Pathways for Women to Obtain Positions of Organizational Leadership: The Significance of Mentoring and Networking

Abstract

The Wall Street Journal, in interviews with top women executives, discussed their path to the top and the importance of mentoring in getting there. The response of Michelle Coleman Mayes was typical. She stressed the importance of having many mentors at different points in one's career, and to mentor others. The question, and positive responses of the executives, indicates the acceptance of the idea that mentoring is important, if not crucial, in helping women and minorities, to reach the top ranks in organizations. For at least two decades social research has confirmed what many have learned through experience. This article reviews the extant literature that addresses the ways in which mentoring and networking, both formal and informal, may help women executives achieve the highest levels of organizational leadership in business organizations, both national and international. In particular, the paper aims to identify those gaps of knowledge that, if bridged, would help companies better understand how to use mentoring and networking to develop women as leaders in multinational and multicultural business environments. The paper further seeks to identify the legal issues suggested by the mentoring and networking literature.