Examining Managers` Careers at the Crossing of Gender and
Contents
1. P1 2 Self realization at work and enhancing their degree Y Generation P2 1 Voluntary changes induced by better opportunities P1 4 Achieving economic independence from their partner through work X Generation P2 3 Internal or external changes by force of circumstances linked to social contract termination P1 6 Emancipation through work Baby Boomers P2 5 Internal changes within the social contract with the company P2 2 Getting on professionally before starting a family Y Generation P3 1 Voluntary and greater involvement in parenting and significance of private life friends leisure etc P2 4 Temporary or partial withdrawals from the labour market for family reasons are negotiated within the couple X Generation P3 3 Forced involvement in housework and parenting tasks is linked to the double career couple P2 6 Disadvantaged by their withdrawals from the labour market at childbearing age the norm glass ceiling Baby Boomers P3 5 Career gets priority possibly induced by traditional family model spouse s availability P3 2 External help to enhance this balance and demand for the partner s greater involvement claiming the right to respect for private life Y Generation P4 1 Boundaryless P3 4 Considered superwomen trying to reconcile work and private life difficulty X Generation P4 3 Classic by choice and2. Landrieux Kartochian 2008 Laufer and Pochic 2004 thus argue that while men s career largely relies on their spouse partner s availability women managers are rarely in same situation They far more often find themselves in a double career partnership Laufer amp Pochic 2004 Fagenson 1990 highlights the relevance of the organizational societal or institutional context as a response albeit at a varying pace to environmental changes Fagenson 1990 Parker and Fagenson 1994 So Gavray points out that women s lacking ambitions can be owing to their relatively recent access to self sufficiency 2008 Bender and al 2001 underline an increase of certain difficulties relating to women in the specific context of so called boundaryless careers namely in the NTIC sectors Bender Pigeyre amp De Saint Giniez 2001 Nevertheless self limitation the prominence of work upon private life and part time work are likely to hamper women s inter organizational mobility 3 3 Career Success according to Gender Some studies also choose to investigate the subjective view of career along with men s and women s account for their career success So it comes out that men would tend to attribute their career success to their abilities and skills whereas women would seem to put it down to luck and to their efforts Culter amp Jackson 2002 Women s career success models quite often differ from men s Women would be as much satisfied with their
3. Examining Managers Careers at the Crossing of Gender and Age Abstract This paper reviews the literature with a view to grounding empirical comparative research on male and female managers careers with regard to three age categories managers aged up to 35 between 35 and 50 and above 50 It considers both men and women as professional careers are influenced by gender as well as by stereotyped gender roles Hence distinguishing these age categories affords consideration of evolving contextual factors such as gender specific roles upheld throughout time Indeed social perceptions with regard to gender can vary from one generation to another and sensibly affect career choices Thus considering age in correlation with gender leads up to broaching intersectionality a concept which in diversity management consists in crossing the target groups concerned This theoretical overview of the literature relating to the careers of managers yields a theoretical frame of reference along with qualitative propositions to be tested subsequently in the field Keywords Career professional path gender generations intersectionality Examining Managers Careers at the Crossing of Gender and Age 1 Introduction This paper proposes to review the literature relating to the careers of male and female managers with regard to the generation they belong to While considerable scholarship has been done on career management on women s careers and the glass c
4. Generation Our aim here is not to cover it all but to extract this generation s essential values norms and behaviours Young managers have a high academic level M da amp Vendramin 2010 Like the previous generation they are portrayed as keen on independence and autonomy Immediacy is often cited as their foremost characteristic They are said to want everything at once to be egocentric and to have a high idea of themselves They pass off as having an open mind and especially aware of i a cultural differences Yet they would be less confident than the previous generations though about their future a feature which is presented as related to their parents employment experience This would account for their having short rather than long term projects They would hope flexibility challenges recognition and self realization Work remains an important value owing to the financial independence that comes with it though they hope to combine enjoyment and work or to put it differently to have a job they like and which they enjoy not only for its content but context as well Cornet Delhaye amp Mar chal 2009 They would also be versatile as a result of their ability to handle the various technological tools Some complain about a lack of respect for hierarchy related to their subordinates strong demand for self reliance and expectation of work flexibility to accommodate individual needs They would value teamwork and i a virtual netwo
5. authors such as Evans and Gilbert 1984 and Veiga 1981 define the career ceiling as the time period characterized by poor chances of moving up the hierarchical ladder along with career stagnation Here also there is an objective and a subjective dimension in which individuals perceive their career ceiling and the feeling of being freeze in their professional evolution Ference et al 1977 Chao 1990 This brief overview of the literature relating to careers highlights various theoretical elements yielding guidelines for research Objective career elements salary positions and duties hierarchical rank etc Identifying stages and changes as well as reasons given to account for these changes individual choices organizational constraints other contextual factors etc Subjective career perception satisfaction level etc Career profile classic or boundaryless 3 Careers and Gender Numerous studies have shown differences between men s and women s careers and throughout all professional categories A better understanding of these differences calls for taking up sex category as an independent variable but also gender i e the social construction of male and female roles in a given society Indeed around men s and women s physical differentiation there appear representations of men s and women s properties stereotypes gender specific perception of competences gender specific behaviours etc roles and behaviours consid
6. boundaryless by necessity P3 6 Housework chores and parenting duties come before career Baby Boomers P4 5 Classic P4 2 Classic by choice P4 4 Willing to adjust to the male career model P4 6 Often interrupted 10 5 Discussion Amongst other things our research aims to verify how relevant such a categorization by age and generations is to understand the positioning of male and female managers on the labour market or whether we need to include other frames of reference such as the concept of lifecycles Lyons et al 2005 Tremblay 2005 and career stages in correlation with 1 a evolving personal and family models Bawin Legros amp Stassen 1996 Chrisman Sharma amp Taggar 2007 To several researchers though this generational categorization makes no sense Giancola 2006 this would merely be a social construct relying on social and political issues and reflecting the biased nature of the samples used in this research Pichault amp Pleyers 2010 It will also be our task to examine how this issue of gender and age combines with other aspects of diversity origin for one Cornet 2010 Notwithstanding its suspected limits we feel that the comparative analysis of the perception of career by male and female managers through various generations could yield fresh insights into the Human Resources Management policies to implement in order to enhance the involvement and satisfaction of all in the w
7. career as men while working at a lower hierarchical level or receiving a lower salary Dann 1995 Women managers would define their success in terms of self fulfillment self realization and personal recognition whereas men have it about pay and hierarchical rank Bastid 2004 This review of the literature relating to gender and careers allows us to add several elements to our observation checklist Men s and women s position with regard to occupations and positions horizontal segregation Men s and women s position with regard to hierarchical rank levels vertical segregation Objective elements possibly accounting for differences in positioning career break part time work etc Subjective perceptions of the factors influencing career and perception of the impact of sex category and gender stereotypes social roles etc Gender based perception of career success 4 Careers and Generations Career perception is likely to vary according to the individual s age and lifecycle We propose to consider three distinct age categories those under 35 those aged between 35 and 50 and those aged above 50 we propose to consider these groups in terms of three distinct generations the Y Generation the X Generation and the Baby Boomers This division is partly arbitrary and the association with the three above mentioned generations is far from being that simple it seems to us though that this can be taken as a relevant sta
8. in work attitudes Journal of Business and Psychology 25 2 201 210 Twenge J M Campbell S M Hoffman B R amp Lance C E 2010 Generational differences in work values Leisure and extrinsic values increasing social and intrinsic values decreasing Journal of Management 36 5 1117 1142 Vendramin P 2007 Temps rythmes de travail et conciliation des temps sociaux Rapport de l enqu te Temps et travail Namur FTU Namur Belgique Wong M Gardiner E Lang W amp Coulon L 2008 Generational differnces in personality and motivation do they exist and what are the implications for the workplace J Journal of Managerial Psychology 76 878 890 Yang S amp Guy M E 2006 GenXers versus Boomers work motivators and management implications Public Performance and Management Review 29 3 267 284 14
9. vers une int gration de la dimension extra professionnelle Paper presented at the ctes du Congr s AGRH Montr al Bawin Legros B amp Stassen J F 1996 Sociologie de la famille le lien familial sous questions Bruxelles De Boeck Belghiti Mahut S amp Landrieux Kartochian S 2008 Le plafond de verre encore et toujours In A Cornet Laufer J Belghiti Mahut S Ed Genre et GRH Les d fis de l galit hommes femmes pp 105 124 Paris Vuibert Bender A F Pigeyre F amp De Saint Giniez V 2001 Les femmes dans la soci t de l information opportunit s et risques des nouvelles carri res Paper presented at the Actes du 12 me congr s de l AGRH Li ge Boltanski L 1982 Les Cadres La formation d un groupe social Paris Editions de Minuit Burke M amp Sarda P 2007 Emergence des valeurs f minines dans l entreprise Bruxelles De Boeck Charbeau L 2009 In galit s de carri re entre hommes et femmes une approche par les conventions d valuation Analyse des trajectoires professionnelles des cadres et ETAM chez un constructeur automobile Doctorat en Sciences Economique Universit de Paris X Nanterre Paris Chauvel L 2004 Vers l galit de genre les tendances g n rationnelles sont elles irr versibles Revue de l OFCE 90 69 84 Chrisman J J Sharma P amp Taggar S 2007 Family influences on firms An introduction Article Journal of B
10. Numerous studies therefore aim at gathering information on the difficulties women run up against in managing their career Belghiti Mahut amp Landrieux Kartochian 2008 De Bry 2005 Gresy amp Dole 2011 Guyon 196 Laufer 2008 Maruani 2006 Differences between male and female managers careers are accounted for by direct and indirect discriminations linked to Human Resources Management policies and to the organization of work Gresy amp Dole 2011 Laufr 1982 Moss Kanter 1977 though also by the effect of women s individual strategies Bastid 2003 These strategies and behaviours would be derived either from women s positioning within their social group Ferrari 2011 or from individual choices linked to biological psychological and psychoanalytical differences between women and men self assertion career minded behaviours attitude towards power etc Burke amp Sada 2007 Lunghi 2005 Several studies also reveal the force of the gender based role distribution within households upon women s career Gardner Meda amp Senik 2005 Messing Vogel Gronkvist amp Lagerlof 1999 Normand amp Tremblay 2005 Even though there has been an evolution in the allocation of tasks over these last years family and parental duties nonetheless remain a mostly female constraint Meda 2001 Men s professional career seems to be positively affected by the number of children whereas the contrary is true for women s Belghiti Mahut amp
11. a famille affaire de g n rations Paris Presses universitaires de France Greenhaus JH amp Beutell NJ 1985 Sources of conflict between work and family roles Academy of management review vol 10 n 1 pp 76 88 Gresy B amp Dole P 2011 L gal acc s des femmes et des hommes aux responsabilit s professionnelles et familiales dans le monde du travail Paris La documentation fran aise Guerin S amp Fournier G 2004 Manager Les Quinquas Paris Editions d Organisation Guyon L 1996 Les femmes et le travail In L GUYON Ed Derri re les apparences Sant et conditions de vie des femmes pp Chapitre 8 pp 141 148 Qu bec Minist re de la Sant et des Services sociaux Karvar A amp Rouban L 2004 Les cadres au travail Les nouvelles r gles du jeu Paris La d couverte Laufer J 1982 La f minit neutralis e les femmes cadres dans l entreprise Paris Flamarion Laufer J 2007 L galit professionnelle hommes femmes mise en perspective In I Barth amp C Falcoz Eds Le management de la diversit enjeux fondements et pratiques pp 25 51 Paris L Harmattan Laufer J 2008 Egalit professionelle et GRH In A Cornet Laufer J Belghiti Mahut S Ed Genre et GRH pp chap II paris Vuibert Laufer J amp Fouquet A 1997 Effet de plafonnement des carri res des femmes cadres et acc s des femmes la d cision dans la sph re conomique Pa
12. analytical frame of reference to understand either gender group in this particular work status Career perception also varies with individuals age and the life cycles which are directly associated with it It appears that the specific values of the three generations are responsible for differences in career perception The various generations are influenced by evolving and changing socially defined gender roles The social roles men and women think fitting as well as the stereotyped views attached to them change over time notwithstanding certain recurring patterns across the three generations Our empirical research should reveal how and where both these variables meet We aim at gathering our field data using the qualitative technique based on semi directive interviews with male and female managers belonging to the three age categories concerned Our interviewees will be chosen among individuals working either in the Walloon Region or in Brussels and in private as well as public companies of all sizes Drawing on the rich complexity and finer points of these various contributions will enable us to bring into focus 11 the key or decisive moments of educational and professional path both within and outside the company the periods of adaptation transition change discontinuity slowdown or professional development etc as well as on determining career events 7 Bibliography Bastid F 2004 Mesurer la r ussite de carri re des cadres
13. care Guerin amp Fournier 2004 Lyons Duxbury amp Higgins 2005 Marbot 2005 Peretti amp Marbot 2006 Twenge et al 2010 Yang amp guy 2006 This generation is the first concerned by all restructuring waves of the past 20 years put under strong pressure to step down before their time from a labour market which relies on early retirement while advocating the right to enjoy retirement and the need to leave jobs to a younger generation facing a rocketing unemployment 4 3 The X Generation The X Generation is perceived as a transitional generation Marbot 2005 M da 2001 Twenge et al 2010 Yang amp Guy 2006 They are now mid career professionals Their education level is generally higher than the previous generation Their parents were influenced by the May 68 values of autonomy freedom and independence They want to be involved in decision making They come out as being more individualistic than the previous generation and with lesser political and social involvement They have taken advantage of the growing consumer society along with ever more leisure opportunity While family remains important Gavray 2008 there is a rising number of women working and in France and Belgium alike fewer and fewer of them stop work on bearing their first child Maruani 2006 Those who leave the job market rather are mothers of two if not three children Women also increasingly demand a redistribution of family and parental roles and e
14. de verre aux bonnes pratiques Entreprise Ethique Delay B 2008 Les jeunes un rapport au travail singulier Une tentative pour d construire le mythe de l opposition entre les ages Document de travail Vol Septembre 2008 CEE Centre d Etude et de l Emploi Demers C 1999 De la gestion du changement a la capacit de changer L volution de la recherche sur le changement organisationnel de 1945 a aujourd hui Revue Gestion Hec Montr al 24 3 131 139 12 Ferrari M 2011 F minisation des grandes entreprises fran aises dualisme discriminatoire ou bipolarisation sexuelle Paper presented at the Vers un management durable Marrachech Frone M amp Rice R 1987 Work Family conflict The effect of job and family involvement Journal of Occupational Behavior 8 45 53 Gardner H M da D amp Senik C 2005 Conciliation entre vie professionnelle et vie familiale les le ons des enqu tes men es aupr s des m nage Travail et emploi 102 Gavray C 2004 Trajectoires professionnelles f minines flexibilit s et enjeux de genre Universit de Li ge Li ge Gavray C 2008 Genre emploi et march du travail un tableau contrast In A Cornet J Laufer amp S Belghiti Eds Le genre et la GRH les d fis de l galit hommes femmes Paris Vuibert coll AGRH Giancola F 2006 The generation gap more myth than reality Human Resource Planning 29 4 32 37 Godard F 1992 L
15. eiling phenomenon and on career perception by various generations very little of this scholarship has integrated a comparative approach combining gender and generations Conciling both angles when examining managers careers falls within the scope of diversity management and more particularly that of studies bearing on intersectionality Cornet 2010 Tremblay 2005 i e individuals differentiated position with regard to their belonging to several dimensions of diversity This enquiry essentially means to investigate whether crossing both dimensions yields a better understanding of male and female managers views and behaviours Several studies reveal persisting differences between men s and women s careers Belghiti Mahut amp Landrieux Kartochian 2008 Laufer 2008 though also that professional equality has greatly evolved over the 30 last years Men and women from various age groups and generations thus might also manage their career differently in a context of evolving social and gender roles The first part of this literature review focuses on clarifying career as a notion Le identifying the various career types and their possible relation to gender or generations The second part surveys studies dealing with the correlation of gender sex category to career which will enlighten the divergences between those dealing with gender and sex The third part looks at the careers of managers in terms of age and or generations Subsequently on
16. en conducted around male models Moss Kanter 1977 as women used to be very little represented within this socio professional category Managers thus are perceived as individuals who put work before private life and who can rely on partners managing family and children This comes very clearly out of studies relating to expatriate managers which until lately essentially concern male managers and their spouses 3 2 Female Managers Career Some research show that female managers career typically features horizontal segregation male or female overrepresentation in certain occupations and positions and vertical segregation also called the glass ceiling Thus female managers are especially found in certain occupations and positions Human Resources communication etc which are perceived as fitting so called female competences interpersonal skills etc Maruani 2011 These positions are often less valued in the organization as compared with positions relating to operational technical and financial responsibilities which are still mostly occupied by men Gavray 2004 Laufer amp Fouquet 1997 Testenoire 2001 These posts are also less promising in terms of career and promotion they also stand out as being less remunerated as compared with other more male oriented positions Lemiere amp Silvera 2008 Studies addressing the glass ceiling aim at accounting for women s under representation at the top and in management positions
17. ered natural for each sex and articulating separation between and differential valuation of men versus women Male and female social dynamics shape men s and women s personal and professional path 3 1 Gender based Careers From the early sixties on there has been a growing number of female managers linked with women s rising education level As a result of growing coeducational schooling opportunity and women s desire to occupy responsible positions careers nowadays are more mixed than before The introduction of more formalized HRM models Pichault amp Nizet 2000 has also allowed women to climb up the hierarchical ladder This does not mean for as much that men s and women s careers are becoming thoroughly undifferentiated Indeed despite their fair school performance and growing presence in higher education manager women still do not manage to get professional path similar to men s Belghiti Mahut amp Landrieux Kartochian 2008 Cornet Laufer amp Belghiti 2008 Laufer 2007 Laufer amp Fouquet 1997 Educational background is not enough several other factors come into play such as the force of stereotypes and of so called male organizational standards indirect and systemic discriminations inherent to HRM structures and policies gender based roles and the male female distribution of family and parental tasks Bastid 2004 Charbeau 2009 Laufer amp Fouquet 1997 Moss Kanter 1977 Most studies concerning managers have be
18. f the three generations work remains a determining aspect of life in grounding social and personal fulfillment M da amp Vendramin 2010 Pichault amp Pleyers 2010 On the other hand the degree of personal commitment to work appears to vary according to generation and age Twenge et al 2010 The differences observed between generations can also be attributed to career stages twenge 2010 lifecycles Lyons Duxbury amp Higgins 2005 or age Wong and al 2008 In some instances also there is greater variance within a generation than between them Macky Gardner and Forsyth 2008 According to Giancola 2006 the generation conflict is more fictive than real Various analyses also show that members belonging to the same generation variously experience the events coming their way Race gender and social class indeed are also likely to shape their experience Finally Giancola 2006 emphasizes that in many cases few differences are observed between generations and that these are insignificant as compared to resemblances 4 2 The Baby Boomers The Baby Boomers in Europe at least generally grew up in fairly traditional societal models with the man functioning in the role of breadwinner and the woman as housewife with exception made for the poorer classes where women were bound to work for money Women s work at the time was perceived as a necessity not an individual choice Coenen 1998 Yet this is also the May 68 gene
19. ional path Schein 1978 Cerdin 1996 1999 Schein 1978 1990 identified several career anchors technique management autonomy stability creativity lifestyle challenge and service Career often results from a certain number of compromises made between working and private life Career derives from individual choices and strategies though also from organizational practices generally integrated into Human Resources Management policies These policies underlie horizontal mobility opportunities changing job sector or duties and vertical ones climbing up Career management mode depends on organizational culture yet also working and or national or regional cultures The literature also distinguishes between classic and boundaryless careers The first refer to a long term relation between the company and the individual Classic careers consist in a process in which each stage corresponds to a threshold in terms of pay but also for some people managers namely rank progression The relation between the company and the individual is based on dependence This type of career can only be considered in a fairly large and organized promotion and relies on actors such as Human Resources appointed to the task of guiding career evolution and setting the rules or management policies enhancing individual progression Boundaryless careers are mobility models involving voluntary company changes Such careers are linked to work mobility along with the indi
20. n e par l Universit et les organisations syndicales qu b coises Bureau Technique Syndical Europ en pour la Sant et la S curit Moss Kanter R 1977 Some effects of proportions on group life Skewed sex ratios and responses to token women American Journal of Sociology 82 965 990 13 Normand N amp Tremblay D G 2005 Conciliation emploi famille et int gration professionnelle le cas des femmes immigr es au Qu bec Note de recherche no 2006 06 Qu bec Chaire de recherche du Canada sur les enjeux socio organisationnels de l conomie du savoir Uqam Olivier D amp Tanguy C 2008 G n ration Y Mode d emploi 1 ed Bruxelles De Boeck Universit Peretti J M amp Marbot E 2006 Les seniors dans l entreprise Paris Pearson Education Pichault F amp Nizet J 2000 Les pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines Approches contingente et politiqu Paris Seuil Pichault F amp Pleyers M 2010 Pour en finir avec la g n ration Y Enqu te sur une repr sentation manag riale Paper presented at the Nouveaux comportements nouvelle GRH St Malo Testenoire A 2001 Les carri res f minines contingence ou projet Travail Genre et Soci t s 1 5 Tremblay D G 2005 De la conciliation emploi famille une politique des temps sociaux Montr al Presses de l Universit du Qu bec Twenge J M 2010 A review of the empirical evidence on generational differences
21. n terms of gender and generations of managers professional path as well as a set of qualitative propositions these provide a basis for our empirical research as we mean to test these against the reality of the field These multiple propositions we think reflect the most structural elements of this literature though also the data we have chosen to analyse as to the possible underlying generational and gender differences This frame approaches four issues i e success the stages and career changes work life balance and finally career as such Of these work life balance is the only term not to have been defined in this state of the art Thus the concept concerns a kind of inter role conflict wherein the demands of work and family roles can be mutually incompatible Greenhaus amp Beutell 1985 Indeed filling one of these roles can hinder or complicate filling the other There is conflict when individuals feel that the expectations needs and duties of their family role run counter to those of their professional role and inversely Frone amp Rice 1987 Theoretical frame of reference qualitative propositions Men P1 Success Women Men P2 Stages Changes Women Men P3 Work life Balance Women Men P4 Career Women Y Generation P1 1 Feeling of work enjoyment X Generation P1 3 High salary securing a comfortable standard of living Baby Boomers P1 5 Linear career progression through vertical mobility
22. orkplace but also to secure better relationships between male and female staff across the various generations Gender remains an important variable to better understand generational changes The roles played by either gender group vary with time and space social groups countries etc Some are of opinion that gender equality is now granted and that a gender based analysis is no longer needed e g to understand the specific realities and needs of the Y Generation While this view may seem to hold true on graduation there exist several studies showing that the day to day reality tends to shift back to a gender based model as soon as male and female partners concerned set home together and the more so when their get their first child Chauvel 2004 So while women s working time seems to have expanded over time men s on the other hand seems to have dwindled The latter also devote more time to their leisure 6 Conclusion Our research means to examine male and female managers professionnal path and careers from an angle combining gender and age There are various factors shaping manager careers such as e g their wishes expectations work and non work priorities as well as their own organizational context These factors may vary over time according to the individuals multiple career stages or their family situation There remain differences between male and female managers careers Sex and gender roles even more so remains a relevant
23. ration Whether as teenagers or young adults they have experienced a society going through deep transformation and social revolt questioning the consumer society the rejection of authority the crave for happiness the sexual revolution the wish to give meaning to their life along with a good measure of utopia and political commitment As concerns gender equality this is also the time of strong feminist movements which i e demand education for girls and financial independence through work for women This is also the generation who gets into the job market at a favourable time namely for the best qualified among them who massively get the management and executive jobs which are then in the process of becoming professional and specialized in companies Boltanksi 1982 This generation of workers is presented as structured logical and organized On the managers side career success is perceived as being important Their career can be linked to their formal degree though their access to such posts can also follow from their experience and past duties in the company They are seen as being loyal and highly committed to their firm This is model separating private and professional life with little concern about reconcile family life at least on the side of men who largely rely on a sexual division of housework and parenting Here also when they have children women opt out of wholly or partially of the labour market to take up family and parental
24. ris Centre d Etudes de l Emploi Service des droits des femmes Laufer J amp Pochic S 2004 Carri res au f minin et au masculin In A Karvar amp L Rouban Eds Les cadres au travail Les nouvelles r gles du jeu pp 147 168 Paris La d couverte Lemiere S amp Silvera R 2008 Les diff rentes facettes des in galit s salariales hommes femmes In A Cornet J Laufer amp S Belghiti Eds Le genre et la GRH les d fis de l galit hommes femmes Paris Vuibert Lunghi C 2005 L mergence des valeurs f minines Revue Entreprise et thique num ro sp cial Lyons S Duxbury L amp Higgins C 2005 Are gender differences in basic human values a generational phenomenon Sex Roles 53 9 10 763 778 Marbot E 2005 Les DRH face au choc d mographique 20 40 60 Comment les faire travailler ensemble Paris Editions d organisation Maruani M 2006 Travail et emploi des femmes Paris La D couverte Maruani M 2011 Travail et emploi des femmes Paris La D couverte M da D 2001 Le temps des femmes Pour un nouveau partage des roles Paris Champs Flammarion 2001 M da D amp Vendramin P 2010 Les g n rations entretiennent elles un rapport diff rent au travail Sociologie En ligne Th ories et recherches Messing K Vogel L Gronkvist L amp Lagerlof E 1999 Comprendre le travail des femmes pour le transformer une recherche action me
25. rking even though results on this front may be contradictory Wong Gardiner Lang amp Coulon 2008 For having no loyalty to their employer and no sense of belonging to their company theirs would tend rather towards the boundaryless career Regardless of their sex category they would also demand a fair balance between life i e leisure friends family etc and work De Bovis Glee amp Fatien 2009 Delay 2008 Olivier amp Tanguy 2008 Twenge et al 2010 Men would take up a larger share of family life especially of parenting with housework chores being left to the charge of external hands Tremblay 2005 Vendramin 2007 This theoretical review of careers in relation to generations highlights some additional elements with relevance to our research The distribution of individuals within three age categories under 35 between 35 and 50 and above 50 with regard to occupations duties and hierarchical levels Subjective perceptions of the factors influencing career and career success and perception of the impact of age norms behaviours etc Subjective perceptions of the various generations values according to the importance given to work private life leisure social life political involvement gender equality etc Drawing on this review of the literature pertaining to career issues careers with regard to gender and generations we propose a theoretical frame of reference highlighting the intersectionality i
26. rting point likely of course to be questioned in the light of the empirical data As far as age is concerned these three age categories correspond to three target groups which are increasingly identified in age management policies namely the period of socio professional integration associated with young people the mid career period or mediors and the seniors or elderly workers 4 1 Generations as a Concept In terms of generations three groups are concerned the Y Generation after 1978 the X Generation between 1962 and 1978 the Baby Boomers born between 1945 or 1947 and 1962 The generations refer to an age group whose limits are far from unanimously defined age categories vary among authors by about 5 years Twenge Campbell Hoffmann amp Lance 2010 The generations include individuals who were born over the same period and share social and historical events A generation is a cohort characterized by common cultural economic social technological and historical transformations M da amp Vendramin 2010 The idea is that these events are bound to create common value systems distinguishing these individuals from those living at another time The three generations thus would give attach different value to work private life leisure family life social life political commitment gender equality etc Godard 1992 Guerin amp Fournier 2004 Twenge 2010 Twenge et al 2010 Studies seem to show that for each o
27. the basis of this state of the art we draw our analytical model reflecting the gender generations intersectionality of managers careers while presenting a set of qualitative propositions drawn from the most structuring elements of the argumentation A fourth section the discussion proposes to examine how from an empirical viewpoint these three categories of studies can be combined to yield research questions awaiting validation 2 Careers 2 1 Career as a Notion Career designates an individual s path throughout their professional life This path can be looked upon objectively or subjectively The first approach consists in observing facts behaviours and positioning indicators such as salary duties hierarchical rank etc The second approach on the other hand looks at the individuals perception of their career expectations strategies satisfaction level etc and the factors which have influenced it Roger 1992 Several authors propose a chronological account of career Thus Miller and Form 1951 define career as the succession of diverse stages unfolding over time according to the individuals age and characterized by settling progressing stabilizing and retiring This chronological account is often linked to age but also to years of experience At individual level one speaks of career anchor a notion which refers to the behaviours attitudes standards and values of individuals put forth when accounting for their profess
28. usiness Research 60 10 1005 1011 doi 10 1016 j jbusres 2007 02 016 Coenen M T 1998 La gr ve des femmes de la Fn En 1966 Bruxelles De Boeck Cornet A 2010 Le genre et la diversit les enjeux de l intersectionnalit et de la transversalit In I Barth amp C Falcoz Eds Nouvelles perspectives en management de la diversit pp 47 64 Paris Eyrolles Cornet A Delhaye C amp Mar chal M 2009 Approche comparative selon les sexes de la repr sentation des jeunes par rapport leur avenir professionnel et leur future conciliation vie familiale vie professionnelle et de l impact sur leurs choix scolaires Bruxelles Minist re de la Communaut fran aise Direction de l galit des chances Cornet A Laufer J amp Belghiti S 2008 Le genre et la GRH les d fis de l galit hommes femmes Paris Vuibert Culter M M amp Jackson A L 2002 A Glass Ceiling or Work Family Conflicts Journal of Business amp Economic Studies 8 2 73 82 Dann S 1995 Gender differences in self perceived success Women in Management Review 10 8 11 18 De Bovis C Glee C amp Fatien P 2009 L int gration de la g n ration Y en entreprise aujourd hui Enjeux opportunit s et obstacles pour les entreprises et les institutions de formation Lyon IAE Lyon Ecole Universitaire de Management De Bry F 2005 La persistance des in galit s professionnelles du plafond
29. viduals willingness to live different experiences and to build up skills and expertise Dany et Livian 1995 Falcoz 2001 In this particular situation mobility and learning depend more on the individual than on the firm Careers are no longer confined within the company walls but consist rather in a set of employment opportunities extending beyond one and the same workplace Cadin 1997 2 2 Career Success Career success can be measured according to multiple either objective or subjective criteria and indicators It can be judged by salary progression but also by hierarchical rank progression in the company Miller et Form 1951 Hall 1976 as well mentions hierarchical or financial performance Van Maanen and Schein 1977 and Hall 1976 have it about internal satisfaction satisfaction level the individual s own career perception and evaluation Hall 1996 calls psychological success the feeling of personal pride and self realization arising from fulfilling essential individual goals whether these concern professional accomplishment family happiness inner peace or whatever else Hall 1996 Bastid 2004 identifies various factors likely to influence the feeling of career success namely the richness and diversity of professional experiences formal and informal closeness with senior management involvement in strategic decisions influence and the ability to reconcile private and professional life 2 3 Career Ceiling Various
30. xpect fathers to take up a greater share of housework and parenting Changes however are a long time coming as appears from most studies of task sharing and life work balance models M da 2001 Tramblay 2005 This is an age group which has also experienced a sharp evolution in family models with an explosive number of single parent families and a steady increase of reconstituted ones As well this generation feels ever more threatened by the transformation of the economic world internationalization mergers externalization etc Even though they may have stayed within the same company this has gone through a good deal of restructuring Demers 1999 along with changes in company status e g privatization of public services take overs mergers shifts in top management teams Many have changed companies more out of necessity than choice Confidence in companies is dwindling and an ever smaller number has hopes of staying on the payroll until retirement They are also put under increasing pressure to work past the age of retirement Whereas earlier generations saw themselves entitled by right to take early retirement these workers entertain little hope of doing so They find themselves in ever stiffer competition with a younger generation equipped with better and higher qualifications considered ever more as the most legitimate access to an management position 4 4 The Y Generation There exists an abundant literature devoted to the Y
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