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Women in IT: Does Mentoring Help?

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D R A F T, PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Women in Information Technology: Does Mentoring Help?

Running head

Elaine Yakura

: Women in IT: Does Mentoring Help?

School of Labor and Industrial Relations Michigan State University

E. Lansing, MI USA [email protected]

Ruth Guthrie

Computer Information Systems California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

Pomona, CA USA [email protected]

Louise Soe

Computer Information Systems California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

Pomona, CA USA [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]�

mailto:[email protected]�


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Women in Information Technology: Does Mentoring Help?

Running head

Abstract

: Women in IT: Does Mentoring Help?

The numbers of women in technology disciplines and technology related

careers is in decline. Several national initiatives have been introduced to mitigate

the ‘pipeline’ problem – not enough women in the educational system to fill these

careers. However, little research has been done to study the women who have

succeeded in their IT careers. The focus of this paper is on mentoring. While many

corporations have formal mentoring programs, most are viewed as ineffective. For

this research, mentoring is defined broadly, as described by 38 women with

successful IT careers. In open ended interviews, women discussed what led them

to careers in information technology and what has made them successful. Their

experience in the IT workplace gives insight on gaining the benefits of mentorship

through other support channels such as professional groups and relationships with

superiors. Practical suggestions for organizations and women seeking IT careers

are given.

Keywords: technology careers, IT profession, IT workforce, women in IT,

mentoring women, women and technology


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INTRODUCTION

It is a disturbing fact that the percentage of women, already under-

represented in the U.S. information technology workforce, has declined further in

recent years (McKinney et al, 2008). Several industry studies have called attention

to this trend; for instance, the Anita Borg Institute for Women & Technology

published information about the global decline in the participation of women in the

IT workforce, nation by nation.1 In 2007, the National Center for Women &

Information Technology published their Scorecard, subtitled “A report on the status

of women in information technology,” documenting the underrepresentation of

women in the creation of IT despite their influence over the consumption of

consumer electronic products.2 In 2005, the Information Technology Association of

America issued a report entitled “Untapped talent,” which presented statistics on the

underrepresentation of women as well as minorities in the U.S. IT workforce.3

1

http://anitaborg.org/files/womenhightechworld.pdf, downloaded August 15, 2009.

2 http://ncwit.org/pdf/2007_Scorecard_Web.pdf, downloaded August 15, 2009.

3 http://www.itaa.org/upload/workforce/docs/Diversity_Study.pdf, downloaded August 19, 2009.

http://anitaborg.org/files/womenhightechworld.pdf�

http://ncwit.org/pdf/2007_Scorecard_Web.pdf�

http://www.itaa.org/upload/workforce/docs/Diversity_Study.pdf�


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In an effort to forestall this decline, many organizations have adopted

workforce initiatives—such as mentoring programs—intended to retain female (as

well as male) employees. These mentoring programs are often undertaken by

larger organizations as well as professional and governmental institutions (Bilimoria,

Joy, & Liang, 2008; Catalyst 2003 & 2004; P-Sontag, Vapple, & Wanberg, 2007).

Yet, despite the prevalence of mentoring initiatives, the IT research literature

remains largely silent on the issue of mentorship, much as it has been on the topic

of gender and IT (Ahuja, 2002; Adam, Howcroft, & Richardson, 2004). Recent

funding for research on the IT workforce (Wardle & Burton, 2002) has resulted in a

number of studies of girls and women at various ages as well as career stages—

from girls in elementary school to working women. Much of this research has

focused on stages preceding entry into the IT workforce; less attention has been

paid to the retention of IT employees (and their careers) once they were hired

(Tapia & Kvasky, 2004).

Given the lack of research on later stages, we undertook research designed

to be inductive in nature, exploring the career experiences of women in the IT

industry in the U.S. Rather than focusing on surveys or large numbers of

participants, we decided to conduct face-to-face interviews, asking successful

women open-ended questions that would allow them to talk in-depth about their

work and career experiences in the industry. The data in this paper are drawn from

this study.

This paper focuses on the mentoring experiences of a group of successful IT

women. There are several reasons for focusing on mentoring experiences for

women in the IT industry. First, IT professionals are often employed by more than

one organization during their careers, due to the nature of careers in IT as well as

other characteristics of the IT industry, such as outsourcing (Leventman, 2007).

Mentors (and related types of relationships) can greatly increase the quality of

information about job opportunities, organizational contexts and other factors

importance to work-life quality (Fassinger, 2008). Also, research has shown that

critical mass is one of the key factors that can affect the organizational culture as


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well as the quality of work experience for both men and women in a particular

organization (Chesterman & Ross-Smith, 2006; Soe & Yakura, 2008).

Thus, this inductive study makes several contributions to IT research. First, it

highlights the importance of mentoring experiences in the work lives of women in

the IT industry in the U.S. Second, while organizational research literature has

studied mentoring relationships for twenty years, this is a topic that is new to IT

research, and we use the organizational literature as a foundation for research on

mentoring and developmental networking in IT careers at the organizational level.

Since the percentage of women in the IT industry is declining, the topics of

mentorship and developmental networks deserve more attention in the IT research

literature.

The paper first considers the research on gender and mentoring in the IT

literature, and then summarizes the larger organizational literature on mentoring.

Next, we present the interview data, and illustrate where it is similar to, and where it

departs from, the organizational literature on mentoring. The paper concludes with

suggestions for further research and practice interventions.

Mentoring in the Information Technology Research Literature

Few articles have been published on the topic of gender and mentoring in

information technology research journals. This is not surprising, since a recent

research review has noted that the IT research literature has been largely silent on

issues of gender. In 2004, Adam, Howcroft, and Richardson published a study

analyzing the published papers in ten top-ranked IS journals during the period from

1993 to 2002. In a paper aptly subtitled “a decade of neglect,” these researchers

documented that few articles had been published despite the industry’s concern

over the declining participation of women and other visible minorities in the industry

around the globe.

Funded in part by the NSF and other funding institutions (Wardle & Burton,

2002), more studies of women in IT are becoming available. In North America,


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these include studies such as those conducted by Kuhn and Rayman (2007) and

Trauth and Howcroft (2006) on the U.S. workforce, as well as studies on the

Canadian workforce by Cukier et al (2009) and Scott-Dixon (2004). Additional

articles on women in the IT workforce in nations around the world have also been

welcome additions to the IT research literature (Trauth, 2006). Moreover, articles in

related research fields, such as management and organizations, occasionally focus

on women in technology organizations. However, these studies can be more difficult

to identify, since the subjects’ occupations may be an incidental feature of the

research.

For example, Fagenson-Eland, Baugh, and Lankau (2005) studied 27 pairs

of mentors and their protégés, and concluded that demographic characteristics such

as age or experience could affect the individual perceptions of the relationship

between mentor and protégé. This study is unusual in that it focuses on the

mentor/protégé pair, rather that individuals who are mentors or individuals who are

protégés. That the sample of mentor/protégé pairs worked in a high technology

company was clearly identified in the study, but as part of the careers literature, is

not as evident to those in the IT arena.

Mentoring in the Management and Organizational Research Literature

Research on mentoring in work organizations has been conducted for

several decades. Kathy Kram’s book entitled Mentoring at Work (1985) is frequently

cited as one of the early publications that “offered a theoretical foundation for

understanding developmental relationships at work for both men and women” (p. 4,

Ragins & Kram, 2007), but the concept of mentoring can be found in literary works

dating back as far as Homer’s Odyssey (Eby, Rhodes, & Allen, 2007). That

mentors and role models are critical for performance, learning, and advancement is

noted by Fassinger (2008: 262):

Successful performance accomplishments across a variety

of tasks and circumstances can occur only under


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conditions of opportunity, and vicarious learning that

derives from observing the achievement of similar others

requires the clear presence of role models and mentors in

the educational or work environment.

There is considerable debate on the definition and scope of the concept of

mentoring (Eby, Rhodes, & Allen, 2007; Ragins & Kram, 2007), but for our

purposes, we adopt the following definition (Wanberg, Welsh, & Hezlett, 2003: 39):

Mentoring refers to a one-on-one relationship between a

less experienced (i.e., protégé) and a more experienced

person (i.e., mentor), and is prototypically intended to

advance the personal and professional growth of the less

experienced individual.

Much of the mentoring research literature focuses on the individual mentee

(Fagenson-Eland, Baugh, & Lankau, 2005) and individual perceptions of

satisfaction (Ragins, Cotton, & Miller 2000). There is less research on formal

workplace mentoring programs (Allen & Eby, 2004), or mentor-protege pairs

(Fagenson-Eland, Baugh, & Lankau, 2005; McDowall-Long 2004). And while

gender and other demographic characteristics have been considered worthy of

study by many researchers of the mentor relationship (McKeen & Bujaki, 2007),

others have noted that the careers literature has not always been hospitable to

women’s career narratives. For example, O’Neil and Bilimoria (2005: 168) note that "…traditional models of career development have been based predominantly on the

career experiences of men” despite the fact that women’s careers can differ from

men’s careers.

But changes in the global economic environment have led to consequent

changes in organizational research literatures, such as the careers literature, as

described by Arthur (2008):

For example, we have shifted from a traditional mentoring

approach (concerned with a single, long-term hierarchical


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relationship in a particular organization) toward a

networking approach (concerned with multiple, perhaps

shorter term relationships). These multiple relationships

make up a ‘developmental network’ which ideally provides

sources of learning, social support and other resources and

extends beyond any single organizational setting. At this

stage we know much about protégés, less about mentors,

and even less about how gender and racial diversity

influence network arrangements. [citations omitted]

Since many organizations, such as the IT organizations cited above, strongly

encourage the establishment of mentoring programs (deJanasz, Sullivan, &

Whiting, 2003), we focus first on formal mentoring programs (Hegstad & Wentling

2005). However, not all organizations have formal mentoring programs. Even within

organizations without formal mentoring programs, there can be “naturally occurring”

mentoring relationships (Dougherty, Turban, & Haggard, 2007). These types of

voluntary mentoring relationships can form outside the auspices of a formal

program, but yet involve a one-on-one relationship between a junior and senior

dyad.

Much of the organizational research has focused on the benefits that accrue

to protégés, as well as their mentors, at the individual level (Wanberg, Welsh, &

Hezlett, 2003). In one recent study, Dougherty, Dreher, Arunachalam, and

Willbanks (2009) examined career outcomes for male and female protégés with

mentors, as well as men and women without mentors. They found that female

protégés with high-ranking mentors received greater compensation than either

males or females who had non-high-ranking mentors. Even those with non-high-

ranking mentors received greater compensation than those without mentors at all.

Clearly, mentor relationships can be of great benefit.

While the benefits of mentoring relationships have been researched in the

mentoring literature, the negative aspects of mentoring have been less fully

documented (Wanberg, Welsh, & Hezlett, 2003). Several types of negative


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experiences have been identified, such as lack of mentoring expertise and

mismatches within a mentor-protégé dyad (Eby, McManus, Simon, & Russell,

2000). Eby and McManus (2004) have also identified malevolent deception as

another possible problem in mentoring relationships, which includes intentional

deceit by the protégé. Thus, while mentoring relationships can be beneficial to both

mentor and protégé, as well as benefit the organizations of which each individual is

a part, like any relationship, mentoring relationships can also be a source of

negative experiences.

An additional area from this literature that deserves mention is that of

developmental networks. Several scholars have begun to use a social network lens

to view the set of relationships that an individual might have. Higgins, Chandler, &

Kram (2007: 352) define mentoring networks and developmental networks as

follows.

Mentoring networks are a subset of developmental

networks: they focus specifically on relationships with

mentors, as opposed to “developers” as Higgins and Kram

(2001) call them, who may come from social arenas that

extend beyond the protege’s place of work.

This research has considered the density of networks, as well as changes in

careers and network ties over time (Higgins & Kram, 2001).

Thus, the mentoring research literature has many theoretical perspectives

and concepts that can enrich our understanding of women and the effect of

mentoring relationships on their work experiences. In the next section, we will

describe the sample of women that we interviewed, and then present some of the

data collected from this sample.


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RESEARCH METHOD

Sampling method and description

The study sample consists of 38 women who work in the IT industry in

Southern California. We began by recruiting women who had graduated from the

baccalaureate and master programs at the College of Business at a local university

over a period of 35 years. Using a snowballing technique (Berg, 2001), additional

participants were recruited from local companies, alumni of other local universities,

professional organizations, and the LinkedIn social networking site. In our sampling

strategy, we selected women who were “extreme” cases (in career longevity, age,

organizational level) as well as “typical cases” to achieve “maximal variation in the

sample” (Flick, 1998).

The women in the study, as indicated in Table 1, have pursued IT careers.

Nineteen of the women worked as programmers, IT auditors, and quality assurance

analysts. The other 19 were managers or executives; four of whom had risen to the

“C” levels in their organizations: Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Operating

Officer (COO), and CAO (Chief Administrative Officer) and Chief Security Officer

(CSO. Job titles are not comparable across organizations—as one subject pointed

out, a senior manager in a Big-4 consulting firm would be a director in the “privates,”

the term some of the consultants used for the rest of the non-consulting world.

The managers and executives generally were older and more experienced

than the professionals, but there were vice presidents still in their twenties, and the

oldest subject was a professional web programmer. These women tended not to

switch employers very often. All were well educated. Their earned terminal degrees

included two doctorates (working in non-teaching positions), 14 master degrees, 21

baccalaureates, and one who had almost completed her baccalaureate degree.

Sixty-one percent supported dependents, usually children. Moreover, four

women supported their husbands (one ill, one laid-off, and two house-husbands). In

some high-stress, highly paid jobs, women supported the family and husbands


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Table 1 – Women in IT Study Group Demographics

Engineering – 20% Financial or insurance – 18% Big 4 or Management Consulting – 13% Education – 10% Entertainment – 8% Healthcare – 8% IT Products/Services – 3% Other – 20%

Industry BA/BS – 55% MS – 37% PhD. – 5% No Degree – 3%

Education

Professional – 50% Managerial – 50%

Professional Level

Caucasian – 55% Asian/Pacific Islander/East Indian – 32% Hispanic – 13%

Ethnicity

Average Age – 38yrs US Citizen – 75% Women with children – 54% Women with dependents of any kind – 61%

Demographics

stayed home to care for children. Two women supported elderly parents and

disabled siblings.

The women worked in a variety of industries (Aerospace/Engineering

Services, Finance/Insurance, Management/Consulting, Education/Government,

Entertainment, Health, and IT Development), Women working in the consulting

industry eventually moved to the “privates.” Some left for a better work-life balance.

Consulting firms have highly structured career ladders, and each employee

understands the requirements (performance and years) it takes to move upward.

Women who had risen to senior manager status left because they did not have the

support (social/political capital) to become partners.

Interview method and protocol

After obtaining interviewee consents on forms approved by the relevant

university review boards, interviews were conducted face-to-face in a location of the

interviewee’s choosing. The 60-90 minute interviews were tape-recorded, and

followed a protocol of open-ended questions that encouraged women to talk about

their careers, how and when they became interested in IT, and their work


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experiences. Other questions asked about the nature of their work organization,

gender distributions at their current organizations, and workplace accommodations

for women. The interviews covered demographic data, education, certifications,

participation in mentoring, professional organizations and networking, and sources

of career support (parental, educational, spousal). Further questions asked about

work-life balance, career high and low points, and personal qualities that affect their

success.

Data analysis method

The interview transcriptions were coded using the qualitative data analysis

software Atlas-ti 5.0, using top-down and bottom-up techniques (Lewins & Silver,

2007). Top-down codes reflected research assumptions covering issues such as

cultural references, and other recommendations for improving the status of women

in IT, such as mentoring and networking. The bottom-up coding used a grounded-

theory approach (Charmaz, 2006; Strauss & Corbin, 1997), to uncover recurring

themes and patterns in the interview data (Miles & Huberman, 1994). After our initial

coding, we also identified code families and subdivided codes to differentiate

important recurring themes within categories as well as negative and positive

examples.

FINDINGS

The distinction between a formal mentoring program and informal mentoring

was very clear in our data as well as in the research literature, and we chose this as

one of the dimensions for a simple 2 x 2 table. Another distinction that arose was

the distinction between a mentor who worked in the same work organization as the

protégé, and a mentor outside the protégé’s work organization, which forms the

vertical dimension of the table. While these appear to be clear categories and

distinctions in this table, in real life, the boundaries of these categories can blur.


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Table 2. Mentoring Arrangements

formal mentoring program informal mentoring mentor within protégé’s work organization

example: Big 4 firm example: “naturally occurring” relationship

mentor outside of protégé’s work organization

example: Alumni mentoring program

example: network of mentors

Formal Mentoring Programs Formal mentoring programs were not common in our sample except for

those at large consulting firms. These firms (which the interviewees involved in

consulting referred to as the “big 4”) had highly structured, formalized, mentoring

programs, required of all employees. At one Big-4 consulting firm, employees were

assigned a ‘buddy’, a counselor, and a ‘performance manager’. The buddy was a

peer who did “on-boarding,” by providing the protégé with information about the

organization and served to socialize the protégé to the workings or the organization.

The counselor, or informal mentor, was at a higher level than the protege, and

provided unrecorded advice or “human capital” (Ramaswami & Dreher, 2007), and

did not monitor performance. The performance manager or “coach”—the “real”

mentor—helped the employee set goals and monitored her performance. This

relationship was a two-way street, because the protégé also evaluated the mentor,

and her evaluations becomes part of the mentor’s own performance review. A

recently promoted manager described the differences:

“When you get hired in as an associate, formally you get assigned a

performance manager who is really your mentor within the company.

They are responsible for helping you set your goals, and for providing you

guidance in your career. It is a formal process where everything is

documented. They also will go to bat for you. They are kind of like your

backup, so when it comes time for your year-end evaluation, they will


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support you if you are ready for promotion. In addition to your

performance manager, we have a mentor program which is more informal

and that’s where you get to select someone at a level above you who you

feel comfortable with, that you can talk to if you want things to be off-

record, you can go to them.” [Subj:R05]

A woman who had begun her career in a Big-4 10 years earlier than the new

manager quoted above, and left at the senior manager level because she did not

have the support to make partner, described the role of her mentor:

“… it was more to coach you in what you needed to do in your current job

at your current level, to help you achieve your objectives and your goals

for that year.… to help you grow into your role, and then maybe once you

got to a certain phase, to groom you into the next level. But it wasn’t

picking a path, it was more like here is where you are and this is what I

am going to help you with as your counselor.” [Subj:R38]

In these consulting firms, the performance manager was critical at every

stage of the woman’s career. If the woman’s first performance manager advocated

for her, then she could gain billable project hours. One young woman who had

difficulties with a micro-managing performance manager who did not trust her work,

used the opportunity of reviewing him to resolve successfully an issue that bothered

her. Another young woman described an unfortunate situation in which her mentor

ignored her, and then asked her to lie about his performance. She soon left the

firm, but she did not “burn any bridges,” a phrase commonly heard in these

interviews. Another young woman gave credit to her first female performance

manager. While the performance manager did not have the power of a partner, her

high reputation provided social/political capital (Ramaswami & Dreher, 2007) that

legitimized the quality of the mentee’s work, and probably helped her become a

manager after only four years.

“She really looked out for me. She always made sure that I was assigned

jobs. Because if you aren’t assigned jobs you are on the beach, either it


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appears that you are not doing a good job and no one wants to pick you

up, or whatever reason. …She is one of the most strict managers here,

so any manager I worked for after her was fine. She has always guided

me and told me what my options are, asked me what training I would like,

offered advice, what her opinion was on which direction I wanted to go.

She would tell me reasons why I should not go in a particular direction.

That was very helpful. She has a good reputation …and I work with her,

so it helps me.” [Subj:R05]

However, now that she is a manager herself, her next performance manager

will be a partner, which created uncertainties for her. For promotion from senior

manager to partner, a woman needs the strong support of a powerful partner, who

could influence fellow partners to vote for her. Women who left after working at that

level found it hard to fit in:

“No, I know a lot of senior managers who don’t make it to partner

because they don’t see them as a bread winner, ‘rain makers’. The only

people who can make it to partner are those who can bring in sales and

service, more money, to the firm. If they don’t promote you within a

reasonable time, to partner, they don’t see you as partner material. …

You have to have enough partners writing, giving you some sponsorship,

saying yes, I think so-and-so should be partner because of what and why.

But you have to have partners from different groups saying that about

you. So, even though you could have that, it’s still a decision about

whether they should promote you or not.” [Subj:R38]

Internal organizational networks existed in several varieties, formal and

informal. A few companies trying to retain women employees started women’s

groups or networks. These networks invite women employees and women clients

to attend networking events. Participation in these formalized women’s networks

was mixed. While women felt encouraged to attend and found events useful (for

example, when women partners discussed work-life balance), their participation

was low.


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Some women were skeptical about these company sponsored networking

programs. One very experienced manager, who left a consulting firm as a senior

manager after she had a baby, noted:

“…they did a lot of preaching and talking. The senior managers talked

about their families in meetings, etc., how successful they are. You know

all of that is talk. The bottom line is that if you travel this much, you cannot

do it. You have to face reality.” [Subj:R17]

Some women belong to formal organizational support groups composed of

university alumni, or ethnic groups (e.g., the Latino Network). One woman prized

the on-going support during weekly lunch meetings with the intake group with whom

she trained as a new hire. Another young mother who worked in the uncertain

financial industry, joined an informal women’s group at her company. Older, more

experienced women were there to guide her when the company was acquired while

she was pregnant. Women advised her:

“… how to conduct myself, especially because I am younger and work

with older people. I have gotten a lot of advice on how to act, how to hold

myself, how to conduct meetings, more soft skills. Recently I called a

friend from the women’s lunch group for advice on whether I should

pursue this new opportunity working on this transition team, knowing that

there are family changes coming up - I am expecting my second child. I

was asking, how should I take that? Should I be concerned about the

travel? Should I just go for it? Those types of where in my career path

will that help me get. Definitely not so much on the job training aspects,

but more on the softer skills.” [Subj:R25]

Informal Mentoring The women in the sample tended not to participate in formal networking

programs if it was optional; these programs usually involved a mentor in another

part of the organization. They did not always see the value of having this type of


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mentoring relationship. Since most organizations did not have formal mentoring

programs, our interviewees considered informal mentoring much more useful. Most

women indicated they have had informal mentors, although not always when they

needed them the most. In these informal mentoring situations, the definition of what

a mentor is and what a mentor does varied widely. What women described when

asked about being mentored varied along several continua:

Degree of Formality varied from completely informal (ad hoc) to meeting on a

regularly scheduled basis or having specific goals.

Duration varied from temporary (e.g., someone whom the woman met only

briefly) to someone who became a career-long mentor.

Organizational proximity varied from weak (extra-organizational) to extremely

close (boss).

Power difference

Another continuum of the relationship is discussed by Mertz (2004), who

presents a set of different kinds of mentors that vary along a continuum of

involvement in the relationship; some mentor types are “low” involvement, where

there might be little interaction. Other mentors provide advice for protégés, and

have a medium level of involvement. At the highest level of involvement was the

“advocate” mentor, one who would provide concrete support, such as advocating for

increased pay or a promotion. The types of mentors that the interviewees

discussed fell along this continuum, and we present these data here.

varied from weak (peer-to-peer mentoring/networking) to

strong (boss to subordinate).

Low Involvement = “Role Model” Mentor

Women earlier in their careers identified women as informal mentors. They

self-selected women who were leaders in the organization as mentors, referring to

the “strong woman” who was a role model:

“But the ones I get the most out of are women in leadership positions,

because our motivations for leadership are different. Men can work all


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the hours in the world and be aggressive and women cannot necessarily

do that, no matter what their challenges are. The barriers they have are a

little higher, to get into those positions. They have to do things differently

than the men.” [Subj:R14]

Sometimes their contact with this woman was temporary and short-lived, but

the woman inspired them. Women who had worked in the IT industry longer

identified mostly men (former bosses). When a woman had a boss who was an

advocate for her, she felt more supported and had better access to opportunities.

However, in one consulting firm, the only woman partner was no help at all:

“I didn’t like the new partner who took over. Actually, she was a woman,

and instead of making things better for women, she actually made it very

competitive and very political. You would think now that you had a role

model and maybe she would know what you were going through, and she

could relate to you. That turned out to be exactly the opposite. She came

from a background where she felt like she earned her position and

because she worked hard and nobody else can work as hard as her, you

know. We were about 4 or 5 girls at the senior manager level, and we all

ended up quitting. I was the first one to quit and they all left within 5 or 6

months after.” [Subj:R38]

Medium Involvement = “Advisor” Mentor

One woman identified a mentor who was not an advocate for her during

performance appraisals or other situations, but was able to give straightforward

career advice that was critical to her development as a consultant. She described

their interaction in the following manner:

“I remember my advisor when I first started. I told him, look, I don’t feel

comfortable tooting my own horn. What do you mean I need to write this

up and talk about how good I am? And he looked at me straight in the

eye, and he said, Erica, get over it! And it hit me, I’m like, alright! He was

very direct, he said, get over it! And I think I’ve had to adapt over time,


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because at the end of the day, I recognize that to be successful,

especially in this business, you need to be more aggressive.” [Subj:R11]

High Involvement = “Advocate” Mentor

One of the managerial women, who stayed with some version of the same

company for 36 years and survived multiple mergers and acquisitions, had the

same mentor for 22 years:

“… I think the boss that I had who helped me get into the program for the

management and training [early in her career], he mentored me quite a bit

throughout my years. He was there with me until we shut the plant down.

From the day I was hired until we shut the plant down. … So ’72, I started

out from [college]. Graduated in May, started working in June. And until

’94, ’93. 22 years. I just reported to him the entire time. Whether it was

moving around, but I had him as a mentor. He taught me a lot of what I

know. [That company] did a lot for the leaders, so he was able to share a

lot.” [Subj:R40]

The most valuable form of support for women in this study came from their

bosses, whom they sometimes identified as a career-long “mentor.” These bosses

may have had more or less social/political power, but they used their power to pull

the woman up. If the woman was fortunate to find a supportive boss early in her

career, she received valuable advice (human capital), assignments that gave

visibility, and recommendations for promotion when they became available

(social/political capital). These relationships often continued after the mentor and

the woman no longer worked together. One young woman who began her career in

a prominent Silicon Valley firm, had a boss who was on the fast track, who fast-

tracked her. She ended up managing teams of male engineers:

“I didn’t know what kind of management job I would be walking into but

when one opened up, he was right there pushing me into it. He promoted

me. That’s where things started to move for me. I was put into more high


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visibility jobs. More exposure, and I got creditability as a result.”

[Subj:R18]

Formal Cross-Organizational Mentoring Programs External professional networks are important for women. Strong, local

professional networks in certain fields, particularly Information Assurance/IT

Auditing, provided women with training, licensing, and connections to new jobs.

Subjects mentioned the importance of these face-to-face meetings in building

strong ties within the professional communities. They also did not “burn bridges”

because they might meet former bosses and co-workers at these meetings. Several

women mentioned finding new jobs at these meetings.

Alumni networks were also important. One woman, who left a large IT

corporation for a startup, described the value of her MBA-alumni group network:

“The first startup I went to was someone coming up to me and telling me

about this opportunity. This startup was a mutual introduction, that’s how

I got the position. I yet to physically have to apply for any of the jobs since

the first.” [Subj:R14]

Informal Cross-Organizational Mentor Network When asked about networking, most women talked about informal networks

with former classmates or co-workers. They maintained contacts via periodic phone

calls, lunch dates, email, and social networking sites--MySpace and LinkedIn. One

woman who owned a startup that was building a social networking site, described

LinkedIn as a “gigantic phone directory” for locating contact information or “like

having a business card”. [Subj:R18] Another manager compared the usefulness of

her Auditing Association for maintaining contacts and LinkedIn for finding new

contacts (connections of connections) or locating contact information for former

contacts.


20

“I belong to LinkedIn, and I like that one because I can see other people’s

networks. On LinkedIn, I can know you, but if I see who you know I might

get ideas. I might ask for an introduction from someone I know to

somebody in an industry that interests me. For maintaining contacts, IS

Audit is good. So that’s what LinkedIn can do - help you find people you

knew 20 years ago, if they have kept up their contact information.”

[Subj:R14].

Mentor “substitutes”

Peer-to-Peer. This type of horizontal mentoring works among employees at

the same level. An IT Auditor who is an immigrant asks for advice on cultural

issues from her co-workers, and gives it as well:

“In my current job, one of my peers who started about three weeks after I

did…will come to me and ask me questions, and I will also pull him in to a

conference room and give him advice to help him along. I am doing it

more like a focus that I notice that he does certain things that should be

done a different, more efficient way. That is one of his weaknesses. He

takes the scenic route to get a job done, and I have to help him think

about another way to do the job. He starts thinking and says that would

make sense.” [Subj:R22]

Incoming cohorts of employees. These cohorts can be useful to women, but

they can also be discouraging, if the woman is a token, and all the rest are males.

One young woman described her intake at a consulting firm, which hired her for a

security team and sent her for training:

“This is the new hire training that they have. It’s for 4 weeks. …The first

week you focus on consulting skills, such as people skills in general. The

second week it’s something else. You get more and more narrow. The


21

fourth week it was specifically security, so your classes narrow down,

right? So the fourth week in my class, I was the only female in my class.

This is U.S. wide. I was the only female in my class. Everyone else was

a guy. … And it was just, man, I know, for me, that’s just like, oh my god,

that’s like, I don’t know what that is. It’s just, for me that’s not an entirely

comfortable environment to work in. I do like to work with females, a

balance of females and men. You know?” [Subj:R30]

Alumni or professional groups. Within organizations, alumni groups from the

same school often networked, particularly those who were in the same student

clubs when they were in school or who were in the same classes and stayed in

touch. Firms often sent alumni (including new hires who know the current students)

to recruit and rely on them to be buddies and help convince interns and new hires to

stay. Also, local chapters of professional associations, such as the IT auditing and

information assurance associations were very friendly toward women. They

provided training, licensing, job contacts, and job advice during their monthly

meetings.

The benefits and drawbacks of different types of mentoring and networking

are presented in Table 3:


22

Table 3. Mentoring Benefits and Drawbacks

Example Benefits Drawbacks Formal Mentoring Programs

KPMG – each new employee is assigned a mentor. Mentor is evaluated on performance.

Attention is given to brining employees ‘on-board’.

Viewed by employees as a pretense. Mentees don’t usually see great benefit. Mentors often have no fit to mentees career aspirations.

Informal Mentoring Having rapport with a boss enables an employee to gain exposure and experience in the company, building their own reputation.

‘Fit’ with mentor is good since the mentor is self-selected. Faster way to build reputation and gain experience and insight.

These relationships do not spontaneously occur for everyone.

Formal Cross-Organizational Mentoring

Professional organizations or alumni groups.

Good for exposure to other companies. Good for changing jobs.

Better for mid-career professional. Can be time consuming if you are actively involved.

Informal Cross-Organizational Mentoring

Friends, former co-workers, LinkedIn

People more familiar with you can solve your needs more directly.

Better for mid-career professional.

PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

What can organizations do? Some organizations, such as the big consulting firms, had institutionalized

mentoring as part of their day-to-day operations. Since the mentee also evaluates

the mentor, this practice works well in some circumstances. However, it does not


23

help the woman overcome the bar to entering the “old boy’s club” at the partnership

level. Women seem to need mentors most when they are entering new work

situations (e.g., new hire, newly promoted, new organization). Organizations that

provide mentoring at these points in women’s careers could resolve many problems

that women face as they try to figure out what they should do next.

Since an informal network of mentors seems to work best for most women,

the organization should encourage the type of environment in which women are

comfortable asking for advice on matters that are important to them. Some firms

have begun providing women’s networks that meet regularly to discuss women’s

issues. There was some evidence that women valued these networks, even though

they did not seem to attend them.

Researchers have identified several additional factors when establishing

formal mentoring programs, such as the importance of top management support,

and congruence of practices with the program’s objectives (Hegstad & Wentling,

2005). Finkelstein & Poteet (2007) also advocate clear objectives for a formal

progam, as well as matching of protégé and mentor.

What can women do? Women in the study seemed to value working on a team and collaborating to

do a good job for the client. They appeared able to use their unique characteristics

to circumvent bias (Shih, 2006), although this ability did not necessarily help them

advance to the highest levels, and if they did advance, they were often the token

woman. Since networking appears to be a skill at which women excel, capitalizing

on this skill may help their success more than formal mentoring programs, which do

not seem to be available or very helpful when they are. The women we interviewed

had developed several strategies women to solve the mentoring gap:

Maintain networks. Networking was the most widely cited type of support that

women found useful. Email, happy hour, lunch, phone calls, professional networks,

organizational networks, social networking connections, former professors, were all


24

mentioned as networking opportunities. One professor at Cal Poly who advocated

networking to all his students and often brought alumni back to the university to

speak to students in his careers class, was mentioned by 13 of the participants as

someone who taught them to network, or used his own networks to help the woman

find a job.

Learn to be Assertive. A young woman vice president in a financial institution

had developed a strategy for working her way into the intra- and extra-

organizational networks. She spoke up when the box tickets at the baseball game

were distributed, so she could network informally with her co-workers. She pointed

out to her vendors that they “owed her one” so they would take her out to lunch, and

formed invaluable bonds with them that would help her find work later. She went to

the putting green with associates to “hit balls,” even though she did not know how to

golf. [Subj:R39]

This same woman also described how she had to change her proposals so

that they appealed to the firm executives, some of whom were from a culture that

had a less favorable view of women, and viewed her as a little girl.

“… when you step into a room filled with sharks and you are this tiny little

fish that is coming in, if you know your facts, if you know your subject

matter, you will be fine. I had to learn that very early on and I had to learn

that the hard way. … when they started asking for facts and figures, and

you can’t talk that language, sit down. That’s when I started to learn that

all the guys at that level understood the bottom dollar. They could tell you

how much [the firm] made in millions in the last hour. I needed to learn

that. So I started to read our financial reports. … I started to educate

myself on the business because I wanted that respect. I started to learn

how to do that translation ..if I am going to build a process that reduces

the number of defects that go into production…. I have to go in there and

say, well last month we had 40 outages. Each outage on the average

lasted 3 hours. You lost this much money and you paid this much money

to these people who were working on it. This is why you need this


25

process. Then everybody would go, “oh yeah.” That was lack of my own

experience, but then learning how to walk the walk and talk the talk

myself.” [Subj:R39]

Participate in workplace groups, even if it is different. Several women,

particularly those who “closet worked” during lunch because they needed to leave at

5 PM to pick up children from daycare, discovered that they needed to go out for

lunch with “the boys” to make sure the boys saw her as a team player. The inability

of mothers to stay at the office after 5 PM could be a detriment because informal

interactions then could be very helpful. One young woman who worked in Risk

Management mended fences by hanging out with the “networking guys,” whose

projects she monitored, because her boss tended to alienate them. The networking

guys kept her informed about upcoming events.

“People in network security knew our perspective but they didn’t really

care to help us out at times because they didn’t want to deal with my

boss. I would build relationships with them and they would come hit me

up and tell me something was going to happen. It would be a little

diamond they were handing me. Then I would have to develop it and

then say that I heard that something was happening and that would really

start the wheels rolling.” [Subj:R15]

CONCLUSION

The interview data from the 38 women with careers in IT confirmed the

importance of mentoring, both formal and informal, as well as developmental

networking, and other alternatives, to their success. Women tended to maintain a

network of mentors of various types, from distant role models to highly supportive

bosses, who provided the “social/political capital” necessary to help proteges up the

career ladder. Theoretical concepts and frameworks from the mentoring and


26

careers research literature can be useful in analyzing the experiences of women

(and men) in IT, to the benefit of organizations and the economy overall.

Women in the early stages of their careers frequently describe the IT work

place as one where they are unsure of the language and protocols of how to ‘fit in’.

The women in this study found that once they understood male dominated, IT

culture, they were better able to navigate their professions and advance their

careers. The value of this research is that it can put into perspective formal and

informal mentoring so an early career woman can distinguish a beneficial,

mentoring relationship from a dead end. Forewarned is forearmed. As

undergraduate women enter the work force, or mid-career women attempt to

recharge stalled careers, the more knowledge they have about hidden obstacles,

the less isolated they may feel in the IT workplace. Ultimately, this may keep career

women from opting out of IT careers.

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