In this week’s lesson, we learned about the glass ceiling. The glass ceiling can be described as an invisible barriers that prevents or make it difficult for women and minorities to reach the top positions in an organization. This resonated with me in that when I moved to the United States, I was encouraged by my family to change my name into an “American” name. They told me that if I don’t change my name, it will make it harder for me to get a job. I find the glass ceiling unjust and just wrong.
There are three barriers that contribute to the glass ceiling are: organizational barriers, interpersonal barriers, and personal barriers. Organizational barriers are organizational conditions and practices that make it harder for women and minorities to move up in ranks. Organizations expect women to perform better than men to overcome stereotypes. When it comes to promotion decisions, people tend to favor working with others who share similarities such as gender and race. Interpersonal barriers include prejudices, lack of networks, and lack of mentors. Personal barriers include lack of political savvy and work-home conflict. (Hamel, 2021).
The glass ceiling seems unbreakable, but the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) lists some ways to break the glass ceiling. When I looked up how to break the glass ceiling, many sources focused on the individual and what they should do to “stand out.” One point the authors make in this article is that breaking the glass ceiling is not an individual process. They argue that organizations should focus on inclusive recruitment strategies to bring in more women and minorities into the organization. They also can implement policies and practices that give minorities and women equal opportunities in the workplace (Sud & Amanesh, 2019).
An example of a practice that helps break the glass ceiling would be to consider the employee’s achievements and other attributes when making promotional decisions for leadership positions. The lesson highlighted some leader attributes that are universally considered an effective leader possesses. Some of these attributes are trustworthy, intelligent, dependable, dynamic, and honest (Hamel, 2021).
The glass ceiling has prevented many qualified women and minorities from moving up in the organization for many years. Although we are moving towards the right direction, more work should be done to completely eliminate this unfair and wrong barrier. The efforts should not be placed solely on the individuals, but rather on the organizations as well.
References:
Hamel, R. P. (2021). Lesson 13: Leadership and Diversity
Sud, S., & Amanesh, A. (2019, May 18). Breaking glass ceiling in leadership roles. https://www.shrm.org/shrm-india/pages/breaking-glass-ceiling-in-leadership-roles.aspx.