Professor Dr. Isabell M. Welpe

“People Are Guided by the ‘Tone from the Top’”

Isabell Welpe is a professor for strategy and organization at the Technical University of Munich. In her research, she examines how teams function, how companies are set up and how change can succeed – and not least how change can create more diverse executive ranks.

Ms. Welpe, everyone knows that we need more women in leadership positions. However, the percentage of female members of management boards is rising only at a snail’s pace. Why?
After all of the years of researching and of visiting companies, I can say one thing: we do not have an awareness problem. There has been a lot of research – including through frequent experiments – on both women’s and men’s paths to managerial careers. We have even found many causal relationships.

The essence of the challenge is that all of us, both men and women, assess the same behavior, the same performance and the same career paths differently due to social and demographic factors. This is precisely where we have to make changes.

What can we do as a society to initiate change?
The media have a major impact on stereotypes. In a study conducted in Brazil, the residents of a selected favela were given access to cable television. The results of the study suggest that soap operas in particular, and not just television in general, influence individual decisions. This was evident in name trends for children, changing birth rates and the content of soap operas.

An interesting study also looked at how business is depicted in German television programming. It found that the most frequent group of suspects in the popular detective series “Tatort” (Crime Scene) was “businessmen”. This will unfortunately have an impact on people. Media makes a much stronger impression on us than academic research.

How can this be applied to companies? How can we get more women into corporate leadership positions?
Corporate culture provides the basis for fair selection and evaluation processes based on actual behavior and performance. And corporate culture is reflected in images and words – and evolves further through their use. The aim should be to make all employees feel part of the company. Since companies are managed on the basis of targets, they should set performance or process goals, like various longlists, or should ask employees each year for their contributions to a topic.

Another key step companies should take is to examine their own data on career longevity, performance reviews and salary trends. This is often more revealing than any type of lab experiment. Training also plays an important role. But it should focus on collective and not individual stereotypes. Structures and processes that increase the probability of objective assessments are another aspect of a high-impact package of measures. In coming years, many companies will certainly apply this and other approaches because by 2028, an increasing number of companies will have to issue a sustainability report. ESG criteria also contain a social component, including the issue of diversity in leadership positions.

We regularly hear about the importance of role models for such activities …
… and this is a good thing! The faces of a company or brand are critical, just as they are for all strategic questions. There is a good reason why we say, “seeing is believing.” And people in companies are guided by the “tone from the top.”

Are there countries where things work better than in Germany? Countries that could serve, so to speak, as role models.
Nowhere is perfect. But as I always say: “The trend is our friend.” By this, I mean that we are moving forward. There has already been progress.

Sources

AllBright Foundation, October 2023: Lonely at the top: Companies are adding women to management boards, but usually just one

BlackRock, November 2023: Lifting financial performance by investing in women

Boston Consulting Group, December 2022, Gender Diversity Index

FGS Global, March 2020: The exception, the uncaring mother and the fighter. Bias in the media presentation of top female managers

FGS Global, March 2021: from famous female founders and token women. Bias in interviews with top female executives

Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, June 2023: Why women do not remain on management boards for long

Glass & Cook, 2015: Leading at the top: Understanding women’s challenges above the glass ceiling

Harvard Business Review, 2013: Dysfunction in the Boardroom

Handelsblatt, March 2021: The characteristics of women who make it to Dax management boards

Heilman, 2001: Description and Prescription: How Gender Stereotypes Prevent Women’s Ascent Up the Organizational Ladder

Shor, van de Rijt & Kulkarni, 2022: Women Who Break the Glass Ceiling Get a “Paper Cut”: Gender, Fame, and Media Sentiment

Federal Statistical Office of Germany, 2023: Women remain underrepresented in management positions

The following members of FGS Global and Egon Zehnder contributed to this study:

Julia Caspers (FGS Global)

Eva Christiansen (FGS Global)

Lena Kilee (Egon Zehnder)

Martin Klusmann (Egon Zehnder)

Anna-Lena Lämmle (FGS Global)

Brigitte Lammers (Egon Zehnder)

Catharina Roltsch (Egon Zehnder)

Sandra Scharf (Egon Zehnder)