding whether a federal agency supervisor gives employees opportunities to showcase their leadership abilities based on both gender and educational level. Both null hypotheses were rejected at a 5% level of significance, consistent with prior Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey research on workforce equity and motivation.

References

Bader, B., Stoermer, S., Bader, A. K., & Schuster, T. (2018). Institutional discrimination of women and workplace harassment of female expatriates. Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, 6(1), 40–58.

Byrne, Z. S., Hayes, T. L., & Holcombe, K. J. (2017). Employee engagement using the federal employee viewpoint survey. Public Personnel Management, 46(4), 368–390.

Cavaletto, G. M., Pacelli, L., & Pasqua, S. (2019). Women helping women? Chain of command and gender discrimination at the workplace. Journal of Modern Italian Studies, 24(2), 350–372.

Cronk, B. C. (2020). How to use SPSS: A step-by-step guide to analysis and interpretation. New York, NY.

Neuhäuser, M. (2012). Nonparametric statistical tests: A computational approach. CRC Press.

Watts, R. D., Bowles, D. C., Fisher, C., & Li, I. W. (2021). The growth of Australian public health graduates and courses, 2001–2018: Implications for education and employment opportunities. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 45(2), 95–100.

Zhao, W., Weyer, E., & Yin, G. (2021). A general framework for nonparametric identification of nonlinear stochastic systems. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 66(6), 2449–2464.