Comments for Executive MBA Council http://www.emba.org/wordpress Executive MBA Blog Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:47:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Comment on Brand Culture and the Female MBA by Bela Barner http://www.emba.org/wordpress/?p=43#comment-41 Bela Barner Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:47:25 +0000 http://www.emba.org/wordpress/?p=43#comment-41 I think Professor Dart's summary of the four critical issues for business schools to consider when evaluating the experience they can offer female students is right on target. As a first-time father who works primarily from home in order to spend as much time as possible with our new son while my better half ascends the ladder as a corporate attorney, I am starting to experience some of revelations of the reversal of traditional family household roles. Working and parenting places incessant demands on one's time, and working longer is not necessarily working smarter. Campus-based programs will monopolize your time if you let them, and I think the most thoughtful programs understand that activities not central to learning or career development can cause stress and disruption rather than satisfaction. The other point that my wife would certainly echo is a distaste for feeling targeted or singled out strictly on the basis of being female. Creating opportunities for students to interact more informally, rather than in apparently socially-engineered ways, seems to be the best route for allowing individuals to make the best use of their time. I think Professor Dart’s summary of the four critical issues for business schools to consider when evaluating the experience they can offer female students is right on target. As a first-time father who works primarily from home in order to spend as much time as possible with our new son while my better half ascends the ladder as a corporate attorney, I am starting to experience some of revelations of the reversal of traditional family household roles. Working and parenting places incessant demands on one’s time, and working longer is not necessarily working smarter. Campus-based programs will monopolize your time if you let them, and I think the most thoughtful programs understand that activities not central to learning or career development can cause stress and disruption rather than satisfaction.

The other point that my wife would certainly echo is a distaste for feeling targeted or singled out strictly on the basis of being female. Creating opportunities for students to interact more informally, rather than in apparently socially-engineered ways, seems to be the best route for allowing individuals to make the best use of their time.

]]> Comment on Brand Culture and the Female MBA by Teri Friel http://www.emba.org/wordpress/?p=43#comment-14 Teri Friel Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:34:47 +0000 http://www.emba.org/wordpress/?p=43#comment-14 As a woman who grew up in the 70s and began my career in the 80s, I will say that there have been improvements in how women are viewed, hired and treated. However, as I have said many times to university administrators; students at all ages need role models that look like them so they can imagine themselves in the same roles. Male Ceos, VPs, deans of colleges, superintendents are all the norms that cause young women to view their chances of gaining such positions as slim. Once in the job market, young women I speak to still express dismay at being ignored in business meetings, having their ideas claimed by males that are not called out by colleagues, dismissed openly or just not given a chance to make an impact with poor assignments or no chance to shine a light on their capabilities. It makes me so sad that these things are still occurring 40 years later. I was at a meeting yesterday full of volunteers. There were four women and 14 men, the two leaders were men. The women spoke up fairly well but the men's comments were more often noted. I will give kudos to the male leader who caught a comment from a woman that was tread upon by a man and made note of it for the group. Such behavior can encourage a woman to continue to contribute. However, it is still daunting to be in the minority and feel as though you have to "fight" for attention to your contributions. Perhaps EMBA programs need to focus more on the benefits of having women in your team for MEN, rather than trying to make special help programs for women. Such special programs make women feel like they are in the "slow" class rather than being given something more that will elevate them. In the end it will have to be men who make room for women and value them on their team, give support for attempts to contribute and encouragement for those smart women to really succeed. One of the comments after the referenced article about the percentage of women in MBA programs indicated that women are more likely to "leave for having children and choose a major that is less likely to view this negatively," overlooks the issues that arise in making room for women in the workforce. I find it odd that men see women who leave to have children as a liability. It is a short trip to then understand why women choose not to strive for the higher ranks, when having a child is viewed as an impedence to good business. Why would a woman who wants a family ever sacrifice this for a job that is probably out of reach? A loss of hope results and women just say...I value my family over this company, feeling forced to make a choice. One department chair at a university where I worked once told a woman that she had chosen an "inconvenient time" to have a child for the university, pressured her to stay in an organic lab during her pregnancy and then pressured her to return to work when her child was in intensive care. I can bet that no man who announces the impending birth of his new child is neither told that nor given anything but congratulations upon the arrival of that child. The data in this article make it clear that women are a major positive force for companies that open the doors and help women be contributors. MBA and EMBA programs need to emphasize that for the new men entering the workforce and educate them to understand that helping women be successful not only will advance their own career but also the fortunes of the business. As a woman who grew up in the 70s and began my career in the 80s, I will say that there have been improvements in how women are viewed, hired and treated. However, as I have said many times to university administrators; students at all ages need role models that look like them so they can imagine themselves in the same roles. Male Ceos, VPs, deans of colleges, superintendents are all the norms that cause young women to view their chances of gaining such positions as slim. Once in the job market, young women I speak to still express dismay at being ignored in business meetings, having their ideas claimed by males that are not called out by colleagues, dismissed openly or just not given a chance to make an impact with poor assignments or no chance to shine a light on their capabilities. It makes me so sad that these things are still occurring 40 years later. I was at a meeting yesterday full of volunteers. There were four women and 14 men, the two leaders were men. The women spoke up fairly well but the men’s comments were more often noted. I will give kudos to the male leader who caught a comment from a woman that was tread upon by a man and made note of it for the group. Such behavior can encourage a woman to continue to contribute. However, it is still daunting to be in the minority and feel as though you have to “fight” for attention to your contributions.

Perhaps EMBA programs need to focus more on the benefits of having women in your team for MEN, rather than trying to make special help programs for women. Such special programs make women feel like they are in the “slow” class rather than being given something more that will elevate them.

In the end it will have to be men who make room for women and value them on their team, give support for attempts to contribute and encouragement for those smart women to really succeed. One of the comments after the referenced article about the percentage of women in MBA programs indicated that women are more likely to “leave for having children and choose a major that is less likely to view this negatively,” overlooks the issues that arise in making room for women in the workforce. I find it odd that men see women who leave to have children as a liability. It is a short trip to then understand why women choose not to strive for the higher ranks, when having a child is viewed as an impedence to good business. Why would a woman who wants a family ever sacrifice this for a job that is probably out of reach? A loss of hope results and women just say…I value my family over this company, feeling forced to make a choice. One department chair at a university where I worked once told a woman that she had chosen an “inconvenient time” to have a child for the university, pressured her to stay in an organic lab during her pregnancy and then pressured her to return to work when her child was in intensive care. I can bet that no man who announces the impending birth of his new child is neither told that nor given anything but congratulations upon the arrival of that child.

The data in this article make it clear that women are a major positive force for companies that open the doors and help women be contributors. MBA and EMBA programs need to emphasize that for the new men entering the workforce and educate them to understand that helping women be successful not only will advance their own career but also the fortunes of the business.

]]> Comment on Brand Culture and the Female MBA by Heather C. Swain http://www.emba.org/wordpress/?p=43#comment-12 Heather C. Swain Tue, 12 Jul 2011 12:51:49 +0000 http://www.emba.org/wordpress/?p=43#comment-12 Professor Dart is absolutely on point when she talks about the necessity of examining the alignment between the brand promise and the experience within programs. And while no program or university can be responsible for the experience that comes after, I think recruitment into MBA and EMBA program may also suffer becasue women realize it is not only the culture and experience within programs that may not match the marketing rhetoric, but that the same may be true of the culture and experience they will encounter after exiting the program. Perhaps schools can best address this by making it clear that they are teaching the value of diverse leadership styles to all and in so doing contributing to cultural change over time. Professor Dart is absolutely on point when she talks about the necessity of examining the alignment between the brand promise and the experience within programs. And while no program or university can be responsible for the experience that comes after, I think recruitment into MBA and EMBA program may also suffer becasue women realize it is not only the culture and experience within programs that may not match the marketing rhetoric, but that the same may be true of the culture and experience they will encounter after exiting the program. Perhaps schools can best address this by making it clear that they are teaching the value of diverse leadership styles to all and in so doing contributing to cultural change over time.

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