Exploring the Lives of Women Who Lead Susan Cloninger A
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EXPLORING THE LIVES OF WOMEN WHO LEAD SUSAN CLONINGER A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Ph.D. in Leadership and Change Program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June, 2017 This is to certify that the Dissertation entitled: EXPLORING THE LIVES OF WOMEN WHO LEAD prepared by Susan Cloninger is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership and Change. Approved by: _____________________________________________________________________ Elizabeth Holloway, Ph.D., Committee Chair date _____________________________________________________________________ Lize Booysen, DBL., Committee Member date _____________________________________________________________________ Harriet Schwartz, Ph.D., Committee Member date ____________________________________________________________________ Susan Adams, Ph.D., External Reader date Copyright 2017 Susan Cloninger All rights reserved Acknowledgements “People want to know how to live in this world as feminists, not just think feminism” (bell hooks, as quoted in Jennifer Williams, 2011, p. 42). My life has been spent thinking like a feminist instead of living like a feminist as I found myself boxed in by structural impediments. While the analyst in me would have liked to conclude the dissertation with a simple “problem solved,” my lived experience of feminism has served to foster a deep appreciation for its complexity. So, it is with that respect for complexity that I keep the faith that this study will move women just a little closer to a day when they can truly do all that they value. I want to thank Susan Summers for being a constant companion on this long journey. She has not only offered moral support, but countless strategies, outlines and information for finishing the dissertation even when I am quite sure she could not comprehend my need to locate every ounce of available knowledge on my topic. Her favorite phrase during this process was “stop reading.” I am extremely indebted to my chair, Dr. Elizabeth Holloway, who continues to have an uncanny ability for understanding my unfocused way of metabolizing information. Instead of only allowing me to drive one car in the parking lot, she allowed me to drive them all simultaneously with success. I am also greatly appreciative of my committee members. Dr. Harriet Schwartz who, true to her calling of understanding and fostering learning relationships, provided an open door for me throughout the dissertation process. She created a space for expansive personal growth in relationship. I am incredibly appreciative to Dr. A. E. Lize Booysen for her comments at the proposal hearing and the information she shared. Her insights created an awareness in this study of the power of standpoint, perspective and whose experience merits study. I am also i appreciative of the time my external reader, Dr. Susan Adams, has taken to share information with me during this process and practice the living of feminism by leading the Center for Women and Business at Bentley University. I am forever indebted to my two children, Madison and Miles, my partner, Neil, my parents and my friends who suffered through all my dissertation deliberations and are eternally grateful that I ended the dissertation with Chapter VI. ii Abstract Scholars have identified various reasons for the underrepresentation of women in the upper echelons of organizations. This study used grounded theory methodology enhanced by situational analysis to explore how American women at senior levels in large organizational contexts engage and negotiate the totality of their situation. Utilizing a predominately White, married, middle to upper class, heterosexual sample, this study sought to understand how women create and consign meaning around their experiences; how they experience the fluidity and boundaries of multiple identities; and how they experience the entanglement of macro, meso, and micro societal forces. It explores relationships among factors participants named as influential in experience in leading. Most importantly, this study sought to elevate not just one component as problematic, but to elucidate all interconnecting complexities that are problematic. Five key contexts were identified in the situational analysis as spaces of influence, related to the conditions of the dimensional analysis. Five emergent dimensions were rendered in the dimensional analysis: Growing in Leadership, Solving for Having It All; Stalking the Unknown, Leading in a Glass Box and Negotiating Equality. A grounded theory model was developed of the experience of women who lead, providing an interactive model of how women interpret and engage with the totality of their situation. Four theoretical propositions were extrapolated from the study. The study combined a commanding view of the situation in which women lead, with an interactive theoretical model, mapping places of entry toward resolution of gender leadership parity. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... i Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x Chapter I: Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................... 3 Rationale for the Study ............................................................................................................... 4 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................................. 11 Situating the Topic .................................................................................................................... 12 The Historical Debate ........................................................................................................... 13 Situating the Current Debate ................................................................................................. 18 Socioeconomic Complexity .............................................................................................. 18 Family Complexity/Conflict ............................................................................................. 23 Identity Formation ............................................................................................................ 25 Gender and Feminism ....................................................................................................... 30 Political Complexity ......................................................................................................... 32 Sensitizing Concepts ................................................................................................................. 34 Sen’s Framework of Capabilities .......................................................................................... 34 Social Identity Theory and Self-Concepts ............................................................................ 35 Intersectionality ..................................................................................................................... 37 Scope and Limitations of the Study .......................................................................................... 38 Summary and Organization of the Dissertation ........................................................................ 40 Chapter II: Literature Review ....................................................................................................... 42 Is a Grounded Theory Literature Review Warranted? .............................................................. 42 The Argument for an Early Review of the Literature ........................................................... 43 Organization of the Literature Review ..................................................................................... 45 Appropriations of Gender as a System: The Impact of Feminist Thought ........................... 46 The Birth of Gender in Management Literature ................................................................... 48 First Wave Research Concepts: Gender in Management Research .......................................... 49 Second Wave Research Concepts: Gendering Organizations .................................................. 56 iv Bringing the Early Literature Review Into the Present Study .................................................. 63 Where Does the Literature Map Leave Women? ................................................................. 65 The Future is Female ............................................................................................................ 66 Merit and Choice ................................................................................................................... 67 Intersectionality ....................................................................................................................