Description
Business Study on Unrequited Affinity between Talent Shortages and Untapped Female Potential: The Relevance of Gender Quotas for Talent Management in High Growth Potential Economies of the Asia Pacific Region:- Talent management refers to the anticipation of required human capital the organization needs at the time then setting a plan to meet those needs.[1] The field dramatically increased in popularity after McKinsey's research and subsequent book on The War for Talent.
Business Study on Unrequited Affinity between Talent Shortages and Untapped Female Potential: The Relevance of Gender Quotas for Talent Management in High Growth Potential Economies of the Asia Pacific Region
ABSTRACT
We demonstrate that gender quotas have not attracted due interest as a talent management formulation in the Asia Pacific region. Drawing on a literature review, this paper illustrates the utility of gender quotas for talent management in the context of hig h growth potential economies in the Asia Pacific region, i.e. China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. These five economies are characterized with talent shortages on the one hand, and untapped female potential on the other. We show the necessity and legitimacy of considering gender quotas as part of talent management strategy in the region in order to leverage untapped female potential for addressing talent shortages.
1. Introduction Gender inequalities in recruitment, retention and career development prevent talented women achieving equal outcomes at work as similarly to talented men. As such, gender inequality remains one of the major barriers to promoting meritocracy in the workplace (Anker, 2004). Earlier this year the European Justice Commissioner (2012), Viviane Reding, declared her concern with the slow pace of change towards gender equality and stated ''I'm not a fan of quotas. But I do like the results they achieve''. Her statement heralds a new era in which there will be wider adoption of gender quotas, which were previously considered contentious measures in Europe. We can also reasonably expect that North American and European multinational organizations will transpose quota ideas to rest of the world as they did with ideas of equality, diversity and inclusion at work (Syed & Ozbilgin, 2009). ¨ Due to pressing talent shortages, talent management is becoming an important strategic area for the survival and success of both multinational and local business across the globe that compete for attracting and retaining talent (Selmer, Ebrahimi, & Mingtao, 2002). In an international business environment that is characterized by war for talent, under-utilization of female talent potential is an area of concern for companies and governments alike (Hewlett & Rashid, 2011). The recent UK Governmental consultation into 'women on board' is a case in point. It was noted that ''The low proportion of women holding
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directorships suggests that British business is not using all of the skills and talents of the workforce effectively and wome n are being denied the opportunity to reach their true potential and contribute fully to the UK economy'' (BIS, 2010). Yet, the link between the areas of talent management and untapped female potential is underexplored in both advanced and developing economies. In this paper, drawing on the interplay between these two areas, we illustrate the utility of applying gender quotas as a means to address talent shortages that local and multinational firms face in the emerging economies of the Asia-Pacific region. The relationship between talent management, particularly gender quotas, and gender segregation issues is particularly relevant for international business, since talent shortage can be a serious problem for local as well as multinational firms. Gender quotas as governmental and organizational level policy measures are now considered internationally. Although the use of quotas remains controversial, widely acknowledged success of national experiments with gender quotas in Northern Europe suggests international adoption of this practice likely (Nielsen & Huse, 2010). It is interesting that a connection has not been made in the literature between gender quotas and talent management. This paper demonstrates this connection at governmental and organizational levels in the Asia-Pacific context. Scullion, Collings, and Gunnigle (2007) point out that the shifting landscape of the global business environment with the rise of emerging economies in East Asia poses fresh challenges for managing talent. Emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region are black boxes in terms of their unique settings, needs and processes of talent management. Therefore, there is an urgent need for scholarly attention to talent management issues in the region. We explore five Asia -Pacific economies, which are identified as having high growth potential and dynamism in terms of talent management. China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan are characterized with talent shortages, untapped female talent potential and major changes of socio - economic, cultural, institutional and demographic nature. For this paper, we reviewed the academic literature, as well as national and comparative country reports. Our review shows that there are identifiable talent shortages in all of the five cases. Low birth rates as well as increased demand for labour mean that thei r labour markets will rely increasingly on migrant labour to fill vacant posts for talented workers. At the same time, the slow progress of women's posi tion in the labour market compared to the rapid increase in their educational levels, demonstrates that female talent remains underutilized in Asia-Pacific economies (MeulenRodgers, Zveglich, & Wherry, 2006; Nakavachara, 2010; Yukongdi, 2005). Deeply entrenched cultural values and traditional practices of employment prevent the female talent potential to be released in the region (Rowley, Yukonkdi, & Qi Wei, 2010) and, gender inequality establishes a significant barrier to overcoming the talent shortages in the societies that are explored in this paper. Gender quotas can se rve to disrupt the established order, whereas voluntary measures often pay lip service to change, retain status quo and promise little progress (Ozbilgin & Tatli, 2011). Quotas promise a break with tradition, and as such they can ¨ mobilize more progressive approaches to culture change in the longer term. Arguments were raised against quotas that gender quotas would harm merit and performance at work. However, recent analyses show that women who joined with the quota rules did not undermine talent at work and their organizations have not experienced a downturn in performance, contrary to what alarmists would have liked us to believe (Nielsen & Huse, 2010). The paper is structured as follows: first section reviews talent management literature with a view to highlighting its ongoing inattention to potentiality of gender quotas. Then, we present five cases of high growth potential economies, i.e. China, Singapore, Thailand, Hon g Kong and Taiwan, with a specific focus on untapped female talent potential. Finally, we provide an assessment of the relevance of gender quotas for addressing talent shortages. 2. Talent management and gender quotas Although the term, Talent management, is now widely recognized in the strategic and international HRM terminology, its incept ion dates back only to the 1990s, when McKinsey & Company first referred to it in their report The War for Talent (Michaels, Handfield-Jones, & Axelrod, 2001). Since then, practitioners have been showing interest in the topic of talent management. However, academic research on talent management lags behind, particularly in terms of clarity and consensus (Scullion, Collings, & Caligiuri, 2010). Talent management can be defined as the creative and competitive way by which organizations meet their human capital needs. In recent years the notion of talent management has broadened to address the challenges management of talent at international and cross-national scale as well as national and sectoral levels in order to deal with pressing demands of talent shortages and surpluses, how talent may be loca ted and relocated, and how talent may be effectively compensated (Tarique & Schuler, 2010). Managing talent involves creative and competitive use of internal talent to their full potential, and meeting the demand for external talent by scanning supply in the local and global labour market. On e of the rationales offered for necessity of talent management is the changing demography. Aging population, declining birth rates, feminization of higher education, increased economic migration and regional shortages of skilled and unskilled labour all render management of talent a source of global competitive advantage (Economic Forum, 2010). Indeed, a study by Manpower illustrates that skills shortages is a global phenomenon, although it is felt in different ways across Asia Pacific, Americas, Europe and the Middle East (Manpower, 2008). Across these regions skills shortages are an ongoing challenge for local and international employers, which are not likely to disappear in the short term (Manpower, 2010). In pursuit of effective ways of managing talent, and to address the reported shortages of talent, var ious innovative practices have been developed, including outsourcing, cross-border and on-demand employment practices as well aschanges in educational practices and migration policies (World Economic Forum, 2010). Global Talent Index is one of many tools to identify the current level of competitiveness in national talent management practices (Economist Intelligence Unit,
Please cite this article in press as: Tatli, A., et al. An unrequited affinity between talent shortages and untapped female potential: The relevance of gender quotas for talent management in high growth potential economies of the Asia Pacific region. International Business Review (2012),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2012.07.005
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2007). Nevertheless, such tools are blunt instruments that offer little appreciation of deeper dynamics of talent management, includ ing the cultural and institutional contexts in which talent management decisions are made. In this crowded context, there has not been an attempt to explore gender quotas as a viable method for talent management to activate the female potential, which emerged due to an unprecedented incre ase in rates of female literacy and employment, yet remained underutilized in both developed and developing countries. We argue that gender quotas can be considered as one of the measures to address the problem of untapped female talent and to offer a partial response to general talent shortages. Gender quotas are widely discussed and applied in the field of politics in order to achieve equal political representation (Krook, 2006; Squires, 1996). The Norwegian government introduced the first quota rules with the Norwegian Gender Equality Act of 1981. Quota practices aim ing the advancement of women's representation in boards of publicly traded companies in Northern Europe are now widely perceived as successful (Nielsen & Huse, 2010). Yet, quotas generally remain controversial (Combs, Nadkarni, & Combs, 2005; Jones, 1996, 1998; Tienari, Holgersson, Merilainens, & Hook, 2009) and are ¨ ¨¨ not always welcome, as they challenge vested interests at work (Agocs & Burr, 1996; Bergen, Soper, & Foster, 2002). ´ Forstenlechner, Lettice, and Ozbilgin (2012) argue ''the success and failure of a quota system is contingent upon a web of multi-level in?uences, transcending the tendency of current debates to polarize the value and weaknesses of quotas in absolute measure''. Therefore, beyond the backlash against gender quotas, which rests on knee jerk reactions rather than robust evidence, we argue that gend er quotas can be used to tackle talent shortages and for successful talent management. However, the lack of legislation in terms of gender quotas across developed and developing countries, can limit organizational choices in the adoption of quotas. Therefore, we urge caution against perspectives that frame gender quotas as a mere political issue where the national governments are the key actors and stakeholders. Instead, there is a strong case to be made for the relevance of merit-based gender quotas at organizational level because widening the talent pool by tapping into the underutilized female potenti al is likely to provide companies with competitive advantage in the war for talent. In contexts where historical and socio-cultural norm and value systems promote male privilege, gender quotas can be used to break the impasse, promote equality awareness and draw attention to merit-based recruitment and representation. For example Niederle and Vesterlund (2007) made a strong case for gender quotas, showing that despite lack of gender differences in work performance, women are less likely tha n men to compete for higher status roles, as women shy away from competition and men embrace it. The authors conclude that this might explain why women are underrepresented in many high-profile jobs and across a number of professions. These findings not only provide a strong argument for gender quotas, but also highlight the fact that there is no shortage of talented women in general, but rather that their talent remains less visible and resultantly undervalued (see Acker, 1990, 1994, 2006). The situation in the Asia Pacific region bodes well to comparison with the above case in developed countries of the west. Women have entered education and employment in large numbers over the last few decades in the Asia-Pacific region (Meulen-Rodgers et al., 2006; Nakavachara, 2010). Women now make up half of the economically active population. Their levels of education and experience rival those of men. However, their talents remain unrecognized and under-valued. Women continue to be under-represented in positions of power and authority across sectors of employment in the region. Talent management can play a role in changing this counter-productive situation in a way to help local and multinational firms to survive and lead the global war for talent. Gender diversity and gender quotas may have utility for talent management, if they are underpinned by talent. We note that there is a virtuous cycle in considering gender diversity and talent together rather than separately. One benefit of considering gender diversity for talent management is that there is merit in addressing gender biases at work, as half of the talented staff at work are women. For diversity manag ement practice, considering talent can help organizations to construct a business case for adoption of gender equality initiati ves. Recognizing the significance of connecting talent and diversity, Mellahi and Collings (2010) identified that organizations, which limit their pool of talent, miss out on managing diverse talent from the different countries in which they operate, and are likely to lose out in this competitive game. Therefore, there is room for considering gender quotas as part of the creative ?air by which talent management interventions are formulated. As a multi -dimensional management effort, talent management requires appreciation of internal and external labour market of the organization, recognizing its potential for growth and development in line with other contextual changes (CIPD, 2006, 2009). Gender quotas cross these boundaries, by promising to raise awareness of barriers to the full recognition of female talent. Gender quotas are important, albeit limited, measures which can draw attention to the connection between female talent waste/potential and general talent shortages. We are not suggesting gender quotas a s the only effective means to release the untapped talent potential. Instead, we suggest gender quotas as a method for challenging the impasse induced by the tradition al gendered constructions of work, life and talent (Acker, 2006). 3. Talent management and relevance of gender quotas in high growth potential economies of the Asia Pacific region In this paper, rather than adopting a generic approach to the link between untapped female potential and talent management, we focus on five emerging Asia Pacific economies and offer quotas as a way forward in this context. There is extensive literature on developed countries in terms of their labour markets and social and economic institutions; however, the same cannot be said of the emerging economies (Bowen, Wu, Hwang, & Scherer, 2007; Kang, Ding, & Charoenwong, 2010). Conversely, neither talent shortages nor gender quotas are experienced in the same way across the globe. Indeed, there are unique local contexts, social, cultural, political and organiz ational in?uences. For that reason, we focus on
Please cite this article in press as: Tatli, A., et al. An unrequited affinity between talent shortages and untapped female potential: The relevance of gender quotas for talent management in high growth potential economies of the Asia Pacific region. International Business Review (2012),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2012.07.005
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understanding talent management context and challenges and their link to untapped female potential in five emerging economies in the Asia Pacific region: China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. These five cases are chosen for the high growth potential of their economies, shared problem of talent shortages, and the illustrious nature of their historical trajectory in terms of talent and untapped female potential. 3.1. China China is a very diverse country, which consists of many different regions, has as many as 40 nationalities, and many different languages (April & Smit, 2010). After joining the WTO, it has become a popular host country for multinational corporations (Bowen et al., 2007). Talent shortage in China is well documented (Farell & Grant, 2005). In a recent survey conducted by Mercer, 72% of respondents said that the number one challenge in recruiting staff was a lack of qualified candidates in the Chinese market. With the number of young adults is set to shrink i n the near future, the current talent shortages are indication of a serious problem for the China's economic future (Economist, 2010). China is facing its main talent shortages in the service sector, where there is high demand for and low supply of skilled labour. Moreover there is a short age in supply of labour for managerial occupations. McKinsey reported in 2005 that over the next 10-15 years Chinese companies would need a considerably higher number of globally effective leaders in order to realize their global ambitions and goals (Wilson, 2008). According to Farell and Grant (2005), in the coming decades the need of Chinese companies for leaders who can work in global environments will go up from 5000 to 75,000 creating an even bigger talent shortage at managerial levels. As more Chinese companies turn to international talent in order to address their supply shortages, international companies wishing to set up offshoring operations in the country find themselves in direct competition for talent with Chinese companies due to China's own growing economy (Bjorkman, Smale, Sumelius, Suutari, & Lu, 2008). China does not only have a lack of ¨ homegrown talent but also the problem of brain drain, contributing to the country's widening skills shortages (Farell & Grant, 2005). Despite the chronic shortages of talent, talent management strategies are underdeveloped in China (Cooke, 2009). However, recently Chinese firms started to invest more in HR to develop their systems for retaining talent and improving their market competitiveness (Zhu, 2005). In fact, Bjorkman et al. (2008) in their study of the changes in HRM practices between 1996 ¨ and 2006 in European-owned subsidiaries in China found evidence of convergence with increasing transparency in external and internal human resourcing. They argue that HRM practices of multinational companies may have had a positive in?uence in changing the traditional Chinese beliefs about efficient HRM practices. Notwithstanding such positive developments, numerically women continue to significan tly lag behind men at managerial ranks although gender education gap has substantially narrowed down (Aaltio & Huang, 2007; Cooke, 2005). Therefore, there is potential for organizations to capture and benefit from untapped female talent in their competition for talent (Nolan, 2010). Untapped female potential in China is multi-faceted. Cooke (2005) explored the opportunities for and barriers to managerial careers for women in areas of government administration, higher education, entrepreneurship and rural enterprises, and revealed that female managerial candidates are discouraged via several mechanisms at social and personal levels. Traditional gender attitudes, prejudices and assumptions continue to disadvantage women in China in the areas of work and education (Turner, 2006). These entrenched gendered value system works at several levels starting from the individuals' belief systems and extending to organizational practices and societal norms. At a macro level, the gendered structures of the society frame the outcomes of economic developments in a way to maintain the existing systems of inequality. For example, Braunstein and Brenner (2007) argue that the interplay between traditional patterns of segregation and the shift of foreign direct investment to mor e domestically oriented production has resulted in a widening of the gender pay gap. At the organizational level, traditional ideology of Confucianism has historically informed China's HRM systems (Ngo, 2008). As Leung (2002) argues Confucian values embed a patriarchal notion of gender roles and expectations, which in turn shapes the organizational practices from recruitment, to promotion and work-life balance provision. Woodhams, Lupton, and Xian's (2009) analysis of recruitment advertisements evidences direct and indirect gender discrimination through the use of gendered expectations and stereotypes on abilities which are a re ?ection of the traditional ideas of men and women's roles at work. Gendered disadvantage in employment is not limited to getting the job, but plays a significant role in determining the career development prospects for women in their organizations. On the basis of a survey of 582 employees in B eijing, Peng, Ngo, Shi, and Wong (2009) conclude that women have lower levels of job commitment compared to their men colleagues because of stronger perceptions of gender discrimination and the gender bias in the assignment of job roles, i.e. assignment of less challenging job roles to women. Work-life balance issues constitute another significant barrier for Chinese women to progress into managerial levels. The study conducted by Aaltio and Huang (2007) with women managers in the IT sector shows that traditional Chinese culture which emphasizes guanxi incurs work-family con?ict, and thereby high emotional costs from career advancement for this group of women. In a culture of guanxi, the use of informal networks to get things done takes a centre-stage. Faure and Fang (2008) found that although professionalism is becoming an important element of career progression in China, guanxi is still the prominent tool in furthering one's career. Fan (2002) calls for research that compares guanxi with western forms of relation-based systems, such as old boys networks to better understand international management and HRM. Similarly, the philosophy of Yin Yang, based on interconnection of dual cosmic energies that are identified as female and male energy (Faure & Fang, 2008), is another element of Chinese culture that is imbued with polarized gendered stereotypes, attributes and cultural expectation regarding the place of men and women in the society.
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Such gender ideologies unsurprisingly extend to the individual members of the Chinese society, which is often described as a culturally masculine society (Cheng, Chan, & Leung, 2010), shaping their views on suitable careers for women. For example, Bowen et al. (2007) found that men of both older and younger generations continue to hold negative attitudes and perceptions towards women as managers. Liu, Comer, and Dubinsky (2001) explored the attitudes of salespeople towards women as sales managers and arrived at similar conclusions in terms of the nega tive male attitude and resistance towards women holding managerial ranks. However, China has a dynamic culture and economy, which is open to exploration of alternative ways of managing talent. In this context, gender quotas may offer a way to release the untapped female potential in the country. 3.2. Singapore Singapore was among the first countries in the Asian context, which moved away from a capital driven economy towards a knowledge-driven economy, which requires having a highly skilled workforce. It was ranked third in the Global Competitiveness Report of 2009-2010 (World Economic Forum, 2010). Moreover, the unemployment rates are low in Singapore, with only 2.3% in June of 2010 (Trading Economics, 2010a). Already in the 1980s, it became clear that labour shortage would be a problem, hindering further expansion and growth. Therefore Singapore institutionalized plans and programs to develop a world-class workforce acknowledging the importance of talent and education, and life-long learning (Budhwar & Debrah, 2008; Debrah, 1996). The government targets in particular the education system in order to support the national strategy in competing globally for talent. The national efforts to tackle talent shortages and carve out a competitive position for Singa pore are also emulated by corporations in the country which are geared up to compete in the global market for talented workers, offering attractive employment deals to ensure competitive recruitment and retention outcomes. Consequently, talent management activities are fairly developed in Singapore (HRM Asia, 2010). However, underutilization of female talent still remains to be a key area of intervention for successful management of talent in the country (Lee &Pow, 1999; Windsor & Auyeung, 2006). In Singapore, multiple barriers prevent female potential to be mobilized in the field of employment (Chi-Ching, 1992). Li and Leung (2001) on the basis of their study of female hotel managers in Singapore argue that barriers for women to move up in the organizational hierarchy is to a large extent a result of the cultural and societal values and sanctions. Kang et al.'s (2010) study of investors' reactions to the appointment of women as managers in Singaporean firms explains some of the reasons why glass ceiling persists. They found that investors generally responded positively to appointment of women managers as independent directors, but were much less receptive of female CEOs. Lee and Hoon's (1993) content analysis of newspaper articles on women and men managers show that gender based stereotypical views dominate the cultural scene. Media's portrayal of male managers was substantially based on their abilities, whereas stories of women managers were woven around the dilemmas and con?icts that they experience. A follow up study analyzed the media content between 1993 and 2003, and revealed that women managers are comparably more accepted but they are still expected to fulfil the traditional gender roles (Lee, 2005). Despite an increased cultural receptivity for women's participation in the labour market, Singaporeans continue to hold the traditional gendered i deas of women's role in family and society, and believe that it is women's individual responsibility to balance their careers and domestic lives (Jiuan, Wirtz, Jung, & Keng, 2001). These findings demonstrate the role of the interplay between work and home domains in perpetuating gendered hierarchies in organizations. Quek and Knudson-Martin (2008) call for more equal distribution of domestic responsibilities between the partners to redress gender imbalance in managerial positions. Organizational level policies in the areas of recruitment, career development and training, pay and rewards, work -lifepolicies are also crucial in addressing women's under-representation in managerial ranks (Lee & Pow, 1999). Yet, organizational practices, such as selection, performance appraisal and promotion are still based on gendered biases, contributing to the persistence of gender disadvantage (Chi-Ching, 1992). For example, women tend to favour ?exib le working arrangements, such as teleworking in order to balance the demands of work and family life due to the unequal distribution of domestic burden between men and women (Teo, Lim, & Har, 1999). There is a general lack of formal work-life provisions in Singaporean context (Li & Leung, 2001; Windsor & Auyeung, 2006). To be successful female, but not male, managers need to rely on a family support system to balance the work and life demands (Lee & Hoon, 1993). In large international accounting firms in Singapore, women's career progression, i.e. gaining a partnership, was negatively in?uenced by family circumstances, such as having dependent children, whilst for male accountants being a father had a positive correlation to managerial advancement (Windsor & Auyeung, 2006). Sun (2009) suggests that the Singaporean state needs to play a larger role in addressing the work-life needs of employees. She argues that state policy should cover wider set of benefits and rights including expansion of provisions such as ?exible working arrangements, paid maternity and paternity leave, and protection from dismissal on the grounds of leave of absence. States also play an important role for the introduction and implementation of gender quotas. However, this possibility has not been considered so far in the context of Singapore, which has a strong tradition of state regulation of employment dynamics. 3.3. Thailand Thailand's economy is an emerging economy which has experienced a rapid growth since the early 1980s (Appold, Siengthai, & Kasarda, 1998), i.e. between 1985 and 1995 Thailand experienced the highest growth rate in the world. Today
Please cite this article in press as: Tatli, A., et al. An unrequited affinity between talent shortages and untapped female potential: The relevance of gender quotas for talent management in high growth potential economies of the Asia Pacific region. International Business Review (2012),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2012.07.005
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Thailand is classified as the 2nd largest economy in Southeast Asia after Indonesia (Economy Watch, 2010). Furthermore, the unemployment rate in Thailand is with 1.54% in 2010 strikingly low (Trading Economics, 2010b). The rapid economic expansion led to an increased demand for and an under-supply of managers and professionals in the country (Yukongdi, 2005). Thailand has taken measures such as reforms in schooling to address the talent shortages and aging population. However, there are reports that current reforms in education need to be taken further if Thai education system is to provide the required talented labour (Wongboonsin, Guest, & Prachuabmoh, 2005). Furthermore, in order for Thailand to take the next step towards a dynamic and knowledge-based world economy, as desired by its government, there is need for structural reforms not only in the education systems but also in its system of employment. One of the areas that such reforms need to target is untapped female potential. The consensus view in Thailand is that educat ion can help overcome the underutilization of female potential in employment. Nakavachara's (2010) study on gender pay gap found only partial support for this assumption. Although the increase in female education resulted in some narrowing of the gender pay gap, superior education levels of female workforce did lead to neither reversal nor disappearance of the earning gap between men and women in the country. Similarly, Yukongdi (2005) argues that legislative and educational reforms resulted in improvement of women's labour market status, but there still are barriers to women's advancement to managerial positions. Interestingly, some scholars suggest that discrimination against women is imported by international firms operating in the country (Youngsamart, Fisher, & Hartel, 2010). However, the culture in Thailand ¨ remains in?uenced by patriarchal values, which portray women as dependent and maintain prejudices about women's ability to perform managerial roles (Virakul, 2000). Studies also demonstrate the presence of organizational barriers for women's career advancement. These barriers operate across different organizational practices, including recruitment and selection (Lawler, 1996), and maintained through organizational cultures that are gendered (Appold et al., 1998). For example, Appold et al. (1998) in their study of domestic companies operating in Thailand revealed that social homophily, in the form of male employees' preferences, was a prominent cause of gender discrimination. These findings suggest that for closing the gender gap in management, interventions at multiple levels are necessary, including proactive state policies, such as gender quotas, and changes in organizational policies and cultures (Virakul, 2000). 3.4. Hong Kong Hong Kong experienced significant economic restructuring since the mid-1980s. Major outward investment led to the deindustrialization of Hong Kong, transforming Hong Kong into a service-based economy (Chiu, 2004). Although Hong Kong is legally a part of China, its economic system differs significantly from the economic system of Mainland China, with a high degree of autonomy and a long quasi-autonomous history. Hong Kong's major capitalist service economy is marked by low taxation and free trade, making it one of the world's leading i nternational financial centres. The unemployment rates in Hong Kong are low with only 4.6% in 2010 (Trading Economics, 2010c). Hong Kong has also one of the lowest birth rates in the world at 0.9 per female and faces significant difficulties in growing its own talent. Therefore Hong Kong is largely dependent on supply of labour from both China and international labour markets for its development needs. This dependence on external labour is partly attributed to the failure of the education system to meet the demands of the Hong Kong economy in sectors such as IT(Olsen & Burges, 2007). Whilst Hong Kong needs to attract the best, most sought-after talent worldwide, there are reported difficulties in some companies to lure the required skilled workforce due to unfair discrimination. Despite the fact that education reforms and anti-discrimination legislation have led to an increase in women's employment, vertical segregation on the basis of gender continues to persist in Hong Kong, leading to a significant gender gap in workplace authority (Ng & Chakrabarty, 2005; Wong, 2005). Therefore, tackling discrimination and promoting equality are interlinked with the agenda for promoting talent management (Loper, 2001). Similar to the other cases presented in this paper, work-family con?ict constitutes a significant barrier for professional and managerial women in Hong Kong (Lo, Wright, & Wright, 2003; Ng & Chakrabarty, 2005). Ng, Fosh, and Naylor (2002) conducted a case study in an airline company and found that there was a sharp decrease in the number of women with families as one goes along the corporate hierarchy with virtual absence of women at the top grades. Aryee and Luk's (1996) study of 207 dual earner couples in Hong Kong revealed that women and men's work identity construction processes were shaped by the traditionally prescribed gender role patterns. There was a trade off involved when women balance their work and family identities whilst men were able to identify with both roles simultaneously. In addition to work -life con?ict, women also experi ence negative attitudes based on gendered norms and assumptions, sexual harassment and social exclusion at the workplace (Ng & Chakrabarty, 2005). Interestingly, a study based on interviews with 50 female married professionals with children showed that wo men identify with traditional gender roles (Lo et al., 2003). Ng and Fosh's (2004) research in a multinational company in Hong Kong indicates that women at higher levels in the corporation were less supportive of equal opportunities policies and programs compared to women at middle or lower ranks. They explain this disparity with the low expectation levels of female managers for their organizations to offer women -friendly policies and the resultant acceptance of a trade-off between career progression and family life (Ng & Fosh, 2004). In anticipation of intolerable work-life con?ict, many women tend to lower their career expectations (Ng et al., 2002). Similarly, Ng and Chakrabarty (2005) suggest that gender awareness among female managers in Hong Kong is low and there is a general acceptance of the traditionally ascribed social roles. For that
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reason, instead of confronting their partners, families, organizations or the Government on the issues of gender discrimination and inequality, women managers try to develop individual coping strategies. According to Chiu and Ng (1999) women benefited more from progressive work-life policies and demonstrated greater levels of psychological attachment to their organizations if such policies are available. Another study found that the larger the perceived gender discrimination, the lower the levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction for women compared to men (Foley, Ngo, & Wong, 2005). Unfortunately women-friendly policies were exceptions rather than the rule in organizations in Hong Kong (Chiu & Ng, 1999). Lo et al. (2003) argue that organizations need to develop an awareness of the work-life con?ict issues and their gendered nature if they are to attrac t and retain best talent. Chow and Ng (2007) suggest that there is a need to integrate gender-aware perspective into all public policies and programs in Hong Kong in order to increase the number of women managers. A more integrated approach on the other hand would involve multi-level change programs that are supported by womenfriendly and gender-sensitive policies at both state and organizational levels in order to speed up women's career advancement in managerial leve ls (Ng & Chakrabarty, 2005). Gender quotas could be one of such gender-sensitive policies at both the state and organizational level. 3.5. Taiwan During the 50 years of Japanese occupation from 1895 to 1946, Taiwan's industry was mainly developed as an agricultural base for Japan, commissioned to supply food and raw materials for Japan's industrialization. In recent years, Taiwan underwent substantial re structuring towards a capital and knowledge based economy. As a result of two major education reforms in the last three decades, th e country achieved remarkable improvements to its talent pool (Lin & Yang, 2009; Meulen-Rodgers et al., 2006). Yet, Taiwan has a labour market, which has skills shortages not only at low, but also at the high end of the skills spectrum. Brain drain presents a major talent management concern in Taiwan. For instance more than 200,000 Taiwanese high skilled workers reportedly immigrated to China in recent years (Wang & Hsiao, 2002). As a result of brain drain there are severe shortages of good managers in the country, but brain drain itself serves the individual managers well, by providing them access to jobs in international markets, freeing them of the limiting effects of local labour markets. For instance, talented female manager ma y opt out to migrate to countries where gender segregation is less pronounced and career opportunities are more rewarding for women. The example of Taiwan shows that it is not enough only to develop talent, but to keep the talent in the country. This requires acting on to promote f air employment systems to utilize the untapped talent potential such as high-skilled women (Choua, Fosh, & Foster, 2005). Despite the increasing participation of women in the labour market and narrowing of the educational inequality, female potent ial still remains underutilized and barriers for women to progress senior levels in their organizations still persist in Taiwan (Bowen, 2003; Lin & Yang, 2009; Meulen-Rodgers et al., 2006). Promoting women in management and tackling gender inequalities in the country requires a multi-dimensional effort. For example the Taiwanese Government was successful in reducing the educational inequality (Lin & Yang, 2009), but labour market outcomes of educational qualifications are still gendered with men benefiting significantly more compared to women from vocational education in terms of earnings premium (Meulen-Rodgers et al., 2006). National data show that there are serious issues of sex segregation and gender pay gap in the country (Bowen, 2003). Wu (2006) in a review of public relations industry reports that female executives as well as junior female employees in the sector experience discrimination including harassment, unfair pay and reward practices and stereotyping. Similarly, Bowen's (2003) analysis of the content of 7037 classified ads demonstrates the persistence of discriminatory hiring practices based on gender requirements. Taiwanese cultural values, which lead to high levels of work-life con?ict for women are stated as one of the most significant barriers to cracking the glass ceiling (Choua et al., 2005; Wua, Chang, & Zhuang, 2010). In a comparative study of female managers in the USA, Japan and Taiwan, Wu and Minor (1997) found that Taiwanese female managers displayed greater levels of traditional family and gender role orientation compared to their American and Japanese counterparts. Work-life con?ict and gender role expectations also in?uence women's rates of re -entry into employment after a career break (Yu, 2006). Interestingly, Chuang and Lee (2003) found that husband's attitudes towards a working wife had more significant effect on re-entry decision than the presence of dependent children. One of the conclusions that can be drawn from this study is that chan ge programs which are limited to formal state or organizational policies may have only limited impact if they are not combined with an effort to transform traditional value and belief systems. Confucian values and beliefs are stated to be fundamental to the organization of public and private domains in Taiwanese society, defining and constraining the roles ascribed to each gender (Tsai, 2006). Despite the labour shortages, married women, regardless of their human capital, are discouraged from professional and managerial jobs due to the primacy of patriarchal values stretching from societal norms to organizational practices (Brinton, Lee, & Parish, 1995). Women managers also meet with resistance to their authority in their organizations due to gendered stereotypes on the role and capabilities of women (Cheng & Liao, 1993). Considering the strong in?uence of patriarchal values in the Taiwanese society and organizations, gender quotas could provide a means to break the deadlock of tradition. 4. Discussion Our review suggests that there are common challenges facing talent management across emerging economies in Asia- Pacific region, including demographic changes, such as feminization of the labour market, brain drain, skills shortages and
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misalignment between education and employment. Yet, talent management remains an underdeveloped but increasingly important topic. Within that context, gender equality is intricately connected to talent management. Talent management literature can benefit from ex ploring equality and diversity literature in terms of organizational change interventions, as both literatures aspire for creating workplaces, whi ch are organized around ideas of merit and performance rather than arbitrary criteria. Despite this apparent complem entarity between the two literatures, there has been no attempt at combining them. This paper bridges this gap by linking talent management and untapped female potential in the context of five emerging Asia-Pacific economies. Inequality and segregation on the basis of gender prevents the effective use of available human resources in the context of five emerging economies that is reviewed in this paper. For that reason, it is essential for the governments and organizations in the region to design and implement policies and programmes that tackle gender inequalities as one possible way to address the talent gap that they suffer from. Gender quotas can provide one such talent management strategy. However, we do not propose gender quotas uncritically. Our revie w illustrates that traditional values and social expectations regarding gender roles within the family hinder women's careers. Introduction of a quota on the organ izational level is likely to remain a symbolic management intervention and does not in itself address the core of the problem. Particularly mere merit based promotions without addressing work-life imbalance and con?ict would disadvantage women again as they have not the same opportunity to deliver performance as men so long as they face the double burden of work and family duties (Beauregard, Ozbilgin, & Bell, 2009). Conversely, gender quotas may have the potential to force firms, who seek to fulfil their ¨ legal quota requirements, to introduce effective equality policies such as inclusive recruitment and retention strategies, leadership development programmes and work-life policies. We note that quotas cannot address the problem of gender inequality or untapped female talent directly. It may seem that it would be more helpful to introduce ?exible work and work -life balance policies at the organizational level instead of gender quotas. However, research demonstrates that organizations are not likely to take such voluntary measures that challenge gender norms at work and social life, in the absence of legal enforcement (Ozbilgin & Tatli, 2011). Gender quotas at the organizational level may serve a signalling ¨ function that the firm takes female talent serious. Therefore, quotas are important measures to initiate a change process, which can serve organizations to consider a range of other alternative measures including work -life balance, human resource ?exibility and diversity interventions. In the absence of legal measures such as quotas, voluntarism is not likely to provide sufficient incentive for organizations to consider gender equality as a talent strategy. The strategy for managing talent shortages via gender equality, induced by quotas, requires shared responsibility. The responsibility to deliver this strategy rests with governments, organizations and individuals themselves. However, it is important also to recognize barriers to effective implementation of such a strategy, as gender quotas face challenges because they confront the established order of power and status at work. Based on the review presented in the first part of the paper, Table 1 summarizes the multi-level barriers and potential areas of intervention for full utilization of the available female talent in the context of emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region. In all five cases, the gender division of labour across the public and private divide is still very strong. Roles in the private and public domains are shaped by traditional gender ideology, which assigns women's main role to the home and men's to the work. One of the outcomes of the traditional gender ideology is that notwithstanding the increase in female workforce participation rates due to demographic shifts as well as legislative and education reforms, women find themselves in an impossible position to meeting the demands of work and family simultaneously, whilst they are at the same time disadvantaged by the gendered assumptions that characterize talent management strategies at governmental, organizational and individual levels. Therefore, traditions, belief systems and history establish the overarching context of talent management, shaping possible future paths. However, we do not suggest a deterministic view of culture, tradition and history which considers these meta -dimensions as destiny. Instead, culture, tradition and history need to be treated as facilitating structures by which progressive practices can be informed through a firm understanding of the anti-progressive elements as well as future possibilities for positive change. Situated in the wider historical and cultural context are three distinct levels of intervention, the state, organizations and individuals. There is also interplay between the different levels of the model. For example, gender equality policies and practices at the governmental and organizational levels will in turn enhance women's individual strategies and help transform the gendered beliefs and assumptions that individual men and women personally uphold.
Table 1 Multi-level barriers and strategies of improvement for the underutilization of female talent. Levels of intervention Government Barriers , Limited legacy of equality legislation in the region , Gender blind education and employment policies , Gendered work cultures , Discriminatory HR policies and practices , Gender segregation , Gendered beliefs and stereotypes , Lack of awareness , Gendered career choices and gender roles Areas of improvement , Proactive equality legislation , Gender proofing of education and employment policies , Equality training and targets , Equality, ?exibility and work-life policies , Affirmative and positive action , Empowerment of women , Awareness raising , Resistance, subversion or exit
Organizations
Individuals
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The state as the legislator, regulator, employer and provider of services has a crucial role to play in promoting gender equality and meritocracy. Our review suggests that although the state has initiated major educational reforms which contributed to the closing of the g ender education gap in all five cases, these reforms were designed with a gender-blind perspective. Sun (2009) argues that there is a need for more proactive and gendersensitive policy making by the state. At the organizational level, gender segregation in cultures and practices of organizations poses barriers for woman to fully participate in work and management processes. Furthermore, widespread organizational practices, such as short -termist profit-led HRM approaches, lead to ineffective use of the external and internal talent pools. Due to a focus on short -term profits, human resource activities fail to recognize the potential contribution of inclusive organizational climate, employee wellbeing and ?exibility needs for sustainable and long -term bottom-line benefits. Experience in advanced economies suggests that a narrow focus on profitability does not bod e well to recruitment and retention of talent in organizations, particularly in the long term. One of the significant outcomes of the failure to invest in equality and ?exibility policies is the inefficient use of female talent. Cultural norms, values, assumptions and stereotypes that are deeply rooted in patriarchal and religious traditions, arguably, constitute the most fundamental barrier to utilization of female talent in the region (Rowley & Yukongdi, 2009; Yukongdi & Benson, 2005). Gender barriers and problems that are identified in our review are also evidenced in different degrees, shapes and forms in other parts of the globe, but they are particularly under-researched in the context of management of talent in the Asia Pacific region. As a result, organizational and state level policies to tackle gender segregation remain less developed. Furthermore, the connection between education and employment is not well planned for female talent and women are relegated to traditional domestic roles rather than encouraged into full and competitive employment. In their study in China, Cheng et al. (2010) found that there is a correlation between education level of the chairpersons and the performance of their firms. They theref ore suggest that the firms need to recognize educational background as an important criterion in selecting a chairperson. However, historical and cultural path-dependencies that are strongly gendered prevent achieving an unobscured link between merit based criteria such as educational achievement and labour market outcomes. Not only, local practices of gender discrimination are path dependent, but also present and future decisions and behaviours of firms are made in a context that is constrained by past decisions (Casillas, Moreno, & Acedo, 2012). Glinow, Huo, and Lowe (1999) explain that traditional work-related values may remain intact even when a country experiences a drastic change in its economic system and business environment as in the case of emergent economies of the Asia-Pacific region. As a result, despite talent shortages and feminization of education, female talent remains underutilized due to the persistence of traditional values, beliefs and practices that are gendered. If the underutilization of female talent is the outcome of multifaceted, multi-level and complex dynamics, why do we make a case particularly for gender quotas? We argue that gender quotas can act as facilitator of progressive change towards promoting a merit and performance based management of talent, free from gendered assumptions and stereotypes (see Hoel, 2009). Cultural change is a slow and incremental process and effects of history are hard to erase. Therefore, more immediate talent management interventions are necessary to speed up the evolution towards a more egalitarian culture and to tackle talent shortages. In that context, gender quotas are seen by some as a fast track to equal gender representation (Dahlerup & Freidenvall, 2003). Yet, research shows that top-down enforcement of quotas without the support of and ownership by employers does not yield the desired outcomes (Forstenlechner et al., 2012). For that reason, this paper poses gender quotas not solely as a governmental level policy measure but also, and maybe more importantly, as a beneficial strategic tool for local and multinational companies to address the talent challenges they experience. Gender quotas also switch the burden of recruitment from the individual woman to those controlling recruitment processes (Dahlerup, 1998). In the same way talent management, with its explicit focus on merit above and beyond kinship ties and other arbit rary criteria, can disturb vested interests in organizations and place the burden on organizations to recruit and retain talent. Therefore, the use of gender quotas is complementary to management of talent and provides a workable solution to talent shortages. Seierstad and Healy (2012) warn about the dangers of framing quotas as the ultimate solution to gender inequality. Similarly, we urge that quotas should not be seen as the silver bullet but will be effective only if they are supported by a web of proactive equality measures and practices across multiple levels. To what extent a specific organizational talent management intervention can in fact deliver progressive results that promote meritocracy depends on the overall organizational willingness towards tackling its culture and structures that help generate nepotism and favouritism on the basis of arbitrary criteria such as gender. Thomas and Ely (1996) distinguish four possible diversity paradigms in describing the organizational diversity efforts: the resistance paradigm, the discrimination-and-fairness paradigm, the access-and- legitimacy paradigm and the learning-and-effectiveness paradigm. Usually, interventions such as implementation of gender quotas are thought to be part of the discriminationand-fairness paradigm, which denotes an organizational focus on legislative actions, such as affirmative action based on moral and ethical justification. However, we argue that gender quotas may be and should be also perceived as integral to the access -and-legitimacy paradigm in which the organizational focus is on the business case for equality and diversity at work for a number of reasons. Gender quotas ca n be used as a strategic tool to promote merit-based HR and talent management approaches that transcend the local patriarchal conventions. Therefore, gender quotas may help tackle the underutilization of female talent pools externally as well as the inefficient use of the female talent in the internal workforce of the organization. Gender quotas if used effectively in the HR marketing have a potential to contribute to the reputation of the companies. The use of quotas would help not only to attract the best female talent in the labour market giving a competitive edge to progressive or ganizations in the war for talent but also help expand their consumer markets.
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Yet we agree with Thomas and Ely (1996) that the most sophisticated equality and diversity approaches are characterized by the learning-andeffectiveness paradigm, which requires a radical transformation of organizational culture towards an open culture of fairness, participation and inclusion. Gender quotas have a potential to facilitate this transformation particularly in contexts such as of the Asia -Pacific economies that we reviewed, where both organizational and wider societal culture is deeply imbued in patr iarchal value systems. Beyond the quantitative increase in numbers of talented female at professional and managerial ranks, the real value of gender quotas lies in their potential to h elp overcome the rigidities of gendered path-dependence patterns, and to open up new paths by affecting change in the cultural values and perceptions. Use of gender quotas would help increase the number of female role models; raise awareness in terms of gender equality and equal opportunit ies; enhance women's individual strategies at the workplace; and, in turn, help transform the gendered beliefs and assumptions that individual men and women personally uphold. 4.1. Managerial implications Intensification of competition for talent has become a cliche of our times. Management of talent is about developing ´ innovative and competitive ways of managing staff, which can capture the composition, demands and patterns of talent of the future. Emerging economies of Asia-Pacific have more dynamic contexts, which experience more high-speed change than developed countries. Talent management practices in the region need to have the ?exibility, foresight and creative ?air in order to capture this faster tempo of life and work, and need to stretch, develop, extend and transcend traditional approaches to management of talent at work. In the cases of five emerging economies, what appears rather problematic is the absence of foresight in dealing with talent management. Many multinational and local companies rely on short term measures based on expatriation and migration rather than bu ilding capacity of the internal talent pools, particularly in relation to utilization of the available female talent. In fact, migration has long been considered a solution to deal with talent shortages. Yet, in the context of emerging economies such as the ones in the Asia-Pacific region, there are particular concerns raised regarding exodus of talent as a result of the emigration of highly skilled workers to developed countries (World Economic Forum, 2010). Therefore, multinational and local firms need to take more proactive roles in identifying new and innovative practices for widening their talent pools. There is often a trade off between economic rationales (utilizing female labour) and traditional views (patriarchal formulations). In that context, gender quotas constitute a forward looking talent management strategy. 4.1.1. What should governments do? Our review specifically suggests that in order to overcome the talent shortages, governments need to develop effective measur es to remove gender inequality and bias from systems of talent management in order to tackle underutilization and ineffective use of female talent. In this paper, we particularly emphasized the use of gender quotas as a talent management strategy to address the challenges of recrui ting and retaining the best talent. Thanks to the large investments made in the region on developing female talent over the years, the use of gender quotas is no w an economically and pragmatically viable and beneficial option for both local and multinational firms in addressing their talent needs. Furthermore, changes in the European and North American legal environments, as well as evidence from successful applications render quotas less contentious and more desirable measures than they were traditionally considered. As we stated earlier, gender quotas are not a mere governmental level political issue but they have a strategic significance for local and multinational firms who are players in the global war for talent. 4.1.2. What should organizations do? Talent shortages can be a serious problem for local as well as multinational firms with tangible outcomes for their performan ce and competitiveness. Tapping the female potential is a mean to gain an advantage in the war for talents and gender quotas are a n appropriate approach to attracting females. It is essential that organizations develop a sound understanding on the economic necessity for widenin g the internal and external talent pools available to them through effective utilization of the female talen t. Therefore, we propose the introduction of (credible) gender quotas on the organizational level, which organizations should utilize then in improving their HR practices as well as their market position. There are plausible strategic reasons for firms to implement gender quotas as a part of their talent management portfolio such as the development of a larger consumer market, access the wider pool of talent and increase in organizational performance through attracting the best talent. Yet, gender quotas may meet with resistance in the absence of sophisticated business case arguments and inclusive organizational cultures. Therefo re, organizations, both local and multinational, need to develop a clear rationale for implementing quotas accounting for the views , needs and positioning of multiple stakeholders such as the government, competitors, customers and employees. Internally, it is crucial for companies to achieve organization-wide buy in for gender quotas to overcome the resistance to change and to misspell myths about quotas. Genuine organi zational ownership of and commitment to quotas can be achieved through promoting a dialogue between organizational members, ensuring open and informati ve communication channels instead of dictating the quotas as a top-down measure and imposing targets. The firms need to be aware that although gender quotas constitute an important strategy option to kick start a change towards and organizational culture which values merit over arbitrary criteria based on group membership, quotas can hardly produce the expected positive outcomes if they are not surrounded and supported by a web of other talent
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management and equality measures. As explained in the previous sections of this paper, there are multiple and complex set of factors beh ind talent shortages as well as under-utilization of female talent in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, local and multinational companies need to recognize that quotas may be an effective strategy to attract and recruit female talent but alone they are not sufficient to ensure the rete ntion, recognition and full utilization of talent. For instance, we showed that work-life con?ict constitutes a major obstacle for women to progress in the corporate hierarchies. For that reason ?exible working arrangements and other work life provisions such as childcare facilities need to be implement ed in order to support women's career advancement (Windsor & Auyeung, 2006). Furthermore, HR policies, procedures and practices are important sites of intervention to ensure equal opportunities and treatment. For example, Woodhams et al. (2009) argue that although HR practices such as recruitment and selection are not the only reason for gender discrimination, and are more likely to be the symptoms of wider patriarchal structures in the society, they still constitute important areas for necessary and achievable intervention. Other forms of change initiativ es at organizational level may involve provision of diversity and equality training, development of proactive equal opportunities guidelines and policies among others (Lee & Pow, 1999). The role of organizations goes beyond being passive recipients of governmental policy. They are indeed important actors who could on the one hand introduce quotas and initiate inter-firm learning processes to enhance their talent management practices and on the other hand, they could use lobbying to in?uence the relevant po litical decision-makers towards introducing gender quotas. However, there are different challenges for effective management of female talent, due to contextual differences emanating from historical, social, cultural and economic variations. Re?ecting on the literature evidence, we suggest organizational approaches, which are sensitive to national context but which at the same time progress n ational challenges, drawing on transnational and cross-national learning. A good example of inter-firm and cross national learning and knowledge transfer is the global diversity councils that some multinational firms have been establishing. Such councils have the potential of shari ng good practices to carve out future practices of effective utilization of talent and tackling the talent gap. Such learning is possible if organizations move beyond and transcend national differences, allowing for transversal dialogues, which cut across local, global, regional and national dif ferences. Therefore, organizations need to explore what they can learn from progressive approaches in other organizations as well as in other countries and regions. For example, Ng and Chiu (1997) found that in Hong Kong companies of American and European origins had more sophisticated equal opportunities policies and programs compared to domestic firms. Thus, knowledge transfer activities between countries and organizations are an important channel to ensure dissemination of progressive approaches to talent management. In this respect, multinational firms possibly have a competitive advantage over the local firms due to their access to a wider and more diverse range of knowledge base on good practice in equality and diversity across their branch networks in different countries, regions and continents. A caution is warranted that the transfer of good practice is not a straightforward process of replicating policies and programs across different national contexts (Hong, Snell, & Easterby-Smith, 2009). The challenges of knowledge transfer are even more pronounced between countries that are culturally dissimilar than between culturally similar contexts (Scullion et al., 2007). Sensitivity to different cultural and social contexts is necessary when translating HRM strategies (Kamoche, 1997; Reiche, 2008). Therefore, it is important to consider talent management and equal opportunities practices in each respective national, regional, sectoral, and organizational context, as these approaches only make sense within the specific geography and period for which they are formulated. The specific gender equality context of the Asia-Pacific region is in fact one of the reasons why we emphasize gender quotas as a significant tool to address the interplay between talent management and the utilization of female talent. There is an overall improvement in the region of women in education, and employment. However, gender discrimination based on arbitrary criteria remains a persistent social problem underlined by rigidities of path dependent behaviour. In that specific context, quotas can serve to liberate the local and international companies from patriarchal traditions that are prevalent in the region in their pursuit of attracting the best talent. 4.2. Research implications The fields of talent management as well as gendered barriers to effective management of talent in the Asia -Pacific region remain under-explored (Ozbilgin & Syed, 2010). Our aim in this paper was to present a birds-eye view of the interplay ¨ between talent management and gender segregation in the Asia Pacific region, and to offer directions for remedial action. Against the background of a growing talent shortage across the globe, the relationship between talent management, particularl y gender quotas, and gender segregation issues is likely to remain as an important area of investigation in the future. However, it is hard to do justice to complex histories of these regional economies in explaining the evolution of gender regimes. So, there is a need for empirical studies, which investigate multiple levels of context including the national, regional, sectoral and organizational levels. Understanding the context in terms of place, time and institutions, is crucial to formulating progressive and meritocratic talent management practices in the region. It is also important to explore the role of key institutions in order to appreciate local dynamics of gender segregation and underutilization of female talent. In advanc ed economies, there is often a well-researched link between institutions of education and employment. Emerging economies, which we review in this paper, have complex interplays between their institutions of education and employment: social relationships come into play and less studied forms of social distinctions are played out in gendered practices. Therefore, there is a need for empirical studies that explore varied const ituent groups such as social networks, family ties and other non-work relationships which have an impact on the way work is organized and gender roles are ascribed.
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This paper focused on the interplay between talent management and gender. Yet, gender is but one category of social diversity in organizations. Future research could be also conducted to explore the link between talent management and other forms of discriminatory practices, which also lead to talent drain and underutilization of the talent of particular groups across fault lines of race and ethnicity, sexuality, nationality, class and caste, disability among others. Furthermore, despite the growing significance of talent management, there is not a universal body of knowledge, which can cater for all talent management needs of an organization. Indeed, requirements of talent management vary also by sector. Future research should consider regional differences in terms of sectoral competition for talent. Finally, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the difference between local and multinational firms in the region in terms of their particular talent shortage challenges and their strategies for managi ng talent. As a result we know very little about whether local firms and multinational firms are affected by the talent shortage in the same way and wh ether they do have similar resources and opportunities to deal with the talent shortage. Therefore, further research is necessary to distinguish talent needs, challenges and approaches of local and international firms. 5. Conclusion Based on a review of the academic literature and country reports, this paper assessed the interplay between talent management challenges and gender segregation in five emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region: China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The central contribution of this paper is that considering talent management and gender equality together may offer a creative, albeit partial, solution to address often reported talent shortages in the Asia Pacific region. Women have made inroads in all disciplines of education, and resu ltantly the face of talent has irreversibly changed in the region. However, women at work still suffer from traditional gender norms, which limit the full use of their talent at work, and block their access to managerial and leadership positions. We illustrate the utility of gender quotas to draw attention to gender bias and untapped female potential in the region. Our manuscript contributes to the debate on the utility of quotas as a catalyst for or ganizations to consider deeper cultural change to recognize the untapped potential of women, who make up half of the talented graduates in the region. Despite the presence of significant talent shortages in all of the five cases, gendered cultural and traditional practices pr event female potential to be utilized to address the talent shortages. Therefore, gender inequality is a significant barrier to effective talent management. Informed by the findings of the review, the paper presented gender quotas as a viable solution for tackling talent shortages through better u tilization of female talent and better alignment educational qualifications and labour market outcomes, and by improving the system of merit-based employment and career structures. We bridge the scholarly gap between talent management and gender segregation research using evidence from five emerging economies in the Asia Pacific region. Developing recent works on the connection between gender quotas and performance (Forstenlechner et al., 2012; Nielsen & Huse, 2010; Seierstad & Opsahl, 2011), we bring the discussion of gender quotas into the talent management literature and demonstrate the relevance of gender quotas as a strategy for effective performance of talent management in the context of Asia Pacific countries which have wide pools of untapped female talent. Based on our review, we also provide specific recommendations for organizational leaders to recognize and leverage the untapped female potential to succeed in the war for talent. One of the limitations of paper is our assumption that Asia Pacific region may be receptive to ideas of gender equality and t o adoption of gender quotas to achieve gender equality. Although we are not comparing the region to Europe, we argue that the effects of applying gender quotas in fact can be similar. Gender quotas can raise awareness and mobilize cultural change in the long term in addressing the untappe d female potential in the Asia Pacific region. Therefore, we are suggesting quotas as a way to break the impasse induced by voluntarism (Ozbilgin and Tatli, 2011) in dealing with female talent loss and talent ¨ shortages in the region. We explain that quotas in themselves are not sufficient means to achieve change but can serve as catalyst to combat gender bias, which is entrenched in traditional cultures. Historically, equality initiatives have travelle d among countries (Syed & Ozbilgin, 2009). Civil rights movements in North America and Europe have transformed the ¨ landscape of education and employment in terms of liberties and rights for women internationally. We are proposing that quotas should be considered as part of a range of talent management strategies in the region. Another limitation of our study is the fact that gender quotas remain contested measures internationally, although their popularity is reportedly increasing. The use of quotas in different national settings proves useful in raising awareness of national challenges of gender inequalities. Renationalization quotas drew attention to high levels of unemployment among home nationals in the Middle East and gender quotas drew attention to slow pace of change towards fair representation in boards of Norwegian companies. In both cases, government interventions were faced with resistance from organizations. In the case of Asia Pacific, organizations are also likely to resist such state regulation. However, evidence suggests that state regulation can draw organizational attention and energy towards addressing national problems (Klarsfeld, 2009). In this context, we see that regulation for gender quotas can raise awareness about the interplay between talent shortages and untapped female potential. References
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doc_904738265.docx
Business Study on Unrequited Affinity between Talent Shortages and Untapped Female Potential: The Relevance of Gender Quotas for Talent Management in High Growth Potential Economies of the Asia Pacific Region:- Talent management refers to the anticipation of required human capital the organization needs at the time then setting a plan to meet those needs.[1] The field dramatically increased in popularity after McKinsey's research and subsequent book on The War for Talent.
Business Study on Unrequited Affinity between Talent Shortages and Untapped Female Potential: The Relevance of Gender Quotas for Talent Management in High Growth Potential Economies of the Asia Pacific Region
ABSTRACT
We demonstrate that gender quotas have not attracted due interest as a talent management formulation in the Asia Pacific region. Drawing on a literature review, this paper illustrates the utility of gender quotas for talent management in the context of hig h growth potential economies in the Asia Pacific region, i.e. China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. These five economies are characterized with talent shortages on the one hand, and untapped female potential on the other. We show the necessity and legitimacy of considering gender quotas as part of talent management strategy in the region in order to leverage untapped female potential for addressing talent shortages.
1. Introduction Gender inequalities in recruitment, retention and career development prevent talented women achieving equal outcomes at work as similarly to talented men. As such, gender inequality remains one of the major barriers to promoting meritocracy in the workplace (Anker, 2004). Earlier this year the European Justice Commissioner (2012), Viviane Reding, declared her concern with the slow pace of change towards gender equality and stated ''I'm not a fan of quotas. But I do like the results they achieve''. Her statement heralds a new era in which there will be wider adoption of gender quotas, which were previously considered contentious measures in Europe. We can also reasonably expect that North American and European multinational organizations will transpose quota ideas to rest of the world as they did with ideas of equality, diversity and inclusion at work (Syed & Ozbilgin, 2009). ¨ Due to pressing talent shortages, talent management is becoming an important strategic area for the survival and success of both multinational and local business across the globe that compete for attracting and retaining talent (Selmer, Ebrahimi, & Mingtao, 2002). In an international business environment that is characterized by war for talent, under-utilization of female talent potential is an area of concern for companies and governments alike (Hewlett & Rashid, 2011). The recent UK Governmental consultation into 'women on board' is a case in point. It was noted that ''The low proportion of women holding
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directorships suggests that British business is not using all of the skills and talents of the workforce effectively and wome n are being denied the opportunity to reach their true potential and contribute fully to the UK economy'' (BIS, 2010). Yet, the link between the areas of talent management and untapped female potential is underexplored in both advanced and developing economies. In this paper, drawing on the interplay between these two areas, we illustrate the utility of applying gender quotas as a means to address talent shortages that local and multinational firms face in the emerging economies of the Asia-Pacific region. The relationship between talent management, particularly gender quotas, and gender segregation issues is particularly relevant for international business, since talent shortage can be a serious problem for local as well as multinational firms. Gender quotas as governmental and organizational level policy measures are now considered internationally. Although the use of quotas remains controversial, widely acknowledged success of national experiments with gender quotas in Northern Europe suggests international adoption of this practice likely (Nielsen & Huse, 2010). It is interesting that a connection has not been made in the literature between gender quotas and talent management. This paper demonstrates this connection at governmental and organizational levels in the Asia-Pacific context. Scullion, Collings, and Gunnigle (2007) point out that the shifting landscape of the global business environment with the rise of emerging economies in East Asia poses fresh challenges for managing talent. Emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region are black boxes in terms of their unique settings, needs and processes of talent management. Therefore, there is an urgent need for scholarly attention to talent management issues in the region. We explore five Asia -Pacific economies, which are identified as having high growth potential and dynamism in terms of talent management. China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan are characterized with talent shortages, untapped female talent potential and major changes of socio - economic, cultural, institutional and demographic nature. For this paper, we reviewed the academic literature, as well as national and comparative country reports. Our review shows that there are identifiable talent shortages in all of the five cases. Low birth rates as well as increased demand for labour mean that thei r labour markets will rely increasingly on migrant labour to fill vacant posts for talented workers. At the same time, the slow progress of women's posi tion in the labour market compared to the rapid increase in their educational levels, demonstrates that female talent remains underutilized in Asia-Pacific economies (MeulenRodgers, Zveglich, & Wherry, 2006; Nakavachara, 2010; Yukongdi, 2005). Deeply entrenched cultural values and traditional practices of employment prevent the female talent potential to be released in the region (Rowley, Yukonkdi, & Qi Wei, 2010) and, gender inequality establishes a significant barrier to overcoming the talent shortages in the societies that are explored in this paper. Gender quotas can se rve to disrupt the established order, whereas voluntary measures often pay lip service to change, retain status quo and promise little progress (Ozbilgin & Tatli, 2011). Quotas promise a break with tradition, and as such they can ¨ mobilize more progressive approaches to culture change in the longer term. Arguments were raised against quotas that gender quotas would harm merit and performance at work. However, recent analyses show that women who joined with the quota rules did not undermine talent at work and their organizations have not experienced a downturn in performance, contrary to what alarmists would have liked us to believe (Nielsen & Huse, 2010). The paper is structured as follows: first section reviews talent management literature with a view to highlighting its ongoing inattention to potentiality of gender quotas. Then, we present five cases of high growth potential economies, i.e. China, Singapore, Thailand, Hon g Kong and Taiwan, with a specific focus on untapped female talent potential. Finally, we provide an assessment of the relevance of gender quotas for addressing talent shortages. 2. Talent management and gender quotas Although the term, Talent management, is now widely recognized in the strategic and international HRM terminology, its incept ion dates back only to the 1990s, when McKinsey & Company first referred to it in their report The War for Talent (Michaels, Handfield-Jones, & Axelrod, 2001). Since then, practitioners have been showing interest in the topic of talent management. However, academic research on talent management lags behind, particularly in terms of clarity and consensus (Scullion, Collings, & Caligiuri, 2010). Talent management can be defined as the creative and competitive way by which organizations meet their human capital needs. In recent years the notion of talent management has broadened to address the challenges management of talent at international and cross-national scale as well as national and sectoral levels in order to deal with pressing demands of talent shortages and surpluses, how talent may be loca ted and relocated, and how talent may be effectively compensated (Tarique & Schuler, 2010). Managing talent involves creative and competitive use of internal talent to their full potential, and meeting the demand for external talent by scanning supply in the local and global labour market. On e of the rationales offered for necessity of talent management is the changing demography. Aging population, declining birth rates, feminization of higher education, increased economic migration and regional shortages of skilled and unskilled labour all render management of talent a source of global competitive advantage (Economic Forum, 2010). Indeed, a study by Manpower illustrates that skills shortages is a global phenomenon, although it is felt in different ways across Asia Pacific, Americas, Europe and the Middle East (Manpower, 2008). Across these regions skills shortages are an ongoing challenge for local and international employers, which are not likely to disappear in the short term (Manpower, 2010). In pursuit of effective ways of managing talent, and to address the reported shortages of talent, var ious innovative practices have been developed, including outsourcing, cross-border and on-demand employment practices as well aschanges in educational practices and migration policies (World Economic Forum, 2010). Global Talent Index is one of many tools to identify the current level of competitiveness in national talent management practices (Economist Intelligence Unit,
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2007). Nevertheless, such tools are blunt instruments that offer little appreciation of deeper dynamics of talent management, includ ing the cultural and institutional contexts in which talent management decisions are made. In this crowded context, there has not been an attempt to explore gender quotas as a viable method for talent management to activate the female potential, which emerged due to an unprecedented incre ase in rates of female literacy and employment, yet remained underutilized in both developed and developing countries. We argue that gender quotas can be considered as one of the measures to address the problem of untapped female talent and to offer a partial response to general talent shortages. Gender quotas are widely discussed and applied in the field of politics in order to achieve equal political representation (Krook, 2006; Squires, 1996). The Norwegian government introduced the first quota rules with the Norwegian Gender Equality Act of 1981. Quota practices aim ing the advancement of women's representation in boards of publicly traded companies in Northern Europe are now widely perceived as successful (Nielsen & Huse, 2010). Yet, quotas generally remain controversial (Combs, Nadkarni, & Combs, 2005; Jones, 1996, 1998; Tienari, Holgersson, Merilainens, & Hook, 2009) and are ¨ ¨¨ not always welcome, as they challenge vested interests at work (Agocs & Burr, 1996; Bergen, Soper, & Foster, 2002). ´ Forstenlechner, Lettice, and Ozbilgin (2012) argue ''the success and failure of a quota system is contingent upon a web of multi-level in?uences, transcending the tendency of current debates to polarize the value and weaknesses of quotas in absolute measure''. Therefore, beyond the backlash against gender quotas, which rests on knee jerk reactions rather than robust evidence, we argue that gend er quotas can be used to tackle talent shortages and for successful talent management. However, the lack of legislation in terms of gender quotas across developed and developing countries, can limit organizational choices in the adoption of quotas. Therefore, we urge caution against perspectives that frame gender quotas as a mere political issue where the national governments are the key actors and stakeholders. Instead, there is a strong case to be made for the relevance of merit-based gender quotas at organizational level because widening the talent pool by tapping into the underutilized female potenti al is likely to provide companies with competitive advantage in the war for talent. In contexts where historical and socio-cultural norm and value systems promote male privilege, gender quotas can be used to break the impasse, promote equality awareness and draw attention to merit-based recruitment and representation. For example Niederle and Vesterlund (2007) made a strong case for gender quotas, showing that despite lack of gender differences in work performance, women are less likely tha n men to compete for higher status roles, as women shy away from competition and men embrace it. The authors conclude that this might explain why women are underrepresented in many high-profile jobs and across a number of professions. These findings not only provide a strong argument for gender quotas, but also highlight the fact that there is no shortage of talented women in general, but rather that their talent remains less visible and resultantly undervalued (see Acker, 1990, 1994, 2006). The situation in the Asia Pacific region bodes well to comparison with the above case in developed countries of the west. Women have entered education and employment in large numbers over the last few decades in the Asia-Pacific region (Meulen-Rodgers et al., 2006; Nakavachara, 2010). Women now make up half of the economically active population. Their levels of education and experience rival those of men. However, their talents remain unrecognized and under-valued. Women continue to be under-represented in positions of power and authority across sectors of employment in the region. Talent management can play a role in changing this counter-productive situation in a way to help local and multinational firms to survive and lead the global war for talent. Gender diversity and gender quotas may have utility for talent management, if they are underpinned by talent. We note that there is a virtuous cycle in considering gender diversity and talent together rather than separately. One benefit of considering gender diversity for talent management is that there is merit in addressing gender biases at work, as half of the talented staff at work are women. For diversity manag ement practice, considering talent can help organizations to construct a business case for adoption of gender equality initiati ves. Recognizing the significance of connecting talent and diversity, Mellahi and Collings (2010) identified that organizations, which limit their pool of talent, miss out on managing diverse talent from the different countries in which they operate, and are likely to lose out in this competitive game. Therefore, there is room for considering gender quotas as part of the creative ?air by which talent management interventions are formulated. As a multi -dimensional management effort, talent management requires appreciation of internal and external labour market of the organization, recognizing its potential for growth and development in line with other contextual changes (CIPD, 2006, 2009). Gender quotas cross these boundaries, by promising to raise awareness of barriers to the full recognition of female talent. Gender quotas are important, albeit limited, measures which can draw attention to the connection between female talent waste/potential and general talent shortages. We are not suggesting gender quotas a s the only effective means to release the untapped talent potential. Instead, we suggest gender quotas as a method for challenging the impasse induced by the tradition al gendered constructions of work, life and talent (Acker, 2006). 3. Talent management and relevance of gender quotas in high growth potential economies of the Asia Pacific region In this paper, rather than adopting a generic approach to the link between untapped female potential and talent management, we focus on five emerging Asia Pacific economies and offer quotas as a way forward in this context. There is extensive literature on developed countries in terms of their labour markets and social and economic institutions; however, the same cannot be said of the emerging economies (Bowen, Wu, Hwang, & Scherer, 2007; Kang, Ding, & Charoenwong, 2010). Conversely, neither talent shortages nor gender quotas are experienced in the same way across the globe. Indeed, there are unique local contexts, social, cultural, political and organiz ational in?uences. For that reason, we focus on
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understanding talent management context and challenges and their link to untapped female potential in five emerging economies in the Asia Pacific region: China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. These five cases are chosen for the high growth potential of their economies, shared problem of talent shortages, and the illustrious nature of their historical trajectory in terms of talent and untapped female potential. 3.1. China China is a very diverse country, which consists of many different regions, has as many as 40 nationalities, and many different languages (April & Smit, 2010). After joining the WTO, it has become a popular host country for multinational corporations (Bowen et al., 2007). Talent shortage in China is well documented (Farell & Grant, 2005). In a recent survey conducted by Mercer, 72% of respondents said that the number one challenge in recruiting staff was a lack of qualified candidates in the Chinese market. With the number of young adults is set to shrink i n the near future, the current talent shortages are indication of a serious problem for the China's economic future (Economist, 2010). China is facing its main talent shortages in the service sector, where there is high demand for and low supply of skilled labour. Moreover there is a short age in supply of labour for managerial occupations. McKinsey reported in 2005 that over the next 10-15 years Chinese companies would need a considerably higher number of globally effective leaders in order to realize their global ambitions and goals (Wilson, 2008). According to Farell and Grant (2005), in the coming decades the need of Chinese companies for leaders who can work in global environments will go up from 5000 to 75,000 creating an even bigger talent shortage at managerial levels. As more Chinese companies turn to international talent in order to address their supply shortages, international companies wishing to set up offshoring operations in the country find themselves in direct competition for talent with Chinese companies due to China's own growing economy (Bjorkman, Smale, Sumelius, Suutari, & Lu, 2008). China does not only have a lack of ¨ homegrown talent but also the problem of brain drain, contributing to the country's widening skills shortages (Farell & Grant, 2005). Despite the chronic shortages of talent, talent management strategies are underdeveloped in China (Cooke, 2009). However, recently Chinese firms started to invest more in HR to develop their systems for retaining talent and improving their market competitiveness (Zhu, 2005). In fact, Bjorkman et al. (2008) in their study of the changes in HRM practices between 1996 ¨ and 2006 in European-owned subsidiaries in China found evidence of convergence with increasing transparency in external and internal human resourcing. They argue that HRM practices of multinational companies may have had a positive in?uence in changing the traditional Chinese beliefs about efficient HRM practices. Notwithstanding such positive developments, numerically women continue to significan tly lag behind men at managerial ranks although gender education gap has substantially narrowed down (Aaltio & Huang, 2007; Cooke, 2005). Therefore, there is potential for organizations to capture and benefit from untapped female talent in their competition for talent (Nolan, 2010). Untapped female potential in China is multi-faceted. Cooke (2005) explored the opportunities for and barriers to managerial careers for women in areas of government administration, higher education, entrepreneurship and rural enterprises, and revealed that female managerial candidates are discouraged via several mechanisms at social and personal levels. Traditional gender attitudes, prejudices and assumptions continue to disadvantage women in China in the areas of work and education (Turner, 2006). These entrenched gendered value system works at several levels starting from the individuals' belief systems and extending to organizational practices and societal norms. At a macro level, the gendered structures of the society frame the outcomes of economic developments in a way to maintain the existing systems of inequality. For example, Braunstein and Brenner (2007) argue that the interplay between traditional patterns of segregation and the shift of foreign direct investment to mor e domestically oriented production has resulted in a widening of the gender pay gap. At the organizational level, traditional ideology of Confucianism has historically informed China's HRM systems (Ngo, 2008). As Leung (2002) argues Confucian values embed a patriarchal notion of gender roles and expectations, which in turn shapes the organizational practices from recruitment, to promotion and work-life balance provision. Woodhams, Lupton, and Xian's (2009) analysis of recruitment advertisements evidences direct and indirect gender discrimination through the use of gendered expectations and stereotypes on abilities which are a re ?ection of the traditional ideas of men and women's roles at work. Gendered disadvantage in employment is not limited to getting the job, but plays a significant role in determining the career development prospects for women in their organizations. On the basis of a survey of 582 employees in B eijing, Peng, Ngo, Shi, and Wong (2009) conclude that women have lower levels of job commitment compared to their men colleagues because of stronger perceptions of gender discrimination and the gender bias in the assignment of job roles, i.e. assignment of less challenging job roles to women. Work-life balance issues constitute another significant barrier for Chinese women to progress into managerial levels. The study conducted by Aaltio and Huang (2007) with women managers in the IT sector shows that traditional Chinese culture which emphasizes guanxi incurs work-family con?ict, and thereby high emotional costs from career advancement for this group of women. In a culture of guanxi, the use of informal networks to get things done takes a centre-stage. Faure and Fang (2008) found that although professionalism is becoming an important element of career progression in China, guanxi is still the prominent tool in furthering one's career. Fan (2002) calls for research that compares guanxi with western forms of relation-based systems, such as old boys networks to better understand international management and HRM. Similarly, the philosophy of Yin Yang, based on interconnection of dual cosmic energies that are identified as female and male energy (Faure & Fang, 2008), is another element of Chinese culture that is imbued with polarized gendered stereotypes, attributes and cultural expectation regarding the place of men and women in the society.
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Such gender ideologies unsurprisingly extend to the individual members of the Chinese society, which is often described as a culturally masculine society (Cheng, Chan, & Leung, 2010), shaping their views on suitable careers for women. For example, Bowen et al. (2007) found that men of both older and younger generations continue to hold negative attitudes and perceptions towards women as managers. Liu, Comer, and Dubinsky (2001) explored the attitudes of salespeople towards women as sales managers and arrived at similar conclusions in terms of the nega tive male attitude and resistance towards women holding managerial ranks. However, China has a dynamic culture and economy, which is open to exploration of alternative ways of managing talent. In this context, gender quotas may offer a way to release the untapped female potential in the country. 3.2. Singapore Singapore was among the first countries in the Asian context, which moved away from a capital driven economy towards a knowledge-driven economy, which requires having a highly skilled workforce. It was ranked third in the Global Competitiveness Report of 2009-2010 (World Economic Forum, 2010). Moreover, the unemployment rates are low in Singapore, with only 2.3% in June of 2010 (Trading Economics, 2010a). Already in the 1980s, it became clear that labour shortage would be a problem, hindering further expansion and growth. Therefore Singapore institutionalized plans and programs to develop a world-class workforce acknowledging the importance of talent and education, and life-long learning (Budhwar & Debrah, 2008; Debrah, 1996). The government targets in particular the education system in order to support the national strategy in competing globally for talent. The national efforts to tackle talent shortages and carve out a competitive position for Singa pore are also emulated by corporations in the country which are geared up to compete in the global market for talented workers, offering attractive employment deals to ensure competitive recruitment and retention outcomes. Consequently, talent management activities are fairly developed in Singapore (HRM Asia, 2010). However, underutilization of female talent still remains to be a key area of intervention for successful management of talent in the country (Lee &Pow, 1999; Windsor & Auyeung, 2006). In Singapore, multiple barriers prevent female potential to be mobilized in the field of employment (Chi-Ching, 1992). Li and Leung (2001) on the basis of their study of female hotel managers in Singapore argue that barriers for women to move up in the organizational hierarchy is to a large extent a result of the cultural and societal values and sanctions. Kang et al.'s (2010) study of investors' reactions to the appointment of women as managers in Singaporean firms explains some of the reasons why glass ceiling persists. They found that investors generally responded positively to appointment of women managers as independent directors, but were much less receptive of female CEOs. Lee and Hoon's (1993) content analysis of newspaper articles on women and men managers show that gender based stereotypical views dominate the cultural scene. Media's portrayal of male managers was substantially based on their abilities, whereas stories of women managers were woven around the dilemmas and con?icts that they experience. A follow up study analyzed the media content between 1993 and 2003, and revealed that women managers are comparably more accepted but they are still expected to fulfil the traditional gender roles (Lee, 2005). Despite an increased cultural receptivity for women's participation in the labour market, Singaporeans continue to hold the traditional gendered i deas of women's role in family and society, and believe that it is women's individual responsibility to balance their careers and domestic lives (Jiuan, Wirtz, Jung, & Keng, 2001). These findings demonstrate the role of the interplay between work and home domains in perpetuating gendered hierarchies in organizations. Quek and Knudson-Martin (2008) call for more equal distribution of domestic responsibilities between the partners to redress gender imbalance in managerial positions. Organizational level policies in the areas of recruitment, career development and training, pay and rewards, work -lifepolicies are also crucial in addressing women's under-representation in managerial ranks (Lee & Pow, 1999). Yet, organizational practices, such as selection, performance appraisal and promotion are still based on gendered biases, contributing to the persistence of gender disadvantage (Chi-Ching, 1992). For example, women tend to favour ?exib le working arrangements, such as teleworking in order to balance the demands of work and family life due to the unequal distribution of domestic burden between men and women (Teo, Lim, & Har, 1999). There is a general lack of formal work-life provisions in Singaporean context (Li & Leung, 2001; Windsor & Auyeung, 2006). To be successful female, but not male, managers need to rely on a family support system to balance the work and life demands (Lee & Hoon, 1993). In large international accounting firms in Singapore, women's career progression, i.e. gaining a partnership, was negatively in?uenced by family circumstances, such as having dependent children, whilst for male accountants being a father had a positive correlation to managerial advancement (Windsor & Auyeung, 2006). Sun (2009) suggests that the Singaporean state needs to play a larger role in addressing the work-life needs of employees. She argues that state policy should cover wider set of benefits and rights including expansion of provisions such as ?exible working arrangements, paid maternity and paternity leave, and protection from dismissal on the grounds of leave of absence. States also play an important role for the introduction and implementation of gender quotas. However, this possibility has not been considered so far in the context of Singapore, which has a strong tradition of state regulation of employment dynamics. 3.3. Thailand Thailand's economy is an emerging economy which has experienced a rapid growth since the early 1980s (Appold, Siengthai, & Kasarda, 1998), i.e. between 1985 and 1995 Thailand experienced the highest growth rate in the world. Today
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Thailand is classified as the 2nd largest economy in Southeast Asia after Indonesia (Economy Watch, 2010). Furthermore, the unemployment rate in Thailand is with 1.54% in 2010 strikingly low (Trading Economics, 2010b). The rapid economic expansion led to an increased demand for and an under-supply of managers and professionals in the country (Yukongdi, 2005). Thailand has taken measures such as reforms in schooling to address the talent shortages and aging population. However, there are reports that current reforms in education need to be taken further if Thai education system is to provide the required talented labour (Wongboonsin, Guest, & Prachuabmoh, 2005). Furthermore, in order for Thailand to take the next step towards a dynamic and knowledge-based world economy, as desired by its government, there is need for structural reforms not only in the education systems but also in its system of employment. One of the areas that such reforms need to target is untapped female potential. The consensus view in Thailand is that educat ion can help overcome the underutilization of female potential in employment. Nakavachara's (2010) study on gender pay gap found only partial support for this assumption. Although the increase in female education resulted in some narrowing of the gender pay gap, superior education levels of female workforce did lead to neither reversal nor disappearance of the earning gap between men and women in the country. Similarly, Yukongdi (2005) argues that legislative and educational reforms resulted in improvement of women's labour market status, but there still are barriers to women's advancement to managerial positions. Interestingly, some scholars suggest that discrimination against women is imported by international firms operating in the country (Youngsamart, Fisher, & Hartel, 2010). However, the culture in Thailand ¨ remains in?uenced by patriarchal values, which portray women as dependent and maintain prejudices about women's ability to perform managerial roles (Virakul, 2000). Studies also demonstrate the presence of organizational barriers for women's career advancement. These barriers operate across different organizational practices, including recruitment and selection (Lawler, 1996), and maintained through organizational cultures that are gendered (Appold et al., 1998). For example, Appold et al. (1998) in their study of domestic companies operating in Thailand revealed that social homophily, in the form of male employees' preferences, was a prominent cause of gender discrimination. These findings suggest that for closing the gender gap in management, interventions at multiple levels are necessary, including proactive state policies, such as gender quotas, and changes in organizational policies and cultures (Virakul, 2000). 3.4. Hong Kong Hong Kong experienced significant economic restructuring since the mid-1980s. Major outward investment led to the deindustrialization of Hong Kong, transforming Hong Kong into a service-based economy (Chiu, 2004). Although Hong Kong is legally a part of China, its economic system differs significantly from the economic system of Mainland China, with a high degree of autonomy and a long quasi-autonomous history. Hong Kong's major capitalist service economy is marked by low taxation and free trade, making it one of the world's leading i nternational financial centres. The unemployment rates in Hong Kong are low with only 4.6% in 2010 (Trading Economics, 2010c). Hong Kong has also one of the lowest birth rates in the world at 0.9 per female and faces significant difficulties in growing its own talent. Therefore Hong Kong is largely dependent on supply of labour from both China and international labour markets for its development needs. This dependence on external labour is partly attributed to the failure of the education system to meet the demands of the Hong Kong economy in sectors such as IT(Olsen & Burges, 2007). Whilst Hong Kong needs to attract the best, most sought-after talent worldwide, there are reported difficulties in some companies to lure the required skilled workforce due to unfair discrimination. Despite the fact that education reforms and anti-discrimination legislation have led to an increase in women's employment, vertical segregation on the basis of gender continues to persist in Hong Kong, leading to a significant gender gap in workplace authority (Ng & Chakrabarty, 2005; Wong, 2005). Therefore, tackling discrimination and promoting equality are interlinked with the agenda for promoting talent management (Loper, 2001). Similar to the other cases presented in this paper, work-family con?ict constitutes a significant barrier for professional and managerial women in Hong Kong (Lo, Wright, & Wright, 2003; Ng & Chakrabarty, 2005). Ng, Fosh, and Naylor (2002) conducted a case study in an airline company and found that there was a sharp decrease in the number of women with families as one goes along the corporate hierarchy with virtual absence of women at the top grades. Aryee and Luk's (1996) study of 207 dual earner couples in Hong Kong revealed that women and men's work identity construction processes were shaped by the traditionally prescribed gender role patterns. There was a trade off involved when women balance their work and family identities whilst men were able to identify with both roles simultaneously. In addition to work -life con?ict, women also experi ence negative attitudes based on gendered norms and assumptions, sexual harassment and social exclusion at the workplace (Ng & Chakrabarty, 2005). Interestingly, a study based on interviews with 50 female married professionals with children showed that wo men identify with traditional gender roles (Lo et al., 2003). Ng and Fosh's (2004) research in a multinational company in Hong Kong indicates that women at higher levels in the corporation were less supportive of equal opportunities policies and programs compared to women at middle or lower ranks. They explain this disparity with the low expectation levels of female managers for their organizations to offer women -friendly policies and the resultant acceptance of a trade-off between career progression and family life (Ng & Fosh, 2004). In anticipation of intolerable work-life con?ict, many women tend to lower their career expectations (Ng et al., 2002). Similarly, Ng and Chakrabarty (2005) suggest that gender awareness among female managers in Hong Kong is low and there is a general acceptance of the traditionally ascribed social roles. For that
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reason, instead of confronting their partners, families, organizations or the Government on the issues of gender discrimination and inequality, women managers try to develop individual coping strategies. According to Chiu and Ng (1999) women benefited more from progressive work-life policies and demonstrated greater levels of psychological attachment to their organizations if such policies are available. Another study found that the larger the perceived gender discrimination, the lower the levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction for women compared to men (Foley, Ngo, & Wong, 2005). Unfortunately women-friendly policies were exceptions rather than the rule in organizations in Hong Kong (Chiu & Ng, 1999). Lo et al. (2003) argue that organizations need to develop an awareness of the work-life con?ict issues and their gendered nature if they are to attrac t and retain best talent. Chow and Ng (2007) suggest that there is a need to integrate gender-aware perspective into all public policies and programs in Hong Kong in order to increase the number of women managers. A more integrated approach on the other hand would involve multi-level change programs that are supported by womenfriendly and gender-sensitive policies at both state and organizational levels in order to speed up women's career advancement in managerial leve ls (Ng & Chakrabarty, 2005). Gender quotas could be one of such gender-sensitive policies at both the state and organizational level. 3.5. Taiwan During the 50 years of Japanese occupation from 1895 to 1946, Taiwan's industry was mainly developed as an agricultural base for Japan, commissioned to supply food and raw materials for Japan's industrialization. In recent years, Taiwan underwent substantial re structuring towards a capital and knowledge based economy. As a result of two major education reforms in the last three decades, th e country achieved remarkable improvements to its talent pool (Lin & Yang, 2009; Meulen-Rodgers et al., 2006). Yet, Taiwan has a labour market, which has skills shortages not only at low, but also at the high end of the skills spectrum. Brain drain presents a major talent management concern in Taiwan. For instance more than 200,000 Taiwanese high skilled workers reportedly immigrated to China in recent years (Wang & Hsiao, 2002). As a result of brain drain there are severe shortages of good managers in the country, but brain drain itself serves the individual managers well, by providing them access to jobs in international markets, freeing them of the limiting effects of local labour markets. For instance, talented female manager ma y opt out to migrate to countries where gender segregation is less pronounced and career opportunities are more rewarding for women. The example of Taiwan shows that it is not enough only to develop talent, but to keep the talent in the country. This requires acting on to promote f air employment systems to utilize the untapped talent potential such as high-skilled women (Choua, Fosh, & Foster, 2005). Despite the increasing participation of women in the labour market and narrowing of the educational inequality, female potent ial still remains underutilized and barriers for women to progress senior levels in their organizations still persist in Taiwan (Bowen, 2003; Lin & Yang, 2009; Meulen-Rodgers et al., 2006). Promoting women in management and tackling gender inequalities in the country requires a multi-dimensional effort. For example the Taiwanese Government was successful in reducing the educational inequality (Lin & Yang, 2009), but labour market outcomes of educational qualifications are still gendered with men benefiting significantly more compared to women from vocational education in terms of earnings premium (Meulen-Rodgers et al., 2006). National data show that there are serious issues of sex segregation and gender pay gap in the country (Bowen, 2003). Wu (2006) in a review of public relations industry reports that female executives as well as junior female employees in the sector experience discrimination including harassment, unfair pay and reward practices and stereotyping. Similarly, Bowen's (2003) analysis of the content of 7037 classified ads demonstrates the persistence of discriminatory hiring practices based on gender requirements. Taiwanese cultural values, which lead to high levels of work-life con?ict for women are stated as one of the most significant barriers to cracking the glass ceiling (Choua et al., 2005; Wua, Chang, & Zhuang, 2010). In a comparative study of female managers in the USA, Japan and Taiwan, Wu and Minor (1997) found that Taiwanese female managers displayed greater levels of traditional family and gender role orientation compared to their American and Japanese counterparts. Work-life con?ict and gender role expectations also in?uence women's rates of re -entry into employment after a career break (Yu, 2006). Interestingly, Chuang and Lee (2003) found that husband's attitudes towards a working wife had more significant effect on re-entry decision than the presence of dependent children. One of the conclusions that can be drawn from this study is that chan ge programs which are limited to formal state or organizational policies may have only limited impact if they are not combined with an effort to transform traditional value and belief systems. Confucian values and beliefs are stated to be fundamental to the organization of public and private domains in Taiwanese society, defining and constraining the roles ascribed to each gender (Tsai, 2006). Despite the labour shortages, married women, regardless of their human capital, are discouraged from professional and managerial jobs due to the primacy of patriarchal values stretching from societal norms to organizational practices (Brinton, Lee, & Parish, 1995). Women managers also meet with resistance to their authority in their organizations due to gendered stereotypes on the role and capabilities of women (Cheng & Liao, 1993). Considering the strong in?uence of patriarchal values in the Taiwanese society and organizations, gender quotas could provide a means to break the deadlock of tradition. 4. Discussion Our review suggests that there are common challenges facing talent management across emerging economies in Asia- Pacific region, including demographic changes, such as feminization of the labour market, brain drain, skills shortages and
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misalignment between education and employment. Yet, talent management remains an underdeveloped but increasingly important topic. Within that context, gender equality is intricately connected to talent management. Talent management literature can benefit from ex ploring equality and diversity literature in terms of organizational change interventions, as both literatures aspire for creating workplaces, whi ch are organized around ideas of merit and performance rather than arbitrary criteria. Despite this apparent complem entarity between the two literatures, there has been no attempt at combining them. This paper bridges this gap by linking talent management and untapped female potential in the context of five emerging Asia-Pacific economies. Inequality and segregation on the basis of gender prevents the effective use of available human resources in the context of five emerging economies that is reviewed in this paper. For that reason, it is essential for the governments and organizations in the region to design and implement policies and programmes that tackle gender inequalities as one possible way to address the talent gap that they suffer from. Gender quotas can provide one such talent management strategy. However, we do not propose gender quotas uncritically. Our revie w illustrates that traditional values and social expectations regarding gender roles within the family hinder women's careers. Introduction of a quota on the organ izational level is likely to remain a symbolic management intervention and does not in itself address the core of the problem. Particularly mere merit based promotions without addressing work-life imbalance and con?ict would disadvantage women again as they have not the same opportunity to deliver performance as men so long as they face the double burden of work and family duties (Beauregard, Ozbilgin, & Bell, 2009). Conversely, gender quotas may have the potential to force firms, who seek to fulfil their ¨ legal quota requirements, to introduce effective equality policies such as inclusive recruitment and retention strategies, leadership development programmes and work-life policies. We note that quotas cannot address the problem of gender inequality or untapped female talent directly. It may seem that it would be more helpful to introduce ?exible work and work -life balance policies at the organizational level instead of gender quotas. However, research demonstrates that organizations are not likely to take such voluntary measures that challenge gender norms at work and social life, in the absence of legal enforcement (Ozbilgin & Tatli, 2011). Gender quotas at the organizational level may serve a signalling ¨ function that the firm takes female talent serious. Therefore, quotas are important measures to initiate a change process, which can serve organizations to consider a range of other alternative measures including work -life balance, human resource ?exibility and diversity interventions. In the absence of legal measures such as quotas, voluntarism is not likely to provide sufficient incentive for organizations to consider gender equality as a talent strategy. The strategy for managing talent shortages via gender equality, induced by quotas, requires shared responsibility. The responsibility to deliver this strategy rests with governments, organizations and individuals themselves. However, it is important also to recognize barriers to effective implementation of such a strategy, as gender quotas face challenges because they confront the established order of power and status at work. Based on the review presented in the first part of the paper, Table 1 summarizes the multi-level barriers and potential areas of intervention for full utilization of the available female talent in the context of emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region. In all five cases, the gender division of labour across the public and private divide is still very strong. Roles in the private and public domains are shaped by traditional gender ideology, which assigns women's main role to the home and men's to the work. One of the outcomes of the traditional gender ideology is that notwithstanding the increase in female workforce participation rates due to demographic shifts as well as legislative and education reforms, women find themselves in an impossible position to meeting the demands of work and family simultaneously, whilst they are at the same time disadvantaged by the gendered assumptions that characterize talent management strategies at governmental, organizational and individual levels. Therefore, traditions, belief systems and history establish the overarching context of talent management, shaping possible future paths. However, we do not suggest a deterministic view of culture, tradition and history which considers these meta -dimensions as destiny. Instead, culture, tradition and history need to be treated as facilitating structures by which progressive practices can be informed through a firm understanding of the anti-progressive elements as well as future possibilities for positive change. Situated in the wider historical and cultural context are three distinct levels of intervention, the state, organizations and individuals. There is also interplay between the different levels of the model. For example, gender equality policies and practices at the governmental and organizational levels will in turn enhance women's individual strategies and help transform the gendered beliefs and assumptions that individual men and women personally uphold.
Table 1 Multi-level barriers and strategies of improvement for the underutilization of female talent. Levels of intervention Government Barriers , Limited legacy of equality legislation in the region , Gender blind education and employment policies , Gendered work cultures , Discriminatory HR policies and practices , Gender segregation , Gendered beliefs and stereotypes , Lack of awareness , Gendered career choices and gender roles Areas of improvement , Proactive equality legislation , Gender proofing of education and employment policies , Equality training and targets , Equality, ?exibility and work-life policies , Affirmative and positive action , Empowerment of women , Awareness raising , Resistance, subversion or exit
Organizations
Individuals
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The state as the legislator, regulator, employer and provider of services has a crucial role to play in promoting gender equality and meritocracy. Our review suggests that although the state has initiated major educational reforms which contributed to the closing of the g ender education gap in all five cases, these reforms were designed with a gender-blind perspective. Sun (2009) argues that there is a need for more proactive and gendersensitive policy making by the state. At the organizational level, gender segregation in cultures and practices of organizations poses barriers for woman to fully participate in work and management processes. Furthermore, widespread organizational practices, such as short -termist profit-led HRM approaches, lead to ineffective use of the external and internal talent pools. Due to a focus on short -term profits, human resource activities fail to recognize the potential contribution of inclusive organizational climate, employee wellbeing and ?exibility needs for sustainable and long -term bottom-line benefits. Experience in advanced economies suggests that a narrow focus on profitability does not bod e well to recruitment and retention of talent in organizations, particularly in the long term. One of the significant outcomes of the failure to invest in equality and ?exibility policies is the inefficient use of female talent. Cultural norms, values, assumptions and stereotypes that are deeply rooted in patriarchal and religious traditions, arguably, constitute the most fundamental barrier to utilization of female talent in the region (Rowley & Yukongdi, 2009; Yukongdi & Benson, 2005). Gender barriers and problems that are identified in our review are also evidenced in different degrees, shapes and forms in other parts of the globe, but they are particularly under-researched in the context of management of talent in the Asia Pacific region. As a result, organizational and state level policies to tackle gender segregation remain less developed. Furthermore, the connection between education and employment is not well planned for female talent and women are relegated to traditional domestic roles rather than encouraged into full and competitive employment. In their study in China, Cheng et al. (2010) found that there is a correlation between education level of the chairpersons and the performance of their firms. They theref ore suggest that the firms need to recognize educational background as an important criterion in selecting a chairperson. However, historical and cultural path-dependencies that are strongly gendered prevent achieving an unobscured link between merit based criteria such as educational achievement and labour market outcomes. Not only, local practices of gender discrimination are path dependent, but also present and future decisions and behaviours of firms are made in a context that is constrained by past decisions (Casillas, Moreno, & Acedo, 2012). Glinow, Huo, and Lowe (1999) explain that traditional work-related values may remain intact even when a country experiences a drastic change in its economic system and business environment as in the case of emergent economies of the Asia-Pacific region. As a result, despite talent shortages and feminization of education, female talent remains underutilized due to the persistence of traditional values, beliefs and practices that are gendered. If the underutilization of female talent is the outcome of multifaceted, multi-level and complex dynamics, why do we make a case particularly for gender quotas? We argue that gender quotas can act as facilitator of progressive change towards promoting a merit and performance based management of talent, free from gendered assumptions and stereotypes (see Hoel, 2009). Cultural change is a slow and incremental process and effects of history are hard to erase. Therefore, more immediate talent management interventions are necessary to speed up the evolution towards a more egalitarian culture and to tackle talent shortages. In that context, gender quotas are seen by some as a fast track to equal gender representation (Dahlerup & Freidenvall, 2003). Yet, research shows that top-down enforcement of quotas without the support of and ownership by employers does not yield the desired outcomes (Forstenlechner et al., 2012). For that reason, this paper poses gender quotas not solely as a governmental level policy measure but also, and maybe more importantly, as a beneficial strategic tool for local and multinational companies to address the talent challenges they experience. Gender quotas also switch the burden of recruitment from the individual woman to those controlling recruitment processes (Dahlerup, 1998). In the same way talent management, with its explicit focus on merit above and beyond kinship ties and other arbit rary criteria, can disturb vested interests in organizations and place the burden on organizations to recruit and retain talent. Therefore, the use of gender quotas is complementary to management of talent and provides a workable solution to talent shortages. Seierstad and Healy (2012) warn about the dangers of framing quotas as the ultimate solution to gender inequality. Similarly, we urge that quotas should not be seen as the silver bullet but will be effective only if they are supported by a web of proactive equality measures and practices across multiple levels. To what extent a specific organizational talent management intervention can in fact deliver progressive results that promote meritocracy depends on the overall organizational willingness towards tackling its culture and structures that help generate nepotism and favouritism on the basis of arbitrary criteria such as gender. Thomas and Ely (1996) distinguish four possible diversity paradigms in describing the organizational diversity efforts: the resistance paradigm, the discrimination-and-fairness paradigm, the access-and- legitimacy paradigm and the learning-and-effectiveness paradigm. Usually, interventions such as implementation of gender quotas are thought to be part of the discriminationand-fairness paradigm, which denotes an organizational focus on legislative actions, such as affirmative action based on moral and ethical justification. However, we argue that gender quotas may be and should be also perceived as integral to the access -and-legitimacy paradigm in which the organizational focus is on the business case for equality and diversity at work for a number of reasons. Gender quotas ca n be used as a strategic tool to promote merit-based HR and talent management approaches that transcend the local patriarchal conventions. Therefore, gender quotas may help tackle the underutilization of female talent pools externally as well as the inefficient use of the female talent in the internal workforce of the organization. Gender quotas if used effectively in the HR marketing have a potential to contribute to the reputation of the companies. The use of quotas would help not only to attract the best female talent in the labour market giving a competitive edge to progressive or ganizations in the war for talent but also help expand their consumer markets.
Please cite this article in press as: Tatli, A., et al. An unrequited affinity between talent shortages and untapped female p otential: The relevance of gender quotas for talent management in high growth potential economies of the Asia Pacific region. International Business Review (2012),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2012.07.005
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Yet we agree with Thomas and Ely (1996) that the most sophisticated equality and diversity approaches are characterized by the learning-andeffectiveness paradigm, which requires a radical transformation of organizational culture towards an open culture of fairness, participation and inclusion. Gender quotas have a potential to facilitate this transformation particularly in contexts such as of the Asia -Pacific economies that we reviewed, where both organizational and wider societal culture is deeply imbued in patr iarchal value systems. Beyond the quantitative increase in numbers of talented female at professional and managerial ranks, the real value of gender quotas lies in their potential to h elp overcome the rigidities of gendered path-dependence patterns, and to open up new paths by affecting change in the cultural values and perceptions. Use of gender quotas would help increase the number of female role models; raise awareness in terms of gender equality and equal opportunit ies; enhance women's individual strategies at the workplace; and, in turn, help transform the gendered beliefs and assumptions that individual men and women personally uphold. 4.1. Managerial implications Intensification of competition for talent has become a cliche of our times. Management of talent is about developing ´ innovative and competitive ways of managing staff, which can capture the composition, demands and patterns of talent of the future. Emerging economies of Asia-Pacific have more dynamic contexts, which experience more high-speed change than developed countries. Talent management practices in the region need to have the ?exibility, foresight and creative ?air in order to capture this faster tempo of life and work, and need to stretch, develop, extend and transcend traditional approaches to management of talent at work. In the cases of five emerging economies, what appears rather problematic is the absence of foresight in dealing with talent management. Many multinational and local companies rely on short term measures based on expatriation and migration rather than bu ilding capacity of the internal talent pools, particularly in relation to utilization of the available female talent. In fact, migration has long been considered a solution to deal with talent shortages. Yet, in the context of emerging economies such as the ones in the Asia-Pacific region, there are particular concerns raised regarding exodus of talent as a result of the emigration of highly skilled workers to developed countries (World Economic Forum, 2010). Therefore, multinational and local firms need to take more proactive roles in identifying new and innovative practices for widening their talent pools. There is often a trade off between economic rationales (utilizing female labour) and traditional views (patriarchal formulations). In that context, gender quotas constitute a forward looking talent management strategy. 4.1.1. What should governments do? Our review specifically suggests that in order to overcome the talent shortages, governments need to develop effective measur es to remove gender inequality and bias from systems of talent management in order to tackle underutilization and ineffective use of female talent. In this paper, we particularly emphasized the use of gender quotas as a talent management strategy to address the challenges of recrui ting and retaining the best talent. Thanks to the large investments made in the region on developing female talent over the years, the use of gender quotas is no w an economically and pragmatically viable and beneficial option for both local and multinational firms in addressing their talent needs. Furthermore, changes in the European and North American legal environments, as well as evidence from successful applications render quotas less contentious and more desirable measures than they were traditionally considered. As we stated earlier, gender quotas are not a mere governmental level political issue but they have a strategic significance for local and multinational firms who are players in the global war for talent. 4.1.2. What should organizations do? Talent shortages can be a serious problem for local as well as multinational firms with tangible outcomes for their performan ce and competitiveness. Tapping the female potential is a mean to gain an advantage in the war for talents and gender quotas are a n appropriate approach to attracting females. It is essential that organizations develop a sound understanding on the economic necessity for widenin g the internal and external talent pools available to them through effective utilization of the female talen t. Therefore, we propose the introduction of (credible) gender quotas on the organizational level, which organizations should utilize then in improving their HR practices as well as their market position. There are plausible strategic reasons for firms to implement gender quotas as a part of their talent management portfolio such as the development of a larger consumer market, access the wider pool of talent and increase in organizational performance through attracting the best talent. Yet, gender quotas may meet with resistance in the absence of sophisticated business case arguments and inclusive organizational cultures. Therefo re, organizations, both local and multinational, need to develop a clear rationale for implementing quotas accounting for the views , needs and positioning of multiple stakeholders such as the government, competitors, customers and employees. Internally, it is crucial for companies to achieve organization-wide buy in for gender quotas to overcome the resistance to change and to misspell myths about quotas. Genuine organi zational ownership of and commitment to quotas can be achieved through promoting a dialogue between organizational members, ensuring open and informati ve communication channels instead of dictating the quotas as a top-down measure and imposing targets. The firms need to be aware that although gender quotas constitute an important strategy option to kick start a change towards and organizational culture which values merit over arbitrary criteria based on group membership, quotas can hardly produce the expected positive outcomes if they are not surrounded and supported by a web of other talent
Please cite this article in press as: Tatli, A., et al. An unrequited affinity between talent shortages and untapped female p otential: The relevance of gender quotas for talent management in high growth potential economies of the Asia Pacific region. International Business Review (2012),http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2012.07.005
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management and equality measures. As explained in the previous sections of this paper, there are multiple and complex set of factors beh ind talent shortages as well as under-utilization of female talent in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, local and multinational companies need to recognize that quotas may be an effective strategy to attract and recruit female talent but alone they are not sufficient to ensure the rete ntion, recognition and full utilization of talent. For instance, we showed that work-life con?ict constitutes a major obstacle for women to progress in the corporate hierarchies. For that reason ?exible working arrangements and other work life provisions such as childcare facilities need to be implement ed in order to support women's career advancement (Windsor & Auyeung, 2006). Furthermore, HR policies, procedures and practices are important sites of intervention to ensure equal opportunities and treatment. For example, Woodhams et al. (2009) argue that although HR practices such as recruitment and selection are not the only reason for gender discrimination, and are more likely to be the symptoms of wider patriarchal structures in the society, they still constitute important areas for necessary and achievable intervention. Other forms of change initiativ es at organizational level may involve provision of diversity and equality training, development of proactive equal opportunities guidelines and policies among others (Lee & Pow, 1999). The role of organizations goes beyond being passive recipients of governmental policy. They are indeed important actors who could on the one hand introduce quotas and initiate inter-firm learning processes to enhance their talent management practices and on the other hand, they could use lobbying to in?uence the relevant po litical decision-makers towards introducing gender quotas. However, there are different challenges for effective management of female talent, due to contextual differences emanating from historical, social, cultural and economic variations. Re?ecting on the literature evidence, we suggest organizational approaches, which are sensitive to national context but which at the same time progress n ational challenges, drawing on transnational and cross-national learning. A good example of inter-firm and cross national learning and knowledge transfer is the global diversity councils that some multinational firms have been establishing. Such councils have the potential of shari ng good practices to carve out future practices of effective utilization of talent and tackling the talent gap. Such learning is possible if organizations move beyond and transcend national differences, allowing for transversal dialogues, which cut across local, global, regional and national dif ferences. Therefore, organizations need to explore what they can learn from progressive approaches in other organizations as well as in other countries and regions. For example, Ng and Chiu (1997) found that in Hong Kong companies of American and European origins had more sophisticated equal opportunities policies and programs compared to domestic firms. Thus, knowledge transfer activities between countries and organizations are an important channel to ensure dissemination of progressive approaches to talent management. In this respect, multinational firms possibly have a competitive advantage over the local firms due to their access to a wider and more diverse range of knowledge base on good practice in equality and diversity across their branch networks in different countries, regions and continents. A caution is warranted that the transfer of good practice is not a straightforward process of replicating policies and programs across different national contexts (Hong, Snell, & Easterby-Smith, 2009). The challenges of knowledge transfer are even more pronounced between countries that are culturally dissimilar than between culturally similar contexts (Scullion et al., 2007). Sensitivity to different cultural and social contexts is necessary when translating HRM strategies (Kamoche, 1997; Reiche, 2008). Therefore, it is important to consider talent management and equal opportunities practices in each respective national, regional, sectoral, and organizational context, as these approaches only make sense within the specific geography and period for which they are formulated. The specific gender equality context of the Asia-Pacific region is in fact one of the reasons why we emphasize gender quotas as a significant tool to address the interplay between talent management and the utilization of female talent. There is an overall improvement in the region of women in education, and employment. However, gender discrimination based on arbitrary criteria remains a persistent social problem underlined by rigidities of path dependent behaviour. In that specific context, quotas can serve to liberate the local and international companies from patriarchal traditions that are prevalent in the region in their pursuit of attracting the best talent. 4.2. Research implications The fields of talent management as well as gendered barriers to effective management of talent in the Asia -Pacific region remain under-explored (Ozbilgin & Syed, 2010). Our aim in this paper was to present a birds-eye view of the interplay ¨ between talent management and gender segregation in the Asia Pacific region, and to offer directions for remedial action. Against the background of a growing talent shortage across the globe, the relationship between talent management, particularl y gender quotas, and gender segregation issues is likely to remain as an important area of investigation in the future. However, it is hard to do justice to complex histories of these regional economies in explaining the evolution of gender regimes. So, there is a need for empirical studies, which investigate multiple levels of context including the national, regional, sectoral and organizational levels. Understanding the context in terms of place, time and institutions, is crucial to formulating progressive and meritocratic talent management practices in the region. It is also important to explore the role of key institutions in order to appreciate local dynamics of gender segregation and underutilization of female talent. In advanc ed economies, there is often a well-researched link between institutions of education and employment. Emerging economies, which we review in this paper, have complex interplays between their institutions of education and employment: social relationships come into play and less studied forms of social distinctions are played out in gendered practices. Therefore, there is a need for empirical studies that explore varied const ituent groups such as social networks, family ties and other non-work relationships which have an impact on the way work is organized and gender roles are ascribed.
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This paper focused on the interplay between talent management and gender. Yet, gender is but one category of social diversity in organizations. Future research could be also conducted to explore the link between talent management and other forms of discriminatory practices, which also lead to talent drain and underutilization of the talent of particular groups across fault lines of race and ethnicity, sexuality, nationality, class and caste, disability among others. Furthermore, despite the growing significance of talent management, there is not a universal body of knowledge, which can cater for all talent management needs of an organization. Indeed, requirements of talent management vary also by sector. Future research should consider regional differences in terms of sectoral competition for talent. Finally, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the difference between local and multinational firms in the region in terms of their particular talent shortage challenges and their strategies for managi ng talent. As a result we know very little about whether local firms and multinational firms are affected by the talent shortage in the same way and wh ether they do have similar resources and opportunities to deal with the talent shortage. Therefore, further research is necessary to distinguish talent needs, challenges and approaches of local and international firms. 5. Conclusion Based on a review of the academic literature and country reports, this paper assessed the interplay between talent management challenges and gender segregation in five emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific region: China, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The central contribution of this paper is that considering talent management and gender equality together may offer a creative, albeit partial, solution to address often reported talent shortages in the Asia Pacific region. Women have made inroads in all disciplines of education, and resu ltantly the face of talent has irreversibly changed in the region. However, women at work still suffer from traditional gender norms, which limit the full use of their talent at work, and block their access to managerial and leadership positions. We illustrate the utility of gender quotas to draw attention to gender bias and untapped female potential in the region. Our manuscript contributes to the debate on the utility of quotas as a catalyst for or ganizations to consider deeper cultural change to recognize the untapped potential of women, who make up half of the talented graduates in the region. Despite the presence of significant talent shortages in all of the five cases, gendered cultural and traditional practices pr event female potential to be utilized to address the talent shortages. Therefore, gender inequality is a significant barrier to effective talent management. Informed by the findings of the review, the paper presented gender quotas as a viable solution for tackling talent shortages through better u tilization of female talent and better alignment educational qualifications and labour market outcomes, and by improving the system of merit-based employment and career structures. We bridge the scholarly gap between talent management and gender segregation research using evidence from five emerging economies in the Asia Pacific region. Developing recent works on the connection between gender quotas and performance (Forstenlechner et al., 2012; Nielsen & Huse, 2010; Seierstad & Opsahl, 2011), we bring the discussion of gender quotas into the talent management literature and demonstrate the relevance of gender quotas as a strategy for effective performance of talent management in the context of Asia Pacific countries which have wide pools of untapped female talent. Based on our review, we also provide specific recommendations for organizational leaders to recognize and leverage the untapped female potential to succeed in the war for talent. One of the limitations of paper is our assumption that Asia Pacific region may be receptive to ideas of gender equality and t o adoption of gender quotas to achieve gender equality. Although we are not comparing the region to Europe, we argue that the effects of applying gender quotas in fact can be similar. Gender quotas can raise awareness and mobilize cultural change in the long term in addressing the untappe d female potential in the Asia Pacific region. Therefore, we are suggesting quotas as a way to break the impasse induced by voluntarism (Ozbilgin and Tatli, 2011) in dealing with female talent loss and talent ¨ shortages in the region. We explain that quotas in themselves are not sufficient means to achieve change but can serve as catalyst to combat gender bias, which is entrenched in traditional cultures. Historically, equality initiatives have travelle d among countries (Syed & Ozbilgin, 2009). Civil rights movements in North America and Europe have transformed the ¨ landscape of education and employment in terms of liberties and rights for women internationally. We are proposing that quotas should be considered as part of a range of talent management strategies in the region. Another limitation of our study is the fact that gender quotas remain contested measures internationally, although their popularity is reportedly increasing. The use of quotas in different national settings proves useful in raising awareness of national challenges of gender inequalities. Renationalization quotas drew attention to high levels of unemployment among home nationals in the Middle East and gender quotas drew attention to slow pace of change towards fair representation in boards of Norwegian companies. In both cases, government interventions were faced with resistance from organizations. In the case of Asia Pacific, organizations are also likely to resist such state regulation. However, evidence suggests that state regulation can draw organizational attention and energy towards addressing national problems (Klarsfeld, 2009). In this context, we see that regulation for gender quotas can raise awareness about the interplay between talent shortages and untapped female potential. References
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