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Annotated resource list for contribution to the glass ceiling page under the frozen middle heading. Each citation is followed by a summary of the source.

Byrnes, Jonathan. "Middle Management Excellence." Harvard Business Review 5 Dec. 2005 pag. print

    While not a scholarly journal, “Middle Management Excellence” is the article that brought the term “frozen middle” into the vernacular surrounding middle management. Of particular note in this article is the way that the author, Jonathan Byrnes, uses the term frozen middle. Byrnes describes the frozen middle with regard to initiatives from the executive boards of corporations languishing in the ranks of middle management, without mention of workplace discrimination, indicating that the term frozen middle has adapted over time to apply to new contexts.

Cundiff, Jessica, and Theresa Vescio. "Gender Stereotypes Influence How People Explain Gender Disparities In The Workplace." Sex Roles (2016): 126-138. Web.

    While this article does not deal explicitly with the frozen middle nor glass ceiling, the article provides a possible explanation for why gender disparities in the workplace persist. The authors question whether stereotypes influence discrimination in the STEM fields, and their findings prove this theory to be true. This article supports complements the article “Women in Middle Management” by Wentling in that both deal with stigmas surrounding the role of women at home and in the workplace and how these roles affect workplace performance and advancement.

Daley, Dennis M. "Paths Of Glory And The Glass Ceiling: Differing Patterns Of Career Advancement Among Women And Minority Federal Employees." Public Administration Quarterly (1996) 143-162. Web.

    “Paths of Glory” examines the career paths of federal employees and whether members of minorities were less likely to reach top positions. Based on the findings of the study, the authors of this research call middle management the glass ceiling for women and minorities, reflecting a change in the terminology surrounding gender discrimination in the workplace in the roughly twenty years since the article’s publication. The study found that female and minority federal employees were indeed at a disadvantage when compared to their white male counterparts in similar positions and were less likely to rise to executive positions. 

Dezso, Cristian L., David Gaddis Ross, and Jose Uribe. "Is There An Implicit Quota On Women In Top Management? A Large-Sample Statistical Analysis." Strategic Management Journal (2016) 98-115. Web.

    This study questioned whether women in the executive management levels of large scale businesses face implicit quotas. Essentially, businesses will promote or hire a small number of women to their upper management so as to create the illusion of proportional representation of women within the firm, but fail to exceed this quota by any substantial amount. The study also posits that having female role models at the top of organizations creates a positive gender spillover effect, meaning that as more women are present at a corporation’s executive levels, more women will rise through the ranks of lower and middle management which will in turn help ensure that women and men will be equally represented. This study provides an interesting perspective on the frozen middle, albeit indirectly, in that instead of progress coming from middle management it should instead come from the top. 

Helfat, Constance E., Dawn Harris, and Paul J. Wolfson. "The Pipeline To The Top: Women And Men In The Top Executive Ranks Of U.S. Corporations." Academy Of Management Perspectives (2006) 42-64. Web.

     This study examined the percentage of women in the executive suite at the time of its publication and predicted how well women would be represented in the top positions of corporations in the next 10 years. Based on the statistical analysis and trend data collected, the researchers found that by 2016 between 4.9% and 12.8%, (most likely 6.2%) of CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies would be women. The researches also predicted that this number would continue generally grow steadily at a slow rate. According to the Fortune 500’s own 2016 list, however, only 4.2% of Fortune 500 companies had female CEO’s.

Lyness, Karen S., and Donna E. Thompson. "Climbing The Corporate Ladder: Do Female And Male Executives Follow The Same Route?." Journal Of Applied Psychology (2000) 86-101. Web.

    This study examined the career paths of sixty nine men and sixty nine women who had already reached top positions within their corporations. Among the experiences recounted by the women, the barriers typical of tokenism theory, (representation of minority groups in a limited capacity to give the appearance of diversity within a group) were prevalent. Furthermore, men in the study were far more likely than women to report the utility of having a mentor in their career development, indicating that executive female role models are sparse in the majority of corporations which limits the number of female role models for female professionals. 

Mandy Mok Kim, Man, Miha Skerlavaj, and Vlado Dimovski. "Is There A 'Glass Ceiling' For Mid-Level Female Managers?." International Journal Of Management & Innovation (2009) 1-13. Web.

    This study of mid-level female managers in Malaysia contains findings similar to those of the aforementioned studies by Lyness and Thompson, as well as Helfat, Harris, and Wolfson. Essentially, the journal states that female employees in Malaysia see their career advancement stifled while in the levels of middle management. The parallels between this study and the aforementioned research papers suggest that the problems of the frozen middle are universal and are not exclusive to Fortune 500 and exclusively American corporations.  

Martell, Richard F., et al. "Sex Stereotyping In The Executive Suite: `Much Ado About Something'." Journal Of Social Behavior & Personality (1998) 127-138. Web.

     This study provided empirical data on stereotyping on the basis of sex in middle management, specifically with reference to the perceived leadership skills of male and female leaders. The study posited a “lack of fit” explanation, meaning that women were perceived to lack the drive, initiative, and courage that their male counterparts were perceived to have in spite of the female managers achieving equivalent or greater successes than their male counterparts. This study is relevant because the data provides empirical evidence for sex based discrimination, lending credence to the theory of the frozen middle.

Wentling, Rose Mary. "Women In Middle Management: Their Career Development And Aspirations." Business Horizon (1992) 47. Web.

    This article discusses the perspectives of women in industrial organizations on obstacles that hindered career advancement, such as sex discrimination and contending with a majority male workforce. Women surveyed agreed that informal “old boy” networks existed in their organizations. These social circles are dominated by men who follow certain social norms of masculinity, and for women to be included and gain access to these networks they must conform to potentially degrading norms, causing a conflict of values for women looking to balance their femininity with career advancement.