Culture, Gender and Communication at Allstate Insurance Company
Culture, Gender and Communication at Allstate Insurance Company
Michelle Weber
HCS 320
October 10, 2010
Polly Hanson
Culture, Gender and Communication at Allstate Insurance Company Allstate Insurance Company is a large nationwide property and casualty insurance that uses traditional methods and current technology to communicate its information to the employees and policyholders. The technical assistance area of the company and a customer service area are staffed offshore; culture, in the form of language is one factor in their communication process. Gender has little or no affect on the communication, officially. Most of upper management is male, so their communications may hold more importance because of the position sending the message. The fact the senders of the information are male may have more to do with why there is only one woman on senior management team. Allstate is sometimes described as a “boys club”; generally because it seems senior management help others who are at their level; within and outside the company and in the country which tends to be male dominated. In the Encyclopedia of Sociology it states in 1990, 28% of employed women had jobs in just five of 503 categories: secretary, bookkeeper, manager, clerk, and registered nurse. Men had the jobs in the top five categories: manager/administrator, production supervisor, truck driver, sales supervisor, and wholesale sales representative (Reskin, 2001). Allstate’s office hierarchy is still traditional in regard to gender concerning the support staff. All the assistants to the officers are female, so many of the communications are composed by men, but edited by women. Currently, Allstate has large in person meetings, but they are in the process of remodeling the office space to accommodate smaller groups to collaborate within open common areas. Company-wide communication will use the company intranet. Diversity in culture and gender are important part to
Michelle Weber
HCS 320
October 10, 2010
Polly Hanson
Culture, Gender and Communication at Allstate Insurance Company Allstate Insurance Company is a large nationwide property and casualty insurance that uses traditional methods and current technology to communicate its information to the employees and policyholders. The technical assistance area of the company and a customer service area are staffed offshore; culture, in the form of language is one factor in their communication process. Gender has little or no affect on the communication, officially. Most of upper management is male, so their communications may hold more importance because of the position sending the message. The fact the senders of the information are male may have more to do with why there is only one woman on senior management team. Allstate is sometimes described as a “boys club”; generally because it seems senior management help others who are at their level; within and outside the company and in the country which tends to be male dominated. In the Encyclopedia of Sociology it states in 1990, 28% of employed women had jobs in just five of 503 categories: secretary, bookkeeper, manager, clerk, and registered nurse. Men had the jobs in the top five categories: manager/administrator, production supervisor, truck driver, sales supervisor, and wholesale sales representative (Reskin, 2001). Allstate’s office hierarchy is still traditional in regard to gender concerning the support staff. All the assistants to the officers are female, so many of the communications are composed by men, but edited by women. Currently, Allstate has large in person meetings, but they are in the process of remodeling the office space to accommodate smaller groups to collaborate within open common areas. Company-wide communication will use the company intranet. Diversity in culture and gender are important part to
References: Pal, A. (2004, August). Indian by day, American by night. Progressive, 68(8), 29-33. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=14033961&site=ehost-live Reskin, B. (2001, Jan). Encyclopedia of Sociology, 5, 3261-3269. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ffec8e49&AN=&site=ehost-live