The attitudes, aspirations and career orientations of women in Junior Management

Abstract

This study profiled the orientations and attitudes to work of a grade cohort of women in junior management in a large public sector organization in Northern Ireland. Specific personality dimensions included sex-role orientation, role conflict and self-esteem, and work attitudes explored were those relating primarily to career and promotion issues. 223 subjects, each at the same junior management grade, comprised the sample for a postal questionnaire survey. The findings indicated that the most ambitious and successful women were often sex-typed in the masculine direction and these women also enjoyed significantly higher levels of self-esteem. Age and marital status also emerged as significant interacting factors, with many older single women and younger women with families making conscious decisions not to seek advancement within the organization. Profiles of successful women managers are discussed in the context of changing expectations and experiences in the 1990s, and the traditional literature describing sex-role conflicts is critically evaluated in the light of these findings.