Features that contribute to senior female representation at an organisation

Abstract: The Business Women’s Association of South Africa’s Women in Leadership Census 2015 reported that only 34 of 273 JSE-listed companies and 20 state-owned enterprises had 25% or more female representation at executive manager- and board level (BWASA, 2015). Research for this minor-dissertation was carried out in one of these organisations. The gendered nature of organisations and an organisation’s influence on its employees’ gendered behaviour in the working environment, have not yet been examined in the South African financial services context. There is, therefore, a need to investigate organisations that appear to exhibit both traditional and non-traditional gendered behaviour, to better understand the underlying factors and organisational features that contribute to this behaviour. The aim of this study was to identify the organisational features that contributed to a high representation of women executives in an organisation operating within the male-dominated South African financial services industry. A case study strategy was utilised. The unit of analysis was senior and executive managers. A Glaserian grounded theory approach was employed, and the use of semi-structured interviews allowed for the emergence of themes that could be further interrogated, ultimately developing theory to explain the phenomenon being studied. Following Bhaskar’s (2008) critical realist stratified ontology, it was found that a key factor was the composition of the candidate pool from which executive positions had been filled. Through a process of retroduction, two features were identified as having had an impact on the candidate pool, the first being the organisation’s attractiveness as perceived by those outside the organisation. The second feature that influenced the number of women at executive level at FS Org was the role of gatekeeper played by the CEO. This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge regarding the gendered organisation, and identifies features that have promoted women’s advancement in this specific case. Recommendations are provided for further research to gain insight into organisational features across industries that contribute to the representation of women at executive management level.M.Phil