The effect of an MBA on the development of women's management competencies

Abstract

Purpose – This article aims to report the findings of a study of the effect of a women's Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme in Finland called the femaleMBA on the development of women's management competencies. The gendered nature of the competency development was also analyzed. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative interview study was conducted with 20 women who completed the programme. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings – In addition to improving the women's business competencies and their mastery of management language, the programme contributed to the creation of a clearer managerial identity, greater assertiveness, and increased credibility in a managerial role. The development of management competencies was shown to be gendered in varying ways. An all-women learning environment was experienced as a safe and supportive social context for development. Research limitations/implications – Only a specifically women's MBA was studied. The topic should also be studied in a mixed MBA group. Practical implications – MBAs should pay systematic attention to the informal and social learning context. A combination of “masculinity” and “femininity” might be worth taking into consideration when all-women management development programmes are planned and conducted. This study suggests that an all-women group in an MBA has the potential to challenge and even transform participants' ideas and assumptions about the dominance of masculinity in management and to increase their understanding of the importance of femininity in management. Originality/value – A gender angle on research into management development and particularly MBAs is very rare. This study shed light on the topic by showing that competency development in MBAs is not, as is often assumed, gender neutral but gendered.

Effects of responsible human resource management practices on female employees’ turnover intentions

“…Specific ideas for this measurement came from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (). Based on previous research results concerning women's challenges in achieving equality in their working lives, which show that the unequal treatments Finnish women face are mainly in recruitment, career advancement, access to management and leadership development, and conflict between work and family (Hearn et al, ; Heikkinen et al, ; Lämsä & Savela, ; Pietiläinen, ; Vuorinen‐Lampila, ), we chose items related to recruitment, advancement and training development. The items were rated on a 5‐point response scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.…”

The effects of leadership development on women's career success

“…Significant research has been conducted on the problems women encounter in their careers; however, the factors that promote their careers have been given less attention. One important mechanism that can advance women's career opportunities and help to close the gender gap is leadership development (Simpson, 2000;Sturges et al, 2003;Lämsä & Savela, 2014;Flynn et al, 2015). However, women's access to developmental activities are often limited, and previous studies have shown that the proportion of women in, for example, Masters of Business Administration (MBA) programs is smaller than that of men (Sturges et al, 2003;Kelan & Dunkley Jones, 2010;Lämsä & Savela, 2014;Idrovo Carlier, 2015).…”

“…Additionally, according to Day (2011), the field is currently dominated by practically oriented discussions and popularized literature. Consequently, evaluations of the role of development in career building are not often supported by empirical evidence (Sturges et al, 2003;Hay, 2006;Lester et al, 2011;Lämsä & Savela, 2014). This is surprising, since individuals and organizations continue to invest significant funds and effort into developing leadership (Day, 2011).…”

“…This is surprising, since individuals and organizations continue to invest significant funds and effort into developing leadership (Day, 2011). Generally, the importance of leadership development for increasing women's opportunities and equality in work life has been recognized; however, few studies (such as Simpson, 2000;Simpson & Ituma, 2007;Lämsä & Savela, 2014;Flynn et al, 2015) have investigated leadership development from this viewpoint in detail. This study seeks to address this research gap.…”

Teaching and learning business ethics in a multicultural group

“…Based on their empirical study of business students' attitudinal changes during business education, Lämsä and colleagues (2008) reported that business education might contribute to a narrow view of corporate responsibility in society and a devaluation of equal-opportunity employment. Furthermore, many scholars have argued that business management education prioritises "hard" competences and instrumentalism over more feminine "soft" competences, such as interpersonal skills and personal development (Kelan and Jones, 2010;Lämsä and Savela, 2014;Lämsä et al, 2000;Simpson, 2006).…”