Propelling diverse leaders to the top: A developmental network approach

• Published date: 01 January 2018
• Date: 01 January 2018
• Author: Dawn E. Chanland,Wendy Marcinkus Murphy
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21842

HR SCIENCE FORUM

Propelling diverse leaders to the top: A developmental

network approach

Dawn E. Chanland

1

| Wendy Marcinkus Murphy

2

1

Queens University of Charlotte, Charlotte,

North, Carolina

2

Babson College, Massachusetts

Correspondence

Dawn E. Chanland, Associate Professor of

Management, Queens University of Charlotte,

1900 Selwyn Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28274,

Ph: 805-305-9765.

Email: chandlerd@queens.edu

Scholars and practitioners are making a strong business case for greater representation of

women and other underrepresented groups on senior management teams and boards. A model

is developed that highlights how to create optimal developmental networks—groups of devel-

opers who help advance people’s careers and personal growth—that can assist in propelling

diverse leaders into the upper echelons of their organizations and board positions. Several liter-

ature streams are integrated in order to identify developmental networks that will help diverse

leaders overcome barriers to breaking the glass ceiling in greater numbers. Numerous strategies

intended to shape diverse leaders’network structure and content are discussed, as are contex-

tual challenges that may inhibit optimal networks’development. Lastly, theoretical and practical

implications for individuals and organizations are highlighted.

KEYWORDS

developmental networks, diversity, leadership development, mentoring, women

1|INTRODUCTION

A new study of 366 public companies in the U.S.,

Canada, U.K., Brazil, Mexico and Chile by McKinsey &

Co., a major management consultancy, found a statis-

tically significant relationship between companies

with women and minorities in their upper ranks and

better financial performance as measured by earnings

before interest and tax, or EBIT.

And “very few U.S. companies yet have a systematic

approach to diversity that is able to consistently

achieve a diverse global talent pool,”Ms. Hunt added.

(Lublin, 2015)

This article introduces a conceptual model integrating evidence

from several literatures and offers a framework for human resources

practitioners to leverage in their quest to propel women and other

underrepresented groups (whom we collectively refer to as diverse

leaders throughout) into the top management ranks of their organiza-

tions and into board positions. The model centers on the role of

optimal developmental networks needed by diverse leaders (i.e., high-

potential women and non-White leaders who are in the individual

contributor and lower- to middle-level management ranks who have

the capability to ascend to executive positions) as critical for career

ascension. Prior to this article, no mentoring research has proposed

optimal developmental network structure and content characteristics

needed for diverse leaders’advancement and linked the provision of

network support over time to positive diverse leader outcomes; this

model intends to fill that theoretical gap in the literature. The model

also asserts the critical role that human resources can play in creating

strategies that help diverse leaders to nurture optimal networks, thus

offering substantive practical implications for organizations.

Research on the performance of companies with more women in

senior management and on their boards and with more minorities in

upper echelon roles strongly supports the business case for diversity

in upper management (Carter, Joy, Wagner, & Narayanan, 2007; Cur-

tis, Schmid, & Struber, 2012; Krishnan & Park, 2005; Lublin, 2015;

Nielsen & Nielsen, 2013; Noland, Moran, Kotschwar, 2016). For

example, a 2012 study noted, “We find that, ceteris paribus, a given

firm generates on average 1% (or over $40 million) more economic

value with at least one woman on its top management team than

without any women on its top management team and also enjoys

superior accounting performance”(Dezso & Ross, 2012, p. 1084).

Studies also show that more diverse organizations are more innova-

tive (Hewlett, Marshall, & Sherbin, 2013; Ostergaard, Timmermans, &

Kristinsson, 2011; Talke, Salomo, & Rost, 2010).

DOI: 10.1002/hrm.21842

Hum Resour Manage. 2018;57:111–126. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrm © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 111

Prior to the recognition of a “diversity dividend”for companies’

performance, the argument for propelling diverse leaders to senior

ranking positions and to corporate boards rested largely on social and

ethical arguments (Curtis et al., 2014). As research proliferates that

finds positive implications for more diverse representation at the top,

it becomes clear that human resources professionals have a signifi-

cant role to play in growing diverse talent and aiding their hierarchical

advancement. Complicating the achievement of more diverse repre-

sentation at the top, substantial research has identified unique chal-

lenges faced by diverse leaders in their efforts to reach the upper

echelons in organizations (e.g., Catalyst, 2007; Devillard, Graven,

Lawson, Paradise, & Sancier-Sultan, 2014; Hewlett, Peraino, Sher-

bin, & Sumberg, 2010; Ibarra, 1992, 1993). Within corporations, this

challenge shows up as increasingly difficult odds of advancement for

women compared to men, with women being five times less likely to

reach CEO from the executive committee level (Devillard et al.,

2014). African American, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic/Latino

representation at the CEO level is dismal, just over 4% (Zillman,

2014). Similarly, these minority groups collectively hold 13% of all

corporate board seats (Alliance for Board Diversity, 2013). Two pri-

mary factors, one structural (e.g., lack of access to informal networks)

and the other perceptual (e.g., evaluation against the White male

leadership standard), are considered to be the primary culprits of

diverse leader underrepresentation (Ibarra, 1997; Ibarra, Ely, & Kolb,

2013; McPherson, Smith-Lovin, & Cook, 2001; Whitely, Dougherty, &

Dreher, 1991). These challenges result in particularistic developmen-

tal needs on the part of diverse leaders that must be met for

advancement to occur.

Here, we propose that mentors and other devel opers that com-

prise a diverse leader’s developmental net work—the group of people

who take an active interest in and act ion to advance focal indivi-

duals’careers and personal growth (Higgins & Kram, 20 01)

2

—can

provide an array of career support (e.g. , sponsorship, visibility,

coaching, challenging assignments, role modeling) and psychosocial

support functions (e.g., affirmation an d confirmation, friendship,

counseling, inspiration and motivation ) (Cotton, Shen, & Livne-Taran-

dach, 2011; Kram, 1985; Murphy & Kram, 2010), as we ll as holding

behaviors (e.g., containment, empathet ic acknowledgment, enabling

perspective) (Ghosh, Haynes & Kram, 2013; Kahn, 2001; Rag ins, Ehr-

hardt, Lyness, Murphy, & Capman, 2017) that can offset and miti-

gate the challenges that often prevent them from reaching the

C-suite and boards.

Our framework, which draws upon and integrates theoretical and

empirical contributions across several literatures, including but not

limited to research on women’s leadership (Catalyst, 2007; Ibarra

et al., 2013), diversity (e.g., Ibarra, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997), mini–

learning career cycles (Hall, 2002), holding environments at work

(Kahn, 2001), positive organizational scholarship (Dutton & Heaphy,

2003; Dutton & Ragins, 2006), and mentoring and developmental

networks (e.g., Dobrow, Chandler, Murphy, & Kram, 2012; Higgins &

Kram, 2001), provides scientific support and practical guidance for a

programmatic and organization-wide effort to propel diverse leaders

to upper echelons in organizations.

The model proposed here (see Figure 1) shows that human

resources strategies aimed at (a) creating a developmental culture

that helps cultivate high-quality developmental relationships

(Dutton & Heaphy, 2003; Ragins, 2011), (b) providing access to

needed developers, (c) training on developmental networks, and

(d) heightening developmental initiation, can shape the structure and

content of diverse leaders’developmental networks as they learn and

grow during the career transitions (mini–learning cycles) necessary to

contribute at a top-management team level and on corporate boards.

Strategies taken by HR can enable an evolving person–network fit

between the unique needs diverse leaders have due to the structural

and perceptual challenges they face vis-à-vis their White male coun-

terparts and their network characteristics (structure and content).

The psychosocial, career, and holding behavior support provided by

developers enables them to meet diverse leaders’particular needs

over time as they ascend in organizations.

We proceed by introducing developmental networks as vehicles

for career ascension. Next, we propose characteristics of optimal

developmental networks for diverse leaders that center on the fit

between diverse leaders’needs and network characteristics (structure

and content) in light of structural and perceptual barriers facing them

over time. Importantly, we highlight the need for developers’provi-

sion of holding behaviors that buffer diverse leaders from common

anxiety-producing challenges. We then delineate specific actions that

HR practitioners can take to propel diverse leaders to the upper

echelons of management.

2|DEVELOPMENTAL NETWORKS AS

VEHICLES FOR CAREER ASCENSION

Over the past 30 years, a significant amount of support has amassed

for mentoring as a vehicle for individual growth and career advance-

ment (e.g., Chandler, Kram, & Yip, 2011; Kammeyer-Mueller & Judge,

2008; Ragins & Kram, 2007). Support from mentors and other devel-

opers that comprise individuals’developmental networks has been

associated with numerous positive outcomes for protégés, including

heightened compensation and promotions (Seibert, Kraimer & Liden,

2001), personal learning (Lankau & Scandura, 2002), performance

(Yip, 2015), and work satisfaction (Higgins, 2000). Conversely,

research has found that a dearth of mentoring prevents women from

securing seats on multiple corporate boards (McDonald & Westphal,

2013). Commonly identified developers include, but are not limited

to, a person’s spouse and other family members, supervisors, senior-

ranking professionals, peers at work, external executive coaches,

friends outside of work, current and former school colleagues, indus-

try or professional association colleagues, mentoring groups, and jun-

ior employees who can act in a reverse mentoring capacity

(Murphy & Kram, 2010, 2014; Shen, Cotton, & Kram, 2015).

While certain network structures are associated with positive

career outcomes—for example, promotions, extraordinary career

achievement, performance, and optimism (Cotton et al., 2011; Hig-

gins & Thomas, 2001; Yip, 2015)—the ideal network for any one per-

son is contingent upon achieving a fit between his or her

developmental needs and developmental network structure and con-

tent; researchers have referred to this notion as “person–network fit”

(e.g., Higgins, 2007; Shen, 2010; Shen, et al., 2015). Given the

112 CHANLAND AND MURPHY