Case 4 - Analysis

“Juhi Warrier: Driving the Diversity Agenda at Revital”

Submitted To: Erica Carleton

Submitted By: Group 7

Golrokh Malekitehrani ID# 200472779

Jenna Broderick ID# 200362910
Asmita ID# 200477460
Michael Schell ID# 200228558
Shawlin Hoque ID# 200482072
Kelsie Rock ID# 200219179

GBUS 875: Women in Leadership

Date: 10 November 2022

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1. What are the major gender-based leadership challenges facing Warrier?

Gender Stereotyping: leads to descriptive beliefs (what we think members of a group are
actually like and prescriptive - how we think they should be behaving).
 Organizational culture: Warrier came from her previous role, where she was seen as
warm and approachable similar to the organization culture. At Revital, the culture was
the opposite and seemed cold and aloof. Reaffirming the stereotype that this is the case
with male-dominated leadership.
 Stereotype about the job role: Gender diversity was absent at Revital because all male
senior-level employees have the assumption that manufacturing jobs are only suitable for
men.
o Bias such as “think manager, think male” is deeply rooted in Revital
o The technical team reported to Warrier “women will not be able to do the jobs
that will be required of scientists in ‘our’ world;”

Barriers to convincing others: We learned that convincing others of female abilities and their
commitment to work and ability to become a leader is challenging. Warrier was facing resistance
to her diversity plan despite having several years of experience and qualifications from her past.

Tokenism: It appears Warrier is facing tokenism at Revital

 Women comprise 10 percent of its workforce and barely 1 percent of its senior
management
 Warrier, being 3/200 senior leaders, is facing greater challenges in pushing her ideas
forward as she is “the token female with the female agenda”

Gender inequality: Even though candidates were shortlisted through an objective process, the
technical panel instructed Warrier to change the number of female selected students:
 The panel admitted they would not accept the current list and would not hire that number
of females.

Undermining competency and resistance to participate: Warrier was expected to bring in the
candidates and leave. When she sat there for interviews, the room experienced dead silence,
Warrier experienced micro-aggression.
 The post-interview phase saw a huge debate about this, and Warrier had to hear why
“she” as a woman had to be on the panel of senior-level interviewers when technical
discussions were conducted.

Conscious bias: Warrier was very energetic in developing the organizational process but
employees did not reciprocate her enthusiasm.
 Warrier’s boisterous morning greetings were met with curt nods at best, or they were
ignored.
 When Warrier tried to talk to her peers and subordinates to understand the reason for her
unusual behavior, she was told that “a woman in a leadership position” was an “alien
concept”. Women in accounting, finance, or junior administration roles were accepted,
but employees were not used to being directed by women.

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2. How is the organization compromising women’s leadership?

 Leadership: Kapoor believes he is ready to lead an organization through a culture and

diversity change but yet down playing the issues.
o It is important for senior leaders within the organization to support and believe in
diversity. This buy-in would represent ownership of the initiative and enable it to
be successful.
 There are few women in senior positions, the concept of mentorship for
woman to woman is virtually non-existent.
 Subjectiveness: Most of Revital’s hiring practices were subjective in the original versus
basing it off of a blind interview or objective later done by Warrier.
o In class we discussed several sources of research in when hiring took place more
“bind” the opportunity for females to be hired was higher
 False sense of security: The technical teams had only male members. Women's
leadership and intersectionality, “surrounding ourselves with likeminded people creates a
sense of security and a feeling of high performance”. The men may think their teams are
high performing because they do not have diversity
o The new TA team shortlisted 95 percent male workers.
 Fear of commitment – In class we learned companies fear that women are less
committed to their organizations because of their family or worry about time loss due to
family.We saw this in the case when one of the committee members comment how they
expect girls to stay-overnight to work in a 10-12 hour period
o Assuming that girls are able to do the same type of work men are i.e staying up
late or being away from their families

3. What are the major barriers that organizations face in cultivating gender diversity, and
how can organizations work toward addressing the issue of gender diversity in the
workplace?

Barrier: Organizational culture: One of the main and most pressing issues is the culture in an
organization pausing or being a roadblock in diversity and inclusion efforts.If people don't
believe in the change, they will resist it. In Revital, women in leadership positions is considered
an alien concept in the company.
Solution: changing the organizational culture would be the most challenging factor to cultivate
gender diversity, this is further explained in question 4. Women rising through the unseen
barriers - “the context must support a woman's motivation to lead and to also increase the
likelihood that others will recognize and encourage her efforts.”

Barrier: Lack of mentorship: Lack of women in leadership, less women to offer mentorship.
Women rising the Unseen Barriers - “an absence of affirmation, however, diminishes self-
confidence and discourages him or her from seeking developmental opportunities…”
Solution: Building social capital: Because of having a very low number of female employees,
they cannot build a strong network and raise their voices for being treated equally and fairly. So,
without having a strong social network of women, they cannot cultivate gender diversity
smoothly.

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Barrier: Pipeline and Lack of Female leaders and Stereotype Attitude- If you don't have a
pipeline of females at the bottom and male employees seem disinterested and unwilling to hire
women, it can be even harder to start from the top.
Solution: Hiring & Training - By not hiring women in higher roles and by limiting the
pipeline, there will be less chances for women to reach leader positions. Stereotype & gender
bias training and internal motivation are also required. Additionally ensuring objectivity in the
evaluation of candidates for recruitment as well as promotion

4. What should Warrier do now?

Warrier needs to get Kapoor to address that there is a gender issue and to fully support any of her
decisions and need for change. Women's Leadership and Intersectionality “Shifting power won’t
happen unless those with power do the shifting. Senior leaders to get out of their comfort zones.”

Goals- having a stake in it - all managers must hire at least X% of women when recruiting.
In “Why do we still distrust women leaders?” At the policy level, gender quotas and childcare
support are among the tools that clearly improve women’s participation in leadership roles.”
Changing the Culture - shifting culture norms to making it acceptable to be a female employee
 Education - Training about biases, diversity and gender equality
 empathy - creating a connection for these men resisting change, women in the workforce
etc.
Media - Employee spotlights focused on women and something successful they did in the
company to encourage buy in from the male colleagues
Policy - Zero tolerance for harassment - making it known that Revital does not allow unhealthy
or unsafe work environments - setting a precedent for tolerance will be important to change
“locker room talk”
Mentorship: Use mentorship to lift female co-workers and leaders up and to build confidence in
women. This can help avoid a situation in “Why Women Aren't CEOs” according to Women
Who Almost were a major obstacle can be battling yourself and the “Achilles’ Heel '' not having
confidence.
Emotional Intelligence - Warrier needs to be cognizant of her communication style (in the past
she has lost her cool). In reacting aggressively, which goes against her gender norms, she risks
credibility with her male colleagues.