Women are their own worst enemy. 

This is the view of Ken Titmuss, facilitator of the recent panel session on the role of women in Supply Chain Management at the 37th Annual SAPICS conference. The panel consisted of top female supply chain executives Joyce Lewis, Monika Wates, Onicca Mailula, Kea Mpane, and Claire Bloom and provided significant insight into the issues facing women today.

“Women are their own worst enemy because they think they are inferior when they are simply not,” says Titmuss. “Unfortunately they face a difficult market and continue to receive lower wages than men. Attitudes have to change. We need to stop seeing gender and start looking at people in terms of their abilities, skills and experience.”

This view is shared by Joyce Lewis, President of the Los Angeles branch of APICS in the USA. APICS is the premier professional association for supply chain and operations management.

“There are two major challenges that women continue to face in supply chain management,” she says. “External factors created by the industry and internal barriers created by women themselves.”

Talentism not capitalism
According to Lewis the majority of the executive leadership roles that influence leadership style, selection and promotion are held by men and they often mistake confidence for competence. Both Lewis and Titmuss believe that women need to develop deeper reserves of self-confidence and recognise the value that they bring to any organisation.

“Women continue to lack awareness of their natural leadership abilities such as empathy, agility, adaptability and commitment and how best to use those skills to succeed in supply chain leadership roles,” says Lewis. “Their lack of confidence can be perceived as a lack of competence to a hiring executive.”

Titmuss adds: “Women should not feel less than men and some of them do. They feel that they need to do more whereas men just feel as if they can walk in and start working. Women have a lot to bring to the table and we desperately need them in this industry.”

Organisations should recognise talent rather than gender or colour and Titmuss believes that while many of the challenges around colour are being dealt with, the ones around gender remain largely untouched.

“It is the sign of a progressive industry that looks at people based on talent and not gender and currently SCM is not ticking this box,” says Titmuss. “Women need to come to work knowing that they are not going to be treated differently and that their skills and experiences are enough.”

Transformation in the wings
On the outside it seems as if the gender issue remains unchanged. Women continue to feel as if they have to work harder, they still receive lower wages and they struggle to find jobs that allow them to gain valuable industry experience. The question that has to be asked is – has there been any level of transformation within this arena?

“One of the primary issues that has seen transformation is awareness of the problem itself,” says Lewis. “Although the lack of opportunity and equality for women in SCM has existed for many, many years, it was never at the forefront of discussions until recently. Research, conferences, books and social media are all creating awareness and stimulating discussion which has helped catapult the issue to a level where true change can occur.”

For women, the fight to gain prominence in a male-dominated SCM industry has just begun, but at least there is now a light being shone on the challenges and change has begun.

“The adjustment for organisations must come in the form of education and they should perform an analysis of their employment practices to see if hiring needs to be refined to ensure gender equality,” concludes Lewis. “Stereotypes within the SCM field must be broken, especially in the area of emotional intelligence or the acceptable behaviours for men versus women in the corporate environment.”

ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Cathlen Fourie, 082 222 9198, [email protected], www.atthatpoint.co.za

ABOUT SAPICS – your supply chain network
SAPICS is a professional knowledge-based association that enables individuals and organisations to improve business performance. SAPICS builds operations management excellence in individuals and enterprises through superior education and training, internationally recognised certifications, comprehensive resources and a countrywide network of accomplished industry professionals. This network is ever expanding and now includes associates in other African countries.

For more information on SAPICS please visit:
Website: www.sapics.org.za
Twitter: @SAPICS01
LinkedIn: SAPICS group
Facebook: OperationsManagement

 
ABOUT APICS
APICS is the leading professional association for supply chain and operations management and the premier provider of research, education and certification programs that elevate end-to-end supply chain excellence, innovation and resilience. APICS Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) and APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) designations set the industry standard. With over 37,000 members and more than 250 international partners, APICS is transforming the way people do business, drive growth and reach global customers.  APICS is based in the USA and has a broad global footprint.

www.apics.org  

Finding organisations that are open to women in supply chain; a whole lot of perseverance and belonging to a professional body are rated amongst the top factors that determine the success of women entering the demanding field of supply chain management.

That’s the word from one such woman, SAPICS Director Kea Mpane, nominated as a finalist in the 2014 Africa’s Most Influential Women in Business and Government awards. According to Mpane, she’s but one of many talented women who’re entering the industry right now.

“As the number of women entering the field rises, it’s encouraging to note that they’re not just filling lower level positions, but increasingly taking top spots in the industry,” she says.

“But, it’s not without a fight. Women often need to be better at what they do than their male counterparts in order to get recognised in some companies,” she says.

Perseverance in the face of challenges
Trailblazing author of the seminal book MRP and Beyond, Carol Ptak, was one of the first women in senior supply chain management in the USA.  She believes the top challenge facing women is credibility: “A man is typically given the benefit of the doubt but a woman has to be twice as good to get half as far,” she remarks. “This is the reason I wrote my first book – it didn’t increase my knowledge but it gave me credibility.”

Furthermore she says that a woman who is emphatic about her position, when challenged, is called aggressive while a man with the same argument is regarded as assertive.  “To move forward in your career you have to know when to push and when to pull back.  An advantage that women have is that we are more empathetic to those around us, so if we tune into that capability it can help us move ahead without leaving too many damaged relationships behind,” she says.

Pick the right organization
According to Ptak, who has spent much of her career working for IBM and PeopleSoft, another important issue is finding an organisation that is open to women in supply chain. 

“You need to find an organisation that values the contribution that women can make and fights for their rights to advance in their careers,” says Ptak.

Belonging to a professional body
Another key factor in helping women to advance in the supply chain field is belonging to a professional organisation such as SAPICS. Of her involvement in a similar body in the US, Ptak says what she learned at APICS has been invaluable in her work.

“Your APICS colleagues will tend to forgive your mistakes more readily than the boss as work does.  APICS was a great source of learning – not just for production and inventory control but also how to be successful with management and people.  The best thing from APICS is the strong network of people.  When you go into that relationship without a thought of what you are going to get out of it, you will be blessed with more benefits than you can ever repay.”

Good advice
Ptak says there are three things that the next generation of women in supply chain need to have if they are going to be successful in their careers: the ability to think critically, to communicate effectively – both in written and verbal forms, and the ability to work effectively both in a team and alone.

“Nothing significant has ever been achieved by anyone working totally alone,” says Ptak. “The biggest innovations – like Demand Driven MRP – have come from a small group of dedicated individuals focused on a common objective.  It is imperative that every member of the team is trusted by the others to do their job.”

“The biggest advice I can give is to NOT think of yourself as a woman in supply chain.  My advice would be to become the best supply chain executive, period.  I never thought of myself as a female operations manager or the female APICS president – I always tried to be the BEST operations manager or the BEST APICS president,” she concludes.

For more great advice from senior women in supply chain, please see below:

What challenges have you faced in your career being a woman in supply chain?

Nancy Wendorf – Senior Executive Practitioner and trailblazer for women in SCM

A challenge for me was balancing my family life and job. To balance both family and career while making it look effortless to our male counterparts takes great organisational skills, concise communication and focused control in our daily jobs.  In past corporate cultures, this delicate and skillful balancing act has been maligned and or misaligned with “glass ceilings” limitations of women being preoccupied, stressed-out or vulnerable in the eyes of “corporate executive fathers” whose job is solely to be the breadwinner for their family and who often have a wife who is (respectfully) a valued homemaker for the family. 

This dichotomy of corporate “value” cultures has held many creative, talented and innovative women hostage through the years because of these compartmentalized responsibilities. As women rise up in the ranks and corporate mindsets change to the dual role/balancing act, the more women will have opportunities to fit into the offerings of higher management.
 
How has being part of a professional organisation assisted you in your career and helped you to overcome challenges?

Nancy Wendorf – Senior Executive Practitioner and trailblazer for women in SCM
 
Belonging to and serving in various positions within a professional organisation for so many years has helped me to understand that I was not alone with trying to succeed as a wife, mother and having a career.  The value of being with a group of professionals outside of the workspace truly helped me through those years with their guidance, knowledge and support. The professional evolution of knowledge sharing, cultivation of talent and support by the group becomes a mutual symbiosis of producing success-orientated individuals that are a measurable validation of how successful the member organisation is.
 
Caroline Mondon – Senior executive level France and Association management FAPICS

Being an active member of an association linked to an international network allowed me to know 5 to 10 years ahead what topics were going to become hot and get prepared. Being an active member of my national association gave me strength to face resistance at work because I wasn’t alone to promote new practices.

What advice would you give to the next generation of women in supply chain?
 
Nancy Wendorf – Senior Executive Practitioner and trailblazer for women in SCM

The best advice I can give is be willing to genuinely listen to what others are saying to you and by continuing to be a hard worker proving your value you will be recognized as a knowledgeable person who people will respect and listen to.  In this field, you have to have a very open mind, as each day is dynamic by nature.   You’ll need to be able to quickly absorb and resolve “snapshot situations” when they arise.  Also, stay in tune with all levels of your organisation.  Don’t be pigeonholed by what your job responsibilities are.  Connect with colleagues, peers and management to allow yourself to understand what they do and how you fit within the company infrastructure, strategies and goals that affect each and every one of us as shareholders. 

Sonia Daviaud – Senior Executive Practitioner and Association management – Director APICS – France

Stop thinking that being a woman is a barrier! If you want to work in SC, just do it and do not ask for special favor because you are a woman.

Caroline Mondon – Senior executive level France and Association management FAPICS

I have always considered “soft skills” as important as “hard skills” for successful teams. This wasn’t difficult to say: it was well accepted that a woman could say such strange things like that. And as the results of my teams were often very good, it was even considered “cute”.  I could work very well with Human Resource departments, most of the time managed by a woman director, as this function also wasn’t considered as important. Take advantage of being a woman to bring new ideas and new methods to your company.   Don’t hesitate to be yourself - all of yourself - at work.


ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Cathlen Fourie, 012 644 2833, [email protected] 

For more information on SAPICS please visit:
Website: http://www.sapics.org.za/
Twitter: @SAPICS01
LinkedIn: SAPICS group
Facebook: OperationsManagement