Today, we pride ourselves for building a society on the principles of equality. Gender equality, indeed, has made significant progress. It has been 200 years since Mary Wollstonecraft published Vindication on the Rights of Women; it has been 50 years since the Women’s Liberation Movement.
As a female student in a business school, I must admit I am dismayed by the relative absence of women in senior management. Exceptions like Carly Fiorina, who became the first female chief executive of Hewlett-Packard in 1999, encounter many challenges. Organizational Behavior theories help to explain some of the problems she encountered. The information technology industry is heavily male dominated, so a high score on Hofstede’s culture dimensions is expected.
Many members of the board of directors questioned her decisions. This may have been a Halo effect from her unfeminine self-assured personality. This became especially evident when she decides to acquire archival Compaq computers for $20 million in 2001.
Fiorina made headlines again this year when she entered the Senate race as a Republican candidate. The organizational culture of the U.S. government is considered to be more masculist than IT, so she has a tough journey ahead.
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