Organizational variables influencing female advancement in South Africa

Erwee, Ronel Article Organizational variables influencing female advancement in South Africa South African Journal of Business Management Provided in Cooperation with: University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB), Bellville, South Africa Suggested Citation: Erwee, Ronel (1992) : Organizational variables influencing female advancement in South Africa, South African Journal of Business Management, ISSN 2078-5976, African Online Scientific Information Systems (AOSIS), Cape Town, Vol. 23, Iss. 1, pp. 8-15, https://doi.org/10.4102/sajbm.v23i1.879 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/218077 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 8 S.-Afr.Tydskr.Bedryfsl.1992,23(1) Organizational variables influencing female advancement in South Africa Ronel Erwee Graduate School of Management, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0001, Republic of South Africa Received JO April 1991; accepted JO January 1992 Variables which affect female advancement in South African organizations, such as aspects of the organization sbllcture, i.e. the power hierarchy, composition of levels in companies and the reward structures, are discussed. Ana lyses of organization processes such as selection and promotion of organizational members provide examples of pre market discrimination and disparate treatment Group sbllcture and processes such as informal networks, the exclusion and inclusion of select members can also create subtle obstacles. Solutions to the slower advancement of women in organizations should be sought in both personal action plans formulated by career-oriented women and creation of enabling conditions in companies. Die opwaartse mobiliteit van vroue in Suid-Afrikaanse ondernemings word deur 'n veelvoud van faktore beinvloed. Die effek van organisasiesbllktuur op personeelbeleid, magsbasisse en vergoedingsbeleid word bespreek. 'n Analise van organisatoriese prosesse soos seleksie en bevordering toon dat sekere vorms van diskriminasie we) voorkom. Groepsprosesse en sbllkture soos byvoorbeeld marginaliteit, sosiale uitsluiting en stereotipering veroorsaak ook hindemisse. Oplossings vir die stadiger vordering van vroue kan gevind word in die formulering van beroepsvroue se persoonlike loopbaanbeplanning en deur die skep van bemagtigende toestande in ondememings. Introduction Adler & Izraeli (1988), in analysing the plight of women managers worldwide, note that although women constitute over half of the world's population, the proportion of wo men holding managerial positions falls far short of that of men and that women have been negated as a source of man agerial talent. They emphasize that no systematic evidence occur to prove that women are ineffective as managers and conclude that the barriers to female advancement are both structural Oegal, educational, cultural, social and historical) and psychological. Although many of the barriers are similar across the eleven countries investigated by these authors, each society differs as to the relevant importance they ascribe to each constraint. This again influences perceptions regarding the most important strategies to stimulate change. The theoretical model which is used to structure this article is one developed by Rosener (1989, see Figure 1) to investigate the organizational variables which influence fe male advancement in different cultures. Rosener (1989) postulates that women's progress in or ganizations can be impeded by a number of organizational factors. The structure of the organization influences the power hierarchy, personnel policies and reward structures which in turn affect careers. Certain organizational proces ses which are relevant to career progress are selection retention and promotion procedu,res. Organizationai structure and -processes influence the structures and processes among working groups. These four factors �tely . and in conjunction, create an organizationai clunate which _can � conducive to women's career progress or can create impediments. The aforementioned factors also prov�de � basis for solutions to problems. Certain solutions, given the organizational climate, may be more ac ceptable too� company than another (see Figure I). The first �IID of this article is to use the Rosener model (1989, see Figure I) to systematize South African research on � v�bles which influence female advancement in our orgamzauons. The second aim of this article is to focus only on organizational slructure, organization processes, group structures and -processes (see the model by Rosener, 1989, Figure 1) within South African organizations which impede and enhance female career development Thirdly, organizational and personal solutions to the current problems are proposed. Occupatlonal structure In order to appreciate the career development of South African women, the population distribution and occupation al structure must be taken into account. There has been a significant increase in the employment rate of women in South Africa -from 23% in 1960 to 36,3% in 1985. Participation rates vary with racial groups and are currently 36% for black women, 41 % for coloured women, 28% for asian women and 36% for white women (Central Statistical Services, 1988). Participation rates for women show certain trends which are linked to the w men's age group and race group (see Figure 2, Van der Walt, 1991). White women enter the labour force after completing school or tertiary education and work for a significant portion of their lives. A small portion of white women leave the workforce between the ages of 20 to 30 to raise their children. The majority, especially the more educated, never leave the workforce and others with prior work experience re-enter the workforce. Therefore, white women in the age group 30 to 50 years form a consistent source of ex perienced human resources (see Figure 2). Black women are a few years older when they enter the workforce and most fill unskilled, clerical or sales jobs. �ue to the escalating divorce rate, many black women are smgle parents who have to support extended families ��ich. contributes to a significant increase in the par: ucipation _rates between the ages of 35 to 45 years. Colour ed and asian women are the most traditional groups _ they en�r the market but with marriage or the birth of a first child they leave the workforce, if their circumstances allow S.Afr J .Bus.Mgmt 1992,23(1) !OR6ANIZATION CllftATEI IDR&ANIZATION CLIIIATEI C PROF J ROSENER Figure I A model for formulating position papers MIITIC:1-ION IIATII 80r---------------, 60 0 L--'-----'-----l.-.,___--'--__,_____,,_.,___�_.___:::;7 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 80 65 70 MII - WHITES -+- ASIANS Vu der If.al�, Utl -+- COLOUREDS -&-BLACKS Figure 2 Participation rates by age group -women in 1985 it, to be supported by their husbands and to raise their children (see Figure 2). The level of occupational segregation by gender is high. In 1980, 55% of all working women could be grouped into four traditionally female occupations: nursing and para medical occupations, teaching, clerical and sales occupa tions (Van der Walt, 1984). Between 1980 and 1985 the proportion of women has in creased significantly in the following fields: sciences 15.9% to 19.4%; medical doctors 8.8% to 14.5%; paramedical 9 careers 47 .2% to 62%; legal careers 8.2% to 11.5%; other professions 23% to 25% (Central Statistical Services, 1988). Black women are upwardly mobile in certain professional and white-collar occupations namely, college lecturing, psychology, sociology, personnel, market research, public relations, medical auxiliaries, library science and man agement (Prekel, 1989). Women cmstitute 17.4% of all managerial, executive and administrative posts. White women constiblte 17 .4% of white managers, coloured women '1:7.7% of coloured man agers, asian women 10.5% of asian managers and black w men 16.5% of black managers (Central Statistical Services, 1988). One must bear in mind that the administrative com pment of these categories is substantial and creates an il lusim that South Africa has many women managers. Education A partial explanation for the low percentages of women in certain occupations is their level of education and voca tional choices. In 1985 it was estimated that women con stitute 30% of graduates with Bachelor degrees, 17.1% of graduates with Masters degrees and 14.4% of doctoral candidates (Central Statistical Services, 1988). Women still tend to choose traditional fields of study at university level as can be seen from the percentage of female students in specific faculties in a large university: arts - 65%; business administration -21.8%; commerce -27.6%; dentistty -20.9%; engineering -5.6%; an:hitecture - 24.3%; education -66.5%; law - 35.9%; medicine - 49.5%; science -38.4%; (Bendix & Morrison, 1988). 1be first 'Women as Executives' programme at a South African university was launched in 1989 by the Graduate School of Management, University of Pretoria, with the aim of developing the leadership potential of women in management The profiles of the 80 1989 and 1990 par ticipants give an indication of the characteristics of man agerial women. The majority (42%) is aged between 30 to 39 years of age, with 26% under thirty and 32% over forty years of age. Most of the women are married (56%), but a large percentage (54%) of the women do not have any children. Most (57%) attained a degree or a diploma afrcr leaving school. Many are personnel or training managers (32%), but financial-, marketing-. general management, ad ministrators and researchers are well represented (Erwee. 1990b). As can be seen from the profile, the women executives can be classified as 'high level manpower'. but many are clustered in traditionally female managerial categories (e.g. personnel), receive relatively low pay (average salary R60 000 per year) and have to work hard (50 hours per week minimum) to maintain their positions in the or ganizations. Organlzatlonal structure• There are a number of theories of discrimination which may be used to explain the aforementioned occupational struc ture -only the Internal Labour Market (ILM) theory (see Pillay, 1986: 5) is relevant to this article as it focuses on factors within organizations. The ILM concept emphasizes 10 that although certain posts are filled by external recruit me11t, most jobs are filled from the internal labour market duough specific prmlOtional ladders m career roures. Pillay points out that: 'the occupational distribution differences between men and women may, to some extent, reflect employ er decisions to exclude women from certain enlry level positions and their associated promotion ladders or to promOle and upgrade women more slowly than men' (1986: 5). An employer's beliefs regarding the capability of a female applicant may affect the typeS of jobs offered to her and future promotional opportunities. Personnel policies ·Surveys in 1982 and 1984 regarding employment conditions in companies employing professional women, show that the companies provide inadequate career planning, dis crepancies in fringe benefits between men and women oc cur, women experience a lack of access to training p grammes as well as fewer promotional opportunities (Erwee, 1984). A recent survey of the career development practices of 58 manufacturing, financial and consulting companies (Erwee, 1990a), found that only some companies (34%) offer super visory training for women and even fewer (23%) provide career management programmes for lhem. In contrast to these meagre training opportunities for women, 'black ad vancement' programmes are in vogue -conducted by 66% of the companies surveyed. The main beneficiaries of the black advancement programmes are however, black men. Datnow & Birch (1988) investigated the advancement of women lawyers and advertising executives in legal and ad vertising companies in a specific region and find clear evidence of differences between espoused and practised policies in the finns. This evidence is found in the extent IO which the companies believe in the principle of equality and the extent to which this is not reflected in pay scales and the promotion of women as partners (legal finns) or direct ms (advertising companies). The abovementioned research regarding career advance ment policies for women in companies, should be compared to the results of an investigation of the extent of man agement training in South Africa (National Manpower Commission, 1986). A sample of 2.187 private sector S.-Afr.Tydskr.Bedryfsl.1992,23(1) companies (construction, mining, manufacturing, wholesale, retail, financial) was surveyed; at the time, altogether 87'1 of these companies did not do any management training. The 98 largest companies show the following trends: firsdy general management training (i.e. organizing/ plaMing/control) is emphasized while litde attention is given to human relations training; secondly only half of the companies indicate that they use manpower plans or evalu ate their training programmes; and finally only 40% of them had a written training policy or a separate budget for lrain ing. Similar results are obtained by Owens & Nema's (1988) survey on the role of manpower planning in the cor porate plaMing process. What are the implications of these findings for equal em ployment opportunities, especially for women? If white male managers in large private sector companies are oot adequately trained, and stereotypes abound regarding w men's career commitment, the women in the high-level manpower category have litde chance of being provided with training or developmental opportunities (Erwee, 1989). Power hierarchy Van Rooyen (1989) suggests that one of the reasons why so few women are in executive positions in organizations, re lates to women's lack of insight into power and their in ability to effectively play organizational politics. Research is cited which indicates that many women in middle man agement positions may have reward power but they may lack expert power because of the nature of the work they do, and 'attributions of power are strongly influenced by the context in which individuals are embedded' (Van Rooyen, 1989: 19). She explains that women experts find that their expertise is often not substantiated further by authority or inclusion in power coalitions and their power base is there fore of limited value in terms of future career developmenL One of the results of these training policies is the lack of penetration of women into the seats of power in companies. An example of the few women in executive positions is provided by a small sample of companies (South African Federation of Business and Professional Women, 1988). These companies were nominated by their female employ ees for a 'Gold Award' given to companies which optimally use their women employees (see Table 1). Table 1 Gold award nominees (1988): Percentages of male and female workforce (all races) on three organizational levels Utility company Manufacturing petroliwn Travel agency Ccxnputor company Retail: food Bank Educational institution Property company Lcvd 'I, Male 'I, Female 'I, Male 'I, Female 'I, Male 'I, Fanalc 'I, Male 'I, Fc:male 'I, Male 'I, Female 'I, Male 'I, Female 'I, Male 'I, Fanalc 'I, Male 'I, Famlc Execulive 100 Senior � 95 pcnonnel 95 0 5 5 100 0 90 10 93 7 64 38 22 36 62 78 91 1.5 36 9 90 15 54 64 38 10 46 61 92 66 32 8 34 67 60 40 40 60 33 67 so 55 62 so 45 38 S.AfrJ.Bus.Mgmt. 1992,23(1) The property company, educational institution and travel agency have the highest percentages of women on an exe cutive level. However, the general situation for women in the country, even among these award-winning companies, is reflected by the low percentages of women on the executive levels in the retail company, bank and computer company, and the lack of women on the executive level is reflected by the utility and manufacturing companies. Reward structures Dablow & Birch (1988) find that as male advertising executives are becoming more scarce they are also be coming expensive, and therefore, advertising companies are employing more females but are paying them less than male executives. This is inferred from the data on salaries and from salary/length of service correlations which are the weakest for female advertising executives. The researchers note that such practices are not possible in legal firms as a professional body ensures that visible discrimination in pay is minimized (Datnow & Birch, 1988). Salary surveys indicate that pay differentials between race and sex occur. Brehm (1989) cautions that the ano malies between male and female salaries (and white and black salaries) are a consequence of factors both internal and external to the organization. Factors such as the economic climate, type of industry, level of competition in the industry, all influence the company's ability to pay certain salaries. Gender wage differences may also reflect differences between men and women in education, continui ty of job experience, labour market continuity, absenteeism or turnover. In Table 2.1 the current differences are shown in pay be tween white males and females of all races, as well as fe male pay as a percentage of male pay by race group (Brehm, 1989: 21 and 1991). It can be noted that the pay gap between white males and females of all race groups in supervisory and departmental manager positions has nar rowed considerably between 1984 and 1990. Brehm (1989) observes that women have moved into job categories pre viously held by men (e.g. supervisory levels) where they re ceive salaries closer to those of their male counterparts in the same jobs rather than 'traditionally female' salaries. Brehm (1991) confirms that the gender differences in salaries between white males and females have been much less of a problem to rectify than the differences in salaries between the races. She cautions that respondent companies tend to provide information about white male scales and merely indicate that pay parity exists in most cases but that promotion into managerial ranks and higher salary scales are difficult to achieve. When female pay as a percentage of male pay is com pared by race group (see Table 2.2), women in all race groups fare reasonably well in comparison to their male counterparts. The exception is black women in the C Lower Paterson band who are earning salaries which are higher than black men. Brehm (1989) explains that in these cate gories black women moved into jobs which were previously viewed as 'white female' jobs. The black women start their jobs on lower pay than white females, but these pay levels 11 Table 2.1 Female pay as a percentage of white male pay Patenon Band Year and poop White males White females Asian females Blaclt females Coloured females Clower Junior management Professional persons 1984 1988 1990 100 100 100 19 91 100 74 74 84 6S 70 60 77 73 Source Brehm (1989 and 1991) C upper Department heads 1984 1988 1990 100 100 100 96 92 98 79 80 84 69 70 70 Table 2.2 Female pay as a percentage of male pay by race groups Year and group 1988 White males White females Asian males Asian females Black males Black females Coloured males Coloured females Source: Brehm (1989) Patenon band Clower Junior management Professional persons 100 91 100 93 100 104 100 9S C upper Department heads 100 92 100 91 100 94 100 are higher than those traditionally offered to blacks, even men. The 1981 amendments to the Labour Relations Act made wage discrimination on the basis of race, sex and religion illegal. Some companies however continue to practise c vert discrimination by renaming certain jobs, where the vast majority of employees are female, and are paying the w men at a lower rate (Bendix & Morrison, 1988). Organizational processes Moerdyk (1987) maintains that workplace discrimination generally involves three different processes namely: a. premarket discrimination where people have restricted access to opportunities; b. disparate treatment whereby different groups doing the same jobs are treated differently in terms of pay, bene fits and conditions of service; and c. adverse impact where some policies may have a negative impact on people by virtue of their back grounds. 12 Selection An example of premarket discrimination is provided by an analysis of advertisements for business men and women (Bendix & Morrison, 1988). The vacan�ies for male ac countants or assistant accountants have higher s8W?' scales than when the same jobs are placed in the sectJons for women accountants. These trends occur in many other oc cupations -positions are designated 'for men' or 'for wo men' and pay discrepancies occur. In contrast to the aforementioned examples, _M_oerdy� concludes that most companies do attempt to be farr 10 therr selection and promotion policies but that it is clear �� ,, 'different conceptions of what the term fall"ness means are possible, and that different policy impl_ica tions flow from the particular set of assumptJons adopted' (in Taylor, 1987: 7). . . . The role of psychometric tests in achievmg farr selecuon is investigated by Taylor (1987). He concludes that when race or class differences are examined 'test scores do not have the same meanings for dif ferent groups; the use of biased psychometric tests for shortlisting from a multiracial pool of applicants will not result in fair selection' (Taylor, 1987: 9). Group structure Marginality In their analysis of the advancement of women in the legal and advertising professions, Datnow & Birch (1988) discuss social closure as a mechanism through which members of a profession maintain their status as the 'in-group' and ex clude others (such as women). Certain indices of social closure such as type of school attended, father's profession and number of relatives in a profession are relevant in the study. The results indicate that social closure (to exclude women) operate in both professions but that the evidence of social closure is stronger for the legal profession. The marginal position of a black manager is described by Human & Hofmeyr. Black managers state that they have to function, as: 'a white in a white world during his working day. This is in spite of the fact that he may have had little previous exposure to white informal networks, in spite of the fact that he may confront tokenism in the wortc setting; in spite of the fact that he may receive in adequate exposure and consultation; unequal remuner ation; hostility from the shop floor; a top management policy of non-discrimination but discrimination at lower-management levels; unwilling secretaries; poor er promotion opportunities; little forward career plan ning; discrimination on a social level and encourage ment to be individualistic while at the same time being reminded of his ethnic background' (1984: 20). Prekel's (1989) analysis of the progress of black women seems to indicate that some of the aforementioned com ments regarding the marginal position of black managers, may still apply to black females in the workforce but she argues that black women have many strengths which help them cope with marginality. S.-Afr. Tydskr.Bedryfsl.1992,23(� ' Group processes The way in which individuals relate to each other in a wcrt· situation is, to some extent, related to the way in whicll they perceive each other. Human _& Allie _(1989) inves gated the attitudes of white Enghsh-speakmg male  agers to the upward mobility of women and contrasted it -, prior research regarding the advancement of blacks. They fmd that although the white male managers accept the principle of equal opportunity, �gree that wome� can � quire managerial skills and beheve that women s con butions should be valued, some of the males question the ability of women to compete on equal tenns with men. Ap, proximately a third of the male managers hold �ne _or more of the following beliefs: women are less obJecUve, lea aggressive, less capable of contributing to organuational goals, less ambitious, less self-co�dent �nd less ca�ble of learning mathematical and mechanical skills than therr male counter-parts. It is clear that this subgroup of male  agers attribute women's lack of career advanceme?t mainly to the women's internal dispositions and underestJmate the impact of situational factors. . . The effect of these perceptions of male managers 1s ii-: lustrated by Human & Allie's (1989) finding that only a: third of their respondents state that the top managements in companies which they represent are committed to devel ing and advancing women and only 12% believe in affmn ative action with regard to women. Furthennore, the  searchers find that there is no clarity on affirmative actioll · policies which are applied to women of different race groups: 'the respondents have not seriously contemplated the position of black women in present day South Africa. Alternatively, they could perceive black women as a group to be classified with black men and feel that � firmative action should be practised in relation to this group but not towards white women who, it may be tacitly assumed, can progress without any affirmative steps being taken' (Human & Allie, 1989: 23). The stereotypes which some male managers hold  garding women's capabilities, can create self-fulfilling prophesies. Moodley (1986: 4) postulates that failures of minority members at the worlcplace are often due to their internalised low self-concept -'the stigmatised internalise their own stigmatisation by overconf orming'. If women internalise the negative stereotypes, they may underperform, which may in tum confll"ffi male stereotypes of women and perpetuate discriminatory practices. In order to study the influence of perceptions on group processes, Watts (1988) examined the perceptions of black managers and of their wortc colleagues (boss, peer, su ordinate) in regard to black advancemenL She states that fundamental interpersonal perceptual discrepancies emerge between the black managers and their wortc associates. The black managers' colleagues are inclined to overestimate dispositional causes of the black managers' behaviour, and underestimate situational factors (Watts, 1988). Many of the black managers' peers state that the black managers lack as· seniveness, initiative and drive. Watts (1988) argues that the peers fail to perceive that the behaviour of the manager may reflect an adaptation to an unresponsive, unsupportive S.Afr J .Bus.Mgmt 1992,23(1) environment which provide little opportunity for assert iveness. By contrast, the black managers are inclined to attribute their work behaviour and problems to external factors (e.g. racial discrimination), often to the complete exclusion of attributions of internal causality preventing them from examining their own shortcomings (Watts, 1988). Waus's (1988) research has not been replicated for women managers and their colleagues. However in studies by Erwee (1984) and Bendix & Morrison (1988) the per ceptions of female managers were investigated. In both studies the women managers note that they view themselves as career-orientated and do not expect differential treatment They admonish some women for being directionless and unprofessional which confirms male stereotypes and urge each woman to set goals, seize opportunities and actively take responsibility for own career development Conclusions Women's career choices are gradually changing as the younger generations are choosing non-traditional fields of study and more women are reaching higher educational levels. White and black women are staying in the workforce for extended periods and are a reliable source of loyal workers. Although pay parity is being achieved between salaries of white males and females, gender gaps in salaries between other race groups occur. Certain organizational selection and promotion policies cause concern. The most significant impediments to women's career advancement seem to be negative stereotypes held by managers regarding women's potential and lack of access to further training opportunities. Organizational and personal solutions Results of the aforementioned studies indicate that solutions to the slower advancement of women in South African or ganizations should be sought in both personal action plans formulated by career-orientated women and the creation of enabling conditions in companies. The model by Rosener (1989, see Figure 1) is used as a basis to structure the re commendations. Personal solutions Career choice Young women should carefully study the current occu pational structure to identify careers in which shortages of human resources exist e.g. managerial posts, most para medical occupations, technicians and technologists, en gineers, accountants and auditors. Greater emphasis should be placed on non-traditional career choices which could open new career routes to women and the few available vocational guidance information bases should be used (National Manpower Commission, 1988). Women who are currently employed should utilise the basic steps in career planning to plot their future career. A self-analysis of values, neoos, competencies and goals should be the first step which is followed by an in vestigation into the existing career routes in her or ganization and an identification of possible positions. The 13 next step will be to match the self-analysis with the key performance areas and competencies needed for each position. Her perceptions of the current and possible future posts which she may aspire to should be discussed with a mentor, a competent personnel specialist or counselor. Training In order to eliminate premarket discrimination, women should regard training at a university or college as a priority to gain a competitive advantage. In cases where managers assume that a woman is not interested in further advance ment, she should correct this perception in personal inter views by indicating which internal training programmes in the organization would enable her to develop her competen cies. If her access to internal training opportunities is still limited, she should identify external training courses at universities or other institutions and apply for sponsorship. As many training and personnel managers are women. they can ensure that access to training is available to all competent individuals. Furthermore these women can form an internal peer-training network to assist all women to share their expertise and train each other. More relevant training may help to staunch the brain drain of under developed professional women out of companies. Organizational solutions Structure and policies Rosabeth Moss-Kanter, in The Change Masters, discusses five building blocks of organizational change namely, a) en couraging departures from traditional rigid practices; b) using crises as galvanising events to introduce change; c) ensuring that strategic decisions in favour of change will be made; d) identifying managers who will act as 'champions for change'; and e) formulating specific action plans. W men can use these guidelines to act as internal champions for change to help equalise opportunities (see Erwee, 1989) e.g. by serving on the labour union or personnel society in their company. In one university this strategy was followed to change policies on maternity leave, realising that intro ducing policy changes takes a long time and concerted ef fort. Internal investigations, regarding job segregation and closed promotion procedures, can be sparked off by using an external incentive such as nominating the organii.ation for the coveted 'Gold Award' of the South African Fed eration of Business and Professional Women. Secondly pro gressive companies can be identified by means of their re porting on personnel and social responsibility issues for the Financial Mail Top 100 Companies award. A third strategy to affect employer decisions can be to utilise congresses of professional societies (e.g. Institute of Personnel Man agement) as a vehicle to highlight the successful advance ment policies for females in progressive organii.ations. Finally, female employees could request their companies to provide access to research institutions, such as the Human Sciences Research Council, to investigate the differences between espoused and practiced policies in a variety of companies to provide an overview of the current situation. Kanter (in Erwee, 1989) notes that in most cases too few programmes are launched to introduce equal employment 14 opportunities. She cautions that EEO programmes should not be an isolated action on the periphery of other human resource issues, but should be adequately integrated into existing programmes. Power hierarchy As Van Rooyen (1989) indicates, the power balance in organizations is difficult to decipher and to change. Re search should be done in the South African context and this information can then be utilised in programmes, such as in the Women as Executives course, to create an awareness among managerial women of the dynamics of power. Reward structures The trend towards the equalisation of remuneration (Brehm, 1989) is encouraging, but there are great differences be tween companies regarding pay policies. Organizations tend to keep information regarding remuneration confidential and the individual has to research trends in her organization and encourage colleagues to share information. When dis crepancies are discovered, she has to ask for clarification. Each female employee should negotiate the best possible remuneration package, not only at the start of a career but at each next move up the corporate ladder. Many women do not renegotiate remuneration at promotional points and thereby place all females which subsequently follow the career route, at a disadvantage. Educated black women should be encouraged to negotiate wages on the same level as their white counterparts which will contribute to creating upward pressure on salaries. Selection and promotion Companies which practise premarket discrimination by placing discriminatory advenisements, can be targeted. The attention of business publications can be drawn to the negative effect of such practices and they can be requested by their women readers not to accept such advenisements. Researchers at the HSRC will be able to advise companies on the use of psychometric tests to ensure fair selection practices. However, cenain tests have to be validated and in this regard the researchers will need the co-operation of personnel managers to obtain samples for research. Joint re search programmes, between the HSRC and companies, can be launched to replicate Charoux's (1988) study on the cognitive, leadership and behavioural criteria for the selection of supervisors, specifically on female samples. This research will have the 'complementary contributions model' (Adler & lzraeli, 1988) as a basis to describe the unique contributions which women can make in the work place. Specific incidences of premarket discrimination, disparate ll'eatment and inequality in conditions of service may be re garded by trade unions as unfair labour practices. These ex amples can be drawn into the ongoing negotiation process between labour and management Induction programmes Moerdyk (1985: 38) notes that many organizations have introduced extended induction or 'bridging education' pr grammes to address a variety of educational, socio-cultural S.-Afr.Tydskr.Bedryfsl.1992,� and motivational 'deficits/differences' that are seen .; barriers to effective managerial perf onnance. Some 111-1 grammes are successful, but others need to be adapted • create a better fit between individual and organizatiCJIII needs. The extent to which women are drawn into � programmes, should be investigated. Group processes Watts (1988: 38) recommends that organizations shoul4\ address the issue of perceptual discrepancies between bid· managers and their colleagues by implementing 'racial awareness programmes', role playing as well as inf tional and experiential learning. In addition she discussea the value of informal communication exercises (social meetings after work) as well as some forms of attributional. training. Watts' (1988) analysis of the perceptions of black 111111- agers and their work colleagues (bosses, peers, sub, 1 ordinates) can be replicated with female managers. Tea building sessions can discuss the implications of the re-: search in order to build cohesion in the work team and ., correct attribution errors and biases. Quality circles should not only be used to solve work  lated problems in organizations, but also to facilitate mutual understanding between males and females of all rac:a. During the work-focussed discussions, the team memben can develop appreciation for each other's competeneies a contributions. From the quality circle as basis, male-fema par111erships can evolve to solve particular problems wha have been identified. Some consultants have experimented by holding career network seminars for black and white professional womc1 to build bridges between these groups. This concept can II extended to male-female career networks within companies. Concluslon An attempt was made to indicate solutions which can 11 formulated by women in companies to create positive changes in equal employment opportunities. The emphasis should not be on 'blame the system' but 'change the system'. Women can take personal responsibility to identify inadequate practices and co-operate in professional net works to stimulate change. Many strategies can be im mented when joint ventures between internal and external champions for change are evolved. 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