America's Competitive Secret: Utilizing Women as a Management Strategy [Hardcover]

Judy B. Rosener (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0195080793 | ISBN-13: 978-0195080797

The United States has a large number of well educated, experienced professional women ready, willing and able to move into the boardrooms and executive suites of corporate America. Together they represent a great, untapped economic resource, a resource no other country in the world can claim. This is America's competitive secret, argues Judy B. Rosener in this refreshingly pragmatic new book for managers who want to improve their bottom line.
A leading expert on women and men at work and a highly sought-after speaker, Rosener argues that not only are men and women different, so are male and female managers. Drawing on in-depth interviews with top-flight executives and middle managers and the latest research on working women and organizational change, she describes the unique contribution of female professionals. Her profiles of top women managers reveal that they cope well with ambiguity, are comfortable sharing power, and they tend to empower others-- leadership traits that Rosener contends lead to increased employee productivity, innovation, and profits. As businesses today struggle with corporate reorganization and an increasingly diverse workforce, America's Competive Secret offers compelling evidence that the changes that help organizatiions more fully utilize the talents of women are the same changes that will give them an important edge in today's fast-changing, service oriented, global workplace.
Rosener explains why the so-called glass ceiling still prevents many competent women from reaching the upper echelons of management. She analyzes why women and men are perceived and evaluated differently at work, and provides new insight into the feelings of men who are asked to interact with women in new roles when there are few new rules. Rosener shows that removing the glass ceiling can no longer be viewed solely in terms of social equity--it is now an economic imperative.
Too many American businesses have limited their economic strength by viewing the promotion of women employees only within the context of federally mandated affirmative action laws and policies. America's Competitive Secret redefines the issue for a new era, showing that America's most successful competitive strategy is one that most effectively utilizes all its human resources.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Much of the recent attention devoted to diversity in the workplace has focused on such management issues as overcoming cultural barriers, avoiding stereotypes, and eliminating discrimination. But works such as John Fernandez's The Diversity Advantage (1993) and Workforce America! (1991), coauthored by Rosener and Marilyn Loden, stress that a diverse workforce is actually an important asset that places the U.S. at an advantage over countries with a more homogeneous workforce. Rosener, a management professor at the University of California, Irvine, and author of the widely praised 1990 Harvard Business Review article "Ways Women Lead," echoes that same line but this time focuses on women managers. She argues that women possess leadership abilities particularly suited to today's organizational structures and that no other country has as many educated and experienced professional women as the U.S.; however, women, men, and organizations must change to take full advantage of this competitive edge, and Rosener suggests ways to do so. David Rouse

Review

"Rosener has observed firsthand the emergence and importance of women in the U.S. economy."--Chicago Tribune

"A thoughtful, well-reasoned analysis of gender disparity and discrimination in the workplace and of how corporations can be shown that change is in their economic self-interest."--Library Journal

"Optimistic...about the possibility of corporations healing themselves....American women, [Rosener] argues, are an untapped, or at least an underutilized, competitive resource, held back by discrimination and other corporate practices that fail to value their contributions....Ms. Rosener, like most Americans, believes inequity can be remedied with information and common sense."--The New York Times

"If you are a woman who is grappling with the frustration of getting ahead in a traditional company, you will find inspiration and encouragement from the stories of other women who have also faced these battles....By exposing the issues and possibilities of women-as-managers in the first book ever written on this specific subject, Rosener addresses the topic head-on and shows us all how to come out winners."--Atlanta Small Business Monthly

"[Rosener] argues that women possess leadership abilities particularly suited to today's organizational structures and that no other country has as many educated and experienced professional women as the U.S.; however, women, men, and organizations must change to take full advantage of this competitive edge, and Rosener suggests ways to do so."--Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (July 6, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195080793
• ISBN-13: 978-0195080797
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,959,211 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's About the Bottom Line, Stupid!, December 31, 1999

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: America's Competitive Secret: Utilizing Women as a Management Strategy (Hardcover)

First published in 1995 by Oxford University Press, America's Competitive Secret suggests how to utilize women as a management strategy. It was an excellent idea then and an even better idea now as globalization initiatives of American companies increase and intensify. In the Preface, author Judy B. Rosener explains that her book is intended for executives and managers "who want to improve their organization's bottom line, and for women who wonder why their career paths so often seem to be shaped by the fact that they are female." Note the reference to "bottom line." For Rosener, it is prudent to leverage the talents of professional women" inorder to create "more innovative, productive, and profitable organizations." Also, for male executives, the principle of enlightened self-interest is relevant to their own success. It makes absolutely no sense to under-utilize the talents of women professionals, especially as the global economy continues to expand so rapidly and extensively. Rosabeth Kanter agrees: "Whatever the duration and objectives of business alliances,...in the global economy, a well-developed ability to create and sustain fruitful collaborations gives companies a significant competitive leg up." Hence the importance of women.

As Connie Glaser and Barbara Steinberg Smalley suggest in Swim with the Dolphins, the female temperament is better suited than is the male's to concluding "win-win" negotiations, resolving conflicts, reaching consensus, preferring to cooperate and collaborate rather than compete, keeping an open mind, asking direct and relevant but not insulting questions, etc. Rosener describes the female temperament in terms of "consensus building, power sharing, and comfort with ambiguity."

She examines five "stages" through which organizations must proceed if they are to undergo the transformation required by new realities as well as opportunities: Stage One: Staying Out of Trouble Stage Two: We Need to React Stage Three: It's a Case of Survival Stage Four: It's the Right Thing to Do Stage Five: It's Part of Our Culture

Females as well as males within an organization will proceed from one stage to the next at varying speeds and within varying timeframes. Fair enough. However, all must reach Stage Five. Rosener recommends that, from both a strategic and financial point of view, structural reorganization "should be undertaken in concert with efforts to rectify female underutilization. Flexibility and diversity are two keys to competitive advantage, and both are closely related to the underutilization issue."

So much in the business world has changed since 1995 when this book was first published. However, many American companies and most companies in other countries have yet to take full advantage of -- and reward appropriately -- the talents of women. The companies which do so have a significant competitive advantage, a "secret weapon" if you will. Professional women know at which companies they will be appreciated and rewarded, where there are the greatest opportunities for their personal as well as professional growth. It is no coincidence that these are the same companies which, year after year, are the most profitable in their respective industries. At least until now, many of our nation's companies seem unaware of or indifferent to this "competitive secret."