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Big-four consulting firm female senior manager engagement, retention and productivity in pursuit of the partner level
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Big-four consulting firm female senior manager engagement, retention and productivity in pursuit of the partner level
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Content
Big-Four Consulting Firm Female Senior Manager Engagement, Retention and Productivity
in Pursuit of the Partner Level
by
Alyson J. Daichendt
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
December 2020
Copyright 2020 Alyson J. Daichendt
ii
Dedication
I dedicate this dissertation to all the hard working and resilient consulting female senior
managers, delivering great work, building amazing teams and modeling the behavior that success
in consulting is achievable. You are doing this for you, and for all of the incredible young
women coming behind you. I appreciate you! Most of all, I hope that the content of this paper
resonates with your firms and serves as suggestions to help women build and achieve success in
consulting. I am a true believer in paying it forward and hope this makes even the smallest
amount of impact to think differently about the wonderful women who gives their professional
lives to consulting. I also would be remiss if I did not dedicate this work to my family and
friends who helped me along the way. While the sacrifices impacted our time together, I cannot
share enough gratitude for your love and kindness while I took this journey. A special thanks to
my parents, John and Catherine, my sister Stephanie and brother Chris for being there for me
during the good and tough times during the program and encouraging me to push through. I
hope you see great things coming from me, now and into the future.
iii
Acknowledgements
I would like to share my profound thanks with my Dissertation Chair, Dr. Jennifer
Phillips, who has been an incredible sounding board, center of positivity and voice of reason
throughout the program. I also thank my dissertation committee member, Dr. Monique Datta for
her “paper shredder” feedback that made me better. There are too many people to name from
Cohort 11 to thank, and just appreciate so much your camaraderie and kindness. Reflecting on
this program, I have realized so much about the process of learning and thinking differently to
get to a greater outcome. While the end of the process is bittersweet, I am grateful to have had
this time to critically think and transcend my day job and experiences. Lastly, I would be remiss
if I did not mention the mentorship and friendship of almost 20 years from Dr. Bob Turrill, who
graciously served on my Dissertation committee as well. You have been my sage advisor and
unwavering rock. I cannot thank you enough for your care and guidance. I look forward to
celebrating this milestone (and your book completion) with you. Fight on!
iv
Table of Contents
Dedication ....................................................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iii
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ viii
Introduction of the Problem of Practice .......................................................................................... 1
Organizational Context and Mission .............................................................................................. 3
Importance of Addressing the Problem .......................................................................................... 3
Purpose of the Project and Questions ............................................................................................. 4
Field Goal........................................................................................................................................ 5
Stakeholder Group of Focus and Stakeholder Goal ........................................................................ 6
Review of the Literature ................................................................................................................. 7
History of Engagement Tied to Productivity and Retention ....................................................... 8
Organization Responses to Understanding Engagement .......................................................... 10
The Impact of Globalization and Social Responsibility on Engagement and Retention .......... 11
Female Engagement Challenges in Business ............................................................................ 12
Engagement Challenges Tied to Productivity and Retention for Females ............................... 14
Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis Framework ........................................................................ 15
Consulting Female Senior Manager Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences 16
Knowledge Influences .............................................................................................................. 16
Motivation Influences ............................................................................................................... 23
Organization Influences ............................................................................................................ 29
v
Conceptual Framework: Consulting Female Senior Manager Knowledge, Motivation and the
Organizational Context ................................................................................................................. 37
Qualitative Data Collection........................................................................................................... 39
Findings..................................................................................................................................... 43
Limitations and Delimitations ....................................................................................................... 83
Recommendations for Practice ..................................................................................................... 84
Implications for Practice ............................................................................................................. 105
Future Research ...................................................................................................................... 108
Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 109
References ................................................................................................................................... 111
Appendix A - Participating Stakeholders with Sampling Criteria for Interviews ...................... 124
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale............................................................................. 124
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale .................................................... 125
Appendix B - Interview Questions ............................................................................................. 127
Appendix C - Credibility and Trustworthiness ........................................................................... 129
Appendix D - Ethics.................................................................................................................... 131
Appendix E - Implementation and Evaluation Plan ................................................................... 133
Appendix F - Post Program Participant Feedback ...................................................................... 148
Appendix G - Program Impact Checklist.................................................................................... 151
vi
List of Tables
Table 1: Organization Goal, Field Goal, and Stakeholder Performance Goal ............................... 7
Table 2: Knowledge Influences and Assessments ....................................................................... 23
Table 3: Motivational Influences and Assessments ..................................................................... 29
Table 4: Organizational Influences and Assessments .................................................................. 36
Table 5: Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences Gaps ....................................... 47
Table 6: Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations ......................................... 87
Table 7: Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations ......................................... 92
Table 8: Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations ...................................... 98
Table 9: Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes ...................... 134
Table 10: Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation ........................... 136
Table 11: Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors ........................................................ 137
Table 12: Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program .................................... 141
Table 13: Components to Measure Reactions to the Program ................................................... 142
vii
List of Figures
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework for Consulting Female Senior Manager Engagement,
Productivity and Retention…………………………………………………………………..…..39
Figure 2 - Consulting Female Senior Manager Participant Demographics……………..……….44
Figure 3 - Supporters of Engagement, Productivity and Retention ……………..………………50
Figure 4 - Derailers of Engagement, Productivity and Retention……………..………………....52
Figure 5 - Support Needed for Engagement, Productivity and Retention……………….………54
Figure 6 - Knowledge of Role (Factual)……………………………………………..…………..57
Figure 7 - Solution Availability to Support the Population (Procedural)………………..……....62
Figure 8 - Job Satisfaction (Attribution)……………………………………………...………….65
Figure 9 - Job Confidence (Self-Efficacy)…………………………………………...……….….68
Figure 10 - Work/Life Balance (Expectancy)…………………………………………...……….70
Figure 11 - Culture Supports the Populations Career Goals (Cultural Model)………………......75
Figure 12 - Firm Investment in Career Path Development…………………………………...….78
Figure 13 - Firm Storytelling………………………………………………………………...…..80
Figure 14 - Structured Program Participant Feedback and Leadership Evaluation of
Opportunities………………………………………………………………………………..…..146
viii
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore and understand the impacts on consulting female senior
manager engagement, productivity and retention in big-four firms, as the population looks to
achieve the partner level. The study was focused on what knowledge, motivation and
organizational influences contributed to the population’s experience, and used the Clark and
Estes (2008) gap analysis framework as the foundation of the influencers. The specific intent
was to see what existing knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences are in place that
support or derail the population’s experience. Additionally, the desired output was to understand
from the participants’ perspective what would support them on their path to senior leadership
roles through firm offerings and other formalized internal support. To gather data, qualitative
interviews were used, leveraging a convenience snowball sampling method and hour-long
interviews with 11 participants across 4 big-four firms. Data findings were highlighted in a
series of tables that captured key findings for the 21 research questions. The population had a
very clear understanding and knowledge of what their respective roles required for delivery
focus. However, when it came to understanding leadership and firm expectations, answers
varied, and the population communicated indifference for the existing support provided to
support engagement, productivity and career trajectory. In aggregate, themes around needing to
understand a clear path, active management of morphing expectations, along with dedicated firm
and leadership focus on programming and sponsorship to help this population were clear outputs.
The study concluded with recommendations to address the knowledge, motivation and
organizational gaps that were reported, and an implementation and evaluation plan was
developed using the Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick’s (2016) New World Model.
1
Introduction of the Problem of Practice
This study addressed the problem of engagement, productivity and retention among
female senior managers in big-four consulting firms as they pursue the partner level in their
respective organizations. Big-four firms are those organizations that provide consulting, tax,
advisory, and audit firms, that are the largest professional services firms in the world.
Individual engagement is considered foundational for this study, as engagement manifests
through the energy and commitment employees show through enthusiasm and additional
discretionary effort, they place into their work activities (Attridge, 2009; Macey & Schneider,
2008). Researchers who study the theory of engagement believe that engagement is linked to
broader organizational attachment, resulting in increased productivity (Richman et al., 2008). As
the workplace is a dynamic environment with drivers of engagement that are constantly
changing, companies are called on to develop strategies to engage workers as a crucial action to
achieve business strategy and retain valuable employees (Carpenter & de Charon, 2014).
Focusing on engagement is critical support for achieving businesses productivity goals and
aspirations (Carpenter & de Charon, 2014). When analyzing company engagement data across a
range of businesses, one study showed that engagement is linked to specific business outcomes,
including topics such as performance, productivity, and retention (Macy & Schneider, 2008).
Employers now realize that by focusing on engagement, they can create a more efficient and
productive workforce. Engaged employee exhibit behavior that is consistent with organizational
success, including advocating for colleagues and not seeking other opportunities to go and work
elsewhere, despite the possibilities to move (Mann & Harter, 2016). In a world that is
dynamically changing with increased globalization, having engaged employees may be a key to
2
competitive advantage, assuring the ability to maintain productivity and general business focus
(Macy & Schneider, 2008).
In consulting firms, engaging and retaining employees and helping them to be productive
in their roles is required to assure business continuity and client service. Talent drives consulting
business models and this requirement is further supported by big-four need to retain bright,
flexible and goal-directed talent. This aspiration is especially true for client-facing businesses,
where the requirements for employment include significant travel and long work hours that
impact the employee’s energy and interest in having long-term careers in consulting. In 2015,
one big-four firm published employee data that showed that yearly, attrition grew to 21% as
opposed to 19% in 2013, demonstrating that departures are a reality of consulting business (Firm
one global report, 2015). In the same firm on a global scale, 20% of the partners are women,
whereas 80% are men, that could indicate that as women gain seniority, less are a part of the
partnership levels of the organization, (Firm one global report, 2015). When looking at the big-
four firms overall globally in 2016, firm one female partnership was at 24%, firm two and three
had 20% female partners and firm four had 17% female partners. According to Badal and Harter
(2014), gender diversity directly and favorably impacts company financial performance. With a
focus on greater productivity, addressing attrition rates rising at the senior manager level, and
gender data highlighting a potential opportunity to focus on females, exploring female
engagement, and how that impacts productivity and retention at big-four firms is needed. The
focus was to determine if there are opportunities to improve the female career experience to
assure long-term engagement and senior-level careers at big-four firms. In pursuit of helping the
population to achieve this goal, opportunities were analyzed to define the engagement drivers for
females, supporting or derailing their productivity, and ultimately, their retention.
3
Organizational Context and Mission
The organizations that participated in this study are four big-four consulting firms. As
shared, big-four consulting firms are those firms that provide client-facing services in the areas
of tax, audit, advisory, and consulting. The big-four moniker is an industry term that was given
to the businesses based on the size, depth, and breadth of the services provided to the majority of
the market. The big-four on average provide services in at least 150 countries, employ over
200,000 people, and gross over 30 billion dollars in revenue on a yearly basis. The big-four
firms also seek to continually evolve their services yearly, transcending advisory, consulting, tax
and audit services. Big-four firms, in recent years have ventured into new business offerings,
including advertising and technology platform development to expand client services. The big-
four firms continue to be a destination employer for college graduates, and one study showed
that that consulting roles turn tend to c-suite roles, indicating broader industry success can be
achieved following consulting careers (Gavett, 2013). As shared previously, and according to
Statista (2019), the gender data of big-four firms demonstrates that as females advance in their
careers, more are leaving before the partner level. Data is consistent across most consulting firms
of similar size and focus. Of the comparable strategy firms, the average female partnership
numbers are below 10% (Tomenendal & Boyoglu, 2014). The primary goal of this study is to
explore and determine solutions that support current consulting female senior managers in
wanting to achieve the partner level in big-four firms. Additionally, the study findings intend to
support rising female leaders who desire to achieve partner in their respective firms.
Importance of Addressing the Problem
In a world that is dynamically changing with increased globalization and a need to fight
for talent, having engaged employees that feel they can be productive and contribute may be a
4
key to competitive advantage (Macy & Schneider, 2008). According to Lockwood (2007),
focusing on engagement means capturing people at every point in their employee experience to
positively impact overall engagement and the ability to perform. Employee engagement experts
in the Gallup organization (2016), share that 34% of US employees are engaged, with 16.5%
who are actively disengaged. Of this population, women have higher engagement scores than
their male counterparts. The Gallup organization (Mann & Harter, 2016) furthered the research
by showing that women continue to leave the workforce in staggering numbers. According to
Gallup (2016), despite having better engagement scores than men year after year, 60% are
seeking greater work/life balance, 48% are looking at new opportunities, and 45% would still
like to achieve higher organization roles. This theme details that businesses have a burning
platform to address female engagement and must find ways to support productivity and
ultimately, retain this critical workforce population.
Based on the available data, it is in big-four consulting organization’s best interest to
evaluate the high-burn environments for females. Evaluation can be accomplished by looking at
existing engagement data of females to understand opportunities for engaging them as well as
initiate active listening strategies to proactively gather the population’s career wishes and
aspirations. According to Pitt-Catsouphes and Matz-Costa (2008), engagement will continue to
be a key talent retention driver, requiring leadership to consider designing customized
approaches to manage engagement and listen with responsiveness, to assure continued program
evaluation and success in engaging and promoting consulting female senior managers.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this project was to evaluate the degree to which big-four consulting firms
are able to improve engagement, productivity, and retention of consulting female senior
5
managers across big-four firms, as the population pursues the partner level specifically. The
analysis was focused on the knowledge/skills, motivations, and influences from the organization
that shapes the female experience, while also identifying clear areas of opportunity to engage
consulting female senior managers to support their career aspirations. The research questions
that guided the focus of the study are as follows:
1. How are big-four consulting firms meeting the goal of increasing the engagement,
productivity, and retention of consulting female senior managers?
2. What are the knowledge and motivation influences affecting the increase or decrease in
engagement, productivity, and retention for consulting female senior managers?
3. What is the interaction between organizational culture and context for consulting female
senior manager’s knowledge and motivation as it relates to increasing engagement,
productivity, and retention among them?
4. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources to favorably impact consulting female senior
manager’s engagement, productivity, and retention?
Field Goal
For the study, four big-four consulting firms were selected as the field of focus. The
firms studied have more than 200,000 employees on average. The stakeholder group for the
study are consulting female senior managers who are a part big-four consulting organizations.
The study intended to evaluate how big-four firms support the achievement of the field goal of
improving engagement, productivity, and retention of consulting female senior managers, in
pursuit of the partner level. The research uncovered what engages and supports female staff
leaders to be productive contributors to the business, as well as determine what supports them in
6
seeking and securing higher organizational roles. The achievement of this goal would result in
having insights that support female leadership retention and enhanced productivity. This goal
was established to support the reduction of turnover of senior female managers in big-four
consulting organizations.
Stakeholder Group of Focus and Stakeholder Goal
The stakeholder group of focus were consulting female senior managers, who are the
most senior staff roles in consulting. These roles in big-four firms are crucial leadership roles
that bolster gender diversification in consulting and help big-four firms’ ability to retain female
leaders with directed focus on developing a strong pipeline of ready female leaders. As shared,
available data from big-four firms shows that consulting remains male-dominated, with females
comprising 44% of the total staff-level workforce (Statista, 2019) and as partner-level roles are
evaluated, the percentage of females decreases drastically. One firm developed a study to
demonstrate that retaining women in leadership roles continues to be a challenge and has
obligated to raise the female partner level to 30% female partners by 2030, while firm two has
communicated a public obligation to get to 25% female partners by 2020. There appears to be a
consistent theme on the urgency to promote and retain senior female leaders as well as
recruitment of females broadly across the big-four consulting firms.
Given rates of female representation at partner levels, there was an imperative to focus
the study on the immediately rising female leader talent in U.S. consulting firms, who are
consulting female senior managers. Although analyzing all leadership data and completing a
comparative analysis between genders would provide rich insights, for practical purposes, the
focus was placed on a subset of the population across the big-four firms for the study. Drivers
for this group selection include a personal obligation to the group of female leaders as a part of
7
mentorship responsibilities and current issues with turnover with this level in consulting firms.
Table 1 highlights the Organization Goal, Field Goal, and Stakeholder Performance Goals.
Table 1
Organization Goal, Field Goal, and Stakeholder Performance Goal
Organization Goal
Identify recommendations that will support big-four U.S. consulting female senior managers to be
productive, retained, and engaged and seeking higher-level organization roles in their respective
firms.
Field Goal
Improve engagement, productivity, and retention of U.S. consulting female senior managers
across big-four firms.
Stakeholder Performance Goal
U.S. consulting female senior managers have improved engagement, productivity and retention.
Review of the Literature
The purpose of the study was to understand the drivers of consulting female senior
manager engagement and how those drivers directly support or derail productivity and retention
as the population considers promotion. From the literature review, the definition of engagement
continues to evolve, through varied research and business perspectives on what engagement truly
means (Shuck & Wollard, 2010). One study highlighted that if engagement is harnessed in work
settings, there are organizational benefits that are financially helpful and supportive to business
strategy realization (Markos & Sridevi, 2010). Topics such as globalization and social
responsibility are rising as important inputs to the overall engagement equation and require focus
for companies to win the war for talent and keep employees productive and retained (Porter &
Kramer, 2006). This hypothesis is important to consider when comparing engagement drivers
between men and women. Crawley et al. (2015) detailed that career expectations are different,
8
yet gender differences are studied with inconsistent practices to define what matters most to
women for their personal engagement. McGowana et al. (2012) say that women seek greater
flexibility in roles and are still being compared to male workers based on traditional work values
that are male-centric, meaning no gender consistent home obligations or traditional child-rearing
responsibilities.
To fully study the inputs for consulting female senior manager engagement, productivity
and retention, it is important to start with the history of engagement, including the multiple
definitions, viewpoints, and how the concept of looking at engagement has grown in popularity
and built resonance in business today. Additionally, how engagement impacts the individual
experience (including productivity and intent to stay) and how this manifests real time for the
population being studied.
History of Engagement Tied to Productivity and Retention
The concept of employee engagement has a rich history of multiple interpretations of the
term, which has resulted in varied definitions. Theorists and thought leaders have communicated
and shaped the concept of engagement, based on research that started with W.A. Khan, almost
twenty years ago. Kahn (1990) first focused on engagement in the workplace being about “the
harnessing of organizational members’ selves to their work roles’’ (p. 384). As the topic has
evolved, more recent definitions categorize engagement as a combination of three inputs that
include personal engagement, work engagement and job engagement (Gupta & Shukla, 2017).
The refinement of the definition and of what engagement means is a topic of constant
exploration by theorists and practitioners.
While the basic concept of what engagement is has been interpreted by theorists and
practitioners, what has become clear is that harnessing employee passion for the job leads to
9
significant business outcomes (Shuck & Wollard, 2010). The authors said that expected benefits
include productive employees who are less likely to leave or be absent, are more productive and
inspire a much healthier work environment where people will be willing to put in additional
discretionary effort (Shuck & Wollard, 2010). Theorists and practitioners continue to explore
the concept of engagement and attempt to prove the value of a common definition, but still
struggle with inconsistencies in research around how to manage engagement and assure the value
of focusing on the topic (Shuck & Wollard, 2010). The other factor that has changed over time
around engagement is who owns the topic and stewards the management and programming
around engagement solutions that matter to employees. Macey and Schneider (2008) shared that
the responsibility and ownership of engagement has been traditionally owned by Human
Resources professionals and only garnered interest in recent years by theorists and consultants
who believe the topic is broader than Human Resources. The increased interest is due to
findings that understanding engagement comes to life through engaged behavior, which indicates
a type of adaptiveness to an organization and willingness to stay and be productive (Macey &
Schneider, 2008). Another evolution is that engagement is tied to one’s self-image as well as
broader organizational purpose (Shuck et al., 2017). Markos and Sridevi (2010) highlighted that
with the threat of competition, businesses need to put greater focus on efficiency and
productivity, more than any other time in history, and understanding engagement could be a key
driver of success. The authors discussed that there is a significant relationship between
employee engagement and organizational performance outcomes, including retention,
productivity, profitability, customer loyalty and safety (Markos & Sridevi, 2010). With the
evolving interpretations of engagement and the data showing a need to focus on engagement as a
10
competitive advantage, a myriad of responses to managing engagement challenges have come to
fruition.
Organization Responses to Understanding Engagement
In the last 20 years, businesses have initiated active measurement of engagement to
understand respective opportunities and gaps associated with engagement feedback, resulting in
varied leader alignment around the topic (McBain, 2007). Measuring engagement via employee
surveys has been the most common method to understand engagement and what employees truly
care about (Kumar & Pansari, 2015). According to Lockwood (2007), measuring engagement
and the results of measurements are key inputs to determining a company’s competitive
advantage, based on how engaged employees are. Measurement allows an organization to track
progress, issues and determine any gaps that are pervasive around organizational engagement,
including employee attendance, retention, motivation, and career aspirations (Attridge, 2009).
Also, measurement conducted with frequency and follow-through allows for a dynamic
understanding of pervasive workforce issues and assuring the right programmatic approaches to
address engagement challenges (Kumar & Pansari, 2015).
While engagement measurement has shown to be beneficial to the organization, the
support for measurement and acting on engagement data is required to assure the resonance of
approaches and solutions supporting the workforce. According to Attridge (2009), engagement
measurement, evaluation, and engagement solution execution is a company issue, and leadership
must be aligned to the concept of measuring what matters to employees or engagement efforts
are subject to failure. The complexity that arises from the literature review is that even with
measurement of engagement, there are still multiple interpretations of what an engaged
employee looks like. Little and Little (2006) question if the measurement of engagement is an
11
attitude or behavior; or an individual or group construct, with a common struggle on how to
make engagement operational. The majority of the thought leaders who study engagement say
that managers must be diligent to understand engagement as a foundational input to productivity
and retention in their organizations, which can be accomplished through gathering data to
understand the distinctive opportunities to engage employees in the pursuit of achieving business
strategy (Lockwood, 2007). Still, engagement cannot be an insular activity. Changes in the
economic landscape and competition for talent are pushing businesses to think differently and act
smarter with engagement interventions that allow workers to enjoy the work they do, with a
focus on delivery (Taneja et al., 2015).
The Impact of Globalization and Social Responsibility on Engagement and Retention
Focusing on engagement and retention is a key need for business today. Evaluating and
harnessing engagement practices is needed due to increased globalization and competitiveness
for talent, and in support of the objective to be socially responsible. Bode et al. (2015) highlight
that globalization is defined as organizations that are focused on developing their influence and
operations on an international scale. Corporate social responsibility has been linked with several
organizational advantages, including recruitment, retention, productivity, and morale (Hejjas et
al., 2019). According to one study, over the last several years, globalization is pushing
organizations to focus on their talent pipeline and in some cases, ignoring the emotional
connections with their employee base (Kumar & Raghavendran, 2013). Other theorists believe
that organizations cannot neglect the thoughts and feelings of their workers as this is a source of
competitive advantage (Cheese et al., 2008). The core message is that globalization is calling on
businesses to act differently and respond to workforce challenges by adjusting organization
structures and processes to compete in the global environment.
12
Most organizations used to think of their capital as cash or investments only, but in
today’s environment, Human Capital, which is an organization’s talent, is a key addition to
company capital (Marin & Verdier, 2011). Human Capital must be linked to the concepts of
globalization and social responsibility (Porter & Kramer, 2006). This focus on Human Capital in
the vein of being socially responsible is said to be driving an organization’s identity and talent
brand (Porter & Kramer, 2006).
The connection of social responsibility to engagement and retention is a critical
consideration. According to Taneja et al. (2015), businesses will be able to achieve competitive
advantage by deliberately focusing on their over-arching engagement strategy and solutions in
order to retain talent. Employees today want to work for an organization that is socially
responsible and derive pride and commitment based on their company’s positive influence,
directly supporting personal engagement and commitment to stay (Porter & Kramer, 2006).
Globalization is impacting companies and the way they operate, as they compete for talent and
attempt to stay competitive (Marin & Verdier, 2011). Sustaining talent is an overall challenge,
and further exploration is needed to understand the opportunities transcending globalization, with
an emphasis on engagement differences between men and women, and what actually drives
female productivity and retention.
Female Engagement Challenges in Business
With the increased focus on engagement, researchers continue to dissect the engagement
topic and specifically, look to explore and compare engagement differences between men and
women. Evidence of female engagement compared to male engagement tends to be inconclusive,
yet some research shows that women are still dealing with engagement differences at work,
resulting in impacts to career trajectory and performance (Traavik, 2018). Oshagbemi (2003)
13
showed that differences have been explained to be a result of varying expectations for work, for
example, careers being more central to men’s identities versus female identities. More recent
research shows that greater focus needs to be placed on gender differences at work to understand
the impact of job satisfaction on engagement and productivity. Crawley et al. (2015) have
studied women in business and the contributions they make and have determined that women are
crucial to business financial performance, detailing that there is a correlation between company
profit and the number of female senior executives in those respective businesses. This finding
has created an interest in engagement levels and promotion data of women in business. As
women are more present at senior leadership levels, there is a need to understand the impact of
gender difference in overall engagement and productivity. Researchers also suggest that female
engagement is at risk due to expectations for women to perform higher than men due to
subjective assessments of their behavior (Morgan et al., 2017). McGowana et al. (2012)
contended that while women have made strides toward sexual equality, traditional family
responsibilities and obligations such as child rearing and taking care of the home have remained
unchanged, impacting how their organizational commitment is viewed. In one study, it was
found that maintaining a sense of balance between work and life responsibilities continues to be
a source of tension for women in the workplace (McGowana et al., 2012). The literature shows
that women require greater flexibility in leadership roles, which is viewed as a weakness and a
lack of ambition, even when they have made it to leadership roles (Pafford & Schaeffer, 2017).
For most women, maintaining an appropriate balance between work and home is a consistent
challenge and stressor that is reported (Gallup, 2017). With this context in mind, it will be
important to evaluate what truly drives female engagement, retention, and overall ambition to
achieve the partner level in consulting firms.
14
Engagement Challenges Tied to Productivity and Retention for Females
From reviewing the research, there appears to be a linkage between personal engagement
and how productive and committed women feel in their organizational roles (Nelson & Suby-
Long, 2019). According to Sidana (2016), engagement, productivity and retention are typically
described as unique and separate topics, but the combination of the three concepts are highly
correlated and work together to shape a successful work environment. Sidana (2016) postulated
that when employees are engaged and interested in their work, productivity increases, and they
are more likely to stay in their role versus looking for new role. Sidana (2016) called this “a
positive cycle that results in satisfied workers, and happy employers” (p. 1). Work engagement
is considered to be fueled by having opportunities such as significant work, autonomy on the job,
feedback on the results and potential for career mobility (Geldenhuys et al., 2014). Khan (1990)
tied such tasks to creating targeted meaningfulness in the workplace and ultimately, these actions
make an impact on organizational performance, resulting in productivity.
For women in business, Schulz and Enslin (2014) believed that engagement and
productivity would be improved by supporting women with active career planning, deliberate
objective setting, purposeful networking, active coaching, and by seeking and securing proactive
advice from trusted peers and leaders. This contention lends to the perspective that with the right
organizational support, there will be improved experiences for females in the workplace. Further,
by assuring that there is active attention between engaged female employees and organizational
leaders by implementing a comprehensive career system might be an effective strategy to avoid
the departure of female talent in organizations (Schulz & Enslin, 2014)
To achieve the assurance that consulting female managers can be successful in big-four
firms, it is important to evaluate the personal drivers of engagement along with research findings
15
to define the methods to support female careers. Specifically, to hear from this population to
understand what they believe they need from their respective firms and leadership to achieve the
partner level is a key objective.
Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis Framework
Organizational change is aided by a framework that supports the explanation of
influences when moving from a current to a desired future state, in service of achieving a goal.
The Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis Framework offers a step-by-step approach to support
organizations in identifying potential performance gaps, with the ability to measure performance
in service of achieving desired goals. Clark and Estes (2008) believed that performance gaps in
an organization could be a result of motivational influences. As such, performance improvement
must be initiated with goals that are clearly articulated with an understanding of any performance
gaps, along with a rich analysis of gaps that may exist between current and future performance
(Bandura, 1997; Clark & Estes, 2008). The Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis Framework can
identify the root causes of performance gaps that negatively impact goal achievement, including
the knowledge and skills of the stakeholder group, their motivations, and any organizational
barriers that hinder the organization from achieving the stated performance goal.
The Gap Analysis Framework from Clark and Estes (2008) provided a detailed structure
to capture the knowledge, motivation, and organizational inputs that support the stated
performance goal that big-four firms will have insight into how to improve the engagement,
productivity and retention of female consulting senior managers in their big-four firms. The
section begins with a summary of the overarching influences on the stakeholder performance
goal, focused on knowledge and skill influencers. The section is followed by motivation
influences, based on the perceived influencers or hinderances of motivation. The section
16
concludes with the organizational influences impacting the stated stakeholder goal of achieving
an understanding of engagement drivers that support consulting female senior managers.
Consulting Female Senior Manager Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
To illustrate the influences that impact consulting female senior manager engagement,
knowledge/skills, motivation and organization influences are explored, according to Clark and
Estes Gap Analysis Framework (2008). For knowledge influencers, Krathwohl’s (2010)
viewpoint on knowledge is leveraged, which includes the factual, conceptual, procedural, and
metacognitive knowledge types. For motivation inputs, Mayer’s (2011) perspective highlights
that motivation is a driver to assure active choice, persistence, and mental effort. Motivation
influences reviewed include attribution, self-efficacy and expectancy influences. Organizational
barriers were also studied, as they can preclude motivation in response to processes and policies
instituted in an organizational setting.
Knowledge Influences
Knowledge is one of three dimensions to explore in order to achieve an understanding of
how to realize an increase in consulting female senior manager engagement scores. Clark and
Estes (2008) believed that most people are unaware of their own knowledge and skills and are
reticent to share any gaps in knowledge to avoid a feeling of weakness or identify a personal
deficit. The authors further stated that by focusing on improving a knowledge or skill gap will
support the individual, and the organization will benefit in turn (Clark & Estes, 2008). Rueda
(2011) supported this contention in the educational environment by asking what a person needs
to know to accomplish their goal, which supports the ability to make knowledge concrete. From
the research reviewed, understanding knowledge and skills will support the ability to achieve an
organization goal.
17
Knowledge types are critical inputs to shape the type of knowledge that is needed to
meaningfully achieve the articulated field goal. According to Rueda (2011), there are several
tools and guides to help shape and understand knowledge influencers. Krathwohl (2010)
discussed the revisions to Bloom’s taxonomy that serves as a framework to shape the
identification of knowledge types, supporting building knowledge in pursuit of an organization
goal. The four different types of knowledge are factual, conceptual, procedural, and
metacognitive (Krathwohl, 2010). Krathwohl (2010) described factual knowledge as
foundational knowledge and fundamental understanding of content to solve a problem in
different situations; conceptual knowledge, which focuses on relationships between information
or content; procedural knowledge, which refers to an individual’s ability to do something using
basic skills as the foundation; and metacognitive knowledge, which refers to individual’s self-
awareness and overall cognition.
To explore the knowledge influencers that address the stakeholder goal for consulting
female senior managers, several knowledge requirements have been identified to anchor the
research in the most salient areas needed to achieve the identified field goal. The knowledge
influencers have been classified into Bloom’s revised taxonomy to assure support for achieving
the intended stakeholder goal.
Understanding the Expectations of Consulting Female Senior Managers
The first knowledge influencer that consulting female senior managers require to achieve
the performance goal is understanding what is expected of them in the workplace. The
knowledge influencer for this area is primarily factual. The rationale for factual is because what
is required of females to achieve the partner level must be understood and internalized to harness
solutions to thoughtfully address female engagement, which is shown to be a driver to overall
18
engagement and realization of business strategy (Pitt-Catsouphes & Matz-Costa, 2008). It is
important to reconcile engagement with expectations of the workplace.
According to Saks (2006), empirical research supports that there is a relationship between
engagement and work outcomes and that individual engagement is positively correlated to
organizational commitment and negatively related to intention to quit. Banihani et al. (2013)
said that women in the workplace are disadvantaged from a work engagement perspective due to
traditional female home and family responsibilities that are in contention with work expectations.
The authors further this thought, asserting that working women experience burden when
considering family obligations, which results in loss of pay and making up work hours that are
longer than those invested by men (Banihani et al., 2013). Schein (2001) also believed that
females who aspired for management roles faced promotion obstacles because the characteristics
of a successful manager were more closely related to men, specifically that men are perceived as
being aggressive, forceful and ambitious, whereas, women are viewed as helpful, kind and
sympathetic. Pafford and Schaefer (2017) further this viewpoint by saying that women in
corporate leadership roles who are successful have the characteristics most closely aligned to
male attributes, which supports the contention that acting like men in leadership roles garners
better career support and followership. Richman et al. (2008) studied the relationship between
perceived workplace flexibility and stated work-life policies. While the researchers believe that
workplace flexibility and strong policies support overall employee engagement, the authors note
that women are still plagued by traditional expectations where they perceive that they cannot
have a senior-level organizational role and manage to the expectations of work and family with
equal focus. If women can clearly reconcile the factual inputs to achieving the partner level and
19
actively work to balance what is expected with their obligations to home, they will achieve
greater success.
Seeking Out Solutions to Support Engagement
The second knowledge influence that consulting female senior managers require to
achieve the stated performance goal is an understanding of the solutions available to them to
support their career ambitions. This knowledge influence is procedural knowledge, as it calls on
consulting female senior managers to know the processes to find the programs and resources
available to them in order to achieve their career ambitions and desire to achieve the next level.
According to Saks (2006), employees will choose to engage themselves to varying
degrees and in response to the resources they receive from their organization. However, monies
are wasted yearly on engagement solutions that are not addressing the broader organization’s
most fundamental needs and concerns. In 2017, Harvard Business Review shared a current study
of 250 diverse organizations, ranging from non-profit to for-profit business, and found that
current engagement programs are focused on boosting engagement scores, versus addressing fit
for purpose engagement programs that support talent fundamental needs, resulting in millions of
dollars invested on wasted programs (Gupta & Shukla, 2017). Saks (2006) believed that
managers should also understand that engagement is a long-term process that requires ongoing
continued interactions over time to assure program relevance and impact.
Data highlights that in most organizations, that women are not seeking out programs to
support their personal engagement and career growth due to the perception that they have to
combat a glass-ceiling that exists that career and engagement programs cannot address (Smith et
al., 2012). In a study conducted by Debebe et al. (2010), females in professional services firms
do not seek out programs that support their personal engagement as they fear that this results in a
20
concern that they are not serious about achieving the next level. The researchers conclude that
even with flexible work arrangements or company-sponsored programs, female senior managers
felt the accommodation was incompatible with senior leadership expectations, and this notion is
perpetuated by male colleagues (Debebe et al., 2010). The study showed some women in their
study tended to want to remain at the senior manager level due to consistent pressure coming
from the next level, which would unfavorably impact personal and familial commitments
(Debebe et al., 2010). The view of staying at the senior manager was a consistent takeaway from
the study. Traavik (2017) concluded that there is no single pattern that impacts women at the
senior manager in achieving partner, but that when women decided to leave, it was a result to
roles that had become unsustainable in their view, compounded by the need to have a more
balanced life.
Personal Contributions to Engagement
The third knowledge influence that consulting female senior managers require to achieve
the stated performance goal is to be aware of how their personal actions hinder or enhance their
ability to achieve the partner level. This knowledge influence is metacognitive as it is analyzing
at the most fundamental level of women’s thoughts and perceptions about what engages them
and keeps them productive in anticipation of achieving a higher organizational role. In addition,
metacognitive knowledge calls on consulting female senior managers to be aware of their own
strengths and opportunities and requires them to develop strategies that support their personal
advancement within their respective firm.
According to Shuck and Wollard (2010), there is a common misconception that
engagement is about the organization and as a result, scholars and practitioners have experienced
trouble developing specific strategies to address engagement challenges for the broader
21
workforce. On the converse, engagement could be a strong factor for organizational
performance and success, which has a direct effect on employee retention, loyalty, and
productivity (Ologbo & Sofian, 2012). As the metacognitive influence is about consulting
female senior managers being aware of their own strengths and opportunities, a firm’s ability to
focus more on the individual and less about the organization will be a key driver to harnessing
engagement and retention. Block and Crawford (2013) said that by focusing on the gender
differences and individual beliefs around the employee experience is an imperative. The
researchers stated that unrealistic expectations can be the result of women underestimating men’s
beliefs of male manager superiority in the workplace, or even a pessimistic view of how men
stereotype women, leading to unrealistic expectations of careers (Block & Crawford, 2013).
Females are no exception to the view that engagement is personal and connected to their
feelings about their own strengths and opportunities as they pursue the next career level.
Weisgram et al. (2011) contend that female’s self-perception is linked to their femininity, which
may be a contributor to how they perceive their opportunities in the workplace and how they
chose to engage. If their viewpoint of femininity to be conservative and hold back based on
traditional femininity, this could impact their behavior as they seek to achieve the next level.
According to Gregory-Mina and Joy (2012), there is also a hierarchy of gender that still exists
today and that individuals are influenced more by men than women due to traditional societal
roles. The authors stated that the view of women in traditional roles is compounded by the fact
that women tend to defer to men in group situations, resulting in a power shift to men (Gregory-
Mina & Joy, 2012). In big-four firms, female consulting senior managers needs to be aware of
their own thoughts and beliefs that could be hindering their ability that they can achieve the
22
partner level. Achieving the partner level begins with recognition that men do not own
organizational power.
Metacognitive processing is shown to also play a role in how female leaders analyze and
engage in the pursuit of leadership roles and personal development. Sczesny and Kühnen (2004)
believed that metacognition about traditional roles impacts how females feel about their pursuit
of leadership roles and this feeling is not always obvious. The researchers contend that
leadership potential is influenced by biological sex and that even if females are highly motivated
to obtain leadership roles, there are underlying pressures that impact their leadership confidence
(Sczesny & Kühnen, 2004)
As researchers have shown, self-perception and traditional role stereotypes shape female
behaviors. Consulting female senior managers are called upon to closely evaluate their actions
and contributions, including defining what they are doing and not doing to achieve the next level,
and determine what truly engages them is essential for career growth. Females having
knowledge of their own metacognition around what is helping or hindering their trajectory based
on their own actions to achieve partner level is needed. The key opportunity for consulting
female senior managers is to recognize the underlying concerns that are impacting their desire
for promotion, while actively reaching out to explore the supports available to them in order to
achieve the next level. Table 2 categorizes the referenced motivation influences by motivation
type and explains the knowledge influence assessment methods.
23
Table 2
Knowledge Influences and Assessments
Motivation Influences
The second dimension to consider for big-four firms to achieve the stated stakeholder
goal is motivation. Knowledge influences are focused on the mechanics associated with
engagement, productivity and retention, including knowing what is expected of them to achieve
the next level, analyzing personal actions as they contribute or detract from the next level, and
understanding the solutions that are available to support success in role and personal
engagement. Motivation influences are more intangible. Rueda (2011) stated that motivation
Knowledge Influence Knowledge Type Knowledge Influence Assessment
Consulting female senior
managers need to know what their
firm expects of them.
Consulting female senior
managers need to be aware of their
own strengths and opportunities
and develop strategies to support
their personal advancement within
their firm.
Factual
Metacognitive
• Interview consulting
female senior managers to
ask them about firm
expectations for their role.
• Interview consulting
female senior managers
about their strengths/
abilities and development
points to address on their
path to partner.
• Interview consulting
female senior managers
about their view of path to
partner in their own words.
Consulting female senior
managers need to understand the
resources available to them to
support their career ambitions.
Procedural • Interview consulting
female senior managers to
ask them about the
solutions and supports they
have to achieve the partner
level.
• Review documents and
artifacts that supports the
understanding of
promotion criteria for
consulting female senior
managers.
24
“emphasizes the beliefs that a person develops related to themselves as learners, to learning tasks
and activities” (p. 38). Motivation, which is about beliefs, directly impacts an individual’s
ability to perform and deliver against organization objectives, based on how they think and
process an activity. Clark and Estes (2008) highlighted that gaps in organizational performance
are a result of motivational issues.
With this context, it is important to determine what motivational influences exist and how
they shape female engagement, including how this impacts productivity and intent to stay. This
understanding will allow for accurate methods to assess and address motivation influences. To
fully analyze motivational inputs to achieve the organizational goal, the following content will
focus on attribution, self-efficacy and expectancy theories as drivers of motivation. These
theories will help to build a deep understanding of what underpins consulting female senior
manager engagement priorities.
Belief in a Long-Term Career at Their Firm
Research has shown that motivation is defined by the value that individuals assign to a
situation. Anderman and Anderman (2006) detailed that the basic premise of Attribution theory
is that people want to deeply understand their environments, and in this pursuit, analyze their
experiences in an effort better understand their context. Fairlie (2011) suggested that
engagement is a result of realizing purpose, values, and goals through work, personal
accomplishment, and believing in one’s ability to achieve career advancement. This realization
correlates to the attributions a person assigns to their work environment and feelings of
accomplishment. Dweck (2018) also highlights this premise, where she shows that when
motivation is at the center of thought, it will lead to different emotions and expectations, thus
impacting behavior. Attributions that are assigned to situations can be accurate and based on
25
data or varied, based on values assigned and perception. Anderman and Anderman (2006)
contend that attributions are based on characteristics of the attribution, which are classified along
three dimensions: locus of control, stability, and controllability. The locus of control dimension
refers to whether the event is perceived as internal to the individual or external; The
controllability dimension is about whether the event cause is perceived to be under the control of
the individual and the stability dimension refers to whether the cause is stable or unstable
(Anderman & Anderman, 2006).
The consulting female senior managers population need to believe they can have a long-
term career at their respective firm, where they can achieve both professional and personal
aspirations. While this need to be internally motivated, most of the research shows that
attribution is received by external cues and events. According to Cundiff and Vesico (2016),
social psychologists say that stereotypes in the workplace exist, which maintain hierarchies,
resulting in assigning attributions that justify why certain people are in roles that others do not
obtain. This viewpoint can adversely impact how consulting female senior managers process
their next level role and seek out support, where according to the authors, women feel
vulnerable. Eberly et al. (2017) believed that the feeling of vulnerability is a result of perceived
relational attributions, that are not founded in facts, resulting on a focus based on past events
versus focusing on present requirements. Revisiting Anderman and Anderman’s (2006) belief
that female’s need to understand and control their environment, positive attribution will come if
females feel they have the ability to control and shape their next level role. For consulting
female senior managers, the population having a positive attribution to achieving the next level is
required for productivity and engagement, and the value they assign to that next level is a critical
understanding.
26
Belief in Personal Capability
Pajares (2006) defined self-efficacy as “the judgments that individuals hold about their
capabilities to learn or to perform courses of action at designated levels” (p. 1). The notion of
self-efficacy sits at the center of social-cognitive thinking and is rooted in how people feel they
can perform a task, based on their beliefs about their capabilities (Bandura, 1997). Rueda
(2011) believed that if people have confidence in their ability, there will be greater effort to
persist to stay with a task and perform. Pajares (2006) added to this by highlighting that self-
efficacy supports the ideas of self-regulation, which is what allows individuals to reflect and
learn from their thinking and actions. He also said that self-efficacy supports the ability to
predict behaviors, based on an individual’s focus on tasks that they feel they can succeed with,
and avoid tasks where they believe their competency is lacking (Pajares, 2006). The issue with
some forms of self-efficacy could result in inaccurate or misguided views of one’s own
capabilities, which can adversely impact personal motivation. Zimmerman (2002) highlighted
this in looking at the educational environment, where he showed that self-regulation of learning
involves more than knowledge of a skill; including that learning requires self-awareness, self-
motivation, and behavioral skill to implement knowledge correctly, detailing that there is a
significant and required convergence between accurate self-efficacy and skill. Further, although
knowledge and skills are at the core of one’s self-efficacy, individuals must have confidence in
their ability and the belief that they can make a difference in the long-term.
The notion of self-efficacy tied to ability is a crucial input to female leadership
engagement in big-four firms. According to Gielnik et al. (2019), individuals with high self-
efficacy will be able to overcome any issues or gaps in order to achieve the next level. Still,
some research shows that as a result to socialization and personal experience, women generally
27
are lacking in personal efficacy tied to career-related behaviors and as a result, may never realize
their capabilities and talents in career pursuits (Hackett & Betz, 1981). Understanding how
consulting female senior managers feel about their capability in their roles will be a strategic
input to improving their personal engagement and career next step. Specifically, consulting
female senior managers need to feel confident they can identify the right supports at their firm to
support their professional aspirations. Researchers have shown that individuals need to be pre-
disposed to action to overcome any behavioral inhibition which precludes them from seeking out
the right supports to bolster engagement. Kothari and Sidheswar (2016) believed that females
are more likely than men to limit their career aspirations because of their abilities and a
perceived lack of having the required leadership skills, yet they do not seek out the supports to
validate their readiness. Based on the available research, it is clear that women must have a
strong sense of self-efficacy in order to locate and find the support needed from within the firm
to support their personal productivity, retention and promotion aspirations.
Career and Personal Life Balance
The last motivational influence for consulting female senior managers to achieve their
stated stakeholder goal is perceived value, which is a critical component of expectancy value
theory (Eccles, 2006). The specific motivational construct to be explored is that consulting
female senior managers believe they can be successful in achieving the next level at their firm,
while concurrently pursuing personal goals. Eccles (2006) posited that expectancy value
addresses two motivational questions, specifically, can I do something, and do I want to do
something. Rueda (2011) contended the higher the perceived value of a task, the more likely a
person will actively choose to participate and persevere in a task, especially during times of
difficulty. Eccles (2006) stated four main constructs that influence the task value impacting an
28
individual’s motivation. The components are intrinsic value; which relates to the joy of carrying
out a task; attainment value, which represents the relationship between a task and one’s self-
perception; utility value, which represents how a task supports or derails an individual’s
aspiration or reward; and perceived cost, which is where an individual evaluates the time or
energy needed to engage in a task (Eccles, 2006).
Literature highlighted that women are juggling traditional obligations inside the home
that impact the desire to achieve a promotion, potentially unfavorably impacting personal
motivation. Lipps (2009) shared that women, more than men, will adjust their employment
activities to accommodate family obligations. The authors further this viewpoint and shared that
women working full time are still more engaged than men with child activities such as sports,
reading and playing with children, which results in fewer work hours, impacting productivity
(Lipps, 2009). Eccles (2006) said that this is a result of utility value assigned, as well as the
perceived cost of not participating in family obligations. Further, research detailed that it is
crucial to step back and understand what women expect to get out of their employment.
Specifically, is their perception of success achieved from being in the business community, or
does it come from a different source (Weber & Geneste, 2014). The authors explain that it is
essential to understand female growth aspirations and recognize that these aspirations will be
different than that of their male counterparts (Weber & Geneste, 2014). The key learning from
literature is that the female aspirations to achieve partner level must be evaluated along with their
personal goals, which Eccles (2006) would have considered understanding the wish to succeed as
well as the ability to succeed.
The key messages from the research review are that the value consulting female senior
managers assign to their roles and experiences are the drivers for individual motivation and
29
ultimately, how much discretionary effort the population will put into their roles. It is incumbent
on the firms to understand career aspirations along with personal aspirations in an effort to retain
consulting female senior managers, as well as assure their consistent productivity and
engagement. Table 3 categorizes the referenced motivation influences by motivation type and
explains assessment methods.
Table 3
Motivational Influences and Assessments
Organization Influences
The culture of an organization is a powerful influence that guides its’ members
constantly, upheld by the interaction of the organization members, reinforced by leadership,
routines, norms, and structures (Schein, 2017). There are two organization influences that shape
the organization culture, which are cultural models and cultural settings. Rueda (2010)
contended that cultural models represent the shared mental schemas and normative
Assumed Motivation Influences Motivational Influence Assessment
Attribution: Consulting female senior managers
need to believe they can have a long-term career
at their firm, where they can achieve both
professional and personal aspirations.
• Interview consulting female senior
managers about their sense of
belonging to their firm and overall
job satisfaction
• Interview consulting female senior
managers about their view of being a
partner at their respective firm
Self-Efficacy: Consulting female senior
managers need to feel confident they can identify
the right supports at their firm to support
professional aspirations.
• Interview consulting female senior
managers about their ability and
capability to access support in
achieving partner level (i.e. tools and
sponsorship)
Expectancy: Consulting female senior managers
need to believe they can be successful in
achieving the next level at their firm, while
concurrently pursuing personal goals.
• Interview consulting female senior
managers about their interest in the
partner level
• Interview consulting female senior
managers about how they feel about
their work/life balance while
concurrently pursue partner
30
understandings within an organization that explains how the environment works. Cultural
models are more difficult to identify, as they are often not visibly apparent, and might include
concepts such as philosophies and ways of working that may not be observable to the average
person. Conversely, cultural settings are more visible representations of culture in execution
(Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). Examples include the process and policies in place that help
to support a stated organization performance goal, which guide organization members to achieve
an intended outcome. Clark and Estes (2008) contend that when there is misalignment between
the organizational work processes, policies, and culture, an organization will experience gaps in
attaining the desired performance goal.
Understanding the organizational influences and possible gaps to address consulting
female senior manager engagement, productivity and retention will provide the data required to
fully support rising leaders to stay and contribute, ultimately achieving the partner level within
their respective consulting organizations. In this section of the literature review, the organization
influences that impact the stated performance goal of increasing engagement scores of consulting
female senior managers engagement by 10%, as compared to the prior year, are explored to
define the priorities for focus and analysis.
A Culture of Improvement
Cultural models are shared mental schemas or overarching beliefs about how the world
functions and these schemas and beliefs represent the cognitions and responses of a group to
external challenges (Goldenberg & Gallimore, 2001). Schein (2017) believed that organizational
culture influences and guides how leaders are selected for development, how they receive
development support and influences an individual’s ability to succeed and stay in their
31
organizational role. Schein (2017) also defines culture as reflecting a pattern of shared basic
assumptions that are developed through group social learning.
For consulting female senior managers, it is important to understand the willingness of
big-four firms to prioritize being a culture of improvement, where women see the ongoing
investment their firm is making in their career path development and that their firm is learning
from data and conversations with this group around their interest in achieving the partner level.
The level of alignment, commitment or gaps that exist will provide insight around the ability of
the firms to focus on and listen to female’s concerns and interest in achieving the next level of
leader. According to Schleicher et al. (2012), up until the beginning of the 20
th
century, women
faced barriers, such as a business preference for masculine attributes, preventing them from
acquiring managerial positions, resulting in long-standing perceptions of the concept of the
worker, defined by masculine qualities. These perceptions start early for women. In educational
environments, a study detailed that when females in the classroom call out answers, they are
chastised for answering without being selected, resulting in a fear of backlash and deference to
males in taking the lead (Stock & Szendrey, 2016). The key learning from this study as that
women learn early not to speak up and act courageously.
While research indicates that women are getting more opportunities in the workplace
today in managerial roles, evidence shows that women are still at a disadvantage, as training and
support activities are unintentionally tailored to their male counterparts and developmental
experiences tend to be male-centric, discouraging career advancement of women (Thomas et al.,
2004). Schein (2001) has also suggested that leadership is often equated with masculinity.
When women do take on characteristics that are aggressive and considered male centric and
managerial, there is a pervasive perception that women are acting unauthentically (Pafford &
32
Schaefer, 2017). The notion of unauthentic approach of women is further supported by
organizational behaviors, where discrimination in male-dominated settings happens both
blatantly and subtly through questioning of women’s competence (Eagly & Carli, 2003). This
gendered difference is reinforced by organizational practices that represent and support attributes
that society favors one sex over another, such as patriarchy (male as a leader) and the pervasive
societal view that men are stronger and more resilient (Patterson et al., 2012). Traavik (2018)
believed that although women are more present at leadership levels than they were, professional
services firms have not yet achieved equity at the most senior levels of the organization,
demonstrating there is a requirement to focus on making marketable improvements in how firms
foster female career development. These viewpoints demonstrate that women are at an
immediate disadvantage. Cultural models show that organizations are somewhat fixed by
societal norms, and that listening to and advancing women is not a planned, deliberate exercise.
Listening to Women
For consulting female senior managers, it is important to address the willingness of big-
four firms to listen to its’ female workforce so that there is an acknowledgement of the
importance of listening and that their respective firms are acting on the feedback provided to
help improve the overall female experience.
Employee listening is rising in popularity, as understanding broader employee
engagement drivers and having feedback from employees helps to understand organizational
connection and commitment (Reed et al., 2014). In a Harvard Business Review study, sex
differences have been exasperated in workplace due to organization structure, company
procedures, and interactions between the organization and people that create gender differences
in their employee experience (Tinsley & Ely, 2018). In a case study completed by Gallup on
33
listening to the workforce of women in America, the notion of work is an emotionally charged
topic for females, and women who have children feel criticized for staying home to raise children
as well as criticized for delaying motherhood for a career (Gallup, 2019). In Moor et al.’s
(2015) study, researchers looked at women in leadership roles and their rise to their position and
found that organizations must take proactive action to support the reduction of issues between
work and family obligations, which can be accomplished through listening to female career
needs. Based on cited research, there appears to be an opportunity to look at engagement inputs
and feedback from consulting female senior managers to determine what they need in support of
career trajectory. To address the potential organizational blind spots, understanding female
perceptions of their firm’s willingness to focus on listening and how firms focus on making
improvements to female careers and making this part of their cultural fabric is also explored.
As Rueda (2011) explained, cultural models develop and evolve over time, remaining in
an unconscious frame of reference for those organization members that follow them. Exploring
and evaluating the perceptions of unconscious cultural models, shaping how women engage,
produce, and stay with their firms in aspiring to achieve the partner level is needed.
Organization inputs to focus on improving the experience, as well as active listening of
consulting female senior managers, is an additional area of focus
Investing in Consulting Female Senior Managers
Cultural settings allow an individual to observe the social context in which the implied
models are actively and visibly available (Goldenberg & Gallimore, 2001; Rueda, 2011).
Cultural settings are evident when observation and influence come together to either favorably or
unfavorably impact the stakeholder goal. Rueda (2011) believed the importance of cultural
34
settings in any environment that shapes a clear understanding of how people think, act, and how
they respond to life’s challenges.
For consulting female senior managers, settings manifest through the visible investment
firms make in career path development through programs and other resources, as well as through
the stories that are shared about the women who came before and achieved the partner level. In
professional services firms, women represent on average 21% of the partner make-up of the big-
four consulting firms, demonstrating that examples of female senior leadership roles may be
elusive (Sealy, 2010). According to Sealy (2010), the lack of evidence of women succeeding in
their careers can lead directly to self-doubt in one’s own potential and lead to a decision to leave
the organization. From a career path perspective Debebe et al. (2016), conducted a study that
resulted in support for specialized women’s leadership programs, noting that dedicated learning
programs on leadership for women results in transformative change for female careers, such as
interest in growth and passion to persist. Konrad and Mangel (2000) said that additional
investments such as work-life programs may support employee motivation to give enhanced
effort on the job in order to stay employed with their firm. Further, the researchers believed that
for firms with a large population of females must depend on creative programs that support
productivity to address any issues resulting from family/life conflicts (Konrad & Mangel, 2000).
The research viewpoints support the notion of consulting female senior managers needing
to see their firm’s investment in female careers development, through unique learning
opportunities as well as work/life programs that support the ability to see they can achieve the
partner level. Firms can also take deliberate steps to provide additional assurance through
communications and program sharing so the population can see the investment made in them,
which will in turn will cultivate feelings of loyalty and dedication to their roles.
35
Sharing Success Stories of Women
Storytelling and examples of women who have achieved the partner landing point is
another cultural setting explored. Storytelling is defined as a narrative process that encourages
people to share their personal stories in an effort to give meaning to life experiences and to
construct new meaning for future stories that are both hopeful and optimistic (McMahon et al.,
2012). Smith and Suby-Long (2019) believed that developing and sharing stories is a modern
approach to coaching and helps to bring to consciousness the behaviors that support thoughtful
life decisions. Corso and Rehfuss (2011) said that through story creation, people feel
empowered to construct a career path that allows them to adapt quickly and make deliberate
career movements. Olsson (2000) highlighted that narratives in the form of stories support the
sharing of experiences for gender that are transformative, “providing inspiration, role models,
cautionary tales, and parodic challenges to the myths of equity and meritocracy” (p. 298).
McMahon et al. (2012) worked with a female student in order to see how constructs of reflection,
connectedness, and meaning making support career counseling, specifically using a storytelling
approach. The researchers found that storytelling bolstered the identification of schemas that
provided connection to life experiences that were not connected previously, and that the student
had a clearer understanding of her identity. These learnings support the contention that
storytelling is a creative tool that provides real examples and models of career path development
for the population.
For consulting female senior managers, successful stories of advancing females will
support the view that firms are making an investment in the proactive and strategic development
of the cohort. At the senior manager level where women are making critical career decisions,
examples can help to show the partner level is attainable with the support of the business and
36
culture. Goldenberg and Gallimore (2001) believed that culture is established in settings and
within settings, concepts come together to shape something that is valued and revered. Table 4
highlights the organization influences have been identified for the study. Each of these
organization influences is an important cultural factor influencing the level of success in
achieving the field goal of improving engagement, productivity and retention of consulting
female senior managers.
Table 4
Organizational Influences and Assessments
Organizational Influence
Organizational
Influence Type
Organizational Influence Assessment
Firms need to be a culture
of improvement, where
women see the investment
of their firm leadership in
career path development of
women.
Cultural Model
• Interview consulting female
senior managers about their view
of firm culture
• Interview consulting female
senior managers about how they
see their firm invest in their
career, moving from Senior
Manager to partner
Firms need to be willing to
listen to female leader
concerns around career path
and advancement.
Cultural Model • Interview consulting female
senior managers about how their
firm supports or derails their
career goals
Women need to see firm
investment made in
programs that advance
them.
Cultural Setting
• Interview consulting female
senior managers about
programs/offerings in their firm
that advance women
• Collect artifacts and documents
that articulate programs that
support career advancement
Women need to see
examples of success stories
of women achieving partner
level to support the
viewpoint that achieving
the next level is possible.
Cultural Setting
• Interview consulting female
senior managers to collect
examples/stories of other females
who achieved partner and how
those stories support or derail
their career ambitions
37
Conceptual Framework: Consulting Female Senior Manager Knowledge, Motivation and
the Organizational Context
An interactive conceptual framework serves to create the needed connection between
existing research and observations that are made through the process of study (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). Maxwell (2014) shared that the conceptual framework is a key component to
one’s research design. The goal of a conceptual framework is to shape definitions and categories
for data inputs in support of defining significant data relationships (Rocco & Plakhotnik, 2009).
To an extent, a conceptual framework is influenced by the researcher or professional’s personal
experience with an area of study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of consulting female senior
manager’s knowledge, motivation and organization context, which supports or hinders career
trajectory, impacting engagement, productivity and retention. Through the process of analyzing
skills, behaviors, organizational culture, and support systems (Clark & Estes, 2008), this study
attempts to identify the connections between the influencers and define possible improvements to
help identify what the population needs to know as they seek to achieve the next level of partner.
Using research data and existing points of view on the topic of female engagement, this study
focused on defining solutions for increasing female engagement in big-four consulting firms,
favorably impacting productivity and retention.
To support consulting female senior managers, firms must understand the potential
barriers faced as women approach the partner landing point, from both knowledge, motivational
and organizational viewpoints. Sealy (2010) posited that women continue to be
underrepresented in the workplace and still must continue to reconcile their wish to remain in
their roles and produce in the absence of examples of successful women coming before them.
38
According to experts, women decline leadership level roles as they believe they have to in order
to achieve work/life balance and due to seeing more traditional definitions of leadership linked to
male values (Smith & Suby-Long, 2019). As Schein (2017) shared, knowledge, skill, and
motivation interact with organizational supports, which can act as a barrier in moving an
initiative forward or conversely, support an initiative’s momentum.
The conceptual framework explores and defines the interactions and dependencies
between female senior manager’s understanding of what it takes to achieve promotion, their
awareness of their own actions in achieving the next level, and their ability to access the
solutions that help their knowledge to demonstrate partner capabilities. Knowledge influences
interplay with motivational influences for consulting female senior managers by focusing on
female impressions of their firm’s ability to support their career progression, as well as how
empowered they feel in seeking out supports to achieve both professional and personal goals
with visible support. Organizational influences are both cultural models and settings, which feed
both knowledge and motivational inputs through firm’s listening behaviors to female career
needs. In addition, firms that demonstrate focused attention on improving the female career
experience, having programs in place that propel women, and by sharing success stories of
women who have achieved the partner level is also evaluated. The result of these influences in
aggregate will give an indication of consulting female senior manager productivity, engagement
and retention. Figure one illustrates how the knowledge, skills, and motivation influences for
female senior managers and how these influences interact with organizational culture to shape
solutions that support consulting female senior manager engagement, productivity and retention.
39
Figure 1
Conceptual Framework for Consulting Female Senior Manager Engagement, Productivity and
Retention
Qualitative Data Collection
Interviews
Robinson and Leonard (2019) defined qualitative data that is not numerical, rather data
collection that focuses on conducting interviews, focus groups, and observations in order to
collect rich content through open-ended questions. For purposes of this study and to fully
address the research questions, qualitative data was the method of research and was collected via
interviews with consulting female senior managers. The approach for securing participants
leveraged a convenience snowball sampling approach, targeting the intended population across
the four firms selected for the study. There was a minimum of 3 participants expected from each
firm to be included in the study. Participants were selected via email solicitation, with a request
for other consulting female senior managers who matched the required profile of a participant in
the study.
40
The purpose of interviewing allowed the researcher to gain access to the participant’s
point of view (Patton, 2002). Interviews helped the researcher to understand how participants
perceived their world (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This approach supported rich data collection
and rapport building with study participants. Survey questions were designed to address the
research questions and the factual, motivational, and organizational influences experienced by
the consulting female senior managers as a part of their career experience. Knowledge
influences highlighted what consulting female senior managers knew of the expectations of their
firms, how they shape their opportunities based on knowledge of self, and how they knew to
locate the supports available for them to achieve the next level. The motivational influences
explored were the consulting female senior manager’s beliefs that they can be successful in
achieving the next level, aligned to their personal goals and confidence to get promoted, and that
they could identify the right supports to shape both personal and professional growth objectives.
Organizational influences evaluated each firm’s focus on being a culture of improvement,
willingness to proactively engage consulting female senior manager concerns around career path
advancement, and the firm’s ability to share success stories of women achieving partner level,
supporting the viewpoint that promotion to the next level is possible.
Interview Protocol
As shared, the process to gather participants for planned interviews leveraged a
convenience snowball sampling approach, which targeted a minimum of 11 consulting female
senior managers who met the identified criterion, along with getting referrals to others that met
the participant requirements. The interviews were a semi-structured format following an
interview guide. The interview questions were open-ended, with flexibility to probe and explore
potentially emerging topics or themes that would gather the detailed perspectives of each
41
respondent. Patton (2002) shared that this approach would allow the researcher the flexibility
that is needed to go in a direction that is appropriate, based on the interview setting.
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) posited that interviews consist of a combination of standard
questions with open-ended questions and unstructured conversation. Merriam and Tisdell (2016)
also believed that less structure is optimal, as the researcher assumed that each respondent would
have a personal view of their world to share. A detailed interview guide was used, which
according to Patton (2002), is the result of the researcher being led by pre-determined influences.
Despite the influences, the interviewer had flexibility to explore other topics that arose in
conversation. The interview guide and open-ended questions were designed to explore
consulting female senior manager’s understanding of what their firm expects of them, their
beliefs around their long-term careers at the firm, and their confidence in seeking out support for
professional aspirations, aligned to knowledge, motivation, and organizational drivers. This
approach was key as the interviews allowed the researched to get richer content from the
respondents. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) believed respondents should be selected based on their
ability to support and decipher the research questions. As such, the researcher purposefully
recruited respondents who could fully support the focus of research, having at least two years at
level, with the ability to fully articulate their experience as a consulting female senior manager,
looking to achieve the partner level in their respective firm, with an understanding of what it
takes to make partner.
The open-ended questions asked support consulting female senior manager’s factual,
metacognitive, and procedural knowledge types. Open-ended questions in a semi-structured
environment allowed the researcher to get richer responses and support the potential for
relationship building. The questions were designed to look for themes across consulting female
42
senior managers’ responses to collect their knowledge of what their firm expects of them,
awareness of their strengths and opportunities, how females develop strategies to support their
personal advancement within their firm, and their ability to locate solutions that support their
trajectory. Motivational influences explored helped to determine consulting female senior
manager’s belief that they can achieve the next level while sustaining personal goals, wish to
have a long-term career at their firm, and their confidence in identifying the right supports at
their firm to support professional aspirations. Organization influences addressed how the
respondents felt about their firm’s support of female career path development, programs
available to grow them into the next level leader, program investment in career development, and
examples/success stories of women that came before that achieved partner.
Interview Procedures
The approach for interviews was meeting with big-four consulting female senior
managers in 60-minute interviews. Weiss (1994) said that the typical timeframe to conduct an
interview is 60 minutes, which helps to preclude any unintended interview fatigue. Depending
on the relationship with the respondent and interview question completion, the interviewer
requested additional time to conduct follow up inquiry and get additional context as needed.
With participant permission, interviews were recorded to capture the audio of the discussion.
Participants were informed that the recording would be transcribed from the raw data collection,
kept confidential, and would be permanently deleted post transcription. The interviews were
managed entirely remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, need for social distance and for the
interviewer and participant to meet safety. The total number of interview hours was
approximately 14 hours with a few follow up questions asked that resulted in some minor email
43
correspondence between interviewer and respondents, which helped to validate themes from
findings.
Documents Analysis
To support the study intention, documents were planned for collection as a part of
interviews. As Creswell (2014) shared, the collection of documents and artifacts supports the
process of data triangulation. For the study, one document was collected that shared a structured
program approach for female mentorship at the senior manager level. Further documents were
not collected due to the lack of face to face connection due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Collecting data was contingent on the respondent’s ability to provide such documents. To assure
the validity and authenticity of the documents, the researcher did explore the history behind the
document collected, including the original publication date, the author, and document and
program original intent.
Findings
The purpose of this study was to look at consulting female senior manager engagement,
productivity and retention on the path to achieving the partner level in big-four consulting
organizations. The goal was to determine how the knowledge, motivation and organizational
influences positively or negatively impacted the population’s experience as they navigate their
respective firms and their personal potential for promotion. The participants in the study were all
consulting female senior managers, with at least two years at the senior manager level, which
assumes that they join the study with a firm sense of the expectations and requirements of their
job. A total of 11 women participated in the study as full-time employees in their respective
firms. A minimum of three women from each firm were originally sought as interview
participants. Among the population interviewed, there were two participants from firm one,
44
three participants from firm two, four participants from firm three, and two participants from
firm four. Due to firm downsizing activities at the time of interviews (as a result to the
pandemic), one less participant in the study from firm one. The study was guided by the
following research questions:
1. How are big-four consulting firms meeting the goal of increasing the engagement,
productivity, and retention of consulting female senior managers?
2. What are the knowledge and motivation influences affecting the increase or decrease in
engagement, productivity, and retention for consulting female senior managers?
3. What is the interaction between organizational culture and context for consulting female
senior manager’s knowledge and motivation as it relates to increasing engagement,
productivity, and retention among them?
4. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources to favorably impact consulting female senior
manager’s engagement, productivity, and retention?
Figure 2 provides a brief overview of the interview participants age, tenure with their firm and
race.
Figure 2
Consulting Female Senior Manager Participant Demographics
Participant Age
30-35 36-41
42-47 Declined
Participant Firm Tenure
0-5 years 6-11 years
12 - 17 years
Participant Race
Black White
Asian Latina
n=11
45
The conceptual framework that supported the interview questions addressed the
knowledge, motivation and organizational influences defined for the population. Knowledge
inputs explored the factual influences, where the participants know what their firm expects of
them, metacognitive influences, where the participants shared understanding of their strengths
and opportunities in developing strategies to support their aspirations, and procedural, where the
participants understand the solutions available to them to support their career ambitions.
Motivation influences defined were attribution, which is where the participants believe that they
can have a long-term career at their firm, achieving both professional and personal goals, self-
efficacy, where the participants are confident that they can identify the right supports at their
firm to achieve professional aspirations, and expectancy, where they believe they can be
successful in achieving the next level, while concurrently pursuing personal goals.
Organizational influences determined were both cultural settings and cultural models. Cultural
model influences were determined to be big-four firm focus on becoming a culture of
improvement, where consulting female senior managers see the investment of their firm
leadership makes in their career path development. Cultural setting influences would uncover
how willing big-four firms are able to proactively engage the population to share their concerns
around career path and advancement and uncover context around existing programs or resources
firms have to advance women. Additionally, cultural settings would assess if there were shared
success stories of women achieving the partner level, to support the viewpoint that achieving the
next level is possible. Gaps were confirmed if there were two or more people from the
population sharing the opportunity.
Through the process of data collection and interviews, knowledge influences projected
that were not confirmed as gaps were that consulting female senior managers understand the
46
requirements of their role, which demonstrated that they do know what is expected of them.
Metacognitive influences were also not confirmed as gaps, showing that consulting female
managers openly shared their confidence about their strengths and opportunities and willingness
to find strategies to support their path. The one potential knowledge gap identified was
procedural, as the population did express concerns about the solutions available to them to
support their career ambitions and their ability to locate support consistently.
For motivational influences, there were inconsistent findings that showed that there are
gaps in motivation overall, impacting participant career trajectory, influencing engagement and
productivity. Specifically, there was concern in the ability to have long-term careers that
supported both professional and personal goals (attribution) and lack of confidence in achieving
the next level without some trade off in their personal lives (expectancy). Self-efficacy
influencer findings showed that while the population has confidence in finding the help needed
to support aspirations, that there still existed unwritten expectations that lack clarity for the
population.
Both cultural model influences were confirmed as gaps throughout the interview process.
It was clear through interviews that the population needed to see a more visible investment in
proactively shaping offerings for career development and a focus on improving the career
experience through tangible investments. From a cultural setting perspective, the population
communicated a strong requirement that their firm needed to provide venues and safe space for
consulting female senior managers to ask the hard questions about their trajectory without fear of
retribution. As noted in the cultural setting influence, this would manifest through the provision
of a structured program and proactive sharing of meaningful stories of women partners. The
47
following table shows what was confirmed as knowledge, motivational and organizational gaps
as influencers for this study.
Table 5
Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences Gaps
Knowledge Influences
• Factual: Consulting female senior managers need to
know what their firm expects of them.
Not validated as a gap
• Metacognitive: Consulting female senior managers need
to be aware of their own strengths and opportunities and
develop strategies to support their personal advancement
within their firm.
Not validated as a gap
• Procedural: Consulting female senior managers need to
understand the resources available to them to support their
career ambitions.
Confirmed as a gap
Motivation Influences
• Attribution: Consulting female senior managers need to
believe they can have a long-term career at their firm,
where they can achieve both professional and personal
aspirations.
Confirmed as a gap
• Self-Efficacy: Consulting female senior managers need
to feel confident they can identify the right supports at
their firm to support professional aspirations.
Confirmed as a gap
• Expectancy: Consulting female senior managers need to
believe they can be successful in achieving the next level
at their firm, while concurrently pursuing personal goals.
Confirmed as a gap
Organizational Influences
• Cultural Model: Firms need to be a culture of
improvement, where women see the investment of their
firm leadership in career path development of women.
Confirmed as a gap
• Cultural Model: Firms need to be willing to listen to
female leader concerns around career path and
advancement.
Confirmed as a gap
• Cultural Setting: Women need to see firm investment
made in programs that advance them.
Confirmed as a gap
• Cultural Setting: Women need to see examples of success
stories of women achieving partner level to support the
viewpoint that achieving the next level is possible.
Confirmed as a gap
48
The following sections address the detailed findings for the study, tied to the research
questions. While not all knowledge and motivation influences were confirmed, detailed data
from the interviews have been provided, along with illustrative figures that detail the data
findings. The goal will be to share the context around the opportunities identified as strategic
inputs to aid the recommendations that have been envisioned for firms to meaningfully support
the target population going forward.
Findings for Research Question One: How are Big-Four Consulting Firms Meeting the
Goal of Increasing the Engagement, Productivity, and Retention of Consulting Female
Senior Managers?
The first research question intended to address how firms are currently increasing
engagement, productivity and retention of the consulting female senior manager population.
When asked about what specifically is supporting their personal engagement there were a variety
of themes from the respondents that while focused on engagement, directly relate to how
productive they feel they can be and provides visibility and insight around their intent to stay
with their firms. The following paragraphs detail what the firms are doing for the population to
drive or derail engagement, productivity and retention.
Supporting Influences
Key themes for engagement, retention and productivity included the importance of
having colleagues and leadership that participants enjoy working with, seeing diversity at
leadership levels that include women and minorities, and having regular and frequent
conversations with leadership that support population’s need that leaders have confidence in their
upward potential. There were also comments about the potential to leave a legacy and have
interesting work as a part of their delivery that transcends the base job requirements. The
49
resonant data point is the importance of leadership in shaping the participants’ engagement. One
person said, “It all comes down to my working with leaders that I like and that I respect.”
Another shared, “I get motivated by the women leaders and appreciate when they tell me that I'm
a role model for them so that motivates me to show up and be strong.” In reviewing the key
themes, the population tied their ability to be engaged and productive based on leadership
endorsement for their roles. This theme was also most evident when analyzing feedback from
the more tenured senior managers (more than three years at level) who shared this leadership
endorsement is fundamental to their desire to stay and their performance.
Research shows that engagement, productivity and retention are reinforced by the
individual’s perception of work, feelings of self-efficacy and organizational resources that
employees perceive as meaningful (Van Wingerden & Van der Stoep, 2018). Feedback from
participants communicated that work engagement, feelings of productivity and intent to stay
transcends role understanding and is directly impacted and reinforced through the population’s
valuation of support provided by their businesses. Further, Banihani et al., (2013) contended that
when “organizations offer economic or emotional resources to employees, employees feel
obligated to repay their organizations by employing their full selves into work role” (p. 403).
The clear data point from this finding is that there is a significant organizational role that exists
to drive engagement, productivity and retention for the population that transcends an individual’s
locus of control. Figure 3 captures the distribution of the key themes found to support
engagement, productivity and retention of the consulting female senior manager population.
50
Figure 3
Supporters of Engagement, Productivity and Retention
Derailing Influences
Research also probed into what derails the population’s engagement, retention and
productivity. The two key themes from respondents was that there is a lack of consistent
messaging around what is really expected from the senior manager level, transcending base role
requirements and a need to have greater clarity about the unwritten requirements to achieve the
partner level. Three smaller themes were lack of work-life balance, concerns with work and life
flexibility (doing the job and managing obligations of home), and fear of acting authentically
possible derailers for being considered for the next level. The suggested influence with the
themes identified is again the role of leadership in supporting the group’s need for clarifying
unspoken expectations to achieve promotion with candid messaging and honesty about unwritten
expectations that help promotability. One participant shared that she “thinks the firm has a lot of
work to do to truly support people who are different in terms of the culture and how the process
supports me in getting to the next level,” which shows that there is possible inconsistency around
What Supports Engagement, Retention and Productivity
Leadership Role Models Leadership Diversity Confidence from Leadership
Differentiated Work Leaving a Legacy
n=11
51
what is said and what is expected. Another participant believed that the expectations are clear,
she still knows “while I know I am extremely capable at sales and delivery, that doesn't seem to
be the driver of what the firm values all the time.” These statements provide evidence that firms
have a distinct opportunity to improve the clarity of expectations of the senior manager role and
the intended path to promotion.
Macy and Schneider (2008) posited the notion of behavioral engagement (where
engagement is evident through actions an employee takes in the course of role execution) and
believed that employees will work harder and put in greater discretionary effort based on the
resources they receive from their leadership and their organizations. Khan (1990) believed that
disengagement is a result to an individual’s active decoupling one’s self from their
organizational role, resulting in hiding true feelings and authenticity from role execution.
Further, Sudha and Karthikeyan (2014) believed that women are vulnerable for feelings of
disengagement as they are balancing work and life obligations, which requires a sense of
harmony between the worker, the organization expectations and traditional family obligations.
From the discussions with the participants, derailing influences experienced in their firms are a
result to the tension from lack of organizational clarity on the role and what constitutes
promotion, tied to personal need for stability and balance. Figure 4 captures the distribution of
the key themes from the study around what derails engagement, productivity and retention.
52
Figure 4
Derailers of Engagement, Productivity and Retention
Opportunities for Improvement
The last research question asked what would help the population have improved
engagement, retention and productivity. There was a theme that highlighted the need for gaining
sponsorship involvement in career decisions where real conversations and information could be
shared. Sponsorship for this study refers to the active involvement of a person or persons to help
advocate for an individual’s career movement and mobility. Respondents believed that firms
could also evaluate the incentives the population receives as they focus on the next level,
demonstrating dedication to highlighting and incenting the attributes of successful female
leaders. Additionally, participants felt that having sponsored and regular occasions within the
organization for women to have real conversations with one another about challenges faced and
opportunities for development would be beneficial. One participant shared that it would be
supportive to have her “paired with the right leadership or the right industry executive who's
What Derails Engagement, Productivity and Retention
Unclear Expecations Lack of Path Clarity Work/Life Balance Challenge Need for Flexibility
N=11
53
done well” to improve her understanding of unsaid requirements and build broader sponsorship.
Another respondent wished that her firm leadership would have sponsors to pull from, rather
than having to personally “fight for people to be my mentors or fight for people to be my
sponsors.” A third participant said, “I think the driver is you incentivize people for the behavior
that you want them to, to engage in,” which indicated that there was confusion around the
unspoken requirements of the role, requiring clarity in communication.
According to Birigwa and Sumberg (2011), having active sponsorship results in an
improved career experience, including pay improvement, access to stretch assignments and an
overall improved career experience. Kumra (2010) contended that sponsorship is critical for
engagement and retention, and more for the advancement of women, as they are still combating
being rated and promoted based on male success models. From the data collected, the
participants communicated the lack of structure in providing the resources needed to help them
manage and navigate expectations. Further, the ideas provided context to specific support that
the population required to help commitment to their firms and intent to stay. Figure 5 captures
what consulting female senior managers believe they need to improve their engagement,
productivity and retention.
54
Figure 5
Support Needed for Engagement, Productivity and Retention
In addressing the research question, it was clear that engagement, productivity and
retention are directly supported by planned actions and decisions made by firm leadership.
Specifically, having greater leadership role models and sponsors to help thoughtfully guide
careers, clarifying the path to promotion with tangible actions and information, and having the
opportunity to meet with colleagues to have candid conversations about navigating careers and
personal obligations were predominant themes. Schulz and Enslin (2014) detailed in one study
that by providing organizational resources for career advancement can assure the retention of
talented female leaders, where diversity in talent is a requirement. Further, Smith and Suby-
Long (2019) shared that employers who are focused on developing women to leadership roles
have an important role in standardizing practices that fully engage and involve the expertise of
their female employees. These notes from researchers highlight the significance and importance
Needs to Improve Engagement, Productivity and Retention
Coach/Sponor for Real Conversations Dedicated Time to Real Talk
Improved Incentives Visable Female Leadership
N=11
55
of deliberate actions required from firms to assure female engagement, productivity and
retention.
Findings for Research Question Two: What are the Knowledge and Motivation Influences
Affecting the Increase or Decrease in Engagement, Productivity, and Retention for Consulting
Female Senior Managers?
Knowledge Findings
As previously shared, the knowledge areas explored for the study were factual influences,
where the population understands the firm’s expectations of their role, metacognitive influences,
where the participants communicate understanding strengths and opportunities as they develop
strategies to support their aspirations and procedural, where they population can find solutions
available to them to support their career ambitions. Several findings were uncovered through the
process of analyzing interview data. While some of the knowledge influences were not
confirmed, the following content highlights the interview findings with associated data to
support the research conclusions made.
Strong Knowledge of Role (Factual)
The consulting female senior managers communicated a very rich understanding of what
is expected from them as a part of basic role requirements. While the specific details modulated
across the interviews, the essential requirements of what is expected to be a successful consulting
senior manager were very clear. One respondent shared the following:
I work with fortune 100 clients that are going through some sort of large-scale change
and look at how they're going to do it whether it's redesigning an operating model or
build new capability or to manage change. I guide them through that process.
Another participant said:
56
My role is comprised of everything from supporting delivery to executing against the
contracts that we develop in managing the work, to getting the team together or managing
the staff partnering with a client troubleshooting.
A third participant commented on the importance of building a book of business and creating a
position in the marketplace by sharing:
I would say beyond kind of the day to day project work, obviously there's a lot of
expectations on senior managers, to expand our footprint in the market and so obviously,
focusing my efforts on activities that will help make me be known for something.
These comments supported the contention that the respondents clearly understood the base
requirements for their roles at their respective firms. Other themes based on their position and
tenure emerged as well, including a focus on a particular industry, need to understand financials
in deal shaping, and the need to understand and use firm sanctioned tools to support client
service were also communicated. Figure 6 demonstrates the key themes supporting factual
knowledge that consulting female managers have about their job.
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Figure 6
Knowledge of Role (Factual)
From evaluating the interview data, factual understanding of the population’s role was
clearly communicated throughout the interview process by all participants. As Krathwohl
believed (2002), factual knowledge includes the most basic elements and terminology about a
subject matter, which consulting female senior managers clearly could articulate and fully
demonstrate what they prioritize for focus for their position.
Ability to Self-Assess Solutions for Trajectory (Metacognitive)
Rueda (2011) contended that metacognitive knowledge is a requirement to solve complex
problems. For this study, metacognition manifests in the form of consulting female senior
managers’ ability to conduct a self-assessment, specifically, to be able to thoughtfully identify
what support the population requires to achieve their professional aspirations. By having
metacognitive knowledge, consulting female senior managers can identify their own strengths
and opportunities in support of their engagement and productivity, as well as determine proactive
Knowledge of Role (Factual)
Industry Focus Building Teams/People Customer Focus/Delivery
Understanding of Tools Practice Expansion
n=11
58
strategies for their advancement. Baker (2006) believed that metacognition is a mindful
regulation of thinking. The notion of mindful regulation lends to the perspective that consulting
female senior managers must self-reflect with regularity to determine what they need to be
engaged and productive.
The questions that looked at consulting female senior manager’s metacognitive
knowledge asked them about what they believed to be a potential gap in their knowledge as they
sought higher organizational roles. In addition, participants were asked their belief around what
is needed, if missing, to support this knowledge gap. For the first question, a strong majority
(45%) believed that they did not really believe that they understood what leadership expected of
them, transcending the base job requirements, resulting in some internal churn on what is really
required of a senior manager. Another theme from the population was their capability to build a
network of supporters to help actively fill any knowledge gap that may be unwritten or not
understood (27%). A smaller theme was personal confidence in their ability to assess the value
and applicability of the solutions they needed to support professional growth (18%). When
discussing firm expectations and how she personally managed those expectations, one participant
said she felt like she knew what was needed, but followed up with, “ultimately what it comes
down to is having a core group of people that I feel like are behind me and have my back.” This
comment demonstrated that personal confidence in her ability was impacted by the need to have
others standing behind her, endorsing her, in order to assess her personal strengths and
opportunities. Another participant expressed insecurity about her ability to self-assess her
knowledge, that she tied to gender differences that she sees with her male counterparts where she
said, “it is not so much that I don’t know what to do, it is more about having the confidence to do
what I think needs to be done, like my male colleagues at the same level and position.” These
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two quotes support the themes that while base knowledge is present, in the process of self-
assessment, there is some insecurity and questioning that the population feels they have to be
able to frame what is required to be successful in role.
For the second question about what is needed to address the metacognitive knowledge
gaps, eight participants (73%) shared they needed better networks to help them shape their
ability to assess their career strengths and opportunities. The ability to assess would involve
engaging with a group or an individual with whom they could have honest conversations with
and receive pointed direction, which demonstrated that the locus of control might be perceived to
be outside of their existing strengths and opportunities. One person shared:
Where are the people and leaders who I'm set up with to help me through the process?
They're not there. In fact, if they were there, I would hope that I would have received
some connection to them, by now. I am kind of on my own and just kind of float around
out there.
This comment showed that the participant does not believe her career growth resides just with
her, but rather is a shared accountability of hers and her leadership. Another three (27%) said an
informal leader who has had success in the past would be helpful in calibrating their strengths
and opportunities, based on performance discussions. One participant said that this is someone to
“hear your story and help you to write it” which indicates there is some level of packaging in a
way that would be valued both personally and by her leadership.
The findings show that there is variability in feelings of self-efficacy knowledge.
Specifically, that while the population believed they understood role requirements and could
self-assess, there is still some tension that exists between what they know are their strengths and
opportunities reconciled against what others tell them they need to garner success. According to
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Gielnik et al. (2019), when there is variability in self-efficacy, people will determine strategies to
sustain when confronted with discrepancies between what they know and what they need to
achieve their goals. From the study, the population communicated a strong belief in the
knowledge, but consistently communicated a need to calibrate their knowledge with others who
have demonstrated success in consulting careers.
Required Strategies to Support Growth and Ability to Achieve Promotion (Procedural)
Rueda (2011) established that procedural knowledge provides improved context of one’s
knowledge as the focus of this knowledge is rooted in process. Based on the study findings, this
appeared to be the one knowledge influence with the greatest amount of opportunity to address.
While the population communicated understanding of the role and expectations for their
position, there was difference uncovered in what approaches the group took to help their
promotability and understanding of what it takes for promotion. Another theme that arose from
the interviews was the longer tenured senior managers (those with more than three years at the
senior manager level) were more focused on the softer side of leadership, which entails longer-
term relationship building with internal leaders and clients, culminating in the development of a
standout brand and reliability. Less tenured senior managers felt it was more about delivery
focus and tool understanding to show their value. As tenure grows, there are nuances that shape
the path forward based on navigating their organization dynamics, which are not always clear, as
communicated by the respondents. Harrison (2018), contended that the difference between
tenured and non-tenured approaches may be due to the confidence that is being built as women
have greater organization exposure and access to resources. Additionally, Clark and Estes
(2008) believed that clear procedures tied to organizational goals will increase employee
performance, demonstrating the importance to have procedures in place for the population. The
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varied responses on how the population seek strategies to support them that are not specific and
based on their personal assessment of their environment indicates there is an opportunity for the
organization to define specific and consistent methods to support this procedural knowledge.
Interview comments focused on procedural knowledge had minor consistent themes, but mostly
divergent responses, with specific questioning. When asked about role requirements transcending
base role requirements, one participant likened her situation to having to behave like a consumer
product and said:
What is it that describes you? What impact do you make? Who likes you? Why do they
like you? It's really about your commercial to say, here are the attributes that I bring to
the table and why I should be listening to you.
Another commented that her role required her to have:
Thick skin. Persistence and comfort with ambiguity. I actually find our clients are
probably more forgiving than our internal firm team, but I find that you need to be very
clear on how you can bring value.
Both believed that there is no guide to help define the specific needs, and that it comes from
experience and seeking out solutions, with no real understanding of what is extra that will
constitute their success.
When asking the population about what solutions support their path and how they find
supports to help them, the answers were numerous. Of the interviewed population, only two
participants (18%) knew about programs to help their trajectory. Most of the group could not
communicate programs or solutions that would help them identify support, and five (45%) said
that they would reach out to mentors or sponsors (different than their assigned coach) to seek
ideas. Another four (36%) said that they engage with their informal network or a trusted
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colleague to solicit advice to build procedural knowledge. When asked how they would find
solutions if they did not know how to find them, eight (73%) said that they would ask their
personal network, two (18%) would ask their assigned coach, two would ask a trusted female
confidant (18%), and two (18%) said they would do an internal firm web search for information.
When asking the participants why they felt the way they did, one said, “Well - unless you have
been identified as a leader, you don’t participate in programs,” noting some potential exclusivity
impacting the ability to secure procedural knowledge. When another respondent was asked
about why she uses her personal network she said, “Officially, I really think that's the way that
you get stuff done at our firm you tap into your network and you ask the questions that get you
support.” Figure 7 shows a side by side comparison of solutions the respondents said are
available to them and how they find support for their procedural knowledge if unknown.
Figure 7
Solution Availability to Support the Population (Procedural)
While procedural knowledge is a noted gap for consulting senior managers, the
population has found ways to lessen the gap by leveraging informal processes to support their
satisfaction and career plans. As Krathwohl (2002) and Rueda (2011) contended, procedural
knowledge references an individual’s ability to do something. With the absence of what could
Solutions Available - Procedural
Formal - Programs
Informal - Network Sharing
Informal - Mentor/Sponsor
n=11
Solutions Unknown to Paricipants -
Procedural
Use Personal Network Ask Coach/Sponsor
Ask Trusted Female Mentor Conduct a Web Search
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be formal procedures available to support the population, the group has developed means and
methods to support their personal aspirations to stay engaged and productive in their senior
manager roles.
Knowledge findings from the interviews confirm that the dominant knowledge gap for
consulting senior managers is procedural knowledge, whereby participants shared that firms do
not provide the population with the solutions that set clear expectations for advancement.
Important to highlight is that there were limited interview participants and access to firm specific
documentation through the course of this study, impacting the ability to confirm this gap.
Through the course of the interviews, it was evident that the population understands the technical
requirements of their role (factual) and have the ability to prioritize what is most crucial to their
development (metacognitive) but having knowledge of firm-sanctioned offerings and
expectations (procedural) would bolster the overall consulting female experience.
Motivation Findings
Clark and Estes (2008) believed that motivation is a differentiator that delivers benefits to
an organization in the absence of a gap between current performance and an organizational goal.
For this study, motivation influences impacting engagement, productivity and retention for the
population are attribution, which manifests as a wish for a long-term career; self-efficacy, which
is a confidence that the audience can source support for professional aspirations; and expectancy,
which is belief in the ability to get promoted while maintaining personal obligations. The
following sub-sections are the themes that address the motivational inputs uncovered in the
process of inquiry for the study.
Satisfaction for the Firm and Role (Attribution)
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According to theorists, attributions are assignments that people give to a situation or
event, which happen many times throughout a day (Harvey et al., 2014). By assigning
attributions, the population gives value to an event either positive or negative, that directly
shapes the perception of an experience. For this study, the questions asked to assess attribution
included feelings of job satisfaction, interest in achieving partner and the general perceptions that
shape promotability, based on locus of control, stability and controllability. The goal would be to
understand the motivation associated with any casual attribution that might be assigned by the
population that could be shaping a resistance to change (Cundiff & Vesico, 2016).
When asking the population about personal satisfaction of their role and what shapes that,
three participants (27%) communicated high satisfaction, as a result to time in role and general
comfort that they have established in their role, over time. Seven participants (64%) said that
their personal satisfaction vacillates day to day, based on messaging they receive from leadership
that informs and inspires them, impacting their personal control over driving their own
contentment. One participant shared that although she loves her firm, “I feel like I get mixed
messages around what is asked of me, and what's expected of me.” This comment demonstrates
a lack of control over her situation and path. Another participant said:
I have moments of belonging and obviously I must admit, I'm still here, but like I said on
a day to day basis, I wish I could say that I'm not always questioning, if I should be
looking somewhere else.
These messages detail an opportunity to clarify the potential attributions that are assigned to
situations for the population, that support their ability to manage and control their path,
impacting their sense of belonging and commitment to their firms. Figure 8 shows consulting
female senior managers satisfaction impacting attributions assigned to their experience.
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Figure 8
Job Satisfaction (Attribution)
The other measures of attribution collected in the study were the population’s belief that
they could achieve partner and what solutions they had to help them achieve promotion. Of the
population interviewed, 10 (91%) respondents believed that they could and would achieve
partner. Messages received about achieving this milestone included several caveats about being
able to achieve it, despite the confidence they reported. One participant said, “I personally have
to have the long game view, not the short term one, especially in the industry that I work in,”
detailing that there is a path, but she recognized that her control over this could change, based on
industry impacts or revised firm expectations for promotion. Another participant noted that she
had to continue to navigate internal challenges that she called “the unspoken stuff” and continued
by saying, “which makes it a much harder world and probably even results in being willing to
sell your soul to a certain extent.” These comments reinforced the point that the attributions
assigned to their roles is partially based on their abilities, but more so on understanding the
organizational obstacles that hinder their understanding supporting the ability to be promoted.
Further, when asking the population about what would help them to gain greater control on the
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
High Satisfaction
Satisfaction Vascilates
Low Satisfaction
Job Satisfaction - Attribution
High Satisfaction Satisfaction Vascilates Low Satisfaction
n=11
66
path forward, all participants discussed the need for a clear path with formalized expectations
that did not evolve over time. One person noted that, “The why is never clear to me. I have tried
to understand the evolving expectations but find the why continues to be elusive.” This
comment demonstrates that the casual attributions assigned to promotion are resulting in
questioning the value proposition of pursuing the partner level.
According to Cundiff and Vescio (2016), casual attributions assigned by the population
can emerge as stereotypes that result in longer-term mental models that are difficult to break.
Leveraging the assertions from Weiner’s theory (1986, 1992), this study’s findings also
confirmed that the population assigned attributions to job satisfaction and interest in promotion,
which is directly impacted by their inability to control their environment, thus influencing
feelings of promotion. Further, Weiner’s (1986, 1992) notion of controllability was a finding,
evidenced by comments received. Specifically, the participants communicated that despite
choice, interest and effort in achieving promotion, transcending their capability, that the final
decision of promotion does not completely reside with them. Weiner (1986, 1992) contended
that a result of not having control over their trajectory could lead to feelings of hopelessness.
Despite the majority communicating belief in their ability to achieve promotion, there was still a
communicated inability to control the path forward, solely based on personal capability.
Varied Feelings of Self-Efficacy to Achieve Promotion (Self -Efficacy)
Pajares (2006) identified self-efficacy as the foundation for human motivation, impacting
both a person’s view of their well-being and sense of accomplishment. Other theorists
postulated that the notion of self-efficacy goes further and is about personal judgement of one’s
capabilities without focus on how others can accomplish the same task (Wigfield & Cambria,
2010). For this study, self-efficacy was measured by the population’s confidence in their ability
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to deliver on their role productively. The question that assessed this motivation dimension was
to ask the population about their confidence in performing their role at their respective firms.
Data revealed that confidence for two participants (18%) was high overall, in terms of the
ability to get the work done and manage to expectations of their firms. Six (55%) of the
participants shared that while they are confident in their own capability, there is a significant gap
between personal confidence and firm expectations. One participant who is close to promotion
to partner shared that understanding firm expectations has been her biggest challenge, impacting
her confidence and noted that “once you kind of learn that secret sauce you feel pretty
comfortable on what you're doing.” This provides evidence that richer understanding of firm
expectations, once clear, supported her personal journey to being recognized as a candidate for
promotion. Another less tenured senior manager shared:
I'm less confident in the firm being supportive of women leaders like myself (minority
women leaders). So, it has much less to do about capability and competencies and is
more about the culture, the processes and the people who support me in my role.
While confidence in herself is high, her challenge is compounded by both her understanding of
the firm’s belief in her trajectory, coupled with a lens of diversity impacting her perception.
Another three participants (27%) stated that their confidence grew over time as they gained
experience and got to know their personal capability. One participant said, “it's more of a
personal growth around - what does this mean for me and then what does that mean for the
firm?” as a part of their senior manager role. Figure 9 shows the population’s reported
confidence, as a measure of self-efficacy in their roles.
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Figure 9
Job Confidence (Self-Efficacy)
Achieving Partner While Managing Personal Obligations (Outcome Expectancy)
Outcome expectancy is a concept that builds from self-efficacy and posits that by making
effort, the result will be success in obtaining a desired performance goal (Issac et al., 2001).
Further, expectancy theory assumes that there will be a positive correlation made by the
individual that links effort to achieving a performance goal (Fudge & Schlacter, 1999). The
question that addressed the population’s expectancy was asking them about how their senior
manager role supports or derails their work and life balance, and specifically how that viewpoint
impacts their overall experience.
When evaluating how their respective firms are supporting work/life balance and how
they personally respond to those expectations, the responses again varied. The question asked
the population to share how their firms support or derail work/life balance. Four participants
(36%) said that expectations for delivery completely derails their work/life balance and impacts
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
High Confidence
Confidence Depends - Me and the Firm
Confidence Grew with Tenure
Job Confidence - Self-Efficacy
High Confidence Confidence Depends - Me and the Firm Confidence Grew with Tenure
n=11
69
family obligations, resulting in long work hours. Of the participants, three (27%) said that they
are derailed by the belief that they need to establish boundaries with a view that they have to go
longer and harder than their male colleagues to demonstrate resilience. Four (26%) believed that
their job both derails and supports them, and that they needed to define proactive boundaries to
manage the workflow and expectations coming from their leadership. Of those that felt that they
are completely derailed, one participant said that she is having to “slip in and out from being a
mom to be the senior manager – it is just complicated as I am dancing between multiple
identities all the time.” In her effort to establish her boundaries, she communicated a need to be
both a mother and a business leader concurrently, causing some job friction. In another
discussion where the senior manager believed that her work both supports and derails her, she
shared that her complication is proving that she can do as much as her male colleagues. She
reported feeling encumbered by expectations and said that “he gets farther, because he doesn’t sit
back, he's the squeaky wheel so he gets the attention, but if I was the squeaky wheel, I don't think
that would get the same results.” Her suggestion was that her work is more difficult as she seeks
to put in more effort to establish her authority and delivery focus. Another participant who felt
she was completely derailed said:
You have to progress by showing you're working at the next level, point blank. It's been
said to me by leadership that you have to work like a partner and a manager, and I think
that's a huge miss on getting the best from people.
The research shows that the majority of the respondents feel that their firm derails their
work/life balance in some form, and that while some of this they are willing and able to manage
they expect that there are outliers that impact their ability to achieve the required balance
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supporting their feelings of personal efficacy. Figure 10 details the respondent’s perception of
their work/life balance as an input to expectancy.
Figure 10
Work/Life Balance (Expectancy)
Wigfield and Cambria (2010) found that when people value something, they are more
likely to engage in an activity, but if the activity has a high cost, they will be less likely to pursue
that task. For this population, the additional effort that is required to garner success in their
current roles and achieve partner requires clear and consistent discussion around expectations for
the level, in support of motivation. From the data collected, while the majority expect they can
achieve the next level, their expectations are also challenged in their current role based on
varying demands on their time, lack of clarity around focus, competition with male colleagues,
and balancing work and home obligations.
Motivational influences have shown to have a large impact on the participants in this
study. All of the anticipated motivational influences were present across the interview
0
1
2
3
4
Work/Life Balance -Expectancy
Supported and Derailed Derailed Completely Derailed
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conversations and data findings. Specifically, support was found for attribution, which captured
the person’s current position on how they see their long-term career potential at their firms,
directly influencing retention and the wish to stay. Harvey et al. (2013) discussed attribution in
terms of stability and locus of control, and described attribution ranging from internal-stable
(most control) and external-unstable (lest control). In this study and from the data collected from
the population, the group collectively attributed their path direction being partially controlled by
them, as well as externally, shaped by their respective firm’s interest and investment. Self-
efficacy was also confirmed as a gap, which was represented by the confidence that the
respondents reported in performing their role. While confidence in their ability was high
demonstrating self-efficacy, the caveat from the discussions was the firm input, resulting in the
population having varied feelings of self-efficacy. Lane et al. (2014) contended that self-efficacy
is tied to performance accomplishments, which relies on the individual, with the researchers
suggesting that there are factors and conditions that influence one’s self-efficacy judgments,
influencing the population’s productivity. Lastly, expectancy was confirmed as a motivational
gap, which for the study, addressed perception of individual promotability and the ability to
manage both personal and professional obligations. Expectancy theory confirms that if a person
is convinced that effort will result in performance that will be rewarded, the more likely it is that
the person will put in greater effort (Fudge & Schlacter, 1999). Study findings confirmed that
despite effort and interest in promotion, tension exists with motivation, resulting in having to
make choices between firm and family, and the population is consistently engaged in having to
make choices and tradeoffs.
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Findings for Research Question 3: What is the Interaction Between Organizational Culture
and Context for Consulting Female Senior Manager’s Knowledge and Motivation as it
Relates to Increasing Engagement, Productivity, and Retention Among Them?
The third research question addressed how firms are managing the interaction of culture and
context for consulting female senior managers, specifically focused on their knowledge and
motivation as it relates to increasing engagement, productivity and retention. Organization
models and settings were explored as strategic inputs to the study. The cultural model influences
asked the participants to describe their firm culture and focus on improvement and share how
that culture supports or derails their career goals and aspirations. The cultural settings reviewed
asked the population how culture supports their engagement and what programs their firm
sponsors to grow women specifically, including storytelling of female partner successes.
Organization Findings for Cultural Models
The third component of the Clark and Estes (2008) framework are the organizational
influences affecting gaps in performance of the consulting female senior managers in achieving
the stated goals. The influences were validated throughout the interview process, confirming
that the organization and culture has a significant role in stewarding the population’s experience,
directly supporting engagement, productivity and retention. The next section reviews the themes
representing what was found supporting the cultural model influences, which include firm
willingness to be a culture of improvement, where women see the investment of their firm
leadership in career path development of women and firm willingness to listen to female leader
concerns around career path and advancement.
Building a Culture of Improvement Focused on Females
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According to theorists, cultural models shape the way things work in an organization that
are mostly not visible to the individual in the organization context (Gallimore & Goldenberg,
2001). Rueda (2011) explained that cultural models define organization structures, and to some
extent, the processes, policies and rewards system in place for the organization. For this study,
two questions addressed cultural model influences. The questions asked to assess the culture
models present were asking the participants what key words describe their firm culture, and how
that culture supported or derailed their career aspirations, both questions demonstrating a focus
and energy that looks at constant improvement. While the participants shared very tangible
examples about the strength of their culture with words such as collaborative, integrity-driven,
diverse, and focused on people, when it came to how this culture focuses on making
improvements in support of their trajectory, the research resulted in some incongruence between
the cultural model labels shared, and how that culture supports them personally, focused on
making improvements for the female experience. Participants described their culture with what
would be considered favorable terms. One respondent shared that her firm values diversity and
collaboration, but with the same statement said:
I do feel like the firm does a really good job at its stronghold. I have always said that I
wouldn't leave because of the culture. Except for promotion process. It seems better, but
it still feels very hard to get.
This quote showed that although there is a favorable viewpoint of the culture, when it comes to
making improvement for this participant where it could be better, there are still obstacles to face
and improvements to make in support of visibility to the promotion process. When asked about
the culture and focus on improvement, another participant said, “things that resonate with me is
what we actually say or what we actually do” and moments later said her experience, “depends
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on the situation and the leader I am working with.” This statement indicated that there is
inconsistency in the culture and how it translates within the business and from individual to
individual, and a responsible leader. A third participant said:
The firm is innovative, and I think they invest a lot of money and resources in their
people that they really care about and is good at collaborating. I think in terms of the
negative, I think the firm really burns people out. It basically is talking out of both sides
of its’ mouth.
This viewpoint shows that while the overarching culture for the firms in the study were reported
with positive terms such as collaborative, focused on the people, diverse and integrity-driven,
how the culture translates to the participants from discussions is that a dedicated focus on being a
culture of improvement in terms of career and experience is not an area of focus.
When specifically asked about how their culture supports or derails their career
aspirations, the respondents elaborated with their perceptions. Of the population, six (55%) felt
that it both supported and derailed them. One participant shared that, “I am supported in regard
to the platform that I am dedicated to, but it derails me because of the energy it takes for me to
fight and find my way through it. I'm exhausted.” This statement shows that although the
environment is described with positive terms, there is a potential lack of predictability impacting
confidence in navigating the environment that is not focuses on making meaningful
improvements, specifically in career experience. Four participants (36%) said that the culture
supports their aspirations, tied to a newer revelation, based on recent emerging focus on diversity
and inclusion, resulting from societal movements. One respondent said, “I guess it should say
the culture should support me and getting promoted because it supports diversity. I know they
support women and I know they want to promote our women.” An assumption can be made that
75
recent diversity movements such as Black Lives Matter has impacted the viewpoints shared, as
such movements are pushing organizations to place greater emphasis on sharing commitments
and investments made in marginalized groups. Figure 11 details participants perception of how
their firm culture supports or derails their career goals, as an input to cultural model definition.
Figure 11
Culture Supports the Populations Career Goals (Cultural Model)
When discussing firm willingness to listen to female leader concerns around career path
and advancement, several themes were uncovered tied to how their firm invests in career path
development. Seven participants (64%) said that listening is primarily done in the coach/coachee
relationship. Another four (36%) shared the majority of listening is accomplished through
informal relationships that include mentors that are self-selected and colleagues and peers who
listen and advise. No participant said any specific listening channels that are formal ways to
collect feedback on career experience transcending the coach or network.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Supports it
Derails it
Supports and Derails it
Culture Supporting Career Goals - Cultural Model
n=11
76
By reviewing cultural model inputs for the study, interview evidence showed that while
the culture had strong and meaningful descriptors of what the participant’s believed firms stood
for, there still exists an opportunity to find congruence between the culture descriptors and what
firms actually do to improve the career experience. Additionally, another gap uncovered was
how the firms communicate the investments made in the consulting female senior manager
development. Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) discussed that cultural models can be invisible
to the majority and shared that models can also be tools that shape thinking. While favorable
terms are described consistently to describe the culture, there exists a gap between what culture
stands for and how it manifests in execution, in service of female career development, including
formal channels arranged to support active listening and firm response.
Organization Findings for Cultural Settings
Cultural settings are the visible manifestations of cultural models, where individuals
collaborate in order to accomplish a task or activity (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001).
Additionally, cultural settings show up as investments made by the organization that reside in the
culture and support the execution of work (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001; Rueda, 2011). For
this study, the culture settings explored were the population reporting if they see their firm’s
investment in programs that advance women and if women see and hear examples of success
stories of women achieving partner level, supporting the perception that achieving the next level
is possible.
Firm Investment in Career Path Development
Participants were asked about how their firm invests in career path development,
detailing how they can move from a consulting senior manager to a partner. Seven participants
(64%) said that they see an investment in leadership development, but it is not always through
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programs, or an offering targeted on developing female leaders specifically. One respondent
shared:
I feel like it is more of a personal investment that I see happening from the leadership
versus programs. And of course, just knowing the programs that are in place as you're
preparing for the process, I think those all would be incredibly helpful.
This comment highlighted that development is really rooted in formal or informal sponsors or
coaches versus investment in development programs. The population also highlighted some
distinct opportunities for improvement, including three (27%) said that there needed to be more
leadership communications around offerings that are available to the population, if they exist.
One senior manager shared:
It's not communicated well around what is available. I think the moment that you say
yes, you should hear that this is the trajectory of your career, this is how many hours it
takes, and these are the skills and competencies that you need to get.
Another three (27%) said that they felt the investment in their career path development resided
with them and that they would use their network and informal structure to achieve their
aspirations. One participant mentioned that she did not want it to be about a program to
communicate her readiness, rather she said:
I do not want to have to tell people that I need to go up for promotion, I just want to have
them know, based on my reputation of what I have done to really surpass that need to
communicate my readiness. And I think that that is a very hard thing for women, because
the labels are that women are not expected to be tellers.
This comment details that her preference is that her firm knows that she is ready, versus her
having to tell them she is ready, and needs the programs to help her to put a plan in place to
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further refine her readiness. The other data point important to highlight is the gender difference
between men and women, where she assumes women are less likely to share their readiness.
Two (18%) said that they needed more coaching specifically on what it takes to make partner
and how leadership would determine their readiness that would be communicated with candor
and clarity. Figure 12 details how the consulting female senior manager group sees their firms
invest in career path development, moving from Senior Manager to Partner.
Figure 12
Firm Investment in Career Path Development
Successful Storytelling
Storytelling has emerged in business as a means of sensemaking, that shares cultural
examples though a rich life-history narrative (Maclean et al., 2011). For this study, the focus on
storytelling is due to the fact that this sensemaking legitimizes personal successes (Maclean et
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Firm Investment Visable/Not Focused on Women
Investment Needs Better Communication
Career Development Resides with Me
Career Advice Comes From My Network
How Firms Invest in Career Path Development- Cultural Model
Firm Investment Visable/Not Focused on Women Investment Needs Better Communication
Career Development Resides with Me Career Advice Comes From My Network
79
al., 2011). For the population who seek higher organizational roles, storytelling provides real
examples that promotion is achievable from the senior manager level. The question that
addressed this cultural setting was to ask participants if they heard stories about women
achieving partner and how those stories impacted their personal frame of their opportunities and
career growth.
Of the population, ten of the eleven participants (91%) reported hearing about promotions.
Most of what was heard was in the form of organization announcements versus a detailed story that
showed how the female leader accomplished their goal, adversities they faced, or lessons learned.
One participant said, “I'm sure when it was announced - a woman’s promotion - they send us the
milestones, because it's just standard.” The participants view was that her firm was more about
checking a box, versus sharing a celebration of an event. Another respondent said that stories come
when she is in panel discussions where women are asked to present their paths formally. She
shared, “I have gone to panel discussions and there's something there - you'll always see female
panelists. So, I guess I have heard stories.” From the interview discussions, most participants
communicated that stories are shared in targeted forums (diversity focus calls for example), but
storytelling is missing targeted forums and communication channels, where details are shared in a
way that the participants can receive and internalize the information and apply it to their own
trajectory. Another participant said, “It's always very inspiring. It feels good to look at that list of
partners when the promotion notices come out and see the new leaders. What matters more is when
women that are kind make it.” This comment shows that inspiration comes from female leadership
that model behaviors that rising leaders’ value. Figure 13 shows the graph of responses showing
the populations viewpoint on storytelling in their respective firms.
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Figure 13
Firm Storytelling
According to Grenny (2017), storytelling is a method of information sharing that provides
“concrete examples that reframe moments by personifying human consequence” (p. 3). In other
words, if examples are provided of success stories of female leaders before them, the population
will see validation for their efforts and have hope that promotion is achievable for them as well.
These culture settings make a difference, as reported by the respondents, to show that firm is
actively playing attention to female leader stories and structuring and acknowledging their
contributions.
Impact of Organizational Influences on Stakeholder Knowledge and Motivation
The organizational influences’ impact on the stakeholder group’s knowledge and
motivation was shown to be substantial based on the research findings. Both cultural models and
settings anticipated that stem from firm cultures cascade into the organization, resulting in varied
leadership interpretation and respondent experiences. Schein (2014) defined culture as linked
systems and patterns of behavior that are acquired as a group solves problems and eventually,
Storytelling - Cultural Settings
Hear Stories Hear Stories from Colleagues Do Not Hear Stories
81
become a part of a group’s sub-conscious in how it operates within an organization. Cultural
models of an organization define the underlying values and norms of a group, whereas cultural
settings manifest as the expression of the culture in action (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001).
Cultural models and cultural settings work together in guiding the work that is done in an
organization that shapes the organization’s broader culture.
For this study, cultural models for the respondents collected their viewpoints on being a
culture of improvement, where investment in female career development was present and the
willingness of their respective firms to listen to the population about concerns with career path
and advancement. The data also revealed that while women see some investment, it is not
targeted to them as a population and support comes from informal networks and colleagues who
help to engage and inform them on career trajectory. Cultural settings anticipated were also
confirmed as gaps, as the investments from programs did not exist consistently, or the population
was unaware of offerings that are focused on females. Additionally, while success stories are
present in some form, the consistency and focus on sharing robust stories is not a consistent
practice, showing that there is an opportunity to make meaningful improvements to how female
promotions are shared, in a way that inspires and engages the population
Summary of Findings
The data collected in the study indicates that the consulting female senior manager
participants have good working knowledge of the requirements of their role and that they can
confidently execute their job and manage to the expectations of their respective firms in a senior
manager capacity. The population also shared awareness of their capabilities and ability to
support their gaps in knowledge to shape their path forward. The one knowledge gap uncovered
through the course of the study was having a rich understanding of the resources, both offerings,
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programs and sponsorship that might available to them to support their career ambitions. The
participants clearly communicated that resolving this knowledge gap would be a big help in
planning their career paths, where they could take active ownership with pointed and relevant
content to manage both their expectations as well as their firm’s expectations for growth and
promotion. A future study might focus on analyzing further how the population determines the
required support and evaluate successful performers to document and broadly share the content
to further knowledge in support of upward mobility overall.
From a motivation perspective, the population expressed some concerns about their belief
that they can have a long-term career at their firm (despite some having long tenures) that
enables both professional and personal success, impacting their confidence in sourcing and
securing the resources they need to help them in being successful and frame their personal
opportunities. Additionally, there was a gap identified in how the population perceived longer-
term roles that allowed them to have a thriving career as well as pursue personal interests. The
population communicated an impact to their motivation, having to break down perceived issues
between work and personal obligations, which appeared to stem from firm complexity and
changing requirements for the role.
Organizational influences hypothesized were all confirmed as gaps as well. From a
cultural model perspective, firm stewardship that emphasizes the importance and priority of firm
focus on female leadership and ongoing investment made in female careers, along with active
listening, requires greater energy and emphasis, per the lens of the population. Cultural settings
that communicate an active investment in females advancing, coupled with robust story-telling
that shows examples of successful women leaders was identified as another area of opportunity
for firm leadership. Participants shared that some investment of their organization is visible, but
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not consistent and deliberate with a focus on improving the female experience. Further, there
was vacillating belief communicated from the population that their organizations were
committed to actively responding to improving the female career experience as an ongoing
initiative (and at the time of the study, as a result to other societal movements superseding the
need). Despite the organizational gaps confirmed, the population strongly felt that to some
extent, it was their responsibility to find the sponsorship and content needed to propel their
careers, and that they had the autonomy to shape their experience.
In conclusion, transcending the research population, it would be good to understand
broader input of consulting senior managers across big-four firms to explore further if anything
does exist supporting the careers of the senior manager population in general, and path to
partner. A larger group to provide input would uncover is there is any misalignment between
knowledge, motivation and organizational efforts in place that leadership is prioritizing as a part
of broader consulting career development and talent strategy. Exploring too if there are
ambiguous performance expectations that could be cleared up by leadership effort and intention
would help further support talent priorities. To address research question four and the responses
and interventions suggested to address the problem of practice, content and approaches are
covered in the Recommendations for Practice section.
Limitations and Delimitations
In the interest of time and effort, the study focused on a small population of consulting
female senior managers, across four big-four firms. It would be advantageous to conduct other
studies that look at a larger population of females, with a goal of gaining vantage into actual
company promotion rates of consulting female senior managers to the partner level, as well as
have a view into company climate, impacting promotion rates. In addition, a limited number of
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knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences were addressed due to the time to
complete the study and small population involved. The researcher did anticipate and learn of
emerging themes through the course of data collection that would also be an area of continued
focus, such as diversity issues. Expanding the population and looking at larger diverse audiences
ascertain the opportunities and challenges of consulting female senior managers as they aspire to
achieve partner, would have been beneficial for the study.
The study was limited to big-four consulting female senior managers. There are other
stakeholders that contribute to this population’s trajectory, including existing female partners,
male counterparts, and other partners. Focusing on the impacted population was the selected
approach to determine the most fundamental issues and opportunities, supporting retention,
productivity and engagement. The researcher believed that the study provided an indication of
retention and productivity inputs to support the population as they pursue the partner level.
Recommendations for Practice
The following content describes the knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences for the study and the specific recommendations and plans for implementation to
address the opportunities stemming from the research findings. To structure the research
findings, Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick’s (2016) New World Model provided the required
framework to address the rigor needed to assure recommended programming would be
successful in improving the consulting female senior manager experience. Kirkpatrick and
Kirkpatrick (2016) describe four levels of training evaluation that assure that, for this study, that
the consulting female senior managers obtain the knowledge, motivation and organizational
resources needed to successfully understand the requirements of the partner level. Additionally,
85
the population can locate information and program support for their career ambitions which will
bolster personal motivation and interest in achieving the next level of leader.
The planned program is initiated with level four, which identifies the internal and
external outcomes that demonstrate progress toward achievement of the stakeholder and
organizational goals, along with suggested metrics to support the analysis of progress. The
planned next step identifies the critical behaviors that consulting female senior managers should
demonstrate following structured programs and the organizational drivers that are required to
reinforce those behaviors. The plan also captures the required structured programs that are
needed to achieve the learning goals, and methods and tools needed to evaluate the learning
achieved from the structured programs. For the last step in the plan, the methods and tools to
evaluate participant reactions in relation to overall satisfaction, engagement, and relevance of the
program and experience with a coach/sponsor is captured. The data that is captured will be
analyzed in aggregate and shared with firm leadership to capture program resonance and
adjustment if necessary.
A detailed view on what is suggested for evaluation and implementation includes several
steps. It is expected that following structured program delivery, the population will capture their
perspectives of their experience in a short survey. These reactions will be captured in aggregate
and shared with firm leadership and HR leaders who can assure program expectations are met
and content adjusted as needed. This slightly delayed summative assessment allows for time for
the participants to digest the content and engage in reflective thinking on what they can use on
the job and what they think is helpful to their personal careers (as well as provide careful
consideration to what they might change in planned structured programs). The population will
also have support from a coach/sponsor who supports their career growth and aspirations for
86
promotion. The coach/sponsor will conduct a variety of check-ins to assess how the population
embeds expected behaviors into their personal repertoire and also collect information to capture
their knowledge, motivation, and organizational needs to be an additional voice in providing
feedback to firm leadership and HR on what is working and what is not. This robust process will
assure that the feedback needed to fully address active program management is received, and
that learning objectives are met.
By leveraging the Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) New World model (Appendix E),
organizations have the ability to assess the level of impact made by specific investments in
training. For this study, the selected interventions are structured programs, coaching and
sponsorship. The goal for this level of rigor for the programs and coaching support will ensure
that any planned approach for the population directly addresses issues and opportunities to
bolster the stakeholder groups understanding of the expectations of achieving the partner
level. This approach will also concurrently support the population’s engagement, ability to be
productive, assuming significant leader roles in their respective organizations.
Knowledge Recommendations
This study assumed that there are three knowledge types that are influencers of the
consulting female senior manager experience, impacting engagement, productivity, supporting or
derailing their confidence in achieving partner. The three knowledge types present in the study
are factual, procedural, and metacognitive. Factual is needed for exploration to understand if
consulting female senior managers fundamentally understand what their firm expects of them
from a capability perspective. Procedural will support data gathering to understand if consulting
female senior managers can access the programs and solutions that support their career
trajectory. Metacognitive influences explore the reconciliation of how females feel and perceive
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their skills and capabilities, tied to their promotability. Table 6 captures recommendations to
address the knowledge gaps.
Table 6
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Knowledge
Influence
Principle and Citation
Context-Specific
Recommendation
Consulting female senior
managers need to know
what their firm expects of
them (Factual).
• Factual knowledge is
foundational knowledge
that is fundamental
content required to solve
a problem in different
situations (Krathwohl,
2010)
• Provide continued
education for
consulting female
senior managers to
hear from their firm
about expectations of
their role
Consulting female senior
managers need to
understand the resources
available to them to support
their career ambitions
(Procedural).
• Procedural knowledge
provides a more concrete
context of knowledge;
the focus is on a process
(Rueda, 2011)
• Employees will choose to
engage themselves to
varying degrees and in
response to the resources
they receive from their
organization (Saks, 2006)
• Provide a job aid that
contains the
programs and
offerings to help
females to focus on
their career
ambitions and
trajectory
Consulting female senior
managers need to be aware
of their own strengths and
opportunities and develop
strategies to support their
personal advancement
within their firm
(Metacognitive).
• Researchers believe that
metacognition about
traditional roles impacts
how females feel about
the pursuit of leadership
roles and this feeling is
not always obvious
(Sczesny & Kühnen
2004)
• By focusing on the
gender differences and
individual beliefs around
the employee experience
is an imperative to
employee success (Block
& Crawford, 2013)
• Provide information
that focuses on both
the hard (technical)
and soft (emotional)
contributors to firm
success for
consulting female
senior managers
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Furthering Factual Knowledge Through Ongoing Structured Firm Education
Data showed that there is a potential factual knowledge gap for consulting female senior
managers, around role requirements and what they are expected to execute. As Krathwohl stated
(2010), factual knowledge is foundational knowledge that is fundamental content required to
solve a problem in different situations. To address this potential gap for consulting female senior
managers, Information Processing System Theory is the preferred learning theory to support this
population as the primary need for this stakeholder is their ability to understand and execute
against the most fundamental needs of the role in order to be successful (Schraw & McCrudden,
2006). As there are other unstated expectations from firms for senior managers, having a strong
foundational understanding of the role and what is expected will lessen the burden of the extra
expectations that are unarticulated. The lack of understanding about other expectations suggests
that sharing definitive expectations of foundational role requirements will help the consulting
female senior manager population with garnering greater success, earlier in their senior manager
tenure. It is evident based on the results of this study that consulting female senior managers
would benefit from a more formal understanding of the foundational expectation of their roles.
As the theory contends, having ongoing robust learning opportunities will allow for mastery of
the basics, while they can manage the other data, they must process which is not a part of a
formal role description.
According to literature, consulting female leaders in male-dominated organizations
experience scrutiny of their identities, and the coping processes they use to engage and navigate
their experience transcends the requirements of the role, which is an additional challenge to
manage (Meister et al., 2017). As such, having an information processing framework will
support any potential knowledge gaps that the population may have by putting information into
89
logical and meaningful chunks (Rueda, 2011). Additionally, this scaffolded learning approach
will provide the population with ongoing guidance and coaching during role execution, resulting
in improved performance (Mayer, 2011). To support consulting female senior managers, firms
can put diligent effort into breaking down learning into coursework that supports the
foundational expectations of the role. Firms can also provide education sessions on the other
expectations, realized through channels such as coaching one to one, and provide other safe
environments so that the population can safely discuss and understand the additional unwritten
expectations.
Improving Procedural Knowledge to Support Career Ambitions
For this study, consulting female senior managers must understand the resources
available to them to support their career ambitions. In pursuit of providing the population with
the content they need Information Processing System Theory would be the preferred framework
to address potential knowledge gaps. Procedural knowledge will provide the population with
more concrete context of knowledge, with a focus on a process to get a task or responsibility
accomplished (Rueda, 2011). Consulting female senior managers could benefit from the tactical
content to show them where to find solutions where there are process knowledge gaps that would
help them to continue to grow and develop richer acumen in support of their career
ambitions. The other benefit of this approach for procedural knowledge, is this framework
allows the population to see in detail when executing a procedure or strategy when it would be
most beneficial to them (Schraw & McCrudden, 2006). To achieve this objective, consulting
female senior managers would benefit from a job aid that contains the programs and offerings to
help the population to focus on their career ambitions and trajectory, with understanding of what
is available to them. Support would be a list of the programs, objectives, sponsors and other
90
detailed information to provide consulting female senior managers with the detailed support
needed to address growth objectives with a firm plan.
According to Saks (2006), employees will choose to engage themselves to varying
degrees and in response to the resources they receive from their organization. Having content
that supports enhanced understanding of what support is available for this population, shared in
manageable parts will help to manage intrinsic load (Mayer, 2011). Clark and Estes (2008)
posited that job aids in the form of reference material allows the leader to gain information from
with a guided practice to manage potentially complex performance expectations. As such, having
reference material in job aids will support the consulting female senior managers with content
ongoing to support personal career objectives, and ultimately their engagement.
Improving Metacognitive Knowledge in Pursuit of Next Level] Leader
Consulting female senior managers need to be aware of their own strengths and
opportunities as they develop strategies to support their personal advancement within their firm.
To address the possible knowledge gap, social cognitive theory is the preferred framework to
manage the required ongoing reinforcement as this tactic would support the interchange between
the population, their values and attitude, and the interplay with their environment (Rueda,
2011). As such, firms will be incumbent to provide information that focuses on both the
technical and the emotional contributors for female careers over time, in order to support
confidence building of their strengths and opportunities in pursuit of the partner level. An
example would be for firms to both educate on consulting skills at the senior manager level and
also support a richer understanding of how to effectively network and develop a personal brand
in shaping the path to partner.
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Focusing on the gender differences and individual beliefs around the employee
experience is imperative for employee success (Block & Crawford, 2013). Metacognition is
needed to support the consulting female senior managers as they solve complex problems
(Rueda, 2011). The literature review detailed that metacognition about traditional roles impacts
how females feel about their pursuit of leadership roles and this feeling is not always obvious
(Sczesny & Kühnen, 2004). Researchers also contend that leadership potential is impacted by
biological sex in that even if females seek higher leadership, there are still underlying pressures
that impact their confidence and competence (Sczesny & Kühnen, 2004). To address this
potential gap, firms must focus on sharing both the technical requirements for the senior manager
level, as well as provide an ongoing forum for the consulting female senior managers to address
any derailers around emotional contributors which impact their confidence to achieve the next
career level.
Motivation Recommendations
According to Clark and Estes (2008), a contributor to gaps in stakeholder performance is
the motivation required to complete a task. Clark and Estes (2008) described three factors
impacting task completion, which include the choice to begin a task, the ability to persist in
completing a task, and the amount of mental effort required to expend on the task. For this
study, the specific influences identified as motivational factors are attribution, which explains
why people respond differently to the same event (Weiner, 2000); self-efficacy, which is rooted
in a belief that a person has that their action can result in a desired outcome (Pajares, 2006); and
expectancy, which is where a person’s specific beliefs impacts a behavior or reaction (Pintrich,
2003). Table 7 captures recommended approaches to address the potential motivation gaps.
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Table 7
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Motivation Influence
Principle and Citation
Context-Specific
Recommendation
Consulting female senior
managers need to believe they
can have a long-term career at
their firm, where they can
achieve both professional and
personal aspirations (Attribution)
• Attribution theory
states that people
want to understand
their environments
and as such, strive
to understand why
certain events
happen (Anderman
and Anderman,
2006)
• Learners form
causal beliefs that
are impacted by
environmental and
personal
factors. Specific
attribution being
made (luck, effort,
etc.) is less
important than the
characteristics of
the attribution
classified in three
causal dimensions:
locus, stability,
and controllability
(Weiner, 2000)
• Conduct regular assessments
with 2+ year consulting
female senior managers to
assess strengths and
opportunities
• Collaborate with career
advisor/coach to define
SMART goals to manage
both professional and
personal aspirations
(monitored quarterly)
Consulting female senior
managers need to feel confident
they can identify the right
supports at their firm to support
professional aspirations (Self-
Efficacy)
• Unless people
believe that their
actions can
produce the
outcomes they
desire, they have
little incentive to
act or to persevere
in the face of
difficulties
(Pajares, 2006)
• Interview 2+ year consulting
female senior managers on
their ability to find support
they need to support
aspirations.
• Assign coaches/ sponsors for
consulting female senior
managers to have behavioral
models on expected
leadership behaviors
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• Use models that
build self-efficacy
and enhance
motivation
(Pajares, 2006).
Consulting female senior
managers need to believe they
can be successful in achieving the
next level at their firm, while
concurrently pursuing personal
goals (Expectancy)
• Higher
expectations for
success and
perceptions of
confidence can
positively
influence learning
and motivation
(Eccles, 2006)
• Feedback as well
as actual success
on challenging
tasks positively
influences
people’s
perceptions of
competence
(Borgogni et al.,
2011).
• Survey 2+ year consulting
female senior managers to
proactively collect feedback
on readiness and collect
knowledge on the obstacles
faced on the path to partner.
• Communicate results to
leadership/ decision makers
to define new programs/
solutions that manage
expectations for promotion
Managing Attribution by Leveraging SMART Goals
Clark and Estes (2008) described that motivation provides actual benefits to
organizations even if there is no gap between current performance and organizational
goals. Qualities of motivation include aspirations, interests and goals (Lazowski & Hulleman,
2016). Attributions are assigned to situations, which according to Weiner (2000) influences how
an individual might feel about how much locus (internal or external) they have over an event,
how stable an event is, and how much control they have of that situation over time. For
consulting female senior managers, there is a potential motivation gap based on the attributions
assigned to their belief that they can have long-term careers at their respective firms, where both
personal and professional desires can be accomplished. In order to address this gap, the
94
suggested approach is to conduct regular assessments with consulting female senior managers
who have two or more years at level in order to assess their beliefs about their strengths and
opportunities to balance both personal and professional aspirations. Additionally, to manage and
monitor the attributions, firms will be incumbent to define SMART goals that would be
monitored quarterly for this experienced population to assure ongoing management of
attributions assigned that could potentially be inaccurate and derailing balance. The
interventions suggested will assure consistent management of how much control the population
feels they have in support of their engagement and retention in their roles and ongoing
monitoring of those goals over time, with engaged leadership feedback and support.
For consulting female senior managers, there is a tendency to make ill-informed
attributions based on a lack of information coming from their firm leadership. According to
Harvey et al. (2014), attribution is something that people do casually all day, every day. To
combat any inaccurate attributions assigned by consulting female senior managers, it is
important that firm leadership monitor and manage the information around readiness for
consulting female senior managers that is based on self-reporting and accurate
messaging. Cundiff and Vesico (2016) hypothesized that inaccurate attributions are
compounded by stereotype endorsements related to causal attributions, which are a part of a
broader cognitive framework that is fixed and difficult to change. According to Weiner’s
Attribution Model (2000), firms will need to focus on controlling the potential antecedent
conditions coming from the consulting female senior manager’s firm environments in an effort to
influence any antecedent that can unfavorably impact female’s perception about their locus of
control, stability or general controllability to balance professional and personal goals. Focused
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attention on assessment and leadership support will result in a positive attribution, as females
have great control of their environment (Anderman & Anderman, 2006)
Increasing Self-Efficacy Pursuing Professional Aspirations
Self-efficacy is the foundation for motivation, an individual’s well-being, and one’s
personal sense of accomplishment (Pajares, 2006). Individuals must believe that their personal
actions will result in a favorable outcome, otherwise, they have no incentive to act or to
persevere when faced with hardship or difficulty (Pajares (2006). For consulting female senior
managers, this population needs to have confidence that they can find the right support inside the
firm to support their professional aspirations. In order to achieve this objective, the approach
would be to have regular interviews/discussions with the population with at least two years at
level to assess how they find the support, and what they need to support career aspirations, along
with proactive identification of what is lacking in their goal pursuit. Additionally, firms should
assign steeped coaches for the population so that they have behavioral models to demonstrate
those expected leadership behaviors that support promotability. In addition, these assigned
coaches can be active stewards to connect consulting female senior managers to other resources
that the population needs that support their engagement and productivity on path to partner.
Self-efficacy supports the strengthening of the connection between one’s goals and goal
achievement, and findings on studies of self-efficacy show that people with high self-efficacy are
more motivated and respond better to constructive feedback (Gielnik et al., 2019). Having
strong self-efficacy is also an antecedent to engagement and one’s willingness to seek out
support to help them with their aspirations (Christian et al., 2007). According to Kothari and
Sidheswar (2016), females are more likely than men to limit their career aspirations because of
their ability to actively identify solutions to help them, which can also help to validate leadership
96
readiness. By regularly collecting consulting female senior manager’s confidence on their ability
to gather the support as a first step, and supplementing solutions with coaching support to model
expected behaviors, the population will have scaffolded support to garner greater confidence to
achieve the partner level. Pajares (2006) shared that self-efficacy beliefs are influenced by the
messaging and persuasions that people receive from others, either intentional or
unintentional. As such, it is incumbent on firms to actively seek out information on what
consulting female senior managers have, as well as regular coaching and behavioral examples of
how the population can help their professional engagement and productivity.
Managing Growth Expectations and Personal Goals
Expectancy theory contends that motivation is a function of an individual’s perception of
their environment (Fudge & Schlacter, 1999). Eccles (2006) furthered this definition by sharing
that expectations for performance are based on personal values and how that influences the
choices a person makes, including how they chose to perform in each situation. For consulting
female senior managers, the population needs to believe that they can be successful in achieving
the next level at their firm, while concurrently pursuing personal goals. According to Eccles
(2006), the expectations for success and perceptions of confidence positively impacts motivation,
thus the importance of the population feeling as though they can deliver and be productive, along
with having a personal life outside of work, is a required connection. To achieve this balance,
the population needs an outlet to report on what they feel might be missing in their professional
life to be successful in their job, while concurrently having a personal life. Actively involving
leadership in reviewing the data associated with what females expect will help to develop content
and approaches that support the ability of the population to be productive and engaged in pursuit
of the next level. If females can provide regular feedback around what is missing to support their
97
professional pursuits, they will have greater confidence that they can manage personal
obligations at home. Leadership’s active involvement in the determination of solutions to
support this balance is also required so that performance expectations are clear, and the
population can balance professional goals and personal needs.
According to Borgogni et al. (2011), feedback on the successes and challenges of tasks
will influence an individual’s belief of their own competence. As such, providing formal
channels for females to give feedback on their successes and opportunities on the path to partner
is a crucial feedback loop. Managing expectancy allows a way for individuals to also focus on
their leadership goals by consistently evaluating their position, equipping them with the ability to
influence their perception of the environment where they live and work (Wilfred et al.,
2001). Literature shows that women will actively adjust employment obligations to support their
familial obligations (Lipps, 2009). As such, gaining active understanding of the successes and
challenges females are experiencing on the path to partner is a valuable step for leadership to
identify sustainable solutions to support them, favorably impacting both productivity and
engagement. Weber and Geneste (2014) shared that it was important to recognize that there are
differences between male and female aspirations and leadership is incumbent to conduct active
exploration to retain female staff.
Organization Recommendations
Clark and Estes (2008) shared a third and final influence that impacts performance,
transcending knowledge and motivation. Organizational influences that are considered in this
study include both cultural models and cultural settings as considerations when evaluating the
success of achieving organizational goals or aspirations. Rueda (2010) shared that cultural
models manifest in the form of shared mental schemas in an organization that explain
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organizational operations and behaviors. Conversely, cultural settings are visible in the context
of culture, and are represented in the form of documented processes and policies that define the
way the organization works, in pursuit of stated performance goals (Gallimore & Goldenberg,
2001). For this study, the cultural models that have been included are the firm’s ability to focus
on building a culture of improvement and the investments firms make in listening to the female
population in support of career aspirations. The cultural settings explored include the
investments that firms are willing to make with the female population, which may be additional
programs or general supports that prioritize female promotions, as well as the clear stories that
are shared through leadership that demonstrate success of females in achieving the next level,
which serve as examples for the stakeholder population to emulate. Table 8 captures
recommended approaches to address the potential organizational gaps.
Table 8
Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations
Assumed
Organization
Influence
Principle and Citation
Context-Specific
Recommendation
Firms focus on
building a
culture of
improvement for
the consulting
female senior
manager
experience
(Cultural Model)
Diversity
• Culture is a concept that points to
phenomena that are below the
surface, that are powerful in their
impact but invisible and to a
considerable degree unconscious
(Schein, 2001)
• As organizations continue to
become boundaryless,
organizational leaders need to
involve and engage employees to
achieve the maximum level of
commitment and success with the
organization (Taneja et al. 2015)
• Mobilize a
committee of
diverse individuals
(men, women, and
minorities) who can
define leadership
priorities to support
the definition of a
“culture of
improvement” to
focus on female
promotions and
career experience
Firms make an
effort to listen to
women about
Accountability • Clearly articulate a
set of practical skills
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career needs
(Cultural Model)
• Leaders should institute program
tools to assure systemic change is
occurring and driving the
accountability of managers and
leaders to listen to the workforce
needs (Debebe et al. 2016)
leaders need to have
in order to
acknowledge and
listen to female
rising leaders (as a
part of manager
training)
• Measure quarterly
female engagement
scores to evaluate
opportunities to
listen and engage the
population better
Firms invest in
Consulting Female
Senior Manager
career
development
(Cultural Setting)
Leadership
• Studies show that there is a linkage
between engagement and
performance, as engagement is a
psychological state where the
knowledge of resources supports the
ability to exceed job demands
supporting improved performance
(Gupta and Shukla, 2018)
• Communicate
quarterly the
programs available
for females looking
to achieve
promotion
• Assess gaps in
offerings for female
consulting senior
managers by
benchmarking with
other consulting
organizations
Firms share
success stories of
women advancing
their careers
(Cultural Setting)
Leadership
• Storytelling is a narrative process
that encourages people to tell their
stories and make meaning of their
life experiences in order to construct
future stories that are optimistic and
more hopeful (McMahon et al.
2012)
• “In a world where reputations are
hard won but easily lost, business
leaders must nurture a life history
narrative which is socially desirable
if their careers are to remain on
track. This may serve them well
through the creative evolution of
their organizational journeys”
(Maclean et. al, 2011).
• Communicate
regular and
proactive stories of
female promotions
as features (via
internal firm
channels)
• Provide forum(s) for
women to share their
promotion stories in
an effort to inspire
others and show that
promotion is
possible
Building a Culture of Improvement
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Cultural models are practices in the organization with shared mental schemas that are
visible through the behaviors of employees (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). The researchers
contend that organizational leaders will engage in practices related to inquiry if the practice of
inquiry is practiced with them, and this in turn will be demonstrated by others (Gallimore &
Goldenberg, 2001). As such, it is incumbent upon firms to focus on building a culture of
improvement for the female experience, that shows the firm's growing investment in making
marketable improvements in female career development and organizational engagement. To
address this cultural model gap, and by using the principles of diversity theory, the suggested
intervention is to mobilize a committee of diverse individuals, including men, women, and
minorities, who can define leadership priorities to support the definition of a culture of
improvement, which would focus on the female career experience and ultimately,
promotion. This approach assumes that focused energy is placed on bringing together a group of
diverse populations of individuals who will bring differentiated thought to make suggestions and
define supports needed for improving the female experience. Additionally, assuring that this
committee convenes at least quarterly with leadership endorsement and support, bolstered by
organizational communication, will help the movement of firms to build a culture of inquiry.
As Taneja et al. (2015) stated, with organizations becoming boundaryless, leadership is
incumbent on finding new ways for leaders to engage and involve employees to garner a
collective commitment to success and excellence. Schein (2017) supported this contention by
saying that organization culture reflects a pattern of shared basic assumptions that are developed
through group social learning. A dedicated committee focused on developing strategies with an
emphasis on improvement could result in the creation of a differentiated talent experience for
female career development through ideation. Schein (2001) also stated that culture is something
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that is under the surface and mostly unconscious, but powerful on its impact on the
organization. By making the concerted effort to address the female experience and focusing
energies with diverse individuals, positive movement to retain females can be realized. Argyris
(2006) shared that groups like this proposed committee will help to support the definition of
common goals, encourage open communication, and provide a forum to test assumptions and
beliefs. This committee would be fundamental to initiating a culture of inquiry, and sustaining
the focus and energy required to manage this cultural model gap.
Active Listening to Female Career Aspirations
Rueda (2011) explained that cultural models develop and evolve over time, remaining in
an unconscious frame of reference for those organizational members that follow them. As
cultural models are mostly unconscious, it is important that firms make concerted effort to listen
to consulting female senior managers about support needed to shape their career paths. To
address this cultural model gap, firms will need to focus on theories of accountability and clearly
articulate a set of practical skills leaders must have in order to listen to females. Skills training
should be a part of regular manager training. Additionally, firms will be incumbent to review
yearly female engagement scores to evaluate opportunities to listen and engage the population
better. This two-pronged approach to listening builds organizational muscle for leaders to
understand firm priority and focus on active listening, both through their own actions and
reinforced through engagement data that measures how consulting female senior managers
perceive their career opportunities. The data sources will ultimately show organizational
commitment of females to their careers and upward mobility.
Moore et al. (2014) found that leadership must take an active role in focusing on female
careers to resolve any potential conflict between home and work obligations. This objective can
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be accomplished through active listening channels put in place to address female career
needs. Burke (2018) shared leadership must be about influence and not command and control,
thus requiring reflection, empathy and active listening in order to bring an organization
along. Debebe et al. (2016) contended that leaders should institute program tools to assure
systemic change is occurring and driving the accountability of managers and leaders to listen to
the workforce needs. Formalizing listening strategies requires conscious interventions shaped to
address the organization context. Building listening strategies into foundational manager
training would demonstrate that the organization and its leadership is committed to empowering
managers who will seek out information that can help them to diagnose and address gaps in
female career experiences. Additionally, using yearly engagement data and measures will help
provide emphasis to the most urgent career supports needed. Clark and Estes (2009) postulated
that organization culture will impact organizational performance goals. Considering multiple
channels to assure listening is robust and addressing opportunities below the surface is a crucial
step in assuring that consulting female senior managers are heard through equipped managers
and feedback is reviewed through listening channels in place.
Visible Investment in Consulting Female Senior Manager Career Development
A cultural setting is a result when people collaborate over time to achieve a goal or
objective (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). For this study, a cultural setting is visible when
firms choose to invest in consulting female senior manager career development, through
programs and offerings that develop skills needed to help the population achieve senior
leadership roles and keep them engaged. This approach stems from theories of leadership, which
contends that organization effectiveness is improved when leadership places investment in the
resources an employee needs to be successful. To address this potential cultural setting gap, the
103
suggested approach is to communicate quarterly the programs available for females looking to
achieve promotion, which could be sent through targeted emails or through external offerings
that support personal development. Additionally, it is recommended that firms self-select to
benchmark with other consulting organizations to assess where there may be gaps in the
solutions provided for consulting female senior managers. This benchmarking process will help
define a robust analysis of program strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to elevate
offerings and focus on continued development that consulting female senior managers are
seeking to stay engaged and support their career aspirations.
Gupta and Shukla (2018) showed that there is a linkage between engagement and
performance, as engagement is a psychological state where the knowledge of resources supports
the ability to exceed job demands supporting improved performance. Consulting female senior
managers need to understand what is available to them to persevere and achieve the next level,
while maintaining engagement and productivity. Debebe et al. (2016) conducted a study that
resulted in endorsement for specialized women’s leadership programs, noting that dedicated
learning programs on leadership for women results in transformative change for female careers,
such as interest in growth and passion to persist. This evidence shows that when firm leadership
invests in female development, the population will remain committed and dedicated to their firm
and seek higher organizational roles. Additionally, Konrad and Mangel (2000) in one study
showed that when organizational investments transcend monetary rewards, that organizations
will realize greater discretionary effort in the form of citizenship behavior that result in improved
organizational effectiveness that may or may not be linked to core job responsibilities. This
evidence supports the notion that firm investment in the form of targeted development for
consulting female senior managers will create confidence in the population that firms are willing
104
to support aspirations, and the result will be broader organizational loyalty and commitment to
achieving business strategy and goals.
Sharing Stories of Career Successes
Another cultural setting gap identified for the study is the need of organizations to
communicate stories of career advancement and successes of women who achieved the partner
level. Clark and Estes (2008) suggested that leadership involvement that underpins candid and
clear communication builds organizational trust and a belief that goals can be
accomplished. The theory that addresses this gap is a leadership opportunity, whereby effective
leaders leverage the process of storytelling to communicate the organizational purpose to its
members by providing examples that influence and direct a population constructively, in this
case, for the betterment of the organization. As a result of storytelling, consulting female senior
managers see real examples of people who look like them who stayed as engaged and productive
business leaders and clearly had their firm support to get promoted. To achieve this goal and
address the gap, it is suggested that firms put concerted effort into communicating achievement
stories with frequency and brevity of female promotions through standard firm channels, such as
internal websites and via emails. Firms can bolster storytelling by also providing public forums
for women to share their stories to inspire and engage others in their own professional journey,
supporting the realization that the next level is achievable.
Storytelling is a narrative process that encourages people to tell their stories and make
meaning of their life experiences in order to construct future stories that are optimistic and more
hopeful (McMahon et al., 2012). Maclean et al. (2011) shared that storytelling enhances the
sensemaking processes for professionals, allowing individuals to shape self-perceptions and
define their own personal story through the process of change. Further, storytelling enhances the
105
process of reflection and helps the listener to shape a personal picture of what is possible rather
than viewing their professional journey as singular events or decisions (McMahon et al.,
2012). As storytelling enables the ability of consulting female senior managers to see visible
examples of what is possible, the consistent leadership attention around sharing real examples of
what is possible is a change intervention that firms must consider as a part of the strategy to
address this culture setting gap. In a quote from Maclean et al. (2011), “ In a world where
reputations are hard won but easily lost, business leaders must nurture a life history narrative
which is socially desirable if their careers are to remain on track, which will serve them well
through the creative evolution of their organizational journeys” (p. 17). It is essential that firm
leadership focus directed efforts with frequent and regular storytelling so consulting female
senior managers have confidence that promotion is possible through the demonstrated stories of
others.
Implications for Practice
From the research conducted in this study, the researcher sought to gain insight into what
big-four and other consulting firms and businesses that employ females require what knowledge,
motivation and organizational support the population needs to be successful in growing career
aspirations. The existing literature shared a burning platform for focusing on females.
Specifically, the number of women present in executive roles has at best marginally changed
over a 40-year period moving from 5% in the 1970s to 19.9% in 2014 (Pafford & Schaefer,
2017). The researchers posited that it would take until 2085 before gender parity is achieved in
corporate environments (Pafford and Schaefer (2017). As shared in the literature review,
consulting organizations are not immune from this dilemma, with an average of 80% male and
20% female at the partner level globally.
106
Firm-focused effort on setting the expectations for this population that transcend the base
role requirements along with sponsorship, counseling, and diligent attention paid to the
population’s engagement, promotions, and experiences could positively impact this group and
willingness to stay and produce. It is important to note that a common theme across the
knowledge, motivation and organizational influences was indifference of the consulting female
senior managers, and in some cases, inconsistent understanding of what is available to help the
population was a barrier, resulting in a need for pointed focus on communications by the firms
these women. The term “structured programs” was also a deliberate term to say that firms can
use programmatic methods to define the path, share any evolving expectations, and provide what
the population deemed “safe space” to share and connect with trusted leaders and colleagues. In
this study, the population asked repeatedly for leadership to proactively communicate role
expectations and support those imperatives with learning opportunities. As such, it is assumed
that if structured programs and dedicated sponsorship was offered, that consulting female senior
managers would actively and enthusiastically participate.
The study recommendations apply to big-four firms, other consulting firms and
businesses and organizations who have a need to engage and retain female leaders. Providing a
consistent definition of what is expected of the role is just one part of the requirement. The
structured programs and sponsorship will help, along with diligent effort placed on
understanding the feedback and dynamically addressing and modifying offerings to support the
ongoing challenges that females experience would make meaningful difference. In order to
accomplish this, it is suggested that broader firm leadership and Human Resources and Talent
professionals regularly review the findings and provide valuable input to adjust interventions as
needed.
107
Another challenge that should be addressed is what obligations organizations make
internally and externally to retaining and promoting women. This commitment would support
moving to greater gender parity at leadership levels. McKinsey and Company (2019) contended
that an internal focus on growing more female leaders starting at the manager level will
favorably impact the pipeline of ready-now female leaders for senior level roles. Externally,
organizations can make a broader outward organization statement around opportunities for
women and obligations to achieve gender parity at leadership would help women to believe
leadership roles are attainable and favorably impact commitment to stay. In March 2020,
Unilever communicated that the organization achieved 50% women at the global management
level, reporting that this was an improvement from 38% in 2010 (Santos, 2020). This milestone
demonstrated to the business community that achieving gender parity at leadership is achievable.
Examples such as these will help the female population believe that there are solid examples of
organizations committed to truly help women achieve leadership roles.
Lastly, another commitment that organizations can make to improve female engagement,
productivity and retention is critically evaluating their diversity goals, and embed diversity
objectives into organizational vision, mission and strategies. Diversity objectives can be
accomplished through activities such as manager training that discusses the view of unconscious
bias in how women are championed and specifically promoted to leadership roles. According to
Kehler (2018), companies that prioritize diversity and inclusion have better business outcomes
and lower turnover, as well as those with a diverse culture are more appealing today in a diverse
hiring pool.
108
Future Research
This study focused on specifically on consulting female senior manager’s engagement,
productivity and retention on their path to promotion in big-four firms. Future research could
include inputs from male colleagues to calibrate findings. Additionally, research could conduct a
deeper analysis into the experiences of diverse females as a special focus to determine if there
are differences between experience and race identity (especially in a time with societal
movements such as Black Lives Matter). This study was limited to the articulated knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences, so future research could place emphasis on additional
influences for a more complete analysis of other inputs that could be shaping the consulting
female manager’s experience as they pursue the partner level. The study was also limited to a
small population in big four firm consulting organizations using qualitative data collection; as a
result, a larger population of women from across big four firms in other functions to include
audit, advisory and tax practices would be beneficial to determine if there are differences in
experience transcending consulting.
Future research could evaluate the effectiveness of the recommendations in this study and
the impact of the organizational transformation of big four firms in making meaningful change
with the selected interventions. Other stakeholders such as people managers would also be
helpful inputs to see if firm training around managing female careers is resonating and making a
difference for the firms and females they lead. Other concerted initiatives that are focused on
improving organizational culture may also influence consulting female senior manager’s
engagement, productivity and retention over time. Thus, future research could evaluate the
impact any new cultural initiatives on consulting staff and broader organizational performance.
109
Conclusion
The purpose of this study was to understand the knowledge, motivation and
organizational influences that impact big-four consulting female senior manager engagement,
productivity and retention. The study was initiated with organization, field and stakeholder
performance goals in mind and supported by a robust literature review that showed the
importance of focusing on the problem of practice. The literature review highlighted a distinct
opportunity to focus on the topic of engagement as a critical input, which is highly correlated to
the population’s ability to be productive and retained. The study focused on women specifically,
as research data showed that there is a need to focus on women as critical to organizational
success and due to retention issues as women enter senior leader levels in consulting
organization. Research focused on the consulting female senior manager population’s beliefs
around the knowledge they need to have to execute their roles, motivational influences that
encourage them to grow, and organizational support that is provided to assure their success is
realized.
The Clark and Estes (2008) framework was the tool used to identify the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences on shaping the population’s career experience. With
the defined knowledge, motivation and organizational influences captured, research was
collected that confirmed that while the population felt they knew their respective roles, there
remained a need for improved and consistently communicated leadership and organizational
messaging to clearly define any evolving expectations from the population as well as formalized
organization support (by means of structured programs and active sponsorship) targeted to
improve the consulting female experience. Finally, recommendations have been made by using
110
the New Work Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) model to enact the solutions for the
population to meaningfully move engagement, productivity and retention.
As the researcher revisited the rationale of exploring this topic and the resulting findings,
it was clear that focusing on problem of practice with professional consulting female senior
managers was both educational and reinforcing. Specifically, that while presence of women in
business has increased drastically, there is still a need for firms to develop formal processes and
procedures to thoughtfully retain and develop this talent in pursuit of the partner level. There is
also an imperative to put in place unfiltered and active listening channels as well as share
examples of strong female leader promotions which will meaningfully help this population
envision and plan for their own promotion. The researcher’s sincere hope is that firms consider
active measures too, to calibrate how they are doing to move their 80% male and 20% female
partner population to make a difference in gender diversity in senior leadership a stoic and
committed priority.
111
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Appendix A - Participating Stakeholders with Sampling Criteria for Interviews
Participating Stakeholders
The stakeholder group of focus for the research study was comprised of big-four
consulting female senior managers. The stakeholder group was studied as they at a crucial career
pivot in consulting, as their next level is partner. In addition to delivering client work, this
population has responsibilities transcending client delivery, including community involvement,
practice building, and staff development as a part of their professional remit. For women, this
juncture in a career calls on them to make life choices that at times are in contention with
business expectations and can invariably impact the ability to contribute (Tomlinson & Durbin,
2010).
Eleven women with at least two years of tenure at the senior manager level in consulting
were interviewed, who may or may not be considering next-level leadership. This criterion was
established as it assumes that with tenure, women have greater knowledge about next level
expectations and are starting to shape their partner story. Women were selected as the
population of concentration as research shows that women at senior leader levels must combat
topics such as invisibility, sexuality and stereotyping, which can impact career choices; which
are not issues their male counterparts must manage (Olsson, 2000). The goal of this study was to
understand how female careers in consulting support or detract the desire to achieve the partner
level, and how the knowledge and motivation impacts their personal engagement.
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
The following criteria were established to support the selection of female consulting
senior managers to participate in the study:
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Criterion 1. Participants are female senior managers, employed in consulting
organizations that qualify as big-four firms (i.e. size of the employee base, firm market share,
company reputation, and services/offerings). This is a requirement of the study, as this group
being studied for the problem of practice.
Criterion 2. Participants understand the basic job requirements to achieve the partner
level in their respective big-four firms (i.e., promotion criteria and financial obligations). This is
a requirement, as knowledge of the next role is a critical understanding that impacts how
motivated female senior managers are to achieve the next level.
Criterion 3. Participants have at least two years at the senior manager level in consulting.
This is a requirement as experience allows female senior managers to have a perspective on their
current role as well as the next level, within their respective cohort.
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale
The study of evaluating the engagement, retention and productivity of consulting female
senior managers and their aspirations to achieve the partner level is achieved through a basic
qualitative study, using a nonprobability sampling approach (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Rocco
and Plakhotnik (2009) believed that qualitative research often explores content that is
understudied and looks to find new thinking that is important for situating a study. Additionally,
sampling leveraged a convenience-snowball method, focused on selecting the sample of women
based on current relationships, proximity, availability, willingness to participate in the study, and
by collecting recommendations of others who could participate in the study that met the basic
criterion (Fink, 2016). As shared, 11 interviews were conducted. For a qualitative study, smaller
sample sizes are common and enough to represent the input required to develop an understanding
of the problem of practice (Fink, 2016). The sample size fully supported the conceptual
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framework knowledge, motivation and organizational influences that show what is driving
female productivity, retention, and engagement. According to Maxwell (2013), the conceptual
framework identifies the research priorities, tying together the influences that shape the problem
being explored. Sampling allowed the researcher to further evaluate the opportunities and
solutions to address female senior manager productivity, retention, and engagement.
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Appendix B - Interview Questions
The interview questions from the study are below. The questions are rooted in the Clark
and Estes Knowledge, Motivation and Organization influences framework (Clark & Estes,
2008). The questions captured whether the question addressed a knowledge, motivation or
organization influence for the population. The questions were asked, and additional clarifying
questions supported the assurance that the questions were clearly delivered, with an opportunity
to gather greater details. This approach provided the time and context so the participant could
communicate their full perspective. The questions were asked in order to facilitate the
conversation and drill down on the anticipated influences. The order was modified as needed,
through the course of the discussions, which supported the fluidity of the interview process. This
approach helped to facilitate the conversation, data collection needs, and assure the accurate
capture of the consulting female senior manager experience. The interview questions collected:
• Can you describe your role as a consulting senior manager in your firm and how you perform
it? (knowledge – factual)
• What skills, experiences and competencies do you feel are required? (knowledge – factual)
• What is required of your role as a consulting senior manager at your firm? (knowledge –
procedural)
• What is your confidence in performing your role as a consulting female senior manager at
your firm? (motivation – self-efficacy)
• How satisfied are you with your job (and belonging) to the firm you work for? (motivation –
attribution)
• Does your role as a consulting female senior manager support or derail your work/life
balance? (motivation – expectancy)
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• What supports your engagement as a consulting senior manager? (motivation – attribution)
• What inhibits your engagement as a consulting senior manager? (motivation – attribution)
• What would you like to see that you are not getting for your engagement (what is missing)?
(motivation – expectancy)
• Do you expect to achieve partner? Can you share context behind your yes or no? (motivation
– expectancy)
• Can you share your interest in achieving the partner level at your firm? (motivation –
attribution)
• What are your strengths and weaknesses in evaluating your probability of achieving partner?
(motivation – attribution)
• What do you need to support your professional aspirations? (motivation – self-efficacy and
knowledge - metacognitive)
• What solutions/supports do you have that help you to achieve partner? (knowledge -
procedural)
• If you don’t know what supports are available, how would you find solutions to help you?
What would the support look like? (motivation – self-efficacy and knowledge – procedural)
• Please describe your firm culture – what are some of the specifics (in support of values,
beliefs, norms, assumptions, relationship to authority, to peers, to clients)? (organizational –
cultural model)
• How does your firm culture support or derail your career goals and aspirations?
(organizational – cultural model and motivation – attribution)
• Can you describe any programs your firm has to advance women (and highlight any SM
programs)? (organizational – cultural settings)
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Appendix C - Credibility and Trustworthiness
As an employee of one of the organizations of study and as a previous consulting female
senior manager in consulting, it was possible that the researcher would be able to closely relate
to the issues and opportunities that the consulting female senior managers raised in the study.
This factor could have contributed to an increased risk of the researcher bringing personal bias to
the data collection and analysis process, impacting the credibility of the results (Maxwell, 2013).
As such, the researcher sustained focus on the role of researcher and not as an employee or
former consulting female senior manager.
To support the role of researcher and focus on quality results, the researcher engaged in
regular reflection in order to mitigate any possible or emerging bias that could have occurred
throughout the data collection and evaluation processes. To assure the credibility of the study,
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) noted that a peer review process can help assure the objectivity of a
study. As development of consulting female senior manager’s career trajectory is a common
issue in big-four consulting, the researcher contacted peers in other similar organizations to help
test and support evaluation of data themes to assure objectivity and to gain additional insights
that further supported the research. It was important for the researcher to keep the process of
data collection and the process of analysis as unique steps to not make quick conclusions about
the data in the moment. By keeping the tasks separate, the researcher was able to be fully present
throughout the interviews, without impacting the quality of interviews with personal viewpoints
(Bogdan & Biklen, 2007). Triangulation was also used to interpret the results of the data and
findings and to support validation of thoughts and interpretation of the data, by collaborating
with other colleagues to test findings and to conduct richer data analysis to assure accuracy and
reduced bias.
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The researcher recounted the data collected with respondents to support any data
corrections or potential errors in the active interpretation of their responses. This additional
review provided the opportunity to summarize findings for themes from the respondents as well
to assure data consistency and accuracy (Merriam & Tisdell 2016).
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Appendix D - Ethics
As Glesne (2011) believed, ethical plans must be in place to support the integrity of the
planned qualitative research and respect for the individual. Based on Merriam and Tisdell’s
(2016) guidance, the participants’ anonymity was preserved, and themes shared in an aggregate
form, with the goal of determining recommendations to support consulting female senior
managers engagement and productivity, in aspiring to achieve the partner level.
The role of the researcher started with a clear understanding of the process of inquiry and
with the researcher’s ability to create comfort for their participation (Creswell, 2009). It is also
important that the researcher be cognizant of possible biases, as research is conducted in
organizations where the researcher has significant familiarity. Patton’s (2015) Ethical Issues
Checklist served as a guide to ensure that participants experienced no harm during the study. As
previously shared, as the researcher is a part of an organizations that participated in the study and
previously worked for another one of the other big-four included in research, bias could have
been a result. The researcher has also been a consulting female senior manager, aspiring to the
partner level in one firm and a supervisor of consulting female senior managers. To address any
potential conflict, data was collected with participants where there was no leadership
responsibility or oversight. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) shared that an option to address any
research issues is to test any conflicts through triangulation, to assure that there is no researcher
bias, which was a technique planned for this study that assured impartiality and accuracy.
An additional goal for research was to assure that the consulting female senior manager
participants understood that while the researcher is both a partner and a people leader, the
researcher role was to support, enable, inform, and advise big-four firms of what females
consulting senior managers required to be productive and engaged, while on the partner track.
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The researcher was cognizant of any underlying biases in the pursuit of data. Because potential
biases may not always be apparent, the researcher sought ethical advice from both professional
and doctoral mentors before starting the interview process and tested ideas after interviews
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). To address any bias during the interviews, the researcher reiterated
the role as researcher at the start of every interview, using the ethical checklist. Following note
taking and data collection, the researcher reflected with colleagues to assure that there was no
unintended bias (Merriam & Tisdale, 2016). According to Rubin and Rubin (2012), providing a
context of the researcher role, revisiting the purpose of the research, and being explicit about the
voluntary nature of participation would diminish any concern around participation in the study
that consulting female senior managers might have had.
For the research questions asked, interview questions were reviewed and approved by the
USC institutional review board and supported by the Organizational Change and Leadership
program (Krueger & Casey, 2009). The aspiration was that by the end of the study, that the
consulting female senior managers were engaged in the interview process and are better off for
having participated in the study, assured by a thorough and robust and fair research process
(Rubin & Rubin, 2012).
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Appendix E - Implementation and Evaluation Plan
The New World Kirkpatrick model was developed to support learning professionals in
the creation and development of content to help the modern world deal with the evolving and
changing needs of learning (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick
(2016) defined four levels to evaluate training programs to assess the result of training
interventions for an intended audience. The four levels that Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016)
articulated were built in reverse, and include level four - reaction, which are the leading
indicators and desired outcomes for training; level three – behavior, which involves the
monitoring, reinforcement, encouragement, reward, and on the job learning that supports the
ability of training to resonate; level two – learning, which includes the knowledge, skills,
attitude, confidence, and commitment of the learner as a result of the learning program; and level
one – reaction, which is the engagement, relevance, and customer satisfaction with the designed
learning program. The New World Kirkpatrick Model provides the structure for an integrated
implementation and evaluation plan for this study and has been described in detail through
internal and external planned outcomes, critical behaviors, and required drivers to assure
meaningful change is realized.
Organizational Purpose, Need and Expectations
The organization goal of this study is to identify the supports that U.S. consulting female
senior managers require to be productive, retained and engaged, ultimately seeking higher
organizational roles in their respective firms. The field goal intends to focus on how to improve
engagement, productivity and retention of U.S. female consulting senior managers across big
four firms. The stakeholder performance goal is to realize improved engagement, productivity
and retention for U.S. consulting female senior managers. The rationale for the articulated goals
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is to meaningfully identify and address the potential derailers impacting the stakeholder group’s
engagement, productivity, and retention on their path to partner. By analyzing the knowledge,
motivation and organizational impacts that support or impede the stakeholders in pursuit of the
higher level, improved programs and solutions are anticipated to fully support this population
into the future. The expected outcome of this study is a full assessment of the opportunities,
from the population’s experience, and accurate and applicable plans to address proactively what
helps or hinders stakeholder experience. Additionally, the articulated plans will ultimately
support what shapes consulting female senior manager engagement, productivity and retention.
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators
According to Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016), results will capture targeted outcomes
and leading indicators assure that critical behaviors are accurately captured to support planned
outcomes. Table 9 represents the external and internal outcomes representing the results and
leading indicators planned for the study.
Table 9
Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes
Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
External Outcomes
1. Improved firm
reputation /
destination employer
for females
Number of female hires in
partner level roles
Human Resources reports
yearly female promotions as
input into promotion and
recruiting routines
2. Increased focus on
career development
programs focused on
female employees
Number of programs targeted
on female development and
promotion
Training/Learning reports on
programs specifically focused
on females and success rates
3. Accolades received
based on gender
balance in big-four
consulting
Recognitions received by
external thought leaders on
gender parity achieved
Marketing collects data and
reports on accolades received
within the firm and externally
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Internal Outcomes
4. Increased consulting
female senior
manager promotions
Consulting female senior
manager promotion rates
Human Resources collect
yearly promotion rates in
aggregate and reports
findings to firm senior
leadership
5. Increased consulting
female senior
manager engagement
Consulting female senior
manager employee
engagement scores
Human Resources leaders
collect yearly engagement
data for consulting female
senior managers
6. Improved programs
supporting consulting
female manager
productivity and
retentions
Consulting female senior
manager program evaluations
and feedback from the
population
Human Resources and
Business Resource Groups
review programs targeted at
consulting female senior
managers 2x yearly to
evaluate opportunities for
programs based on
evaluations and feedback
Level 3: Behavior
Critical Behaviors
Level three of the Kirkpatrick model describes how learning participants use what they
have learned in the process of executing their jobs (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick,
2016). Critical behaviors are those behaviors that are required for the stakeholders to have
success in their jobs. According to Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016), critical behaviors must
be specific, observable, and measurable. Table 10 captures those behaviors that are anticipated
and expected for the consulting female senior managers to be successful in achieving their
aspirations, as well as to support their engagement, productivity, and retention.
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Table 10
Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation
Critical Behavior Metric(s)
Method(s)
Timing
1. Consulting female
senior managers review
role expectation content
provided in job aids and
assure alignment of
SMART goals in
anticipation of
promotion
Completed
SMART goals in
line with firm
expectations for
promotability
Goals submitted in
performance system
Yearly
2. Consulting female
senior managers
collaborate with
coach/sponsor to discuss
successes, opportunities,
and stories to gain
critical insights on how
to improve their path to
partner
Set routines -
minimum 4
times/yearly with
formal capture of
both, feeding input
to partner
readiness
Self-report summary
for formal
coaching/sponsoring
sessions
4x yearly
(minimum)
3. Consulting female
senior managers self-
report on their personal
engagement,
productivity and
retention
Yearly
engagement scores
and self-reported
content
Engagement scores
Self-reporting through
coach/sponsor
Yearly
4. Consulting female
senior managers share
support needed to
broader firm leadership
though formal and
informal channels
Self-reported
anecdotal feedback
Qualitative reports
received by coaches/
sponsors
4x yearly
(minimum)
Required Drivers
Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) believed that required drivers of support are primarily
the responsibility of leaders or management teams to assure applicability and resonance of the
selected interventions. According to literature, leadership has accountability to assure the
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success of the selected interventions to address the knowledge, motivation and organizational
influences. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) contended that most of these supports already
exist and tying them to the selected interventions assures the accountability and support required
from leadership to assure success is realized. Table 11 details the drivers required to provide
assurance that achievement is possible and support the desired behaviors that have been
articulated.
Table 11
Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing
Critical
Behaviors
Supported
1, 2, 3 Etc.
Reinforcing
• Firm leadership and Coach/Sponsor provide job aids on
expectations of consulting female senior managers
Ongoing 1
• Firm Leadership uphold the coaching/sponsorship
programs in support of female senior managers
Ongoing 2
Encouraging
• Firm Leadership share stories of female promotions with
regularity
Ongoing 2
Monitoring
• Talent (HR) leaders review engagement data for
consulting female senior managers with Firm Leadership
Yearly 3
• Talent (HR) listens to consulting female senior managers
through casual channels to assess satisfaction
Ongoing 3
• Talent (HR) develops guides for managers on how to
listen and support female career aspirations
Ongoing 4
• Talent (HR) and Firm Leadership develop diversity
councils/committees to focus on defining needs in
support of female careers
Ongoing 4
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Organizational Support
Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) described levels three and four of the New World
Kirkpatrick Model as integral to managing the goals and objectives set by the programs and
solutions required to achieve organizational objectives. For this study, organizational support
will help firms to intentionally move offerings for females to focus on better listening to the
needs of the population, achieved through robust training and focused upskilling of managers to
be keenly focused on the female experience. Also, developing and setting up diversity
committees with an intent to address growth plans for females, while concurrently reviewing
engagement scores of the female population to calibrate opportunities, is a critical
program. Organizations can further support the population by analyzing the breadth of existing
program offerings targeted at women and via benchmarking with other like organizations to see
where there are additional opportunities for program improvement. The organizational support
suggested will also rely on females self-reporting their needs as well with constructive
candor. The planned organization interventions will also rely on active participation and
feedback to truly steward the female experience.
Level 2: Learning
Level two of the Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick model (2016) is focused on assessing how
the participants of learning captured the knowledge, skills, attitudes, confidence and commitment
as an output of participating in training. Krathwohl (2002) focused on factual understanding
that is a fundamental requirement in order to master tasks as a key component of
learning. Rueda (2011) believed that procedural knowledge provided concrete context of
knowledge in the form of process steps in support of learning objectives. Finally, metacognitive
knowledge is the knowledge of self and confidence in performing tasks, which (Block &
139
Crawford, 2013). Leveraging knowledge types serves as a vehicle to evaluate the impact of
training on the participants. As such, any program design will have to take into consideration
knowledge types in support of a holistic assessment of learning.
Learning Goals
The learning goals established for the consulting female senior managers are rooted in the
knowledge and motivation drivers for the stakeholder group. While the firms typically have
general programs associated with consulting education and promotion, the following will capture
the details needed to assure this stakeholder group has what they need to understand the
objectives and deliver both the technical and soft skills associated with achieving the partner
level. The learning goals that have been established are:
1. Consulting female senior managers understand their role and how to perform it (Factual)
2. Consulting female senior managers know what skills, experiences and competencies are
required of their role (Factual)
3. Consulting female senior managers understand role requirements (Conceptual)
4. Consulting female senior managers can identify support for their professional aspirations
(Metacognitive)
5. Consulting female senior managers can identify and leverage solutions and supports to
help them achieve partner (Procedural)
6. Consulting female senior managers can describe solutions required to achieve the partner
level (Procedural)
7. Consulting female senior managers can identify what supports their engagement and
intent to stay, based on their individual experience (Metacognitive)
140
Learning Program
The learning program for the consulting female senior managers to achieve planned
learning goals is envisioned as a structured program that includes firm expectations and active
career support for consulting female senior managers to manage knowledge over
time. Specifically, the program will assure that consulting female senior managers have clear
understanding of role expectations, that the population understands the steps to take on the way
to promotion, and that they can evaluate their own confidence and capability in the execution of
their role daily. The program is also predicated on leadership engagement and involvement
throughout, evaluating program effectiveness and opportunities through dialogue and assessment
with coaches, sponsors and the population. This critical engagement from leaders will assure
organizational focus and intent to assure planned programs can be successful.
The planned delivery would include two structured programs per year for consulting
female senior managers where they can calibrate on the job performance with firm expectations,
develop SMART goal feedback, and gather real time support for knowledge gaps with leadership
endorsement. They might also receive job aids and other content to take back to their jobs. In
between structured program sessions, consulting female senior managers would meet with their
coach/sponsor on varied occasions to evaluate their progress with structured program activities
and discuss their understanding of firm expectations for promotion. This point of coach/sponsor
calibration will support leadership knowledge of how the structured programs are supporting or
derailing productivity, engagement, and retention.
Evaluation of the Components of Learning
141
Table 12 captures the components for the planned program to support the learning
objectives for consulting female senior managers. The suggested methods will support the
knowledge retention required for the population to be successful.
Table 12
Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program
Method(s) or Activity(ies) Timing
Declarative Knowledge “I know it.”
Knowledge checks to assure basic role requirements are
understood
During the structured
program(s)
Pair sharing and exchanging on role understanding and what
is needed to achieve the next level
During the structured
program(s)
Conversation with Sponsor/Coach reviewing what was
learned and how to demonstrate it forward
After the program(s) in
Sponsor/Coach session
Procedural Skills “I can do it right now.”
Job aid checklist on role expectations After the structured program(s)
Calibration sessions with Sponsor/Coach to calibrate gaps
and closure plans based on job aid checklist
After the structured program(s)
Attitude “I believe this is worthwhile.”
Discussions with Sponsor/Coach on engagement and
productivity
During and after the structured
program(s)
Reflection with Leadership on career trajectory During and after the structured
program(s)
Confidence “I think I can do it on the job.”
Group discussions on concerns or barriers with peers During and after the structured
program(s)
Sponsor/Coach check ins During and after the structured
program(s)
Commitment “I will do it on the job.”
Self-reports on progress with learning After the structured program(s)
Personal action plans based on job aids and self-measured
progress against objectives
After the structured program(s)
142
Level 1: Reaction
According to Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016), reaction is established in level one, and
the intent of this level is to evaluate how individuals react to training received by addressing
questions about their experience. To address this requirement, Table 13 highlights the reactions
realized in terms of the consulting female senior manager engagement during and after the
training, the relevance of the training that was achieved, and the overall satisfaction achieved as
a result of the training.
Table 13
Components to Measure Reactions to the Program
Method(s) or Tool(s) Timing
Engagement
Program attendance At the structured
program(s) initiation
Asking clarifying questions During the structured
program(s)
Sharing learnings with Coach/Sponsor and developing plans to
address opportunities
After the structured
program(s)
Relevance
Check in to assess post the structured program(s) learnings and
program satisfaction (survey)
After the structured
program(s)
Gather feedback on the structured program(s) from consulting
female senior managers via Coach/Sponsor
After the structured
program(s)
Customer Satisfaction
Observers in the structured program(s) to capture real time feedback
from participants to understand how content is resonating
During the structured
program(s)
Evaluation Tools
Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick’s New World Model (2016) detailed the importance of
assuring the robustness of training through four levels of training that includes level four; results,
level three; behavior, level two; learning, and level one; reaction. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick
(2016) summarized that evaluating all levels of learning would assure that value is achieved for
143
the learning programs established, and thus, organizational objectives would be realized. For the
purposes of this study, consulting female senior managers would be issued a survey immediately
following structured programs to assure program objectives were met and understood. Ongoing,
the population would meet with their coach/sponsor to provide feedback via qualitative
interviews to assess learning impact; issues or obstacles encountered; and discuss other needs to
support personal engagement, productivity and retention. The tools suggested for ongoing
evaluation are described in detail below.
Immediately Following Structured Program Implementation
The planned evaluation approach for levels one and two is focused on formative methods
of assessment so that program adjustments can be made as needed (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick,
2016). The approach would assure that consulting female senior managers complete a survey to
capture details supporting learning objective achievement. The assessment survey would be
administered immediately following the structured program experiences (as detailed in Appendix
A). The survey will provide the necessary details for firm leadership to validate that consulting
female senior managers are receiving value from program investment. Specifically, leadership
would receive documentation that structured programs provide the knowledge consulting female
senior managers need to be successful in their roles and that the population can articulate the
needed skills, attitude, confidence, commitment, and engagement to their roles (level
two). Additionally, this survey would confirm that consulting female senior managers find the
structured programs relevant for their paths and that they are satisfied with the programs they
participate in (level one). The survey would also provide a way for the population to provide
anecdotal feedback on any other program or offering that is needed from their firm to support
their trajectory. This feedback could provide additional insight into what the population
144
identifies real-time, immediately following program execution. The objective of this survey is to
accomplish several things, including measuring program value from the stakeholder perspective,
providing insights for leadership to see the value from such investments, and also assuring that
role requirements, both technical and soft, are shared in a focused learning environment that is
safe and collaborative.
Delayed Assessment Following Structured Programs with Coach/Sponsor
Following structured program execution, it is expected that there will be time dedicated
to collect reflective assessment that is captured through conversations between consulting senior
managers and their coach/sponsor. The time between formal structured programs and
discussions with the coach/sponsor will allow the population to take learnings back to the job, try
new strategies learned through the course of work, and reflect on behavior change made through
experience. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) believed that this assessment could be achieved
through a blended approach, meaning that there is one assessment tool that addresses multiple
levels of training impact. The approach to this blended evaluation will allow the coach/sponsor
to collect information on general program satisfaction, level one, capability and confidence
achieved through the structured program, level two, critical behaviors learned, level three, and
results achieved through program participation, level four. It is expected that the evaluation will
include both open-ended questions and check-list items to assess and encourage dialogue
between the population and their coach/sponsor, which is a critical relationship in achieving next
level leadership.
Appendix G shares the detail of the suggested instrument that a coach/sponsor would use
in conversation for consulting female senior managers to collect both the impact of learning and
how the population is responding to programming received as a part of their experience. The
145
instrument was developed based on Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) recommendations for
questions addressing training impact, covering levels one through four. Ultimately, the data
collected from the instrument will serve as feedback for firms to evaluate program resonance and
value for the population. It is assumed that this feedback can be shared confidentially, in
aggregate, to consulting firm leadership to continually evaluate and address needs for this
population. The goal would be to make meaningful and targeted impact through two-way
conversation and assessment to assure programs support engagement, productivity and
retention.
Data Analysis and Reporting
Following data collection, data should be aggregated and anonymized to share findings
with key stakeholders. Key stakeholders are considered as those who can directly impact the
program content and can make meaningful change happen to improve the ongoing support
required for consulting female senior managers to be engaged, productive and retained. It is
expected that the coach/sponsors for this population would receive a report back from firm
leadership and HR leaders on any plans to address any program gaps based on the population’s
feedback. This report would define revisions needed in support of ongoing programs to support
both knowledge and motivational needs. An illustrative report based on data collected and
program revisions expected is detailed in Figure three. The report intent is to provide a snapshot
of program learnings and adjustments to programs, suggested by leadership, that demonstrate
commitment to making meaningful changes to programs supporting the consulting female senior
manager experience. The charts represent notional content from both the immediate program
assessment and the delayed program assessment that resulted from conversations between the
coach/sponsor and participant. There is also an expectation that from the raw and aggregated
146
reports, that key stakeholders (firm leadership and HR support) determine the points of
opportunity stemming from the data received. A leadership summary should involve the
actionable items that firms will take to make marketable improvements to the program. The
graphs also provide an illustrative example of the data summaries and resulting leadership
commitments to address program opportunities.
Figure 14
Structured Program Participant Feedback and Leadership Evaluation of Opportunities
Summary
In order to plan, implement and evaluate training, the New World Kirkpatrick model
serves as the foundational framework providing the ability to assure that training supports the
individual and ability to achieve organization strategy (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick,
2016). Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) accomplish this objective by addressing four levels in
support of training outcomes. The levels include level four, which is measuring and assessing
training outcomes, level three, which identifies critical behaviors that are outputs to training,
147
level two, which supports the evaluation of declarative knowledge, procedural understanding,
skills, attitudes, and learner confidence in executing what was learned, and level one, which
addresses participant satisfaction. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) suggested that assessment
tools support assurance that learning objectives are achieved. For this study, both immediate and
delayed assessment tools are planned to proactively address opportunities for the programs. The
objective for this approach would be to assure that the planned structured program outcomes are
achieved. Specifically, that the population understands fundamental job requirements, can share
openly what inspires and drives their careers and engagement, and have the support from firm
leadership to learn more about the technical and unarticulated requirements of the job. Most
important is that the desired behaviors supporting participant successes are understood, which
will support the firm's ability to evaluate program effectiveness, ensuring value is achieved for
the investments made on behalf of the population.
148
Appendix F - Post Program Participant Feedback
Instructions: Reflecting on the program you just participated in, please indicate to what degree
you agree/disagree with each statement using the following rating scale:
• Strongly Agree (SA)
• Agree (A)
• Disagree (D)
• Strongly Disagree (SD)
Please provide your rating to help us to improve this program in the future (circle one) and
include anecdotal feedback at the end, as needed.
1. The program helped me to understand the skills required of a consulting senior manager.
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
2. The program helped me to understand the unarticulated requirements of a consulting
senior manager.
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
3. I found this program material relevant to my career plans (i.e. senior manager role and
promotion to partner).
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
149
4. The program allowed enough time to engage and connect with others.
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
5. The program was “safe space” to speak openly with others about career challenges and
conducive to giving and receiving feedback.
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
6. The program supported building my confidence as a consulting senior manager.
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
7. I am more engaged as a consulting senior manager as a result of participating in this
program.
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
150
8. Overall, I am satisfied with my participation in the program.
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
9. I would recommend this program to others.
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
10. If I were to change one thing to the program, it would be (500-character max)
11. If I were to add one thing to the program, it would be (500-character max)
151
Appendix G - Program Impact Checklist
The following is a guide for discussion between the coach/sponsor and program
participant. Once complete, the coach/sponsor will share findings confidentially and in
aggregate to firm leadership. These findings will be used to make program improvements. It is
suggested that this is collected two to three months post program completion.
Coach/Sponsor: _______________________________
Coachee: _____________________________________
Date: ________________________________________
Checklist items:
The following will check agreement for some key questions as an output to the program. The
coach/sponsor will interview the coachee and circle the level of agreement – Strongly Agree,
Agree, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree.
# Question Rating
1 I had a good grasp of the program intent going into it SA A D SD
2 The content shared was relevant to me SA A D SD
3 The atmosphere of the program felt safe to share and I felt open about
sharing my personal experiences and ask questions
SA A D SD
4 I can take what I learned in the program and successfully apply it to my
job
SA A D SD
5 I learned about expectations for my job that were previously unclear SA A D SD
152
6 I was able determine additional supports I need to be successful SA A D SD
7 The program material(s) received will contribute to my future success SA A D SD
8 The program was worthwhile time spent SA A D SD
Open-ended questions:
# Question Comments Received
9 What was the most relevant topic in your
program?
10 What was not relevant to you in your
program?
11 What information should be added to the
program that was missing?
12 Have you used program learnings on the
job? If so – how?
13 What has helped you implement what you
learned in the program on the job?
153
14 Please give an example of a positive
outcome that is directly correlated to your
participation in this program.
15 What impact does this program have on this
organization as a whole?
Abstract (if available)
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Daichendt, Alyson J.
(author)
Core Title
Big-four consulting firm female senior manager engagement, retention and productivity in pursuit of the partner level
School
Rossier School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education
Degree Program
Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)
Publication Date
10/26/2020
Defense Date
09/25/2020
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
consulting,engagement,Females,OAI-PMH Harvest,productivity,retention
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Phillips, Jennifer (
committee chair
), Datta, Monique (
committee member
), Turril, Robert (
committee member
)
Creator Email
ajdaichendt@gmail.com,daichend@usc.edu
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