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The research team has selected the topic of ³Glass ceiling´ for the research project. It has been observed that during the

last few years a lot of women are going in management field but not a lot of them are getting an opportunity to get into the

top management positions. This has got nothing to do with their abilities and dedication to their work, it is clear that glass

ceiling is affecting and stopping the women from reaching the top management positions. The problem of glass ceiling

persists in the other countries of the world as is clear from the previous researches but this problem is more evident in

Pakistan. This is because despite the boom in education sector, the society still remains conservative and negative feelings

and stereotypes do exist against women employees. As a result of the glass ceiling, the performance of women employees

is also being affected. This is a cause of concern and it is happening because women managers feel that they are not being

treated equally. They develop the feelings that their efforts are not being properly rewarded. Due to the presence of pre-

defined rules and regulation for promotions women working in public sector are not being affected a great deal by glass

ceiling. Thus it is the private sector where the women are facing glass ceiling the most. The significance of this study is that

the research team looked into the main problems which are prohibiting the women from going into the top management

positions. By identifying the factors causing the problems, the team will be able to judge the reasons and help eradicate

them. It is important to look in the organizational factors that would help the women to reach to top management positions

as early as they deserve. This study is an effort to not only identify the factors responsible for affecting the performance of

women managers through glass ceiling but also to give solutions to overcome from this problems.

c




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The term µglass ceiling¶ refers to the transparent but real and strong barrier which
prevents women from moving up in the management hierarchy in an organization
(Morrison & Glinow, 1990). The minority of women in senior management has led
many researchers to investigate whether glass ceiling barriers such as sexual
discrimination, gender wage gap, gender stereotype, harassment and lack of
family-friendly workplace policies in the organizations are at play and how these
barriers affect the performance of female employees in the organizations (Jeavons
& Sevastos, 2002).
The existence of glass ceiling in different organizations, cultures and time span
has been confirmed by many researchers. In 1997, Tokunaga & Graham looked at
employees in the technical division at one large Fortune 500 corporation and found
that female engineers could not advance as far up the corporate hierarchy as did
the male engineers, thereby providing evidence for the existence of a ³glass
ceiling´ against women. A research conducted by Veale & Gold (1998) in
Metropolitan District Council situated in Yorks hire, UK also confirmed that a glass
ceiling did exist within the council and this inhibited women¶s progression into
senior management.
This existence of a strong glass ceiling effect prevents women to progress in the
organizations. A study controlled for previous job experience, education, age,
tenure, initial job level and gender showed that even levels of promotions existed
for men and women. However, qualitative data showed that women were
employed by the organization at a level that was lower than th eir qualifications, or
lower than men doing the same job. Therefore, even with equal rates of promotion,
women will not progress as far as men (Jeavons & Sevastos, 2002).

 
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managerial position has continued to be the major barrier to women ¶s progress in

management, worldwide. He also shown that on international level, the view of
women as less likely than men to possess requisite management characteristics is
a commonly held belief among male management students in the USA, the UK,
Germany, China and Japan.
Apart from gender stereotyping, gender wage gap also plays its role in the
organizations. Across a sample of eleven European Union countries in 1995 ±2001
Booth & Bryan (2007) found that women were paid less than men and this wage
gap typically widened toward the top of the wage distribution (the ³glass ceiling´
effect), and in a few cases it also widened at the bottom (the ³sticky floor´ effect).
In recent studies of promotion to partner process, Kumra & Vinnicombe (2008)
concluded that the disadvantages women face in organizations in relation to the
promotion to partner process arise from a combination of firm -based and societal
based factors.
Discussing the relationship between discrimination, harassment and glass ceiling
(Bell, McLaughlin & Sequeira, 2002), glass ceiling was referred as one of the form
of sex discrimination. In the study it was concluded that because all three have
some common antecedents, steps to reduce one of them will likely affect the
others. Apart from that they suggested that measures designed to increase
numbers of women in higher level positions will reduce sexual harassment.
As a result of this glass ceiling there is an inclination of women to entrepreneurship
as a result of barriers to women¶s advancements in corporation (Mattis, 2004).
Mattis showed that lack of flexibility continued to be a feature of the corporate
culture that lead to the attrition of high potential women and contributed to the
dramatic increase in entrepreneurship among women in the US


Glass ceiling affects the performance of women at managerial posts. Some of the
³masculine´ organizational barriers that severely hinder women¶s ability to be
effective in their role as strategic decision makers include reluctance of male
subordinates towards female managers; isolation by male colleagues; exclusion
from male-dominated informal networks and the lack of mentorship (Okanlawon,
1994). Exploration of a model of decision making (Large & Saunders, 1995)
explains how a combination of both i ndividual choices (employees¶ own
perceptions, requirements and priorities like family, social life) and organizational
blockages (organizational structure, policies and culture) maintains the glass
ceiling.
Gender related attributes also play their role. An appropriate theoretical foundation
for explaining differences between male and female service providers originates in
the sociology literature and is referred to as feminist theory. This theory proffers
two perspectives regarding gender-related differences in performance. One argues
that there are a wide variety of issues that are impacted by society¶s attitudes
towards women (Hooks, 2000). These attitudes are based in the history and
institutional structure of society. As a result, women are tre ated differently than
men, so that the performance of businesses owned by women suffers. Another
stream of literature argues that there are innate differences between male and
female approaches to issues. These differences lead women to take different
actions than males in similar situations (Buttner, 2001; Fletcher, 1998).
There is an alternative theoretical perspective that would not accept the arguments
advanced by feminist theory. The foundation for most of this research is the
rational economic model (Ferber & Nelson, 1993). This theory argues that
individuals make rational economic choices and seek to maximize economic
benefit to themselves or the firm. Most of these models assume that customers are
economically rational and will make their choices ba sed on the benefits gained
from the transaction, and not the gender of the service provider. Prior research on
whether gender as an impact on the financial performance of professional service
providers has not provided clear insights on whether feminist th eory or the rational
economic model is more valid. Some researchers find that women achieve lower
financial performance than men (Hisrich & Brush, 1984; Loscocco, Robinson, Hall,
& Allen, 1991; Lustgarten, 1995; Chaganti & Prasuraman, 1997; Fasci & Valdez,
1998), while others argue that there is no performance difference between male &
female owned enterprises (Fischer, Reuber & Dyke, 1993; Kalleberg & Leicht,
1991).
Davidson & Cooper (1983) found that managerial women experience greater strain
and feel more isolated at work than males which in turn affect their performance.
There is gender difference in leadership because of negative perception and
evaluation of women in leadership (Stelter 2002).
Sex role orientation and the stereotype of manager role as masculine construct,
along with lack of career planning among women are predominant theme that
explains why so few women progress to leadership position (Chugh & Sehgal
2007). Women are not advancing in work place because they did not receive
training to perform job moreover manager do not appreciate achievements of their
women employee as compare to men (Asplund 1988).


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There are three variables which are under study. Job performance is dependent
variable and it is the variable of primary interest and changes or variations in job
performance will be explained by two independent variables (1) gender
stereotyping (2) cooperation among colleagues. Ge nder stereotyping has negative
relation with job performance i.e. if there is less gender stereotyping among the
members of organization then greater will be the job performance. Cooperation
has positive relation with job performance i.e. if there is more cooperation among
the employees the greater will be the job performance.
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Past researches also shows that the cooperation plays a very important role in
increasing the job performance because if there is a cooperation among
employees then they can motivate each other and it leads towards increase in job
performance.

+56
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In this cross-sectional co-relational field study data on two independent variables
(gender
stereotype, cooperation among colleagues) and dependent variable(job
performance) were
collected from both males and females at management level working in private
organizations(
PIFRA(Project to Improve Financial Reporting and Auditing) World bank, Ittehad
airlines,IBM
Pakistan) in Islamabad through personally administered questionnaires.
6!%
Population for the study comprised all men and women at managerial level
working in private
organizations in Islamabad. Quota sampling method was used to draw sample out
of population
because it was deemed fit by the researchers on the basis of cost and time
considerations.
Subjects were chosen in predetermined numbers. The total sample size was n=34
which
comprised 14 (41.2%) males and 20(58.8%) females. 40 questionnaires were
given to both
gender and they all were received back within a time period of 2 weeks, resulting
in 100%
response rate because questionnaires were personally administered and
researchers clarify
research topic, doubts and assist some of the respondents in understanding some
questions. The
units of analysis were individuals who responded to the survey. Out of females 8
(40 %) were at
low and 12 (60 %) were at middle level management. Out of males 8 (57.1 %)
were at low and 6
(42.9 %) were at middle level management. During data filtration patterns were
observed in 6
out of 40 questionnaires of which 3 were filled by males and rest by females, such
questionnaires
were set a side and remaining 34 were used for analysis.7 questionnaires include
missing items
ranging from 1 to 2 so middle value on the interval scale i.e. 3(unsure) was
assigned to them.
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This dependent variable indicates the extent to which employees of the organization are expected to acquire job

knowledge, achieve assigned goals and maintain better work related relations with members of organization at workplace.

Researchers develop 5 point interval scale containing 6 items to measure the relationship of this variable with cooperation

among colleagues (independent variable). An example item is ³A friendly atmosphere among colleagues at work place leads

to better job performance´ Reliability of these items checked via SPSS SOFTWARE gave alpha= .56 Means reliable.

Researchers used 8 items scale to measure the relationship of job performance with gender stereotype (independent

variable). An example item is ³I feel additional pressure to perform because I am women´. Reliability of these items checked

via SPSS SOFTWARE gave alpha= .6334

7 8!" 

Stereotypes of men and women commonly reflect the distinction made in implicit
personality theory between agency and communion (e.g., Rosenberg, Nelson, &
Vivekananthan, 1968). This independent variable was measured using 5 point
interval scale containing 14 items. An example item is ³a woman¶s place is in
home´ Reliability of these items checke d via SPSS SOFTWARE gave alpha= .636
7  


´cooperation is a process by which individuals, groups and organizations come

together, interact and form psychological relationships for mutual gain or benefit
(Smith et al., 1995)´. This independent variable was measured using 5 point
interval scale containing 10 items. An example item is ³open communication of
relevant information occurs between male and female colleagues´ Reliability of
these items checked via SPSS SOFTWARE gave alph a= .634

!
Data was collected through personally administered questi onnaires because the
survey was confined to local area i.e. Islamabad. Moreover, this method was
deemed fit in Pakistan as
compared to mailed and electronic questionnaires. Method of personally
administered
questionnaires was adopted to introduce research topic, clarify doubts of
respondents and collect
all the completed responses within a short span of time. All questionnaires were
received back
within 2 weeks. 5 point interval scale was used for data collection containing range
from
³strongly disagree to strongly agree´

c%%%c 
The purpose of this study was to see the level of cooperation among colleagues
and the gender stereotyping in private organizations and then to determine the
impact of these two on the performance of female managers in the private
organizations. The statistical analysis of the data acquired from the filled
questionnaires revealed that both male and female managers at the low and
middle level of organization think that there exists a friendly atmosphere among
male and female colleagues at work place. They help each other in time of need
and in performing work related tasks. Though both male and female agree that
cooperation does exist but the interesting finding is that male employees perceive
that there is cooperation among colleagues more then female employees do.
Another interesting finding is that male employees think that a woman¶s place is in
home and they are not suited for work outside of the home. According to their point
of view traditional husband/wife roles are the best and that it is the job of women to
manage the home and men to go out to work. Also, they think that women lack the
skills and abilities needed at work. This finding is supported by a study conducted
by Schein (2007) who found that on international level, the view of women as less
likely than men to possess requisite management characteristics is a commonly
held belief among male management students in the USA, the UK, Germany,
China and Japan. However, female employees do not think that women lack the
managerial skills and that they are not suited for work outside the home.
Female employees think that compared to male managers, female managers
must continually prove themselves in order to be taken seriously and get
promoted. Whereas male managers think that male and female managers are
treated equally and in the same fashion as those of male managers. These results
are supported by (Jeavons & Sevast os, 2002) who found out that the existence of
a strong glass ceiling effect prevents women to progress in the organizations. The
researchers also showed that women were employed by the organization at a level
that was lower than their qualifications, or lo wer than men doing the same job
±)

It was hypothesized that if the cooperation among colleagues is increased then the
performance of female managers will be enhanced. The study results show that
there exist a relationship between cooperation among colleagues and the
performance of female managers. So the study results show that if the cooperation
among colleagues is increased there will be an improvement in the performance of
female managers. This finding is also proved by a previous study conducted by
(Okanlawon, 1994) that glass ceiling affects the performance of women at
managerial posts and a friendly atmosphere among male and female colleagues
contributes in the better and improved performance of female managers.
Another hypothesis that was formulated was that the reduction in gender
stereotyping will result in an improved performance of female managers. This
hypothesis has been proved wrong. The study shows that there is a very weak
relationship between stereotyping and the performance of female managers. Also
these two are weakly correlated in a positive way. The conclusion drawn is that in
the private organizations of Pakistan, female employees do not bother about what
male think of females as managers. Female managers do not feel discour aged
due to stereotyping. Their work activities, abilities and morale is not affected by the
stereotyping of male colleagues.

  %c 
The study aimed at finding either male and female colleagues in organizations
cooperate with each other and either gender stereotyping exists among male and
female managers. The findings show that both male and female employees at
managerial posts of private organizations agree that cooperation does exist but the
degree of agreement is higher in male then in female managers. The study was
also aimed to see if there exist a relationship between cooperation among
colleagues and job performance of female managers. A moderate relationship
does exist between cooperation and female managers¶ job performance. Hence if
the level of comfort and cooperation among male and female colleagues at work is
enhanced, female managers¶ performance will improve. It is evident from the
findings of the study that female managers¶ performance is not affected by the
gender stereotyping of their ma le peers.


11

c %
Since it has been found that a friendly atmosphere among male and female
employees at workplace plays a vital role in the better performance of female
managers, the private organizations in Pakistan should figure out ways and make
policies to make sure that female employees feel at ease with their male peers and
both male and female employees work together and coordinate with each other in
order to enhance employees¶ performance.

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The generalizability of the results of this study is low since a non -probability
sampling technique was used due to lack of time and resources. The sample size
is also very small (n=34) which is not suitable for such kind of research.
For future research, work which look more directly at these issues taking a larger
sample size will be encouraged. Also it is required to see that though gender
stereotyping is not affecting the performance of female managers but it is probable
that gender stereotyping that is being found in Pakistani organization might be
affecting the hiring or/and promotion criterion of female managers.

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