Case Study: Women Executives And The C-Suite

Women Executives and the C-Suite
Angel Prelle
ORG 555-1 – Leading Diverse Teams
Colorado State University – Global Campus
Amy Hakims
September 4, 2016

Women Executives and the C-Suite
Diversity is a very real and prevalent facet in today’s society. Organizations are continuously working on diversity programs to help the organizations form better work environments and be successful. In order for diversity programs to be successful, it has to start from the top and move downward to the employees. If employees do not see that management is just as invested, if not more in the diversity program, they tend to not buy in to the program either. Diversity does not just include race, religion, etc., but also positions within the company. Specifically,
In 2012, when she failed to make senior partner, she was terminated. In the case of Ellen Pao V. Kleiner Perkins, Pao claims that she was discriminated against based on her gender for a promotion and increses in wages and interest as well as, retaliated against for speaking up (denied board of director seats) and then fired. Pao claims that she was passed over for promotions, wage increases (including interest to be paid) and seats on board meetings. This particular case went before the Superior Court where they found Kleiner Perkins not guilty. During the trial, it was noted that several statements were made about Pao in a derogatory fashion, to include Doerr stating that Pao had a “female chip on her shoulder.” A male partner was also stated as saying that “women should not be invited to a dinner with former Vice President Al Gore because they “kill the buzz.”” According to the jury, after listening to all of the testimony, it was not the jury’s responsibility to be the conscious of the community, Pao was fired due to her own decline in performance, however Kleiner was unable to produce any documentation to support this
The Transportation Agency states that they did take into account the gender of both applicants that were up for the promotion. The promotion was between Paul Johnson and Diane Joyce. As an affirmative action employer, the Agency decided to go with Diane. Johnson, felt because of this that he had grounds for a suit based on discrimination (violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964). In 1978 the Agency adopted an Affirmative Action Plan in which made promoting and hiring women and minorities in order to achieve better annual statistics. The case went before the Court of Appeals, in a 6-3 decision, the court ruled that the Agency did have a right to base the promotion on gender because it did not hinder the advancement of males in that agency. ("Johnson v. Transportation Agency | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute,"