Women in management
Women in managementWomen in Management
Women are often most sensitive to changes in the environment because they are in closest contact with the home and the land; they are the first line of defense. Women represent a huge consumer market: They control over 80% of consumer spending in the United States. Importantly, beginning in 1999, the majority of Internet users will be women. Some providers even mention 40% of all users to be women. Are we seen differently form companies - as consumers and as employees? Will we make use of this market power to set new goals? Women are entrepreneurs. Women begin most of the new businesses. This provides a great opportunity for all sorts of companies from financial services to technology. Between 1987 and 1996, the number of women-owned businesses increased by 78%, almost twice the rate of increase of all U.S. firms, from 4.48 million in 1987 to 7.95 million in 1996. Time is a critical element. There are a huge number of demands placed upon them: kids, husbands, elderly parents, the home, the groceries. One huge problem faced by all women whether they work or not is TIME. Brand- loyalty is just one strategy that women implement to save time.
Receiving a promotion is an event to be celebrated. Employees promoted to the role of manager are confronted with a new set of responsibilities and yet, too often, these employees lack management training and development skills. Consequently, new supervisors are faced with a difficult rite of passage - learning through trial and error. "To ensure the smooth transition from employee to manager, the virtue of continuous learning must be integrated into the corporate culture of any organization," says Andrew Schwartz, president of A.E. Schwartz & Associates, Watertown, Mass., a comprehensive management and professional development organization. The following questionnaire aims at the heart of management development:
� Can you identify your leadership style?
� Are you communicating clearly with your employees?
� Do you set achievable goals?
� Are you in charge of a motivated workplace?
� Do you find yourself overwhelmed by insurmountable projects, endless paperwork and constant interruptions?
� Are you familiar with the problem-solving process and your own decision-making style?
Once you are able to answer these questions you will be able to understand how all the small details of a business work together to make a whole.
Leadership is the ability to bring people to work together efficiently to achieve a goal. Transformational leadership is the most popular leadership a manager uses. Transformational leaders are able to articulate a clear, powerful, transformational agenda which answers the question, "Where, exactly, are you leading us over the next five to ten years?" They are able to tell us what is the current reality they are concerned about or interested in, and they are able to outline the outcomes of our work with them should we decide to follow them or join them. Leaders are people who take responsibility...
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