Committee Reports > List of Committees > Joint > 1996 > Committee on Women's Rights (4th Committee) > Report No. 02 - Women in Management in Local Administration

0. Report Structure

This report examines the question of gender balance in management in Local Administration. First, the background to the work is outlined. Second, the Joint Committee outlines its recommendations for attaining an appropriate gender balance within the management structure of Local Administration.

The researcher’s report to the Joint Committee is included to indicate the basis of the Joint Committee’s recommendations.

1. Introduction and Background to the Study

Background to the Preparation of the Consultants Study.

1.1.Joint Oireachtas Committees on Women’s Rights have undertaken many studies to highlight the obstacles to the equal participation of women and men in all aspects of Irish life. It is of some concern to this, the current Joint Committee, that, as yet, the management structure of Local Administration bodies do not reflect (a) the gender balance of society and (b) the number of women who work in these bodies.

It is from this perspective that the Joint Committee decided to study the level of women in management in Local Administration. It was concerned about why there were so few women at Senior management and what could be done to improve the situation.

This report represents the result of the research commissioned in this area.

Researcher’s Study

1.2.The complete results of the work done by the researcher presented to the Joint Committee is included in this report. The Joint Committee considers it to be a comprehensive and valuable examination of the issues involved in getting more women into senior management positions in Local Administration.

Joint Committee’s Recommendations

1.3.The Joint Committee lists its recommendations, which it feels are eminently practical. The Joint Committee wishes to emphasise the concrete nature of its recommendations and its intention to monitor their implementation.

Acknowledgements

1.4.The Joint Committee wishes to thank its researcher, Ms. Evelyn Mahon for her valuable input into its deliberations on this topic and her preparation of the annexed study.

2. Recommendations

In considering the results of the research the Joint Committee is conscious of the need to recruit management on the basis of the most eligible applicant irrespective of gender. The Joint Committee wished to promote the following recommendations:

Re. Local Appointments Commission:

2.1.The Local Appointments Commission should publish an annual report which includes the gender breakdown of all applicants and respective success rates. These should be related to each competition.

2.2.An information campaign should be launched by the Local Appointments Commission encouraging women to participate in competitions. Such a campaign should emphasise the gender neutral philosophy behind these competitions and bolster the confidence of potential applicants.

2.3.To facilitate the LAC each local authority should provide very clear job specifications for advertised posts and detail any qualifications which are mandatory as opposed to optional. In addition the personal skills and competencies necessary to carry out such a post should also be outlined in a way which enables any board member to evaluate applicants’ possession of such skills. Accurate descriptions would lead to more inclusive competition and ensure equity.

2.4.Interview boards should not proceed without a gender balance.

2.5.A comprehensive directory of available people who are available to sit on interview boards should be drawn up and updated regularly for internal use by LAC. This list should be used to ensure gender balance on interview boards.

2.6.In so far as possible, each candidate in the final interview stage should be given some indication of their performance in competitions.

2.7.Given the workload of the Commissioners, and the growing importance of equality, it might also be appropriate to extend the number of commissioners and to include a representative from the Department of Equality and Law Reform or from the Department of Enterprise and Employment on the Commission.

2.8.To ensure impartiality, Chairpersons of interview boards should be selected from diverse occupational background, age and gender.

On competitions held at Local Authority Level:

2.9.A common interview content, a uniform approach and procedures such as that used by the Local Appointments Commission is desirable. Staff who sit on interview boards should be trained in interview techniques and personnel staff should have special training to ensure equitable approach and treatment. This policy should be monitored by the Department of the Environment.

2.10.This report forms a base line audit of the position of women in management in Local Authorities. It showed considerable variation between Authorities. This variation must be addressed by the introduction of active equality policies in all Local Authorities. The responsibility for this policy should rest with the City/County Managers, operating under guidelines to be issued by the Department of the Environment.

2.11.Such equality policies must be continuously monitored and their effectiveness reviewed as is presently done in the Civil Service. To facilitate this, each Local Authority should include a chapter in its annual report giving a gender breakdown of applicants for each competition and their respective success rates.

2.12.Each Local Authority should provide very clear job specifications for advertised posts and detail any qualifications which are mandatory as opposed to optional. In addition, the personal skills and competencies necessary to carry out such a post should be outlined in a way which enables any applicant to assess their possession of such skills. Accurate descriptions would lead to more inclusive competitions and ensure equity.

2.13.Formal criteria for the selection of candidates must be supplied and each candidate treated in a fair and equitable manner.

2.14.Interview boards should not proceed without a gender balance.

2.15.The same criteria suggested for the LAC in establishing interview boards should be applied at Local Authority Level. Consideration should be given to establishing a base of interviewer from all Local Authorities. This would widen the potential for gender balance on boards.

2.16.In so far as possible each candidate in the final interview stage should be given some indication of their performance in competitions.

2.17.It is regrettable that interview selection which is not considered the optimum form of selection process by many personnel theorists and by half the staff surveyed is still the only dominant form of competition. The possibility of using other forms of competitive selection appropriate to particular posts and similar to those used in some parts of the private sector should be considered.

2.18.Greater team management within the organisation should be promoted. This would improve organisational morale by giving employees better access to information on the Local Authority as a whole and by promoting the personal development of all staff.

2.19.Information on training and development courses should be made widely available to staff in all areas and participation actively encouraged by personnel departments.

2.20.Senior management in Local Authorities should be made aware that career development and job commitment are of equal importance to both sexes notwithstanding the perceived traditional roles of men and women. Responsibility for this should rest with the Department of the Environment.

Women in Management in Local Administration

Report submitted to the Joint Committee on Women’s Rights

By

Evelyn Mahon & Lucy Dillon

Department of Sociology

Trinity College

Dublin

April 1996

Acknowledgements

Many people contributed in different ways to this study. I would like to thank the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Women’s Rights for funding the study. I am also extremely grateful to former Chairwomen of the Committee Monica Barnes, and Theresa Ahearn and members of the previous two Committees for their support of the study. I would like to especially thank Chairwoman Mary Wallace and members of the present Committee for their perceptive comments on an earlier draft of this report.

I would like to express my gratitude to Una Connolly, former Clerk when the study was initiated, Pat Timmins, present Clerk to the Committee, and Mairead McCabe of the Secretariat for their help at different stages of the project.

I am also indebted to Frank Sheedy formerly of the Local Appointments Commission and Beryl Ryan of Dublin Corporation who as Personnel staff initially helped me to fully understand recruitment and promotion in Local Authorities. Special thanks are due to Teresa Whitaker, Shane O’Donohoe and Nicola Byrne who all worked on the project at different stages and to Lucy Dillon, co-author of the report, who worked full time on the project for the last six months.

The aim of the study was to get an overview of the position of Women in Management in Local Authorities and to make a contribution to equal opportunity policy for the benefit of women and men in the future. To an extent then this study might be considered a base line, one against which gendered differences in the future can be compared. Such a study depends on the good will and support of those who participated in the study. So my greatest debt is to all those with whom I conducted interviews as they spoke honestly about their working lives, and their experiences on interview boards and to all those men and women who completed and returned the postal questionnaire. I hope that we have accurately represented their views and that you will find the report interesting and informative.

Women in Management in Local Administration

Report to Joint Committee on Women’s Rights April 1996

Introduction

This research was commissioned by the Committee on Women’s Rights to investigate the position of Women in Management in Local Administration. This report is based on a study designed to depict and explain the absence of women from top posts, to investigate the extent to which there are improvements in the gender composition of middle management and to make recommendations to ensure equal opportunities for all staff including women in the future.

The research presented here is based on (1) qualitative in-depth interviews with Local Authority staff at all levels drawn from urban and rural councils and corporations and interviews with those who served on interview boards; (2) on gender audits of staff by grade collected from Local Authorities; (3) a gender breakdown of competitions for posts organised by the Local Appointments Commission and from Local Authorities and, (4) on data collected from a survey of Local Authority staff using postal questionnaires.

Chapter One depicts investigate the absence of women from the most senior posts. While Chapter Two outlines the recruitment procedures to these posts which are the responsibility of the Local Appointments Commission. This chapter includes all the data for management competitions taken place between 1992 and 1994.

Chapter Three examines the representation of women in middle management. While Chapter Four reviews the competitions and representation of women in them. Women have to reach middle management positions in their Local Authorities in order to become eligible candidates for the top positions. It transpires that there is a low representation of women in middle management, though this varies between Local Authorities.

Chapter Five depicts the representation of women in the supervisory posts of Senior Staff Officer and Staff Officer. As might be expected there is a better representation of women in these posts but they are supervisory rather than managerial ones. The competitive interview is used to select candidates for these posts and the competitions held between 1992 and 1995 are reviewed.

Chapter Six analyses the postal survey data to see whether any key differences between men and women exist, and if differences emerge in terms of personal characteristics in career orientation and self efficacy.

Chapter Seven draws together all the conclusions from in-depth interviews, competition audits and the postal survey and makes recommendations for future equal opportunity policy.

Chapter 1 Gender Distribution in Top Managment

All Men at The Top

Table 1 shows that there are no women in the most senior grades of City and County Managers and Assistant City and County Managers. At the next level there are only two women County Secretaries and one woman Finance Officer. The three of these were appointed in 1994.

TABLE 1:1

Distribution of Women and Men in Senior Administrative Grades 1995

Gender Distribution in Management by County

(See appendix 2 for classification by gender)

Getting To The Top: An Organisational Career.

Getting to the top position in any hierarchy is usually the apex of an individual’s career. Within any organisation professional and job-related qualifications and a series of successive promotions are required in order to gain access to the most senior positions. Successive promotions to hierarchically ordered positions are important. ‘Property in positions’, as such promotions may be called, may be regarded as a resource independent of property in skills and credentials, not least because access to positions does not depend on formal credentials alone. This is especially true of organisations such as Local Authorities which have bureaucratic structures, and a hierarchical organisational structure like a pyramid.

Women, it has been argued are at a disadvantage in procuring ‘property of position’ and the result is that men tend to dominate such hierarchies. Further it has been argued that the extent to which getting to the top of one’s career is dependent on formal qualifications rather than ‘property in position’ the more successful women are likely to be. In seeking to explain the gendered nature of top management positions in Local Authorities one must first establish the promotional routes to success. Having outlined the processes and practices one can then examine possible causes of the gender imbalance.

Collins writing in (1979) on career in Local Authorities said, “The overriding fact is that an organisational career is made in a political environment, and success goes to those individuals who recognise that fact and act on it most assiduously. The one who makes it to the top is the organisational politician, concerned above all with informal ties, maneuvering toward the crucial gate keepers, avoiding the organisational contingencies that trap the less wary”(1979 :31).

County and City Managers

Chubb (1974) in his assessment of 24 City and County managers in office described them as “men of considerable ability and varied experience at the height of their powers”. He showed that managers had varied backgrounds, qualifications and careers. McKinsey and Co. in 1971 however, called for change to ‘broaden the road to top management posts’ claiming that ‘local authority work’ is not attracting people of a sufficiently high calibre for either management or technical jobs. They recommended that Local Authorities should be able to appoint people from outside the service ‘to fill any post from clerical officer to County Manager’.

Profile of City and County Managers

Previous research gives us a good profile of the composition of men in these senior positions. The average age at the time of appointment has been in the mid-forties. Until 1994 City and County Manager posts were permanent ones and there was little movement out of management before the compulsory retirement age of 65. Between 1960 and 1982, there were only 51 City and County Management appointments. Between 1993 and 1994 there were 13 competitions for City/County Managers and Assistant City/County Managers.

Recent changes especially in new urban centres have brought about some expansion especially in the Dublin area. However, there is still only a total of 33 City or County Managers in 1995. There has been a growth in the number at the next grade, that of Assistant County Manager, who now number 27. There are no women in either grade.

Work Experience

A study of the 30 incumbents in 1987 showed that 24 out of the 30 had no significant work experience prior to joining Local Government. Of the remainder, one had previous experience in accountancy, two in engineering, and three in the Civil Service. This practice has remained the same until recently when a small number of top appointments went to men “outside’ the service including one who came from the private sector. These were noted as the exception rather than the rule, and even in the latter case he had some local government experience early in his career.

Educational Qualifications

There are no formally specified qualifications such as degrees for these top two positions. In the 1987 study for instance 4 out of the 30 incumbents had secondary education only while another four had degrees or diplomas before entering Local Government. However, 22 of these men had acquired diplomas or degrees while working through part time study. By a process of in-service training they acquired degrees in accountancy or public administration. Those recently appointed were more likely to have degrees, but they are still the exceptions. The postal survey responses show that the majority of the overall sample were recruited with Leaving Certificate (84%). Only 7% had a degree at time of recruitment and 7% a postgraduate degree.

Typical Career Routes

The majority of top managers in the past entered as Clerical Officers: 82% of those in office in 1979, 80% of those in 1987. Prior to that there was a greater degree of openness to competition with only 60% of managers in 1966 having entered at Clerical Officer level. Over time it appears that certain experiences, largely defined as ‘administration in Local Government’, have been viewed as central to the job. While recruitment for these top positions is open competition selection practices in the past have favoured internal candidates. Top managers have been largely drawn from the internal Local Authorities labour market. The postal survey returns confirm the importance of this internal labour market with a majority beginning their career at the Clerical Officer grade.

The Internal Labour Market of Local Authorities

The Devlin Report put a high value on the peripatetic nature of a local government career describing it as one which “has an impressive system of staff mobility”. Collins noted that ‘among the current managers an average of four separate changes of authority had been made on their way to their managerial post usually necessitating moving house with all attendant inconvenience and costs’. An analysis of the 30 incumbents in 1987 showed that only two served the same county throughout their Local Government career. The rest served an average of 5 different counties.

Of the 13 County Managers who responded in the postal questionnaire, the majority had moved Local Authorities more than four times, two respondents having moved 8 times. They had also moved house three or more times because of promotion. A quarter of respondents had moved house seven times.

It was speculated that the Local Appointments Commission gave a heavy weighting to length and variety of experience. This Garvin (1963) argued may ensure safe selection but prevented the infusion of new blood. Among the administrative experiences most highly valued by managers is the position of Town Clerk. Fifteen of the 30 incumbents in 1987 had been Town Clerks. The latter post like all Local Appointments was the responsibility of the Local Appointments Commission. The interview for the post of Town Clerk was seen as a tough one. The salary was low and the assignment seen as an isolated position with a lot of responsibility, presumably a good managerial training experience. Geographical mobility was a mandatory early step for would be Managers.

Viewed in terms of career development, the post of Town Clerk was a position in which incumbents gained confidence, decision making and managerial expertise. The status of the post varied according to town size so that men often moved from a Town Clerk position in one town to the same position in a bigger town. The following case study based on an interview conducted for this research shows a not uncommon peripatetic career route.

Case Study A and His Career Route to Date (now a Manager)

Move 1 : Recruitment:

Joined as CO in 1965 in provincial town

Did correspondence course Accountancy and Secretarial ACIS

Move 2 horizontal move:A few months after appointment moved to another town as CO

Move 3 (education) :After one year as CO got Study scholarship for a year to IPA

Move 4/promotion : Following year Town Clerk in small UDC

Move 5/promotion Three years later Town Clerk in bigger town

Move 6/promotion Four years later AO in larger town(called B) (AO new posts in 1976)

Move 7/promotion :Four years later Finance Officer in CO.Council

Move 8/promotion :Two years later Town Clerk in town B; /also got Co.Sec in another County;

Move 9/promotion: Seven years later move to Asst. Manager in city;

Move 10/promotion : Less than a year later he moved back to city B in Asst. Co. Manager post

Move 11/promotion : Last move to City Manager two years later now aged 47.

Interestingly all these competitions were conducted through the Local Appointments Commission except move 6 which was held by a Local Authority.

While the above profile is of a recent appointment, it seems fairly typical of the career routes of appointees to those posts in the past, since the internal labour market route became important. In many organisations the importance of internal labour market routes grows as the organisation expands. Those already in charge of the organisation favour the recruitment of types similar to themselves and the promotion of their own staff. In many ways this strengthens their power and control within the organisation. In addition, they are familiar with the way the organisation works.

Two recent appointments to posts at the level of Assistant County Manager can be seen as ‘outside ‘appointments. However, their career profiles are still very intertwined with the Local Authority structures, as the following career trajectories show.

Case B

Move 1 : recruitment after school to : E.O. ( Dept. of Environment);

4-5 years as EO but one of this on paid study leave to get a degree;

Move 2 : promotion to A.O ( through open competition/Dept. of Finance); continued to study economics, got study leave fellowship..

Move 3: to ESRI on fellowship;

Move 4: got AP in Environment while on fellowship

Move 5: after 5 years as AP went into private sector for 7 years; on key Commissions etc. relevant research background etc.

Move 6: open competition to present job at Asst. level

Case C.

Move 1: recruitment Adult Executive Officer( Dept. of Environment) half way through studying for a degree finished degree by night

Move 2: five years later promoted to Higher Executive Officer ( confined internal interview);

Move 3: promotion nine years later to Assistant Principal in Dept. (seniority);

Move 4: secunded to semi-state sector for couple of years

Move 5: to present job

While both of these successful candidates are considered ‘outside’ appointments they both worked in the Department of the Environment which is the Civil Service department responsible for Local Authorities. This experience was deemed comparable to Local Authority experience.

Keen Competition for Top Posts

Top positions are few, so competition between candidates is likely to be tough. A strong career orientation early in one’s working life is necessary. Extra ‘relevant’ qualifications might be an advantage, but qualifiactions are not mandatory so experience and a proven record of achievement in the job are more important. Scholarships or fellowships bestow special status on applicants, experience gained in special assignments is a valuable asset, a variety of job assignments which allowed a candidate great development scope are all significant in separating what might be called the “best “from the rest. To a certain extent, the agenda they pursue in the jobs and their achievements are self-initiated. Some leadership qualities are desirable for candidates. The ability to get things done, to accomplish things is crucial according to those who sat on interview boards.

Educational Qualifications and Promotion

The interaction between educational qualifications and promotion is difficult to assess. There are at present, I surmise, two competing views among senior management. One which emphasises the importance of education especially university education while the second which is somewhat sceptical of that view, preferring the long in-service career in Local Government. Those who espouse the first view may be more likely to favour the appointment of outsiders while the second will favour insiders.

Senior management is not seen as a professionalised area to which professionally trained managers apply, it is the apex of an organisational career. The following quotes by senior managers on the importance of education generally illustrates this diversity of opinion.

“Degrees are important for a number of reasons, one is discipline and commitment, it indicates an approach you have. Reasonable credit is given to those with degrees, more so for doing them than for their content.”

“Applications of qualifications to the job is what is important, not the degree or qualifications per se”

“You do seem to get some people who spend all their time getting qualifications and lack the capacity to apply anything”.

“There is a huge pool of people out there who have been to university, have worked in the private sector, we should be bringing these people in at all levels of the organisations”.

Interviews with members of interview boards revealed that in-service experience still takes precedence over external qualifications. The majority of staff were recruited as Clerical Officers with Leaving Certificate qualifications which is confirmed by the survey returns, but they also show that women were more likely to be recruited as Clerical Assistants\ Typists than men, 21.2% of women compared to only 1.2% of men. This further emphasises the prevalence of in-service experience over external qualifications

Promotional Procedures

All promotions in Local Authorities are made on the basis of competitive interview. The Local Appointments Commission (LAC) manage those for the following grades: City and County Managers, Assistant City and County Managers and those of Finance Officers and County Secretaries. Each Local Authority is now responsible for their own recruitment and promotion for posts below those appointed by LAC. In the next section. I will outline Irish Local Government’s responsibility for the recruitment and selection of staff, with a focus on the Local Appointments Commission.

Chapter 2 Recruitment and Selection

The Operation of The Local Appointments Commission in Relation to Senior Administrative Posts in Local Authorities.

In this chapter we are primarily concerned with appointments to the chief positions of Finance Officer, County Secretary, Assistant City Managers, County Managers and Town Clerks which are filled in most cases by the Local Appointments Commission. But first, I will review this recruitment and selection process used by the Local Appointments Commission.

Irish Local Government

The Irish Local Government system follows the English pattern in its origin and in much of its general structure, law and language. It has however, according to Bannon (1991), two characteristics of its own a system of City and County Management and the Local Appointments Commission (Roche:1982:10). The enactment of the Cork City Management Act in 1929 brought the administration of services under one individual who answers to the council but who has a statutory position and powers. The Manager is directly appointed following an open competition for the position conducted by an independent agency called the Local Appointments Commission.

The Local Authorities have two functions labelled ‘reserved’ and ‘executive’. The reserved functions are those performed by the elected representatives: decisions on major matters of policy and principle including the adoption of annual estimates, borrowing of money, and managing of development plans. ‘Executive’ ones include the employment of staff, acceptance of tenders, management of Local Authority properties, the collection of rates and day to day administration. Over time there has been a professionalisation of the delivery of services to the community at large.

Staffing

Direct ministerial control is exercised over staffing numbers and recruitment procedures. Issues of concern to staff are negotiated at central level through the Local Government Staff Negotiations Board (LGSNB) to which the councils’ staff unions bring their claims etc. While managers views are represented, issues relating to pay and conditions of service are effectively determined at a central level and the decisions reached centrally apply equally to each Authority¹.

The Local Appointments Commission

The Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act 1926 established the Local Appointments Commission (LAC) as a separate recruitment agency. The purpose of the Act was to provide a system of open competitive appointments to Local Authority offices. The Local Appointments Commission is independent of the Authorities concerned. The Act provides for the appointment of three Commissioners by the Executive Council of Local Authorities. Since 1932 the office of Chairman of the Commissioners has been filled by the holder of the office of Ceann Comhairle of the Dail. Since 1959 the offices of the other two Commissioners have been filled by the Secretaries of the Departments of the Environment (formerly Local Government) and Health. The 1926 Act also specifies a Local Authority “council of a country, country borough, borough urban or rural district .. town commissioners”. These bodies now include the Vocational Education Committees, and the Health Boards, larger Harbour Authorities and Fisheries Boards (Sheedy 1994).

Changes Over Time in Remit of the LAC

Over time, as Local Authorities assumed a greater role in the selection of their staff the role of the LAC was reduced. The Act specifically covers the selection of Chief Executive Officers; Professional Posts and Other Offices and Employments. The Chief Executive office under every Local Authority was designated to be filled by the LAC i.e. County and City Managers etc. Initially this term included minor posts such as Town Clerks of small towns. The present position is that the post of Town Clerk of an urban District Council with a population in excess of 9,000 is filled by the LAC. All offices/positions (except teachers) which were in-part professional or technical in nature were automatically included in the original act. They included engineers, planners architects, all of whom are appointed by the Local Appointments.

In 1970, the Minister for Health was determined that some appointments to professional posts should continue to be made under the Act, while others such as consultant posts could be appointed by Hospital Authorities. Over time, nurses and midwives, part time professional posts and general practitioners posts were removed from Local Appointments Commission. Only the posts of Matron and Assistant Matron continue to be filled by Local Appointments Commission.

Exemptions Under Section 5

In terms of ‘other offices’ under the Act the Minister could decide to which of the offices the Act would apply. At present it is applied to mainly senior posts (above grade 7) in the administrative category (e.g County Secretary) and in certain specialised functions (e.g Librarian, Accountant and Finance Officer). Assistant County Managers are also filled through LAC. Within the Health Boards only the Chief Executive Officer and Programme Managers are appointed under the LAC.

Section 5.1 of the original Act allows Local Authorities to make appointments to posts (except those of City and County Manager) under special conditions and with Ministerial sanction. Three conditions must be met before the provision can be employed:(1) the appointment is made within three months of it becoming vacant; (2) the appointee holds a pensionable job under the Authority (or another Authority) (3) the latter office related to similar matters as the vacant one. This is to cope with special cases where there is a splitting of a Local Authority into two or an amalgamation of two Authorities. When County Dublin was divided into three administrative areas extensive use was made of section 5.

In addition, the Acts no longer apply to positions which are created on a temporary basis. Further, Local Authorities can be empowered (with ministerial consent) to fill posts to which the Acts apply in a temporary capacity, for an unspecified period. In Dublin County Council (established in January 1994), which have posts above those of grade 7 but below Assistant Manager level, these posts can be filled from eligible officers serving with these bodies by the Board themselves. ( The legitimation for doing so is said to derive from their staff numbers which are similar to those of some Civil Service departments).

This review shows the tendency over time to reduce the role of the Local Appointments Commission as the Local Authorities or Health Boards themselves assume a greater role in staff appointments. From interviews conducted to date, many of those at present in senior posts would have been promoted over time by the Local Appointments Commission. They are a national agency and as such maintain a national profile of staff. Appointments in Local Authorities and Heath Boards are the responsibility of the Chief Executive officer and their personnel staff.

Recruitment and Selection Procedures : The Professional Approach

Recruitment and Selection procedures are part of women/ manpower management. According to Gunnigle and Flood (1991:65) it comprises manpower planning, job analysis, recruitment, selection, induction and follow up. The entire process should be a continuous and coherent one. The assessment features of this task are central to the effort to achieve a ‘dynamic matching’ of the individual and the organisation, to the achieving of a strategic ‘fit’. Such an assessment includes: job analysis, recruitment which involves attracting a group of potentially employable candidates to apply for the vacancy identified and selection which is the process of ‘choosing from that group the right employees to fill the vacancy” (Gunnigle and Flood :1991:65).

Job Analysis and Selection Processes

Job analysis is an essential part of the Recruitment and Selection process. In personnel selection there is a focus on the job content derived from job specification and the corresponding behavioural and personal requirements of those considered suitable for appointment to those jobs. Sheedy (1994) outlined the steps necessary to the job analysis phase: job content must be described in term of goals and requirements, criteria which correspond to tasks and behavioural attributes which must be specified, predictors of both must be identified and predictor instruments must be obtained. The outcomes of this process are:

(1) a job description which is a statement of the purpose scope and duties of the job;

(2) a job specification which gives detailed information on knowledge and skills required to carry out the job;

(3) a description of the type of person required including qualifications, aptitudes etc, and

(4) a statement of the terms and conditions of employment associated with the job.

The above steps are very important ones in personnel selection procedures. The next stage is the recruitment phase.

Recruitment of Candidates

At the recruitment phase one has to ‘resource’ or attract candidates either through internal or external labour markets. Internal sourcing comes from transfers, demotion and promotion of existing staff. External options are through advertisements, informal networks, manpower or recruitment agencies.

Selection : Interviews

Interviews remain the most widely used selection tool and is used by Local Appointments Commission and Local Authorities generally. There are differences among respondents and in research literature on what constitutes a good interviewer and whether the qualities required are innate or can be acquired. Obviously those who subscribe to the latter support training in interviewing skills for those on interview boards.

References

References either written or verbal (the latter typically by phone) are a widely used selection tool. However, most research shows that typically references are requiredafter the job offer has ben made and not before. The latter is the procedure used by Local Appointments Commission.

Job Specification

The process begins with a request from the Local Authority to organise a competition for the job specified. This sets in motion a series of steps leading to the filling of the post. In the case of a County Manager this post can generally be filled within 8-10 weeks from the receipt of a statutory request from the employing Authority. Ideally the LAC in the first instance is provided with a job specification or the general particulars of the post. Apparently this is not always forthcoming nor as comprehensive as they would like it to be. To assist employers in this regard LAC has a set of Notes for Guidance of Persons Completing the Job Specification Information Form. This is very comprehensive. This procedure is in keeping with informed personnel practice.

The Local Appointments Commission is essentially a recruitment agency so it cannot prescribe a job description, yet effective and fair recruitment procedures are based on comprehensive job descriptions. The Commissioners initiated the preparation of a formal Job specification for certain posts but it is felt that this process needs further development to ensure that there is a comprehensive profile of the post.

The Local Appointments Commission has a remit for open competition and equal opportunity. Vacancies are advertised in the National press and professional publications. Applicants are supplied with a job description and details of the post. This also contains the following reference; ‘The Local Appointments Commissioners are an independent statutory body with a remit for open competition and a commitment to a policy of equal opportunity”.

Effectiveness of the Search for Candidates

The effectiveness of the search might be gleaned from the number of applicants. In 1992 there were two competitions for County Managers posts with 32 applicants for the first one and twenty eight for the second, all of these were men. Presumably some of the same men applied for both posts. But the differences in the number of applicants warrants explanation, as the number interviewed for the first competition was 21 as contrasted with only 11 for the second. In subsequent competitions the number of applicants varied from 51 for competition 3 in 1993 down to only 15 for competition 3 in 1994. Only two competitions out of the fifteen held between 1992 and 1995 included a female candidate (only one in each).

According to LAC officials the small number of applicants can be explained partly by the public versus private sector pay differentials which is seen to deter external applicants and partly presumably because of the perceived intense competition for such posts. However, it would also seem that there may be a public perception that only those with experience in Local Authorities would be considered ‘suitable candidates’. This public perception while not necessarily true might reduce the number of possible applicants, -male and female. Yet is it difficult to know in the absence of comparative data from jobs in the private sector whether these numbers indicate successful searches, or whether the numbers are disappointingly small which would suggest that the competition may not be perceived as open by eligible candidates who do not apply. This perception might well apply equally to men as to women. From interviews with Local Appointments Commission members about recent competitions it seems that few Irish external candidates apply, while there have been a small number of British applicants.

Variation in the number of applicants could also be explained by the location of the job. Some posts in large urban centres and university towns are likely to attract more candidates than other peripheral counties. The competition returns supplied to this researcher do not give county or city so this explanation could not be investigated.

Irish Test

Further, it might be interesting to ask to what extent the applicants who are qualified to apply in all other respects except the Irish test are deterred from doing so by the reference to the Irish test. All Local Appointments Commission jobs refer to an Irish test, it would be informative to know the importance of this test. How many take it? is it ever a deciding factor? This is important because it could possibly deter those who are otherwise qualified.

When is a Search Successful?

An overall review of the search for each competitive post would be useful. What are the assumed indicators of a successful ‘search’? This particualr question has not been formally addressed.

Lack of Female Applicants For Senior Posts

The Local Appointments Commission had no female applicants for most senior Local Authority posts in 1987, 1989 or 1990. In 1991 there was one female candidate for an Area Manager post in Dublin Co. Council. There were no female applicants in 1992 for two competitions for County Managers. In the 1993 competition there was only one women applicant. In 1994 there was only one woman applicant.

The Assistant County/City Manager/Personnel Officer competition in 1994 attracted 5 female candidates, one of whom was invited for interview. She was not appointed.

Table 2:1 County Manager Competitions 1992

Table 2:2 County Manager Competitions 1993

Table 2:3 County Manager /City Manager, Assistant County Manager Competitions 1993

Table 2:4 County/City Manager Competitions 1994

Table 2: 5 COUNTY/CITY MANAGER COMPETITIONS 1994

Table 2:6 County/City Manager Competitions 5 & 6 1994 (all male applicants)

Table2:7 Assistant County /City Manager Personnel Officer 1994Competition No One

Table2:8 Assistant County/City Manager Personnel Officer 1994 Competition No 2.

Conclusion

We see from the tables that a very small number of women have applied for the most senior posts. However, only two were shortlisted and none of them have been appointed. There were no women on any of the interview boards for City/County Manager or Assistant Manager.

County Secretary Post

The post of County Secretary in 1992 attracted 23 male candidates for the first competition and 32 for the second. The competitions attracted 2 women and 3 women respectively. However, their overall success rates at every stage of the competition were worse than those of their male colleagues. While one woman was placed on each panel, neither was considered for appointment, while a third of the men were. Consideration for appointment is based on one’s overall ranking in the competition. The person who gets the highest marks is offered the post first. If he/she refuses it then it is offered to the next person on the panel.

Table 2:9. County Secretary Competitions 1992: First Competition

Table 2:10 County Secretary Competition 2 1992

Table 2: 11 Secretary Competition 1 1993

Table 2:12 County Secretary Competition 2 1993

In 1993, two competitions for the position of County Secretary attracted 4 female candidates, two of whom were selected for interview, one was qualified and placed on a panel but was not considered for appointment.

Table2:13 Competition No. 1 for County Secretary 1994

Table2:14 County Secretary Competition No. 2 1994

Table No.2:15 County Secretary Competition No. 3 1994

	MALE	FEMALE
No of eligible candidates	58	10
No invited for interview	28	4
No qualified by Board	7	1
No considered for appointment	3	0
Gender breakdown of interview board	2	1

Table No.2:16 County Secretary Competition No. 4 1994

	MALE	FEMALE
No of eligible candidates	21	3
No invited for interview	21	3
No qualified by Board	1	1
No considered for appointment	1	1
Gender breakdown of interview board	2	1

First Women Appointed as County Secretary

A review of the 1994 competitions shows that three of the four competitions attracted women applicants. Two were appointed, thereby creating a new precedence by the appointment of 2 women to these high level posts. The gender composition of the competitions since 1993 have included one woman on the interview board.

Finance Officer Competitions 1993

The Finance Officer was a post which in the past did not require any special qualifications. There is now a stipulation that appointments to some Local Authorities will need an Accountancy qualification. As can be seen from Table 2:17, there was one woman appointed to the position of Finance Officer in 1993. In 1994, a woman was considered for appointment but she is the same female so there is still only one female Finance Officer.

Table 2:17 Finance Officer Competitons No. 1 1993

	MALE	FEMALE
No of eligible candidates	46	11
No invited for interview	19	3
No placed on panel	6	1
No considered for appointment	0	1
Gender breakdown of interview board	4	0

Table2:18 Finance officer Competition no 2 1993

	MALE	FEMALE
No of eligible candidates	49	11
No invited for interview	16	2
No qualified by Board	3	1
No considered for appointment	1	0
No placed on panel	3	1

Table2:19 Finance Offcier Competition No 1 1994

	MALE	FEMALE
No of eligible candidates	70	18
No invited for interview	29	3
No qualified by Board	8	0
No considered for appointment	2	0
Gender breakdown of interview board	4	0

Table 2: 20 Finance Officer Competition No 2 1994

	MALE	FEMALE
No of eligible candidates	31	7
No invited for interview	31	7
No qualified by Board	17	3
No considered for appointment	1	0
Gender breakdown of interview board	5	0

Table2:21 Finance Officer Competition No 3 1994

Town Clerk Post

Competition No. 1 for Town Clerk attracted 5 women candidates and in the first competition a woman was appointed. However, in the second competition there were no women applicants. There were also fewer male applicants : i.e 14 as contrasted with 22. This is quite puzzling but is likely to be a reflection of the location and attractiveness of the post. The position varies in status and salary depending on the size of the town or city. The overall national returns for Town Clerk posts shows an increase in the number of women, but not all of these posts are handled by the LAC. As noted above smaller areas are under Local Authorities.

Table 2:22 Town Clerk Post Competition Number 1 (1992)

Table 2:23 Town Clerk Competition No. 2 (1992)

Table 2:24 Town Clerk Competition No. 1 (1994)

Table 2:25 Town Clerk Competition No. 2 (1994)

If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try And Try Again

From a research point of view it would be interesting to know why none of the female candidates for the first competition for Town Clerk applied for the second one. Further, as the position of town clerk is now one at middle management the low number of female applicants needs to be explained. In terms of the 1992 competition, only one woman was considered for appointment from the first competition. All male competitors for the second competition resulted in the appointment of one man. (See table 2:23) In the two competitions in 1994, women did very badly with none of them deemed qualified by the Board. For those competitions, women were included on the interview boards.

Overall Review of Candidature

Based on interviews with Local Appointments Commission staff there is a dominant view that the national competition pool for top positions is small and there is a sense that emergent talent becomes known. This must have been crucially so in the past when all Local Authority applicants would have applied to the LAC and been interviewed by them for posts attained to date.

However, at the present time, there may be a sense of a self-fulfilling prophecy inherent in this view about the pool of available candidates. If it is understood that they must be drawn from the local authority structures then the pool is small, if they do not have to be drawn then it may well be that local authorities are failing to attract ‘outside’ talent. In addition the almost complete lack of female applicants contributes directly to the low candidature. However, even when women competed, they have not been very successful in the past. Without access to the competition notes, it is difficult to know why women are not more successful.

Gender Composition of Interview Boards for LAC

In terms of gender breakdown of interview boards, there were no women on the interview boards for County Managers in 1992. Of the 14 competitions for County/City Managers and Assistant County/City managers held in 1994-95 only one had a woman on the interview board. There was only one woman on the board for the second County Secretary competition in 1992. However in the 1993 and 1994 competitions all six boards had one woman. In the competitons for Town Clerk in 1992 and 1994, all boards included a woman. There has been an improvement over time in the number of women appointed to interview boards by the Local Appointments Commission.

From personal interviews with LAC staff, I know that greater efforts were made in 1993 and 1994 to appoint more women to interview boards. The staff argue that it is quite difficult to get a long list of women at a sufficiently high level. Such women when identified will agree to sit on such boards once or at most twice a year as it is seen as very time consuming. Given the greater supply of men in senior management this is not seen as problematic.

The Competition: Short Listing

The interview board is also responsible for the short-listing of candidates for interview. This is a requirement under the legislation and the board are given guidelines on it. The Commissioners may if they think it necessary add to the short list. The short-listing is done by examining the submitted curriculum vitae or application form. In the words of Commission staff, “an application form is a record of achievement usually in chronological order”.

Of course some applicants may well understate their achievements and others may overstate them. Nevertheless, it is true to say that the interview can test an applicant’s overstatement whereas understatement may mean that you are never called to interview! Interview training or training in procedures for short selecting candidates is not mandatory for Board members though LAC staff are professionally trained and at all stages supervise procedures and make sure competitions are legally conducted. To do so, they have to work especially closely with the Chairperson of the Board. A number of those who sat on interview boards were interviewed for this study and they said that the interviews were organised and held in a professional manner. There was however, a tendency to favour those who had already an established career in Local Government.

Marking Schemes Used at Interviews

There are three main areas:

1)qualifications

2)general competence usually interpreted as benefits of experience or “what they have achieved,’ and,

3)personality and general suitability.

Between 50% and 60% of the marks go for the second category with the balance divided between the other two. Usually between 20% and 25% go for personality or personal attributes necessary for the job. In terms of qualifications, it is “the application of qualifications to the job” that is important, not qualifications per se.

Each member of the board is asked for a general account or assessment of each candidate and then asked to categorise them under the following headings; excellent, very good, good, average, poor. The candidates are usually ranked in order of merit. A written report is made to the Commissioners by the board. The appointment is then made by the Local Appointments Commission.

Composition of Selection Boards

A minimum of two experts are usually appointed to the board in addition to an independent chairman (usually a man). The post of chairman is an honorary one and is not renumerated. However, this has not always been feasible and there has been an increase in the extent to which fee paid chairpersons are used. Such fee paying chairmen are often retired public sector employees. Those invited are drawn from professional bodies, universities, and from the public and private sector.

In the case of competition for County Managers, for instance, there is a lay chairman usually a retired County Manager, a County Manager (from another Authority), a manager from a public or private sector and the secretary or his representative from the Dept. of Environment and a LAC staff member will be in attendance.

One can see here that there is a predominance of membership drawn from the public sector. These men (in the past they were all men) are considered ‘top class managers’ who are good at interviewing and know what the requirements of the jobs are. Existing managers are classified as experts in the field competent to make sound judgments.

However, some applicants interviewed by this researcher claim that the interview boards for such positions are unpredictable and it means that some candidates can be lucky or unlucky for instance, the balance in terms of private or public sector board members might favour or disfavour ‘outsider’ candidates. Balancing the chances of inside versus outside candidates is difficult. Being known to people on the board could be an advantage or disadvantage. The survey returns showed that men were more likely to know interview board members than women in Local Authority interviews.. Basically, the composition of a Board will affect its deliberation and its eventual selection decisions.

The Competitive Interview

The competition for these senior posts is based on interview performance. Despite its lack of predictability it is used extensively and these competitions are not supposed to take other issues into account. Matters relating to the candidates applications, and misgivings about candidates must be addressed at the interview and in that way form part of the interview process. Board members are issued with notes for interview boards by the Local Appointments Commission which inform them of the professional procedures (see appendix). The staff of the Local Appointments Commision instruct the board in the procedures of the selection process. However, board members are not trained in interviewing and this remains a problematic issue given their competitive nature.

Perceptions of Interviews by Those Who Served on Interview Boards

Those Local Authority staff interviewed to date vary in their attitude to interviews as a mode of selection. Those who sat on interview boards have evaluated individuals as requested based on their curriculum vitae, academic qualification, range of experience and how they responded to the questions asked.

Yet others say:

“the interview is a subjective thing..ok. marks are given for education, achievements but in the final analysis the interview is subjective, not scientific. Interview performance is very important and how you relate to them (the candidate) and how you think they would fit in - that can’t be scientific”

“An element of luck comes into it from the candidate’s point of view. It is subjective”.

“You can be very unlucky or lucky on the day”.

Gender Balance on Interview Boards

The identification of and agreement of the best candidate will reflect the composition of the board. The absence of women from such boards is therefore quite serious. While female board members in no way are thought to necessarily influence the outcome of interviews, it reflects and encourages a focus on gender equity in the entire process.

The stipulated eligibility requirement for interview boards is that those on the interview boards must be at least two grades higher than the post for which they are appointed interviewers. The absence of women from top posts means that it is difficult to get eligible women to sit on boards for the most senior appointments. According to the Local Appointments Commission staff, many (of the few) eligible women refuse because of pressure of work etc. The recruitment of women from outside Local Authorities is one response to that, but still presents some difficulties for them.

Members of the Local Appointments Commission interviewed claimed that they regularly updated their board members and included ‘new’ women but said that a valid directory of suitable women who were willing to serve on interview boards would be welcomed. At present suitable women come to their attention via newspaper reports, from contact with universities and public bodies. For senior posts a woman is more likely to be placed on an interview board if there are women applicants. Otherwise it is still quite common to have all male interview boards and all male applicants. This of course reproduces the idea of male power and authority, making it eventually difficult for women to be considered eligible candidates. When all the board members and applicants are men there is a real danger that ‘being a man’ becomes an implicit criterion for appointment to senior posts.

Lack of Training

Given the competitive significance of the interview, it is regrettable that interview training is not mandatory for board members. Without explicit job descriptions, and the attendant identification of skills etc. it is far more likely that the interview process is subjective and unscientific. In practice this can mean that not all candidates are assessed in an identical fashion and research elsewhere shows that this can discriminate against women. The Local Appointments Commision has commenced this training in the case of interviews who recruit engineers, so it would be advisable for them to extend this training to other sectors, especially to managerial posts.

Conclusion

The upper management levels of Local Authorities remain almost exclusively male dominated. As we saw from the tables, in the majority of cases few women apply. Even when women are eligible few are called to interview and few are recommended for appointment. To be an eligible candidate, you must have already achieved a middle management position in a Local Authority. The career path is best described as a linear one where on advances up within the organisation, one’s promotions being like the rungs of a ladder each taken in turn. In the next chapter we will examine the representation of women in middle management positions.

Recommendations on Local Appointments Commission

The Local Appointments Commission has an excellent reputation and is generally considered fair and impartial. It does exist under certain restrictions as it is a recruitment agency. The following recommendations if implemented would augment its image as a fair and impartial agency and contribute further to the recruitment of the most talented staff.

1.The Local Appointments Commission should publish an annual report giving the gender breakdown of applicants for each competition and their respective success rates.

2.Special search committees may be required to encourage a greater number of applicants from a wider range of sectors to increase gender balance among applicants.

3.To facilitate the LAC each local authority should provide very clear job specifications for advertised posts and detail any qualifications which are mandatory as opposed to optional.

4.The personal skills and competences necessary to carry out such a post should also be outlined in a way which enables any board member to evaluate applicants possession of such skills. Accurate descriptions would lead to more inclusive competition and ensure equity.

5.Each competition should be concluded by an overview of the competition in terms of its effective search, number and diversity of applicants etc.for both the outcome of the shortlisting and the interview competition.

6.A gender balance on all interview boards should be maintained, and a comprehensive directory of women who are agree to sit on interview boards should be drawn up and updated regularly.

7.Given the difficulty in getting voluntary interview board members, perhaps a small number of professional interviewers should be recruited until such time as a gender balance is available.

8.Given the fact that interviews are tantamount to examinations, each candidate should ideally be given some feedback on their performance. In this way it could be like a formal appraisal and be a learning experience. Those who performed well might be encouraged to compete again, while those who had not relevant skills might acquire them or not continue to apply.

9.Given the salience of the Commissioners, and the growing importance of equality, it might also be proper to extend their number and to include a representative from the Department of Equality or Labour.

The practice of appointing retired Local Authority employees as chairmen should be reviewed as older men may be more likely to have traditional views on women’s roles in society. Chairpersons should be selected from more diverse occupational backgrounds and ages, and gender.

Chapter 3 Gender Distribution of Middle Management

Introduction

As shown in chapters one and two, men who achieved the top positions of County and City Managers did so as part of a career path in which they continued to rise over time. This kind of career path is based on a linear career concept (Driver: 1977&1988). Those who internalise and work on a linear career concept are more likely to also engage in long range contingency planning. They make maximum use of information in developing their career. This includes being open to new information and having an ability to incorporate this in the information structure underlying their career concept. A linear career is one for life beginning in their youth and any direction of change in its pattern will be upward. Generally speaking, such a career concept is very persuasive extending to other areas of their lives as well.

The decision making style of those who have a linear career concept is characterised as a hierarchic one. This lends itself to a very careful career plan with a long range time horizon. It does tend to include an extreme focus which might ignore real family needs or alternatively they might be orchestrated to support it. In addition such an individual is likely to set perfectionist “long term achiever” goals.

The organisation of a Local Authority can be termed linear as it is a horizontally organised one. Employees move up its grades over time with only a few reaching its apex. The number of career moves it takes to get to the top depends on where one enters the system and how many grades there are to rise through. In the past, there were only five grades, but additional grades have been introduced making the ladder longer than it was, and giving individuals more promotional rungs to overcome. Moving up depends on one’s abilities and attributes and on the opportunities that present themselves.

If we wish to see whether men and women compete equally we need to compare the number of male and female candidates who apply and then compare their success rates. In chapters one and two we saw that few women even entered the competitions for top posts. Few were eligible to apply from Local Authorities. Reaching this eligibility level, in turn, depends on moving up to middle management in a Local Authority and successfully competing for promotion in their local and internal competitions. In this chapter we examine the representation of women in middle management.

Local Authorities and Their Appointments System

In the 1960s, there there were only four grades in County Councils: Clerical Officer, Staff Officer, County Secretary and Manager. Urban District Councils had Town Clerks. Recruitment to all these positions was through the Local Appointments Commission. Now, as was seen in the last chapter the posts of City/ County Managers, Assistant City /County Managers, County Secretaries and Finance Officers and some Town Clerk posts are recruited by the Local Appointments Commission. All other grades are recruted by the Local Authorities themselves, and getting to middle management is a pre-requisite for senior management.

Overtime the number of grades has increased. Large Corporations tend to have more grades than County Councils. Many authorities have Senior Administrative Officers/Assistant Principal Officer and Adminstrative Officers. Thes grades form the apex of the Local Authority promotional structure. Grade Seven of Adminstrative Officer level is considered the first tier of management with the two lower grades of Staff Officer (Grade 5) and Senior Staff Officer (Grade 6) called supervisory grades.

Vertical Segregation in Local Authorities:Senior Administrative Officers

There is only one woman at Senior Adminstrative Officer level and twenty two at Administrative Officer level. There are no women Principal Officers and only 1 Assistant Princpal Officer. Table 3:1 is a very clear demonstration of vertical segregation. This mirrors the absence of women in the top positions as noted in Chapters One and Two. However only large Local Authorities have such posts, with Dublin Corporation being the only Local Authority with Principal and Assistant Principal Officers.

TABLE 3:1 GENDER SEGREGATION BY LEVEL

Administrative Officer

The next grade of Adminstrative Officer includes 14% of women (Table 3:5), though they are only found in the large urban corporations. There are more Adminstrative Officer posts available in these corporations which overall have more more senior posts. While men dominate the most senior positions, a few women have moved up to middle management.

Variation by County

While the overall representation of women in managment is low, we can see from Table 3:6 that there is considerable variation between counties in the representation of women in managment positions. Women are better represented at management level in some urban Corportions but are virtually absent in County Councils.

Table3.6: REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT POSITIONS BY COUNTY

Chapter 4 Promotional Competitions To Senior Management

Senior Administrative Officer posts

Competition Success Rates

How can one explain the low representation of women in Senior Adminstrative posts? Perhaps they do not apply for these posts? Admittedly, there are few competitons for the post of Senior Adminstrative Officer as they are only offered in some new urban Corporations. This we can glean from the competitions held, which are shown in Table 4:1. While the first competition attracted four women applicants, the second and third attracted none, which is rather surprising. The lack of success in the first competition may discourage other women or the same women from appplying for the second time.

TABLE 4:1 SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER COMPETITIONS:

BY COUNTY, GIVING NUMBER OF APPLICANTS & NUMBER AND RATE OF SUCCESS BY SEX.

Administrative Officer Competitions

A review of the competitions for Adminstrative Officer posts by county shows that between 1992 and 1995, 46 competitions were held. Of those 38 had women applicants. Yet, the success rates for women as a whole were lower, except in the urban Corporations, as Table 4:3 indicates. These competions resulted in the appointment of 15 women candidates

TABLE 4.2

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER COMPETITIONS:

BY COUNTY, GIVING NUMBER OF APPLICANTS & NUMBER AND RATE OF SUCCESS BY SEX.

TOTALS:4:3

APPLICANTS & SUCCESSES BY YEAR*

Table 4:3 gives the comparative success rate for men and women for Adminstrative Officer posts. For all years except 1993, the success rate for women was lower than that of men. Increasingly, a lower proportionate success rate is seen as a sign of possible indirect discrimination. One expects to see success rates proportionate to the number of applicants and this is certainly not the case. Obtaining a promotion has three distinct stages. Firstly, one must decide to go forward for promotion which in itself is a demanding decision. Secondly, one must prepare for the interview which is a competitive one at which your suitability for the job is assessed. Thirdly, you must perform well on the day, at the interview.

Deciding to Apply

Interview material gives the context for these competitive interviews. The first step is to actually enter the competition and this entails believing that you are competent to do the job as the following quotation from a female candidate shows:

“I did a lot of preparation. I became focused on the knowledge I had to know and I talked to people I knew well who had got promotion and how they actually approached it, and I psyched myself up to it much better the third time, I wasn’t prepared personality wise for the second time. I looked at people round me and saw what they were actually doing at that level and I said to myself maybe I had an exaggerated view of what they’re looking for at that level, I thought they were looking for someone greater, someone reasonably sane, quite straight forward”

But candidates had to initially get the measure of the job and what it required:

“I felt they were looking for someone pragmatic..who had no difficulty with problems..who would explore different avenues and come down on one side..someone creative..with an open mind (to solutions) ..and who would get on with people as there was always the potential to be a problem, so you had to be a diplomatic person..and factual..because your conclusions came from the facts.”

Interview Preparation

The second stage is the interview preparation. Preparation is based on reading newspapers, professional journals and consultants reports. Because the applicant is applying for a senior post they have to be knowledgeable about all aspects of the organisation and its activities. They may know all about the section they work in but this is not sufficient.

Mentors and Study Groups

Some employees had good mentors who at a very early stage emphasised the importance of study and advised them on what they might study in order to get ahead in the organisation. The postal survey showed this as a frequent occurrence with 61% of the male respondents and 70% of the female respondents saying they have had a mentor at some stage in their career. Some employees interviewed also said their mentors recommended that they do courses such as those offered by the Institute of Public Administration.

Many of those in senior positions had been part of study groups who prepared in groups for promotional competitions. Typically each member of the study group contributed their area of expertise and this facilitated an exchange of ideas and knowledge. There is a study group tradition in Local Authorities. Such study groups were often started as early as Staff Officer competitions which in the past were conducted by the Local Appointments Commission. Some of those now in top posts once belonged to one of these small study groups. These also exist in Corporations. However, for senior posts in the past they were exclusively male as only the men were eligible to apply. In one Corporation a group of women convened a study group. Their male colleagues were highly critical of this conveniently forgetting they had excluded women from theirs in the past.

One successful candidate had taken a week of her leave to prepare for her last promotional interview. Preparation for these management interviews was different to earlier ones she said. You had to have:

“thought about what the post is, what they are looking for and what you have to give .... and will you fit into that .... That mental change was big for me.”

She joined a small study groups a few weeks previous to help prepare for the interview. Since joining the Corporation she had taken a degree and had come first place in her last competitive interview for grade 6, so she thought she should attempt grade 7.

Interview Performance

The third stage is the actual interview performance itself. For higher level interviews (Adminstrative Officer) the questions were broader and more policy orientated, using the applicants general knowledge, expertise and understanding of public policy in a variety of areas. A good analysis and comprehension of topical issues and policy recommendations were required.

“I was nervous for the interview..literally had a blank for the first two minutes. I think the way he handled it (chairperson) was quite good.. When I came out I thought it had gone quite well, it was a discussion interview.. That interview was well handled..”

“In some parts of the interview they set up ‘situations’ and asked what would you do..you drew on your experience and they saw that you drew on your experience.”

So the preparation for these competitive interviews has to be done but the interview itself has to be managed. Some of those who sat on interview boards claimed that women were often better prepared than men. For lower grades, some had a tendency to learn things by heart in a parrot like fashion and that did not create a good impression. According to those who sat on interview boards, the basis for which selection is made at interview is on how you have performed in your career to date and how you come across on the day to the interview board, one of the telling factors is how a person thinks on their feet.

However, the Local Authority network is a small one. Some of those interviewed felt that at times the job was already allocated to someone even before they were interviewed for it. Talking about a forthcoming competition one respondent said:

“but I’ve heard since that’s sewn up, there’s a guy in it who was given it, then he was acting in it, that he’s going to get it because he was acting in it, ..there’s a lot of that, that means you have to link in to their (system) .. I did very well in the last interview but it went to a guy who was a protege of another man and as soon as that man was on the board he was going to get it anyway”…

This point is a crucial one but one that is very difficult to access information about without analysis of interviews. Given the subjectivity of interview boards, some board members are quite likely to be keen on getting their favourites appointed, whereas other board members may not be unduly concerned, especially if all candiates are of a high calibre.

Adequate Experience for the Job

While there are no formal requirements, women who perform extremely well at interview can be told that they don’t have enough experience:

“I was in for another job since and that was a great interview, but I was told afterwards by the people on the board that unless I went to a work section I wouldn’t be promoted, that I was too long in the service section.. I’m finding it difficult to get out.”

Lack of experience can also be involved in appraisal of some candidates but ignored in the case of others. This practice can be discriminatory as more ??? demands made of female candidates.

Gender Differences in Performance

One woman who had sat on a number of interview boards said that she had noticed gender differences in interview performance:

“Women get nervous..you can visibly see they’re nervous..they blush, their necks sometimes show a red rash..they can sound hysterical just because their voices are higher I’ve seen two people cry at interview..it was just too much..but interviews are very false. Men are much better at handling themselves..men are always impeccably dressed..you always feel that they are entitled to the job, that’s a big thing..women are more tentative..not as assertive..Men are generally more in control..

She thought that women could be trained to perform well at interview.

“what they know is not always as important as how they portray what they know”..

Survey Data on Interviews

A good perfomance at interview and a proven record of achievement were considered the two most important traits for promotion to senior posts by survey respondents. More women (27%) stressed perfomance at interview than men (23%), whereas moremen (27%) rated ‘proven record of achievement’ as the most important. The majority of the sample reported that the last interview they did was conducted professionally (89% of men and women). Yet only half the total sample of men and women agreed that interviews were the best way of selecting people for positions. With only approximately 60% of the sample saying that they did justice to themselves in the last interview they attended. Although 91% of them agreed that it was possible to train for interviews.

Gender Composition of Interview Boards

For middle mangement posts in the past, there were no women on the interview boards. For recent competitions the following table shows their representation.

TABLE 4:4(SENIOR) ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER COMPETITIONS

To an extent the requirement that those on the interview board be two levels higher than the post being competed for is one part of the explanation for the low representation of women on interview boards. However, few women who I have interviewed even in senior posts have been called upon for interview service. The survey data shows that 73% of men as contrasted with only 55% of women had ever sat on an interview board. This finding suggests that women are not asked as often as men to sit on interview boards.

The interview board is drawn from Local Authorities staff. For instance an interview board will be composed of the following all drawn from outside: Manager/ retired Manager, County Secretary or Administrative Officer and a Finance Officer. Virtually all of these posts are still male dominated. In the past they were also quite likely to be older men.

Marriage Bar

The existence of the marriage bar until 1973, eliminated many potential candidates (women). In the past, the long wait before one qualified for promotion especially if one was a Clerk Typist meant that promotion was not a priority. It was a long way off so it did not occupy women’s minds. Gender roles were very traditional and many women assumed that they would marry and retire. It is quite possible that senior older men on interview boards still see women as having very traditional roles.

Geographical Mobility

Typically men as breadwinners with non-working wives were free to move, married women were unlikely to move from one County Council to another. This geographical mobility is crucial in County Council promotions but may not be crucial in larger Urban Corporations. The survey data shows that men have moved Local Authority more often than women; 48% of men never having moved compared with 52% of women. Men have also moved home more often than women, 70% of men compared to 87% of women saying they had never moved home. However Dublin based staff are less likely to have to move for promotional purposes.

Chapter Five Gender Distribution in Supervisory Posts

Senior Staff Officers (Grade 6)

Women constitute almost a quarter of Senior Staff Officers (see table 5.1). Grades 6 is still a supervisory grade whereas grade 7 (Administrative Officer) is seen as the first tier of management.

Seventeen of the County Councils and Corporations have no female senior staff officer. However, there is a considerable range with Leitrim and Tipperary having 80% and 75% of Senior Staff officers female. Dublin, DunLaoire/Rathdown,Louth having 50%. Table 5.2 gives a gender breakdown of applicants by county by rate of success.

SENIOR STAFF OFFICER COMPETITIONS: TABLE5:2

BY COUNTY, GIVING NUMBER OF APPLICANTS & NUMBER AND RATE OF SUCCESS BY SEX.