Senior Lecturer

In this session, we will examine the position of women and their expectation of achieving managerial pos ition. The overt and covert agenda of power holders in the organisation and what it is that helps maintain power and rank. We will look at the research in this area and discuss Management Know – How, tactics and some suggestions to help a person on the path to become a power player in management terms. Over the past few years women have been able to make a number of inroads in achieving management positions yet they continue to be underrepresented in organisations across the world. The slight improvements at middle management is still poor and even the recently touted business case of reducing birth-rates and skills shortage, together with at least twenty six years of equal opportunities and latterly diversity issues, has failed to achieve equity in achieving at higher levels. Even where women do achieve they tend to wait longer than male counterparts do. This is in the face of organisational policies, which purport to actively identify women for top management roles. Evidence suggests such policies be seen as, ’ hypocrisy policies ’ as they inevitably say the right thing but do not lead to ‘doing ’ the right thing. Why are competent women and people from ethnic backgrounds still in this position? It is important to examine the work environment. May I establish immediately that many male managers are fair, impartial and honourable? However, this paper is about cultural systems that are not