高處不勝寒的職場女高管

Do men and women converge in terms of what motivates them as they climb the corporate ladder?

在攀登事業階梯的動機方面，男性和女性趨同嗎？
It is a question laden with preconceptions and assumptions – indeed, there is little agreement on whether behavioural differences dictated by gender exist in the first place, or if they do, whether they might be dictated by industry sector.
這個問題充滿偏見和假設，實際上，關於由性別決定的行爲差異是否一開始就存在，或者如果存在，是否可能由行業決定這一問題，人們幾乎沒有達成任何共識。
There is also the complication of cause and effect: do the most successful women start out with more typically male motivations and behavioural traits?
其中還有着複雜的因果關係：最爲成功的女性是否一開始就有着更典型的男性動機和行爲特點？
But there is wider agreement on one point: that being part of a small group is going to influence behaviour – being in a minority does make a difference.
然而，關於一點有着較爲廣泛的認同：成爲一個小羣體中的一員將對行爲方式產生影響，身爲少數羣體中的一員確實會有所不同。
For research purposes, Lynda Gratton, a professor at London Business School, defines a minority as “less than 30 per cent”, whether it is by gender, race, or having pink hair. “What we know about group psychology is that the tighter the group gets, the more people have to fit in, and the fewer of them there are, the harder it is to find role models. If anyone is in a minority, there is a huge ‘minority effect’,” she says.
出於研究的目的，倫敦商學院(London Business School)教授琳達?格萊頓(Lynda Gratton)把少數羣體定義爲佔比“不到30%”，不管標準是性別、種族還是有粉紅色的頭髮。她表示：“關於羣體心理學，我們知道，羣體越緊密、人們必須融入得越多、羣體成員越少，就越難找到角色模型。如果有人屬於少數羣體，就會產生巨大的‘少數效應’。”
“As an observer of organisations, I am always amazed at the homogeneity of senior groups. When a woman is in a minority – and there is hardly an industry where they are not in a minority – they are on their own. I have no evidence for this, and it is personal observation, but women do seem to be more individual the more senior they are, because they have to decide who they are very early on in their career,” says Ms Gratton.
“作爲一名企業觀察者，我一直對高管羣體的同質性感到吃驚。當一名女性屬於少數羣體時（她們幾乎在所有的行業中都屬於少數羣體），她們得靠自己。關於這點，我沒有證據，這屬於個人觀點。但隨着職位的上升，女性確實表現得更爲個體化，因爲她們必須在事業的極早階段就決定自己的角色，”格萊頓表示。
Research at London Business School has found little evidence of gender differences at middle management level across industry sectors. But studies of attitudes in and around the financial services sector – where there are very few women at senior levels – proves interesting.
倫敦商學院的研究發現，幾乎沒有證據表明，各個行業的中級管理層存在性別差異。但對金融服務業內部和相關領域（在這些行業處於高管級別的女性非常少）人士態度調查的結果相當有趣。
A recent report on Women In Banking by the Institute of Leadership & Management, sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, concluded that banking’s male-dominated management culture was the biggest barrier to women reaching the top, and it highlighted the need for major changes of culture and attitude. But it also found that women were far more likely to ask for pay rises and promotions than their male counterparts.
領導與管理學院(Institute of Leadership & Management)最近編制的名爲《銀行業中的女性》(Women In Banking)的報告總結稱，銀行業由男性主導的管理文化是女性升至最高層的最大障礙，報告還強調了對文化和態度進行重大變革的必要性。該報告由蘇格蘭皇家銀行(Royal Bank of Scotland)贊助。該報告還發現，與男性相比，女性更有可能要求加薪和升職。
So are the women who are currently successful in this sector the ones who have absorbed and accepted the existing culture?
那麼，那些目前在這個行業取得成功的女性是否已吸收並接受了現有文化？
“There is convergence among people who enter the financial services world in the first place. It sucks you in. It has nothing to do with being male or female, and is more about your value systems – anyone going into that environment and being successful ends up a certain way,” says a male former investment banker.
一位男性前投資銀行家表示：“最初進入金融服務行業時，人們就有一種趨同性。它把你吸引了進來。這與男女無關，而更多與你的價值體系有關，任何一個進入這種環境並取得成功的人，都是以某種方式做到這一點的。”
Lorraine Young, a chartered secretary who used to work in the City of London and now runs Lorraine Young Company Secretarial Services in Kent, says: “The culture of the environment is very important in influencing what you want as you progress.”
曾在倫敦金融城(City of London)做特許祕書的洛蘭?楊(Lorraine Young)現在在英國肯特郡經營着洛蘭楊祕書服務公司(Lorraine Young Company Secretarial Services)。她表示：“在事業發展過程中，所處環境的文化對你想要做什麼有非常重要的影響。”
Another woman who left the City after a career of 15 years, says: “Everything you do when working in the City is based on an annual cycle and around what you get paid. You are forbidden to discuss what that amount is, so you display your success by what you buy – watches, handbags, cars – whether you are male or female.”
另一位在工作15年後離開倫敦金融城的女性表示：“在金融城工作時，你所做的一切都以年度爲週期，並圍繞薪酬展開。你被嚴禁討論薪酬的具體金額，因此你要通過你購買的東西（手錶、手袋、汽車）來展示你的成功，不管你是男是女。”
In 2011, ILM published research on Ambition and Gender At Work, which found that women are less confident in their own abilities compared to men and have lower career expectations, with only 42 per cent of female middle managers expecting to reach senior manager level in 10 years, compared to 70 per cent of men.
2011年，領導與管理學院發表了名爲《工作中的抱負與性別》(Ambition and Gender At Work)的研究報告。研究發現，與男性相比，女性對於自己的能力不那麼自信，職業預期較低，只有42%的女性中級管理者預計自己會在10年後升到高管級別，而有這種想法的男性佔到了70%。
But when they do get to “the top” they seem to find it a very lonely place, making it difficult to reach any conclusions on whether their behaviour “converges” with that of men at the same level.
然而，當升至“最高層”時，她們發現那裏是一個非常寂寞的地方，這讓人們很難就她們的行爲是否與同級別的男性“趨同”做出結論。
Louise Ashley, a research fellow at Cass Business School who works with professional services firms, speaks regularly with young lawyers at entry level with the largest law firms. She says most men talk about aiming to become a partner, whereas women tend not to.
卡斯商學院(Cass Business School)的研究員路易絲?阿什利(Louise Ashley)在專業服務機構工作，她經常與大律師事務所的初級年輕律師交談。她表示，多數男性會談到自己的目標是成爲合夥人，而女性往往不會談到這個。
A female partner at a large law firm says the ones who do get there “are not going to admit to weakness or a need for internal lines of communication in a male-dominated environment”. In some cases, gender differences can be magnified at senior levels, as women find themselves isolated: “Men can leave their weekend at home or share the anecdotes of ‘what a witch the wife was this weekend’ with other male partners at work or over a game of golf, while a senior woman may have no one to talk to except her female junior associate who mistakenly thinks she has everything,” says the law firm partner.
一家大型律師事務所的一位女合夥人表示，那些確實升到高層的女性“不會承認自己的劣勢，或者在一個男性主導的環境裏設置內部溝通線路的必要性”。在高管級別，性別差異有時可能被放大，因爲女性發現自己被孤立了。這位合夥人表示：“男人們可以在家度週末，或者在上班或打高爾夫時與其他男合夥人閒聊‘這個週末老婆是多麼迷人’，而除了誤以爲她擁有一切的職位較低的女同事之外，女高管可能找不到人交談。”
Being in a minority can mean that, even at the top, there is no natural network. Some law firms, including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, are working to address this by setting up formal networks at all levels, including the most senior. Freshfields partner Avril Martindale says: “I feel quite passionately about this. I have found as I got more senior that it is very important that I have a network of senior women who face the same issues as I do.”
身爲少數羣體可能意味着，即便在高層，也不存在一個自然而然的人際網絡。包括富而德律師事務所(Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)在內的一些律師事務所正通過在所有級別（包括最高級別）當中創建正式的網絡，來努力解決這一問題。富而德律師事務所合夥人埃夫麗爾?馬丁代爾(Avril Martindale)表示：“我對此熱情很高。我發現當我升至更高級別時，擁有一個由和我有着同樣問題的女高管組成的人際網絡非常重要。”
Children are another significant determinant of workplace behaviours and attitudes. Women say that at junior levels it is fine to “all go out to the pub and have a drink together” but pressing issues surrounding childcare and bringing up children can form a divide between the sexes at more senior levels.
子女是決定工作中的行爲和態度的另一個關鍵因素。女性表示，在初級職位，“所有人都走進酒館一起喝酒”沒什麼問題，但圍繞育兒和撫養子女的緊迫問題可能會在較高級別造成性別差異。
The extent to which women adopt male traits in the workplace should be of great concern to all employers, according to Charles Elvin, chief executive of ILM. “It would be very bad for any organisation to have the sexes converge in what they want. Cognitive diversity is very important – you don’t want women to become like men or men becoming like women. Both depth and breadth of perception is needed to innovate, change and drive an organisation forward.
領導與管理學院首席執行官查爾斯?埃爾文(Charles Elvin)表示，女性在工作時在多大程度上表現出男性特徵應引起所有僱主的重視。埃爾文表示：“對於任何一家公司而言，男女在願望方面趨同都是非常糟糕的事情。認知多元化非常重要，你不希望女人變得像男人一樣，或者男人變得像女人一樣。爲了創新、改革並推動企業前進，觀念的深度和廣度都是必需的。
“Large organisations are losing a major portion of their talent as women are filtered out all the way through the career process. But it is not ultimately a ‘woman’s issue’ – we need to be innovative about how to manage the workplace for both men and women,” says Mr Elvin.
“由於女性在職業發展過程中被過濾掉了，大企業正在損失大量人才。但這最終不是一個‘女性問題’，我們需要表現出創新性，同時爲男性和女性管理好工作場所。”