The National Football League created a policy that requires teams to interview minority candidates for senior football operations and head coaching jobs called the “Rooney Rule”. This policy has led to a number of minority coaches being hired and being successful. As the NFL continues to become a progressive organization, Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that it will revise the Rooney Rule to require interviewing women for executive and coaching positions.
A larger and more demographically diverse pool of candidates not only makes it easier to find talented people, but it also facilitates greater levels of organizational success (Northouse, p. 409). From the surface, one would think that the NFL and it’s teams were an all male organization with little or no room for the female gender to hold a leadership position. Margaret Atwood says (Hengen & Thomson, 2007, p. 336) we still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly (Northouse, p. 398). However, there already are some women in leadership positions and the NFL is recognizing that although women lead in a different fashion, they can be as effective as male leaders. From The USA Today (2016) article “The NFL Looks at The Rooney Rule For Women in The League”, the NFL is filled with women in key positions, ranging from senior vice president Renie Anderson, chief football operations strategy officer Kimberly Fields and chief marketing officer Dawn Hudson at its headquarters to such team executives as Dawn Aponte in Miami, Jeanne Bonk in San Diego, Allison Maki in Detroit and Katie Blackburn in Cincinnati. Sarah Thomas who is the first league referee as well the Buffalo Bills hiring Jen Welter and Katheryne Smith as the first two NFL coaches. This shows promise as the NFL is looking to diversify and remove the glass ceiling from their organization, which Hymowitz & Schellhardt (1986) is the invisible barrier preventing women from ascending into elite leadership positions (Northouse, p. 399). I believe the NFL is being very proactive in their progression to hire more female leadership. In an article from The USA Today (2016) article “The NFL Looks at The Rooney Rule For Women in The League”, the league conducted a women’s career development symposium where aspiring executives gathered to share ideas, participate in panel discussions and breakout sessions, network and encourage one another to seek advancement. This is an important aspect to the development of female leadership within the NFL as women’s under representation in elite leadership positions is a result of differences in leadership style and effectiveness (Northouse, p. 401-402). The question arises is whether women’s natural tendencies will be effective when dealing with a subordinate makeup that is all male with Eagly & Johnson (1990) and Van Engen & Willemsen (2004) recognizing that one robust gender difference found across settings is that women led in a more democratic, or participative, mannner than men (Northouse, p. 402). The symposium focused on persuasion, communication, negotiation, and other challenges that the NFL faces. These are important topics to educate future female leaders on especially the persuasion and communication. Babcock & Laschever (2003) recognized another gender difference that advantages men in leadership is that men are more likely than women to ask for what they want (Northouse, p. 403). This can be a double edged sword though, as if the female leaders do not handle their requests in the appropriate manner it could be a detrimate to their perceived value from their followers. Eagly, Makhijani, & Klonsky (1992) literature on evaluations of female and male leaders showing that women were devalued compared to men when they led in a masculine manner, when they occupied a typically masculine leadership role, and when the evaluators were male (Northouse, (p. 402). The NFL recognizes that there are gender biases and leadership differences when it comes to women and men. The symposium and the revised Rooney Rule is a good sign that the NFL has an understanding that as Rudman (1998) states,women face significant gender biases and social disincentives when they self-promote and negotiate. Unlike men, for example, self-promoting women are seen as less socially attractive and less hirable, and women face greater social costs for initiating (Northouse, p. 403).
In conclusion, the NFL recognizes that they had to take the initiative to not only require that executive and coaching positions would be available to females, but to educate their future leaders on what different skills and approaches that they would need to be successful in their organization.
References:
The Associated Press (2016). “The NFL Looks at The Rooney Rule For Women In The League”. The USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2016/03/21/nfl-looks-at-rooney-rule-for-women-in-league/82066158/
Babcock, L., & Laschever, S. (2003). Women don’t ask: Negotiation and the gender divide. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Eagly, A. H., & Johnson, B. T. (1990). Gender and leadership style: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 233– 256.
Eagly, A. H., Makhijani, M., & Klonsky, B. (1992). Gender and the evaluation of leaders: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 3– 22.
Hengen, S., & Thomson, A.( Eds.). (2007). Margaret Atwood: A reference guide, 1988– 2005. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Hymowitz, C., & Schellhardt, T. D. (1986, March 24). The glass ceiling: Why women can’t seem to break the invisible barrier that blocks them from the top jobs. The Wall Street Journal, pp. D1, D4– D5.
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA. Sage Publications
Rudman, L. A. (1998). Self-promotion as a risk factor for women: The costs and benefits of counter-stereotypical impression management. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 629– 645.
van Engen, M. L., Leeden, R., van der, & Willemsen, T. M. (2001). Gender, context and leadership styles: A field study. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 74, 581– 598.
Michael David Fry says
William,
You raise some interesting points. I think it’s interesting to couple your research with some of my own. For instance, women earn 57 percent of the bachelor’s degrees, 60 percent of the master’s degrees, and more than half of the doctoral degrees (National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). However, women are still underrepresented in the upper echelons of America’s corporations and political system. Women are among the leadership ranks in American organizations, occupying more than half of all management and professional positions (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). This seems proportional given the fact that women make up nearly half of the U.S. labor force. However, women only make up a quarter of all CEO positions. There’s an even more steep drop off in these numbers when we begin to examine more elite leadership positions. Women only represent 4 percent of Fortune 500 CEO leadership positions, and hold less than 17 percent of the Fortune 500 board seats, and less than 15 percent of the Fortune 500 executive officer positions (Northouse, 2016, p. 398).
These discrepancies are much deeper than the National Football League but I think your post raises a lot of questions that are important to discuss. The invisible barrier preventing women from ascending into elite leadership positions like those in the National Football League was initially dubbed the glass ceiling (Northouse, 2016, p. 399). Would you argue that the “Rooney Rule” is an attempt to help females and other minorities “break through” this glass ceiling and secure more positions in the upper echelons of the National Football League? Or would you argue that this is nothing more than a charade on behalf of the National Football League to look like it is trying to combating the gender disparity and improve the organization’s public perception?
Would more women in the upper echelons of the National Football League change the organization? Is there a difference between how women run organizations when compared to how men run organizations? Are their leadership styles different or similar? A study cited in Chapter 15 found that women’s styles tend to be more transformational than men’s, and women tend to engage in more contingent reward behaviors than men; however, at the end of the day, men and women are equally effective leaders (Northouse, 2016, p. 402). The statistic that I think the National Football League is trying to tackle right now is that women and men are more effective in leadership roles that are congruent with their gender, meaning that women are less effective to the extent that the leader role was masculinized (Northouse, 2016, p. 403). The National Football League is currently perceived as a sport that is played by men, coached by men, and should be led by men. I think your post does a great job shedding light on how women have already worked their way up into the upper echelons of that National Football League. I also think your post does a good job highlighting how women have been effective leaders in the National Football League. Thanks for sharing!
Michael Fry
REFERENCES
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA. Sage Publications
jjo5099 says
Hi William,
Very interesting topic as football is around the corner, and I can’t wait. The introduction of possible female head coaches does add a lot of excitement to the NFL. From a fan’s point of view, the different in leadership would be fun to examine and see how the team reacts.
I believe it is interesting because their will be certain skills that a coach will have, obviously understanding football both offense and defense, understanding the team, and it’s player, and finally having a vision and ability to be flexible in the face of opposition. Furthermore, as a female coach she may or may not have certain be traits that are different and that may give her an edge.
As you discussed the traits and skills that the NFL can gain will only increase interest in the to the fans. Your out is very interesting, you also noted lots of references that I did not see in the bottom of your blog. Thank you.