Collective Bank

Lisa Hammerton/ Q79728537/ CCA 503

Management Communications

CCA 503

Collective Bank

Unit Leader: Dominic Walters

Student Number: Q79728537

2637 words

Lisa Hammerton: Q79728537

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Contents

Description page number

Abstract 5

Introduction 6

Terms of Reference 7

Literature Review 8

Methodology 12

Results 13

Discussion 16

Conclusion 19

Recommendations 20

Reference List 21

Bibliography 22

Appendix 23


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Abstract

Collective Bank is a medium sized retail bank. They take Corporate Social

Responsibility very seriously within the company but were embarrassed to discover that

their diversity within senior management was not up to scratch due to the lack of women

who want to put themselves forward for the promotion. It was found that this is common

across most banks within the industry although they are working towards increasing the

number of women female managers.

This report produces a strategy as to what Collective Bank can do to tackle the issue.

Some recommendations include resolving the career vs. family debate, changing the

view that typically males make better managers and ways to motivate women within the

company.


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Introduction

Collective Bank is a medium sized retail bank in the UK which strives to put ethical

practices and investments as a center of its activities. Corporate Social Responsibility is

taken seriously within the company. It has recently been found however, that there are

too few female senior managers within the company and current senior management

are predominantly white and male.

The purpose of this report is to investigate reasons as to why there are currently not

many women that hold senior management roles within Collective Bank and why

women do not seem keen to put themselves forward for promotion. Therefore, this

report aims to produce a strategy to deal with this problem. This will be investigated

through market research and also theory.

Themes in order to tackle the issue will be to conduct reading into management, gender

and management including stereotypes and motivation.


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Terms of Reference

1. To review existing theory about gender and management

2. To construct primary research on the banking industry

3. To analyze how research can be applied to Collective Bank

4. To make recommendations to encourage women to consider a career in senior

management for Collective Bank


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Literature Review

This literature survey will review theory about management and gender differences in

management. The aim of this literature review is to fulfill the first terms of reference

within this report.

Management

Management is active, not theoretical. It is about changing behaviour and making things happen. It is about developing people, working with them, reaching objectives and achieving results. (Mullins 2007 p.411)

Mullins (2007) states that management is based within an organizational setting and is

about fulfillment of aims and objectives achieved through other people’s efforts using

systems and procedures.

A constant debate discussed by Watson (1986) and other theorists, is whether

managers are born or made and whether management is an art or science.

Management as art consists around personality and intuition and management as a

science is the knowledge and application of skills. Mullins (2007) suggests that

successful management is a combination of both as the natural talent must be

developed through training, planned experience and guidance.

Gender and Management

Harriet Harman (2009) famously quoted ‘if it had been the Lehman sisters…’ in relation

to a bank crisis which was run by men. This statement, in relation to Collective Bank,

shows how the company would differ it were to be run by women.

Unfortunately, traditional views of managers are based upon masculine qualities.

Therefore ‘women reject their gender stereotypes and embrace goals, personalities and


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behaviours similar to male managers (Powell & Graves 2003). ‘This is particularly the

case where women seek to compete with men for managerial positions’ (Collinson &

Hearn 1996, p.86). ‘Women are still poorly represented in management roles and were

largely ignored in leadership until the 1990’s’ (Buchanan & Huczynski 2010 p.603).

Hannagan (2008 p.43) believes that the ‘glass ceiling’ prevents women from becoming

senior managers and when women do become senior managers, they are just as

effective as men. Equality and ability of opportunity is often required however sub-

consciously stereotyping is an obstacle for women.

Powell and Butterfield study (1989) found that both men and women described good

managers to be higher in stereotypical masculine traits than in stereotypical female

traits. These masculine traits consist of a more direct and task driven approach and a

greater use of organizational power. Stereotypical female traits are that they have a

more democratic managerial style, are more motivational, power is shared and have

emotional intelligence. It could be suggested that female traits are much needed within

a modern workplace.

Konrad and Kramer (2006) found that women make three contributions that men are

least likely to do. Firstly, take into account a broader and wider range of stakeholders,

secondly, are not afraid to get answers to awkward questions and lastly they are more

collaborative which improves communication.

Vinkenburg et al (1997, cited in Davidson & Burke 2000 p.120) said that an increased

amount of organisations are actively looking for women to join their top management

teams. This is due to demographic changes and the increased need for diversity in

order to create managers of the 21st century. He also states that a growing amount of

women withhold managerial positions but currently only a few at a senior level. A recent

study by Social Trends (2009) found that senior women tend more to ‘support’ jobs –

HR, legal, marketing than general management. This is relevant to Collective Bank as

this may give an insight into roles women have within the bank.


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Motivation

Motivation is the ‘cognitive decision making process through which goal-directed

behavior is initiated energized, directed and maintained’ (Buchanan & Huczynski, 2010

p.732).

McGregor (1960) states that there are two types of motivational theories; X and Y.

Theory X, when people do what they are told eg. Work because they have to. Theory Y,

people do things off their own accord and because they want to, perhaps because they

like to achieve things. This is relevant to Collective Bank as motivation may be an

influence on why women are not keen to put themselves forward for promotion.

Some people are motivated within their career by having an extreme job. With

relevance to the report, senior management could be described as an extreme job. This

consists of huge responsibility, 10 hour or more days and unpredictable workflow.

Buchanan & Huczynski (2010) found that there are more men than women in extreme

jobs.

The opposite of extreme jobs however is the effect of boreout. Uninteresting, and

unchallenging jobs can lead to poor attendance and a lack of enthusiasm within the job.

A case study of this is Boyes (2007) a journalist from the Financial Times saw that the

employees developed the ‘Italian Jacket system’. If Collective Bank wishes to have

more senior managers within their team, they will have to motivate women and perhaps

encourage them out of boreout.

Environmental Influences

‘One of the major issues that have emerged as women have entered the work force is

the question of balance between work and family.’ (N. Snyder as cited in Konek and

Kitch, 1994 p.155).

Women tend to not hold extreme jobs as much as men. They worry that their absence

from home will lead to their children having an unhealthy lifestyle and are less

disciplined.


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A case study of Barclays Bank found that many organisations re-developed their

training programs in order to make them sound ‘sexier’. In reality, they found that

employees were not engaged by attending training courses. Instead they tried to involve

employee’s families, partner and children in order to develop their opportunities within

the bank. This case study (cited in Buchanan& Huczynski 2010) shows what a

competitor is doing to engage employees.


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Methodology

Within this report, a mixture of both primary and secondary research has been carried

out in order to investigate the issue.

Primary research takes form of a questionnaire used for market research. The

responses come from people that work/have worked in a bank and also business and

management students. These participants were chosen due to their knowledge and

experience within banks and also management.

Responses were collected by emailing the questionnaire to the target group, personally

asking staff within banks and also talking to staff by telephone.

Secondary research comes from looking at current bank’s websites and their corporate

responsibility reports and interpreting this in order to find answers to why there is a lack

of female senior managers at Collective Bank.


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Results

Market research

From the market research, the overall result was that they agreed with the statement

that there are too few women that are senior managers in banking. The key themes that

came out of this research were:

males are more ruthless in getting the jobs they want,

a lack of female senior manages across all organisations as it is mostly men at

top level

women are more tied to family commitments.

When analyzing the results, most women that answered the question had administrative

job titles or worked as customer advisors. Responses from a Natwest branch showed

that they were a minority as there were more women that worked there than men, but it

was then revealed that there were more men at the top level.

After grouping answers, Themed recommendations were made from the question ‘What

do you think can be done to encourage more women into senior management roles’

were:

Equal rates of pay for males and females

Training and confidence boosting within management

Increased advertising showing women carrying out managerial tasks or perhaps

making jobs gender specific


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CSR reports

Collective bank claimed to take their corporate social responsibility very seriously.

Research showed that this is a common value within all retail banks as they encourage

equal opportunities and thrive upon diversity.

The female FTSE 100 board report 2010, rated HSBC 30th with 16.7% of the

organisation made up of women and three on the board. Barclays was 36th and Lloyds

70th.

Santander has a range of strategies to incorporate within their CSR. ‘We recognise our

people as individuals and understand that diversity is important to the success of our

business’ (Santander CSR report p.16). The diverse teams represent the diversity of

customers and also add value to the success of the company.

Within the literature review, a theme was drawn about the dilemma women have

between family and their career. Santander has recently launched a new ‘passport to

parenting’ reward system which is ‘a comprehensive package of support for employees

who are parents or about to become parents (Santander CSR report p.17). This

includes maternity pay and leave which are bespoke to personal needs and

requirements.

Fig 1 shows Santander’s recent CSR rewards

Royal Bank of Scotland also has a good CSR report with relevance to women in

banking. Diversity and inclusion is again an important factor within the company and in


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2010, ‘sought to ensure that at least one woman featured on the shortlist for executive

vacancies’ (RBS 2011, Employee Engagement).

HSBC state that ‘Representation of women at senior management is steadily increasing

and there are further ambitious targets in place through our Gender Plan to ensure this

upwards trend continues’ (http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/about/diversity-values/more-info). The

bank offer a range of family friendly polices to help balance their work and home life. A

like Santander HSBC recognizes that by supporting employees with childcare, it can

help attract and keep working parents in the company. HSBC therefore provide access

to over 500 nurseries in the UK and childcare is available up until the age of 16.

Fig 2.2 shows how banks are increasing women senior managers to create a gender balance

http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/about/diversity-values/more-info


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Discussion

Looking back at the literature review and the results, strategical improvements need to

be made to Collective Bank in order to tackle the issue and improve their CSR. Three

main areas must be taken into consideration; eliminate gender stereotypes, motivation

and children.

After comparing Collective Bank’s CSR with other banks, it would be recommended that

they should create a policy which matches if not goes above what is currently being

done.

Gender Stereotype issues

Traditionally, the typical manager stereotype portrays masculine traits; task driven,

direct and powerful with authority. Although, as the literature review shows,

management is about making things happen and achieving results, the addition of

women to the senior management teams will bring a fresh array of skills and traits. The

amount of emotional intelligence and democratic managerial style they stereotypically

hold will enhance the team and will lead to even more successful management.

From the research, females said that they would like to be promoted to a higher position

within the company. Perhaps a reason why women at Collective Bank prefer to work as

a customer advisor instead of a manager is because men are more competitive to get

the job that they want. Collective bank will need to make sure that women do not feel

discriminated and have an equal chance of being a senior manager as men have.

Introducing training sessions on management may boost female employee’s confidence

and make them feel like they can fulfill the senior manager role within the bank.


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Motivation

Research found that currently, women mostly hold administrative jobs within the bank.

The literature survey found that motivation can play a key part in enjoyment at work. If

women are motivated, themselves or by colleagues, then they may be more inclined to

put themselves forward for promotion.

McGreggor (1960) produced theory X and theory Y. In order to engage employees,

especially women, Collective Bank need to make sure that most effort is aimed at

making theory Y dominant. Doing things because they want to will make the

atmosphere within the company less tense and restrictive and may also motivate

women to put themselves forward for senior management roles.

Feedback from market research found that equal pay may encourage women to apply

for the role. Although, legally, companies should be already achieving this, Collective

Bank must ensure that this is in their policy. This also shows good corporate social

responsibility as they are doing their bit towards society.

A long term suggestion, also from research is to promote women in an equal way to

men within Collective Bank’s advertising. Doing this would hopefully Change the

perception and idea that males dominate the world of banking and senior management

roles.

Childcare

It was found in the results section that one of the hardest dilemmas women face when

they go back to the work force is the balance between work and family.

Women tend to take time off (sometimes up to two years) to look after their children and

in some cases so not chose to return back to their place of work. It could be suggested

that this is a key reason as to why not many women seem to put themselves forward for

promotion and would rather stick to a part time administrative or customer advisor

position.


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After researching Collective Bank’s competitor’s CSR reports, it was found that some

banks have childcare schemes. In order to tackle the key issue within the organisation,

Collective Bank could produce a scheme similar to that of Santander.

Collective bank could develop their policy to incorporate maternity leave for mothers

and paternity for fathers. Perhaps a Collective Bank crèche could be created for women

to leave their children whilst at work and know that childcare is sorted and paid for,

therefore being able to concentrate at work. This new scheme would potentially

motivate women to apply for senior management positions as they would no longer face

the dilemma of children vs career. It would also increase CSR which is an important

aspect of the company.


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Conclusion

To conclude, it is obvious that Collective Bank need to improve their CSR and make

their senior management team more diverse. Although at first they prided themselves at

being good at having diversity within the organisation it was then decided that as

compared to what other banks are currently achieving it is evident that collective bank

need to improve and re-develop their policies.

From market research and the review of literature, there are definitely barriers which

prevent women from applying/ getting promoted to senior management roles. One of

the main barriers is the sub-conscious gender stereotype that males make better

managers/leaders than women. If the perception of this changes then it will improve

CSR and will perhaps encourage and ensure women that they are capable to undertake

a senior manager position.

Overall, if women are motivated to get the senior management role, this will definitely be

a key factor to putting themselves for promotion. Even if it is for a manager role of their

department, it is a step towards the bigger goal. They would be even more motivated

with rewards of equal and increased pay and the major reward of not having to choose

between their careers and looking after their family.


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Recommendations

One could suggest the following recommendations in order to tackle the issue of

increasing diversity within the senior management teams of Collective Bank in order to

solve the recent embarrassment they have experienced regarding their Corporate

Social Responsibility.

1. Promote equality within the bank in order to boost confidence and make women

feel as competent to be a successful senior manager within Collective Bank.

2. Produce a childcare scheme or a reward system for employees. This will eliminate

the childcare vs. career dilemma and will keep Collective Bank consistent with what

other retail banks are offering their employees.

3. Engage employees with management training programs which will educate what will

make a good manager specifically at Collective Bank and/ or to fill in with updates/

re-training if they have been away from the organisation for some time (eg. Maternity

leave).


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References

BUCHANAN, D and A.HUCZYNSKI., 2010. Organizational Behaviour. 7th ed.

Prentice Hall: Pearson Education Ltd p.603, 732

COLLINSON, D and J.HEARN., 1996. Men as Managers, Managers as Men.

London: SAGE Publication Ltd p.86

DAVIDSON, M and R.BURKE., 2000. Women In Management. London: SAGE

Publication Ltd p.120

HANNAGAN, T., 2008. Management Concepts and Practices.5th ed. Pearson

Education Ltd p.43

HSBC., 2011. Diversity. [online]. Available: http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/about/diversity-

values/more-info [accessed 10th December 2011]

KONEK, C and S.KITCH., 1994. Women and Careers. California: SAGE

Publications Inc p.155

MULLINS, Laurie J.. 2007., Management and Organisational Behaviour. [online].

Pearson Education UK.

Available from:<http://lib.myilibrary.com?ID=155253> 9 December 2011 p.411

SANTANDER., 2010. Corporate social responsibility report 2010. [online]. Available: http://www.aboutsantander.co.uk/media/29010/csr%20report%202010.pdf

[accessed 10th December 2011]



http://www.aboutsantander.co.uk/media/29010/csr%20report%202010.pdf


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Bibliography

BUCHANAN, D and A.HUCZYNSKI., 2010. Organizational Behaviour. 7th ed.

Prentice Hall: Pearson Education Ltd

COLLINSON, D and J.HEARN., 1996. Men as Managers, Managers as Men.

London: SAGE Publication Ltd

DAVIDSON, M and R.BURKE, 2000., Women In Management. London: SAGE

Publication Ltd

KONEK, C and S.KITCH., 1994. Women and Careers. California: SAGE

Publications Inc

MULLINS, Laurie J.. 2007., Management and Organisational Behaviour. [online].

Pearson Education UK.

Available from:<http://lib.myilibrary.com?ID=155253> 9 December 2011

http://www.lloyds.com/Lloyds/Corporate-Responsibility/Diversity

viewed 4th December 2011

http://www.rbs.com/about-rbs/g2/sustainability/employee-engagement.ashx




http://group.barclays.com/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&blobheadername2=MDT-Type&blobheadervalue1=inline%3B+filename%3DThe-Female-FTSE-Board-Report-2010.pdf&blobheadervalue2=abinary%3B+charset%3DUTF-8&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1231890665326&ssbinary=true




http://www.coaching-for-new-women-managers.com/business-women.html

http://www.lloyds.com/Lloyds/Corporate-Responsibility/Diversity

http://www.rbs.com/about-rbs/g2/sustainability/employee-engagement.ashx








http://www.coaching-for-new-women-managers.com/business-women.html


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APPENDIX


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Appendix 1

Questionnaire Responses

1. Are you male or female? ( please erase accordingly)

Male 2

Female 4

2. How old are you?

25 or under 3

26-35 1

36-45 1

Over 45 1

3. Have you ever worked within a bank, if yes, then what was your job title?

Yes Secretary Lending Department 1

Customer Advisor 2

No 3

4. If you answered yes to question 3, do you wish or have you ever thought about progressing

to a higher role?

Yes if a suitable promotion arose

Yes 2

5. It has been suggested that there are too few women that are senior managers in banking,

Do you agree with this statement and why?

Yes this could be due to family commitments, leaving the bank early and not being able to

progress further to Management level.


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Yes because women tend to be held back by senior male leaders within companies

especially banking and men tend to be more ruthless in getting the senior level jobs they

want.

I agree that there is a lack of female senior managers in every organization, however with

banks when they are involved in the public eye through the media there is rarely a female

figure shown. This suggests something about the hierarchal system of their business.

I would say it is about equal where I work

Within Natwest, there have been women managers but they never lasted long as they

weren’t good managers, very bitchy etc. At top level they are mostly men.

Neither agree or disagree – I am sure there could be more females in higher authorities but

because of the nature of work there may be a higher ratio of men.

6. What do you think can be done to encourage more women into senior management roles?

Perhaps being offered management courses and tempted with higher salaries

Change the perception and idea that males dominate the world of banking and senior

management roles. Possibly through advertising to show the types of jobs and daily tasks a

woman could deal with in a position.

Offer the same rate of pay as males get. And Advertise roles to be gendered specific.

There are probably more women in senior roles than men in my organisation

Management training

Confidence building, dual roles – sharing the responsibility as one issue of this could be that

females prefer to take on a less full on role because of family/relationship responsibilities.

Collective Bank

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