It refers to setting up an invisible and artificial difficulty to prevent certain qualified people (especially women) from rising to certain positions in the organization.
The term glass ceiling appeared in the [Corporate Women] column of the Wall Street Journal on March 24, 1986, to describe the obstacles faced by women trying to advance to the top of a company or organization.
"Ceiling effect" is an article by Morrison and others in 1987-"Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Can Women Reach the Top of America's Largest?" Corporations ?) first used concept. A year later, Marilyn Davidson and Gary Cooper also discussed this issue in their book Shattering the Glass Ceiling.
The basic meaning of the glass ceiling effect is that women or minority groups cannot be promoted to the top of a company or organization not because they have insufficient ability or experience, or do not want their positions, but because some women and minority groups are promoting. On the one hand, the organization seems to have set up a barrier, and this barrier is sometimes not even visible.
Therefore, if women or minority groups in the organization want to slowly climb up the career development ladder, when they are about to approach the top, they will naturally feel an invisible barrier blocking them, so their positions are often You can only climb to a certain stage and it is impossible to continue. Such a situation is the so-called obstacle of the glass ceiling.
Time factor
It is believed that even the best women often have no time to go through the long corporate promotion channel to reach the top of the company. For senior managers, the basic requirement is: a master's degree plus 25 years of work experience. In the 1970s, when today's top managers graduated, less than 5% of law and MBA degrees were awarded to women. Now, 40% of law degrees and 35% of MBA degrees in the United States are obtained by women.
Therefore, there is reason to believe that the number of women occupying management positions in companies will increase in the future. For example, in the United States, women held 17.6% of management positions in companies in 1972, and now it is 35%. However, the advancement of women in high-level corporate positions is not obvious.
motherhood theory
Sometimes people think that the ceiling effect is due to the unique nature and characteristics of women. On the road of professional development, women are easily distracted by their families and raising children. Even if they can return to work quickly, they have fallen behind other male colleagues. Especially for the reason of taking care of babies, they often miss some important development opportunities. For example, long-term work assignments overseas, several consecutive nights of negotiations with customers, rapid changes to plans, etc. Few companies can ignore these issues, so most companies arrange for women to enter departments that do not undertake similar jobs (such as human resources and information communication departments). As a result, women's professional experience is limited, and it is difficult to achieve higher positions.
male stereotype
Others believe that the ceiling effect is mainly related to male stereotypes. In many companies, this kind of stereotype has even become customary. The criteria for promotion are often in the hands of white men, and women who want to be promoted must be measured by their standards.
"We are qualified for this job, aren't we? So, our successors should be the same as us." The principle of succession planning for most companies is that simple. Therefore, the cadres promoted by men are often men. Rosabes Kanter published her book "Men and Women in Business" in 1977, which mentioned that because in organizations, female managers are often very noticeable in their work environment. This makes them (and their mistakes) more obvious and also exaggerates the difference between them and the dominant male culture.
In 1991, the U.S. government began to establish an organization called The Glass Ceiling Commission. This body is composed of 21 members appointed by Congress and the President, and is chaired by the Secretary-General of the Union. As part of the Bill of Rights, the function of this department is to identify and eliminate the obstacles that hinder women's career development in private enterprises, and help them obtain equal opportunities and rights. This association mainly focuses on 3 aspects:
Position allocation in corporate management and decision-making departments
Functional training activities
Salary and reward system
Many women said that the ceiling phenomenon has not changed. They cited data to point out that only 14% of the CEOs of all Fortune 500 companies were women. However, others disagree with this view based on the promotion status of women in the workplace in recent years. Some people argue that the term glass ceiling should be replaced with a different metaphor.
When GM’s first female director in charge of new car and truck development, Mary Bella, was asked if the female glass ceiling still exists, she said, “I don’t think so. In my career, I have never seen Or feel the existence of the glass ceiling.” She admitted that the proportion of female senior executives is indeed low, but she expects the situation to improve, emphasizing that “it’s just a matter of time.”
Linda Carly, professor of psychology at Wesleyan College and expert on sexism, has a different view. She said that women still face major obstacles in the workplace, but she will not use the term "glass ceiling" to describe. Carly thinks that "maze" is a more appropriate metaphor. She said, "Some women are promoted to very high Position, but the rest of us are still struggling.” Regardless of your position on the glass ceiling issue, it is undeniable that the representation of female senior executives in the US corporate world is still insufficient.
Although the glass ceiling effect exists objectively in society, for us personally, we can take some measures to weaken the ceiling effect.
Clarify your career goals
Many people's own advantages and interests lie in technology research and development and software development, so perhaps entering the management itself is not their professional aspirations, then the most important factor for them to break the "ceiling" is the improvement of technology and professional skills. But if after reviewing your own experience and analyzing your own advantages, you find that you are more suitable and want to enter the management, you need to accumulate the experience needed for promotion and overcome your shortcomings more purposefully. Maybe you need more leadership experience, maybe you need more innovative spirit, maybe you need more opportunities to prove yourself... Of course the threshold of career development is different in different industries and companies, you need to calm down and judge And understand your "ceiling" and shortcomings.
Improve their professional skills
If you feel that your professional ability is lacking, you can go to the relevant industry qualification certificate, participate in corresponding training courses, or learn to use more software... If you work in a high-tech industry, you also need to pay attention to whether you Keep up with the new development trend of the industry and have the corresponding technical capabilities.
Strengthen interpersonal relationship and team communication skills
American companies often value an employee’s team communication and collaboration skills more than professional technical capabilities. Usually we only pay attention to whether we have completed the work with high quality as expected, but are unwilling to step out of our comfort zone (Comfort Zone) to communicate with our team at all times, listen to the opinions of others, and ignore the importance of team communication. This more self-employed work model can easily isolate oneself and not be valued and trusted by one's own team.
Be brave to make breakthroughs and express your own opinions
When you work in a team, you must have different ideas and perspectives on things, and the courage to express your different views is an effective way to make you stand out in the team. In this case, our "racial" differences will often become our advantage, and our distinctive way of thinking and insights may become a novel idea, a brand new technological innovation, and a distinctive product.
Develop leadership skills
Use my work experience to actively help my team, strengthen team cohesion, and even consider applying for training new employees of the company. If conditions permit, you can also consider preparing some beneficial and creative proposals for the company, which can not only exercise your planning ability, but also prove your understanding of employees and the company, and the ability to dispatch resources and personnel.
looking for opportunities
Just as Wu Jiawei, the first Chinese university president in the United States, said, you may also need to have enough knowledge, investment, vision, hard work, courage and learn to grasp opportunities.
.jpg)
.jpg)