Briefing Note Number 15 January 2003

Critical Trends and Shifts in the Mentoring Experiences of Professional Women

Women have made great strides in terms early 1980s.5 More recent research has middle to senior level managers with a of workforce participation. Recent sta- expanded the field by exploring dimen- mean age of 42 years; 60% earn more tistics indicate that 47% of the total U.S. sions, characteristics, and outcomes of than $75,000 annually; 45% have a gradu- workforce is now female.1 The percent- mentoring relationships for women.6 ate or professional degree; 39% are work- age of women in managerial positions in ing in organizations with 20,000 or more Results from the current literature on the United States has risen from 32% in employees. women’s mentoring experiences suggest 1983 to 49% as of 1997, with more gains They have that mentoring continues to hold an im- Respondents look[ing] by women expected in the years to come.2 an average portant role in the lives of working Yet in spite of the progress that women of 20 years to other women for women. For example, research from have made in advancing their careers in of work support and guidance Catalyst suggests that corporate women organizations, there are still barriers pre- experience, feel that mentoring relationships are criti- ...may be a tremor of venting them from reaching the upper and 62% cal to their success. Indeed, in their study the quake that is echelons in significant numbers. A recent are in a of 1,200 corporate women, they found survey commissioned by the Committee committed needed to crack the that mentoring is significantly connected of 200 (C200) provided a report card of relationship to career-related success.7 At the same glass ceiling. how businesswomen are faring in rela- (including time, lack of access to mentoring is one tion to their male counterparts.3 The C200 marriage or of the most widely reported barriers to Business Leadership Index is composed committed relationship with same or op- career advancement.8 of data from 10 key areas synthesized posite sex partner). into an overall index; the index consists Although the past two decades have seen of 10 scores, each one based on a 10 an increase in the research on women’s Changing Roles in the Provision of point scale. On this scale of 1 to 10, with mentoring experiences, there are still a Mentoring parity with men equaling 10, the overall number of questions that remain. The question of “Who is acting as a men- index number was 3.95. C200 suggests tor to professional women?” produced a that increased access to mentoring for Background: The Survey number of interesting findings. When women may be one step toward achiev- The web-based survey, a collaboration asked about the gender of their mentors, ing gender equity. In this article, I ex- between Simmons School of Manage- respondents indicated that 60% were fe- plore the impact of informal mentoring ment and Compaq Computer Corpora- male. In past studies of mentoring, women on the career experiences of women in tion (now HP), explored these areas with have reported that their mentors were the corporate sector. women who attended Simmons’s 2002 primarily male. For example, in Thomas’s Annual Women’s Leadership Confer- research, white men predominated as Historical Perspective on Mentoring 9 ence. We received responses from 427 mentors for study respondents.10 Men While early studies of mentoring focused women. Many of the women (82%) re- typically have had access to resources on the career development of young men ported that they had been involved in an and positional power necessary to pro- in relation to more seasoned male col- informal mentoring relationship—an in- vide the support given in a mentoring re- leagues, a number of questions were dication of the prevalence and importance lationship. Women are much more likely raised about how women’s experiences of this important developmental to be involved in cross-gender mentoring of mentoring may differ or mirror those relationship.The women included in the relationships than men are; in one study of men.4 Subsequently, two studies fo- survey work in a wide range of indus- of three R&D organizations, 53% of cused specifically on the career experi- tries, including technology, finance, health mentored women had cross-gender men- ences of women were published in the care, and manufacturing. They are mostly tors compared to 20% of mentored men.11 1 CGO Insights The implications of women being involved researchers point to a reluctance of ticular role that supervisors may hold in in more cross-gender mentoring relation- women to take on the role of mentor for guiding that journey, while also being ships than men is noteworthy; the extant other women. The “queen bee” syn- mindful of the challenge of multiple and research clearly indicates that relationships drome, which happens when women at potentially conflicting roles inherent in the that cross lines of gender require more the top are not willing to mentor those supervisor position. The fact that super- effort to sustain than do same-gender re- coming behind them, is offered as one visors may act as mentors also has impli- lationships.12 What are the implications of cause. Another cause cited was more cations for human resource specialists. more women being mentored by other systemic in nature, indicating that the Supervisors may need to develop or hone women? Findings from this study pro- culture and structure of corporations in- special competencies in preparation for vide an opportunity to address questions hibit female mentors from reaching out employees who look to them as mentors. raised by this demographic shift. to potential female protégés. Our findings These are issues that merit further atten- indicate that, indeed, women do seem to tion, in both research and applied efforts. Women Receiving Mentoring from be taking up the role of mentor in greater Other Women. The large number of numbers. This finding represents a shift Shifting Importance in the Functions women who reported other women acted over the past ten years. It is important to as their mentors is a shift from prior stud- of Mentoring encourage and support women to con- ies and may signal that more women are Traditionally, mentoring has been said to tinue this trend, as mentoring may be a in positions where they may act as men- occur along two dimensions: career and process that helps break systemic barri- tors. Respondent demographics suggest psychosocial. Career functions are as- ers that women face in organizations. that the women who participated in this pects of the mentoring relationship that survey are well prepared and positioned Supervisors Mentoring Direct Reports. focus on navigating the environment and to make changes in organizations. Re- A third interesting survey finding surfaced moving ahead within the organization. spondents were highly educated, mem- when we asked the question, “Who is These functions include protection, pro- bers of affluent households, and key your informal mentor?” Traditionally, motion, access to challenging opportuni- stakeholders in their organizations. That mentors have been senior-level manag- ties, and exposure. Psychosocial func- our respondents reported such a high level ers who have taken an interest in the ca- tions are aspects of the relationship fo- of participation in informal mentoring reers of junior employees who are not cused on the development of clarity and bodes well for the future; research sug- their direct reports. Yet almost 40% of competence in protégés. These functions gests that those who have been mentored those who had informal mentors indicated include counseling, coaching, acting as a tend to go on to act as mentors.13 The that their supervisors are their mentors. friend, and role modeling. In more recent fact that our respondents looked to other This unexpectedly high percentage has research, the role modeling function has women for support and guidance through multiple implications for women who are emerged as a separate entity.15 As was their various career paths is compelling building their constellation of support. the case with Scandura’s study on and may be a tremor of the quake that is This finding is especially significant be- mentoring, a factor analysis of the needed to crack the glass ceiling. While cause the mentoring literature generally mentoring items from our survey yielded the glass ceiling is not yet broken—we has suggested that supervisors should not the same three factors. I believe that the know that there are still gender equity is- be informal mentors. There is an inher- emergence of the role modeling aspect sues in organizational life—perhaps this ent conflict in having someone who evalu- of mentoring as an entity separate from sample of women provides a taste of ates your performance and has consider- the career and psychosocial functions is what is yet to come. able control over your career options in significant for women. Women Acting as Informal Mentors. your organization also acting as a men- The importance of a role model—some- Not only did the women participating in tor. This finding suggests a change in the one you respect who has achieved goals this sample receive informal mentoring traditional order, a paradigm shift in de- to which you are aspiring and is a source from women, they also acted as infor- velopmental relationships. It may be that, for strategies for both success and sur- mal mentors to their colleagues. Almost for a myriad of reasons, supervisors are vival—is important in women’s career 77% of our respondents indicated that now being pulled into the mentoring role development. As studies have indicated, they act as an informal mentor in the more frequently. women want to see examples of other workplace. This finding challenges find- As companies continue to constrict women succeeding without sacrificing ings of several studies from the early through downsizing, supervisors may be everything else in their lives. For example, 1990s, which suggested that although the people best positioned to offer critical Boyd discussed a survey of 20,000 fe- more women were in positions to act as mentoring support to women in their ca- male employees at Arthur Anderson; that mentors, they were not taking on this role reers. As architects of their career jour- survey was done to gain insight into why to the degree one would expect.14 These neys, women should consider the par- women were leaving. Results from the

2 CGO Insights survey indicate that women wanted more come than those with male mentors static. As we consider the fluid nature of guidance from senior managers on how (p<.01). These findings raise an interest- career paths and the porous character of to succeed, and they wanted to see proof ing point. Why is it that women who have organizational boundaries, it will be im- that senior women could make it to se- female mentors are not earning the same portant to explore how mentoring rela- nior posts in the company.16 Ragins and personal income as those who have male tionships unfold across the career span McFarlin found that junior women were mentors? A number of potential explana- of women. The rules are changing—it is more likely to perceive role models among tions compete for prominence in terms critical to collect data that allows us to their female mentors than among their of explaining this finding. Are women not have a sense of how these rule changes male mentors.17 talking about money? Are male mentors will affect women vis-à-vis past concep- better positioned hierarchically within tions of women’s careers. The presence and predominance of the their organizations such that their protégés role modeling function is particularly im- Look Across Diverse Populations: Het- gain access to more financial remunera- portant if the sample demographics are erogeneous Samples. Although I did con- tion? Is there a built-in gender inequity taken into consideration. This sample rep- duct analysis looking at the differences around men’s and women’s salaries? resents a group of women who are well between white women and women of Even if women are talking about money, educated, well paid, and well positioned color, there were no significant differ- are they starting from a lower figure than within their organizations. Given their ences between those two groups. I sus- they would with their male mentors? position, they are uniquely poised to take pect that we don’t have any findings be- O’Neill and her colleagues ask whether advantage of (or benefit from) this par- cause we don’t have enough variation in sex-balanced organizations would look ticular dimension of mentoring relation- the cell sizes to see a difference. Future the same as traditionally male-dominated ships. For them, it is important to see research should make every effort to re- ones in terms of gender, developmental examples of how to effectively navigate cruit a diverse sample of women. This relationships, and access to resources.20 their careers. may not necessarily be easy or cost-effi- Our finding around the differential effect cient; researchers who are truly interested Career Outcomes and Their Relation- of mentor gender on outcomes (greater in understanding the experiences across ship to Mentoring. Several important promotion rate but lower salary) suggests a spectrum of diversity will need to be career outcomes were positively associ- that their question is an apt one; as we amenable to taking the extra steps neces- ated with informal mentoring. Respon- have women advancing in organizations, sary to reach a diverse pool of potential dents with informal mentors reported a we will need to consider how relation- research participants. greater number of promotions and a ships may shift as a result. higher promotion rate than those who did Most respondents in our study reported not have informal mentors. Respondents Future Avenues of Inquiry: Implica- that their informal mentors were White who reported higher levels of informal tions for Practice and Research (approximately 88%). This finding mir- mentoring also reported that the relation- rors what we see in the mentoring litera- ship was helpful to them in reducing Look in More Depth: Qualitative Re- ture; studies generally report that men- stress. Those with an informal mentor search. This research raises a number of tors are 85%-97% White. We are still in were more satisfied with their careers questions around women being mentored the infancy mode in terms of our under- than those who did not have one, and by other women. As a relatively new area standing of the mentoring experiences of 86% of respondents indicated that their of inquiry, a flexible data collection women who are not White. There is a informal mentoring relationships were method that allows unexpected aspects real need to gather data with mentors of professionally productive. These results, of the phenomenon to surface is sug- other races, since we do not know what 21 which have been found in other studies gested. What leads these women to act happens when the mentor is not White. of mentoring,18 confirm the importance as mentors in their organizations? What Yet another aspect of diversity that has of informal mentoring and its potential to do they gain as they take on that leader- received little attention in the mentoring contribute to the career advancement and ship role? How does having your super- literature is the dimension of class. The satisfaction of women. visor as a mentor differ qualitatively from having another advanced organizational current research on mentoring does little But as I explored the effects of mentor member (who does not have formal to elucidate what happens to those out- gender on organizational outcomes, the evaluation responsibilities) act as mentor? side of managerial ranks. What about the study findings were not so straightfor- These questions are best explored using experiences of women who are at lower ward. Women who had female mentors a qualitative approach. levels in the organization? We need to reported a greater number of promotions examine the experiences of women than those who had male mentors.19 Yet, Look Across Span of Time: Longitudi- across the spectrum of race, class, and women who had female mentors also nal Research. Cross-sectional surveys organizational level. reported significantly lower personal in- provide one perspective, but they are

3 CGO Insights Managers as Mentors: Human Resource Notes 11 Ragins, B.R. (1996). Jumping the hurdles: Implications. This finding has significant Barriers to mentoring for women in organiza- HR implications. How do we train man- 1 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2000). Em- tions. Leadership & Organization Development, 17 (3), 37-41. agers to also be mentors? How do those ployment and Earnings, January, 78. 12 roles conflict with one another and what 2 Cavanaugh, B. (1999). Diversity at work: O'Neill, R.M., Horton, S. & Crosby, F.J. (1999). Gender issues in devlopmental relation- can we do to ameliorate that conflict? Women. Nation’s Restaurant News, May 24, 240-241; Catalyst. (1998). Advancing Women ships. In A.J. Murrell, F.J. Crosby and R.J. Ely Supervisors can’t act as mentors to each in Business: Best Practices from the Corporate (Eds.), Mentoring Dilemmas: Developmental and every employee they support; the Leaders. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Relationships Within Multicultural Organiza- tions. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associ- leader-member exchange literature sug- 3 Gutner, T. (2002). Progress? Not as much as ates, 63-80. gests that there are probably some mem- you thought. Business Week, Feb. 18, 108. 13 Ragins, B.R. & Scandura, T.A. (1999). Bur- bers of the work group that appeal more 4 Crosby, F. J. (1999). The developing literature 22 den or blessing? Expected costs and benefits of to the mentor-supervisor than others. on developmental relationships. In A.J. Murrell, being a mentor. Journal of Organizational Be- So it will be important for women to de- F.J. Crosby and R.J. Ely (Eds.), Mentoring Di- havior, 20 (4), 493-509. velop other sources of support in addi- lemmas: Developmental Relationships Within 14 tion to the mentor-supervisor. A constel- Multicultural Organizations. Mahwah, NJ: Vincent, A. & Seymour, J. (1995). Profile of women mentors: A national survey. S.A.M. Ad- lation of support, including peers and other Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; Levinson, D.J., Darrow, C.M., Klein, E.G., Levinson, M.H. & vanced Management Journal, 60 (2), 4-10. advanced organizational members, can McKee, B. (1978). Seasons of a Man’s Life. New 15 Scandura, T.A. (1992). Mentorship and ca- provide some of the psychosocial York: Knopf; Valliant, G. (1977). Adaptation to reer mobility: An empirical investigation. Jour- mentoring functions that a mentor-super- Life. Boston: Little. nal of Organizational Behavior, 13, 169-173. visor may not be able to provide. 5 Phillips-Jones, L. (1982). Mentors and 16 Boyd, J. (2000). Firms work to keep women— Protégés. New York: Arbor House; Collins, N. Flex time, mentoring programs intensify reten- Conclusion (1983). Professional Women and Their Men- tion efforts in IT. InternetWeek, Nov 27, 90. tors: A Practical Guide to Mentoring for the 17 Ragins, B.R. & McFarlin, D.B. (1990). Per- Mentoring has been suggested as one Woman Who Wants to Get Ahead. Englewood ceptions of mentor roles in cross-gender powerful tool to assist women in break- Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. mentoring relationships. Journal of Vocational ing the glass ceiling. Findings from this 6 Ragins, B.R. (1989). Barriers to mentoring: Behavior, 37, 321-339. research study support this proposition. The female manager’s dilemma. Human Rela- 18 Walsh, A.M. & Borkowski, S.C. (1999). Cross- tions, 42, 1-22. For women in our sample, mentoring was gender mentoring and career development in the associated with positive career outcomes, 7 Catalyst. (1996). Women in Corporate Lead- health care industry. Health Care Management including higher promotion rates and ership: Progress and Prospects. New York: Review, 24 (3), 7-17. Catalyst. greater career satisfaction.These research 19 This finding approached significance at p<.06. 8 Wellington, S. & Catalyst. (2001). Be Your Own findings highlight the importance of the 20 O’Neill, Horton & Crosby, 77. role model function for women. Finally, Mentor: Strategies from Top Women on the Se- cret of Success. New York: Random House. 21 Kram, K.E. (1983). Phases of the mentor rela- we confirm that women are also acting tionship. Academy of Management Journal, 26 9 This research was a partnership between as mentors to others in their organiza- (4), 608-625. tions. As these research findings indi- Simmons School of Management (SOM), its Center for Gender in Organizations and Compaq 22 Scandura, T.A. & Schriesheim, C.A. (1994). cate, mentoring remains an important de- Computer Corporation (now HP). The survey Leader-member exchange and supervisor career velopmental relationship from which was designed by Stacy Blake-Beard, Natalie mentoring as complementary constructs in lead- women in contemporary organizations Matus, and Deborah Merrill-Sands of the SOM ership research. Academy of Management Jour- can benefit. and implemented with the assistance of Jack nal, 37 (6), 1588-1602. Jurras and Greg Herr of Compaq, who also pro- vided technical support. Copyright 2003, Stacy Blake-Beard. This Prepared by Stacy Blake-Beard, Research 10 Thomas, D.A. (1990). The impact of race on document may be linked or reproduced for Faculty at the Center for Gender in Orga- managers’ experiences of developmental relation- non-commercial purposes as long as the au- nizations and Associate Professor at ships (mentoring and sponsorship): An intra- thor is cited and the copyright notice is vis- Simmons School of Management. organizational study. Journal of Organizational ibly displayed. For permission to use this docu- Behavior, 1, 497-491. ment commercially, please contact the Center for Gender in Organizations.

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