A study of the promotion to partner process in a professional services firm: How women are disadvantaged

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2008 British Academy of Management.Increasing numbers of women are attracted to careers in the professional services. However, when their progress is considered to partner positions, it is found that they are not advancing to the levels anticipated. When the literature in relation to the partnership promotion process is explored, we find explanatory models are rare, and rarer yet is work that considers the impact of sex bias on the process. The article adds to the limited work available by presenting findings from a behavioural process perspective through an empirical study with male and female management consultants in a professional services firm which indicates that the promotion to partner process is indeed sex biased. Two areas of disadvantage for women are identified: the presence of a self-managed career advancement process necessitating a proactive approach to demonstrating individual contribution; and the need to ‘fit’ a prevailing model of success within the firm which is a masculine model and is more problematic for women. The article calls for a differentiated treatment of the glass ceiling phenomenon, capable of capturing disadvantage accruing from societally based factors and sector-based factors. The implications of the findings for future research and professional service firms are discussed

Standard Chartered Bank: Women on Corporate Boards in India 2010

This first Standard Chartered Bank: Women on Corporate Boards in India 2010 report looks at the representation of women on the boards of India's leading companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE-100) . It ranks the companies in terms of the gender diversity of their boards, with those with the highest percentage of women on their boards appearing at the top. The report also examines the general topic of gender diversity on the boards of the BSE-100 by presenting the findings of interviews with 18 female directors of BSE-100 companies

Revealing Intersectional Dynamics in Organizations: Introducing ‘Intersectional Identity Work’

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Little consensus exists regarding conducting intersectional studies. We introduce ‘intersectional identity work’ as an approach for examining individuals’ experiences at the nexus of multiple identities. Incorporating identity work as a theoretical and analytical framework, we use journals and interviews to examine identity-heightening episodes that trigger meaning-making of intersecting senior, gender and ethnic identities among British Asian and black women and men. Our analysis reveals how intersecting identities are leveraged in encounters with subordinates, superiors and clients. Intersectional locations provide resources and cues for claiming or restricting privileged and disadvantaged status in asymmetric power positions. Intersectional identity work expands and restricts identification at juxtaposed locations. It offers a prospect for elucidating intersectional dynamics present in a range of identity configurations and addresses critiques that individual-level intersectional analyses at intersections are mere narrative. We encourage further research that examines other socially salient identities using our approach to develop theory on how multiple identities play out in everyday experience.This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number ES/F020570/1)

Women on Boards: Progress following the 2012 Corporate Governance Code

This report monitors and recounts progress to date against the Financial Reporting Council's 2012 amendment to the Corporate Governance Code, considering inclusion of diversity reporting within annual reports. From this and from measuring the reality of the statistics on women in leadership and board positions across the top FTSE 350 companies, the report comments on the extent to which gender diversity is becoming an integral part of corporate strategy

The Female FTSE Board Report 2015

This year we have seen significant progress on FTSE 100 boards. All-male boards have totally disappeared with Glencore, the last, appointing a woman to its board. The percentage of women on FTSE 100 boards is 23.5%, almost exactly where we predicted in last year's report. This puts us on track to hit the 25% target by the end of 2015. The percentage of women in executive directorships on FTSE 100 boards is at an all time high of 8.6% with 24 women holding such roles

Does woman + a network = career progression?

Question: I am an ambitious and talented junior manager who has recently been hired by FAB plc, a large multinational company. I am also a woman and, as part of my induction pack, have received an invitation to join FABFemmes - the in-company women's network. I don't think my gender has been an obstacle to my success thus far and so I don't really feel the need to join. But on the other hand I don't want to turn my back on something that might offer me a useful source of contacts to help me advance up the career ladder. What would be the best thing to do? - Ms Ambitious, UK

Stiffness at shear-wave elastography and patient presentation predicts upgrade at surgery following an ultrasound-guided core biopsy diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ

AIM: The aim of this study is to establish predictors of invasion in lesions yielding an ultrasound-guided biopsy diagnosis of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients subjected to ultrasound-guided core biopsy yielding DCIS were studied. At shear-wave elastography (SWE) a threshold of 50 kPa was used for mean elasticity (Emean) to dichotomise the elasticity data between invasive and non-invasive masses. Data recorded included the mammographic and ultrasound features, the referral source, and grade of DCIS in the biopsy. The chi-square test was used to detect statistical significance.RESULTS: Of 57 lesions, 24 (42%) had invasion at excision. Symptomatic patients and patients with stiff lesions were more likely to have invasion than patients presenting through screening and with soft lesions (58% [14 of 24] versus 30% [10 of 33], p=0.03) and (51% [20 of 39] versus 22% [4 of 18], p=0.04). No other factors showed a relationship with invasion. Combining the two predictors of invasion improved risk stratification with symptomatic and stiff lesions having a risk of invasion of 67% (12 of 18) and soft lesions presenting at screening having only a 17% (2 of 12) risk of invasion (p=0.02).CONCLUSION: Stiffness on SWE and the referral source of the patient are predictors of occult invasion in women with an ultrasound-guided core biopsy diagnosis of DCIS.</p

Feasibility study to assess the impact of a lifestyle intervention (‘LivingWELL’) in people having an assessment of their family history of colorectal or breast cancer

Objectives To assess the feasibility of delivering and evaluating a weight management (WM) programme for overweight patients with a family history (FH) of breast cancer (BC) or colorectal cancer (CRC).  Study design A two-arm (intervention vs usual care) randomised controlled trial. Setting National Health Service (NHS) Tayside and NHS Grampian.  Participants People with a FH of BC or CRC aged≥18 years and body mass index of ≥25 kg/m2 referred to NHS genetic services.  Intervention Participants were randomised to a control (lifestyle booklet) or 12-week intervention arm where they were given one face-to-face counselling session, four telephone consultations and web-based support. A goal of 5% reduction in body weight was set, and a personalised diet and physical activity (PA) programme was provided. Behavioural change techniques (motivational interviewing, action and coping plans and implementation intentions) were used.  Primary outcome Feasibility measures: recruitment, programme implementation, fidelity measures, achieved measurements and retention, participant satisfaction assessed by questionnaire and qualitative interviews.  Secondary outcomes Measured changes in weight and PA and reported diet and psychosocial measures between baseline and 12-week follow-up. Results Of 480 patients approached, 196 (41%) expressed interest in the study, and of those, 78 (40%) patients were randomised. Implementation of the programme was challenging within the time allotted and fidelity to the intervention modest (62%). Qualitative findings indicated the programme was well received. Questionnaires and anthropometric data were completed by >98%. Accelerometer data were attained by 84% and 54% at baseline and follow-up, respectively. Retention at 12 weeks was 76%. Overall, 36% of the intervention group (vs 0% in control) achieved 5% weight loss. Favourable increases in PA and reduction in dietary fat were also reported.  Conclusions A lifestyle programme for people with a family history of cancer is feasible to conduct and acceptable to participants, and indicative results suggest favourable outcomes.  Trial registration number ISRCTN13123470; Pre-results

Modelling for Robust Feedback Control of Fluid Flows

This paper addresses the problem of obtaining low-order models of fluid flows for the purpose of designing robust feedback controllers. This is challenging since whilst many flows are governed by a set of nonlinear, partial differential-algebraic equations (the Navier-Stokes equations), the majority of established control theory assumes models of much greater simplicity, in that they are firstly: linear, secondly: described by ordinary differential equations, and thirdly: finite-dimensional. Linearisation, where appropriate, overcomes the first disparity, but attempts to reconcile the remaining two have proved difficult. This paper addresses these two problems as follows. Firstly, a numerical approach is used to project the governing equations onto a divergence-free basis, thus converting a system of differential-algebraic equations into one of ordinary differential equations. This dispenses with the need for analytical velocity-vorticity transformations, and thus simplifies the modelling of boundary sensing and actuation. Secondly, this paper presents a novel and straightforward approach for obtaining suitable low-order models of fluid flows, from which robust feedback controllers can be synthesised that provide~\emph{a~priori} guarantees of robust performance when connected to the (infinite-dimensional) linearised flow system. This approach overcomes many of the problems inherent in approaches that rely upon model-reduction. To illustrate these methods, a perturbation shear stress controller is designed and applied to plane channel flow, assuming arrays of wall mounted shear-stress sensors and transpiration actuators. DNS results demonstrate robust attenuation of the perturbation shear-stresses across a wide range of Reynolds numbers with a single, linear controller

Model Reduction in Flexible-Aircraft Dynamics with Large Rigid-Body Motion

This paper investigates the model reduction, using balanced realizations, of the unsteady aerodynamics of maneuvering flexible aircraft. The aeroelastic response of the vehicle, which may be subject to large wing deformations at trimmed flight, is captured by coupling a displacement-based, flexible-body dynamics formulation with an aerodynamic model based on the unsteady vortex lattice method. Consistent linearization of the aeroelastic problem allows the projection of the structural degrees of freedom on a few vibration modes of the unconstrained vehicle, but preserves all couplings between the rigid and elastic motions and permits the vehicle fiight dynamics to have arbitrarily-large angular velocities. The high-order aerodynamic system, which defines the mapping between the small number of generalized coordinates and unsteady aerodynamic loads, is then reduced using the balanced truncation method. Numerical studies on a representative high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft show a very substantial reduction in model size, by up to three orders of magnitude, that leads to model orders (and computational cost) similar to those in conventional frequency-based methods but with higher modeling fidelity to compute maneuver loads. Closed-loop results for the Goland wing finally demonstrate the application of this approach in the synthesis of a robust flutter suppression controller. © 2013 by Henrik Hesse and Rafael Palacios