Critical Thinking: Module 5 Leadership Development

Critical Thinking Module 5

The objective of this critical thinking exercise is to provide a detailed analysis of the Case Study 12.1 (The Glass Ceiling) found on page 284 of the Northouse (2006) textbook. The analysis of the assigned case study will be accomplished by answering four specific questions found at the end of Northouse’s 12.1 Case Study (Thomas, n.d.).

Questions

1. What advancement barriers did Lisa encounter?

Weber has experienced direct gender discrimination/biases against her in the workplace, and this has affected her career advancements. According to Gender discrimination (n.d.), “Gender discrimination, also known as sexual discrimination, is the practice of letting a person's sex unfairly become a factor when deciding who receives a job, promotion, or other employment benefit” (par. 1). The case study provided clear-cut examples of sexual discrimination against Weber and Pamela including gender stereotyping that resulted in lack of promotions, peer/company recognition, and public humiliation and derogatory comments by the CEO. One unfortunate shortcoming to the case study is the lack of detail to the daily struggle of other women within the firm. This level of detail would have uncovered many other gender barriers and prejudices affecting other women within this agency who may have had less education, years of work experiences, or having work-home conflicts.

The gender advancement barriers are still very common in today’s workplace, and researchers indicated that 96% of responding women feel that they have experienced some sort of gender bias (Women Still Facing Barriers in Career Advancement, 2010). The number one gender advancement barrier is that women see that corporate culture still favors men. The case study depicts this type of gender advancement barrier clearly by stating that the firm has never had a woman partner in over 103 years (Northouse, 2006).

2. What should the firm's top executives, including Michael Breyer, have done...