McKinsey’s survey of global executives finds that corporate culture and a lack of convinced engagement by male executives are critical problems for women.
In a 1976 McKinsey Quarterly article, the firm’s Jim Bennett noted that companies taking an honest look at how they handled the advancement of women were likely to uncover a number of “thorny attitude-based problems” that “will take much longer and prove much more difficult to solve” than “sex-based differences in benefits plans and obviously biased employment literature.”1 Our latest gender-diversity research—a survey of 1,421 global executives—suggests that cultural factors continue to play a central role in achieving (or missing) diversity goals. That underscores just how long lived and challenging the issues flagged by Bennett are.
Women executives are ambitious and, like men, say they are ready to make some sacrifices in their personal lives if that’s what it takes to occupy a top-management job. Many, however, are not sure that the corporate culture will support their rise, apparently with some justification. Although a majority of organizations we studied have tried to implement measures aimed at increasing gender diversity among senior executives,3 few have achieved notable improvements.
See full Article: http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/why_gender_diversity_at_the_top_remains_a_challenge
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