Lu, S L; Sexton, M G; Abbott, C and Jones, V (2007) What are the key turning points in female career progression? The case of a senior manager in a small construction firm. In: Boyd, D (ed.) Proceedings of 23rd Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2007, Belfast, UK.
Abstract
The under representation of women in senior management positions in construction is well documented. The enduring response to this situation has been a mantra for change which has rotated around a raft of interventions which, if done to the industry, will make the sector more attractive to women. The unfortunate (but not surprising) reality is that these interventions have not brought about sustained improvement. This invites speculation that these solutions assume that individuals, in this case women, engage in a process of rational career planning and progression which is solely and significantly influenced by external factors such as enabling employment law and conducive construction image and culture. The point of departure for this paper is that such assumptions are placing our efforts in the wrong place. In this paper we report early results from an ongoing European Social Fund project. The initial findings are indicating that the career decisions of such managers are a product of serendipitous circumstances and choices which produce idiosyncratic transitions and turning points in career progression. Moreover, these choices appear not to be affected by any externally driven agendas or realities, such as equality and diversity or construction image / culture considerations.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | career development model; female senior managers; SMEs; turning points |
| Index terms: | career, placing, women, manager, employment, equality and diversity, small construction firm |
| Subjects: | management, concrete and cementitious materials, professional development, sociology, organization, practitioner |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Information Management, Construction Materials, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Roles and Professions |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 PC |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here