Women career influencers in Indian logistics industry

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The emergence of Multinational business scenario in India has paved way for a tremendous growth in its Logistics sector. India is spending more in for its logistical activities more than the developed countries (SSKI).

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International Journal of Management (IJM) Volume 7, Issue 7, November–December 2016, pp.232–239, Article ID: IJM_07_07_024 Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijm/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=7&IType=7 Journal Impact Factor (2016): 8.1920 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510 © IAEME Publication WOMEN CAREER INFLUENCERS IN INDIAN LOGISTICS INDUSTRY P. Uma Maheswari Research Scholar, Alagappa Institute of Management, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamilnadu, India Dr. R. Perumal Professor, Directorate of distance education, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamilnadu, India ABSTRACT The emergence of Multinational business scenario in India has paved way for a tremendous growth in its Logistics sector. India is spending more in for its logistical activities more than the developed countries (SSKI). Witnessing the tremendous growth of the sector and its manpower requirements, there exists still a skill gap that is unable to be matched. As a male-dominated industry, women still find difficult to mark their excellence unlike the case of IT and other service industries. In recent years, several major studies have demonstrated that having more female leaders, board members, managers and supervisors leads to better business outcomes including higher levels of productivity, safety and improved financial returns (PWC, 2016). It is being strongly perceived that women have so many factors that acts behind them, especially in their career choice. In broad, they can be classified as Environmental factors, Opportunity factors and Personal factors (Borchet, 2002). There are some more reasons added such as Job description, Personality, Social and Economic factors that hinders the career growth of Indian Women (MADIKIZELA, 2008). This is a theoretical paper that attempts to categorize and understand the importance of each of the factors that affects the choice of women career with reference to the Indian Logistics Sector. Key words: Women Career, Career Influencers, Gender Equality, Glass Ceiling Cite this Article: P. Uma Maheswari and Dr. R. Perumal, Women Career Influencers In Indian Logistics Industry. International Journal of Management, 7(7), 2016, pp. 232–239. http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=7&IType=7 1. INTRODUCTION The global annual logistics spend is valued at about USD 3.5 trillion. The annual logistics cost for the USA is about 9% of GDP and internationally it varies between 9% and 20% of the GDP (Sahu, 2016). The annual logistics cost in India is valued at Rs. 6,750 billion (US$ 135 billion) and it is growing at 8-10% annually (Cygnus). For the period 2008 to 2022, the GDP is expected to grow between 7.5% and 8%31. Accordingly, it can be projected that the Transportation sector would record a growth of 8.5% to 9% over the same period (IMaCS) Logistics Industry is driven by the skills and quality of employed workforce that is now estimated to be more than 40 million in India. With the growing manpower need at an exponential rate, the sector is http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 232 editor@iaeme.com
Women Career Influencers In Indian Logistics Industry facing shortage in the availability of talented workforce as the industry has inculcated a serious myth in the minds of the growing talents (CII, 2007). The major reasons for the skill gap that is prevailing in the sector are mainly due to high attrition rates, improper recruitment practices and insufficient addition of manpower to the existing pool at the right time (KPMG, 2007). Traditionally this sector is perceived to be operationally hard laborious and male-dominated industry which hindered the growth of women workforce in this industry even in ports and shipping (Sanjai, 2014). But, the women employment rate in transport and Logistics sector has not been so significant (Nigam, 2010). Gender parity is witnessed both in the number of employed personnel and the pay structure. The perception of operational hard labor and male domination at the workplace hinder many women from joining the logistics sector, including ports and shipping. But, the new generation women are perceived to have got the right aptitude and attitude to be employed in the logistics industry. (Jain, July 2014). 2. WOMEN POWER IN LOGISTICS INDUSTRY Having a women team will lead Logistics organizations to enjoy higher financial returns (PWC, Transportation and Logistics 2030 report, 2016). The report also states that companies with more women directors on board outperformed the others with a minimum of 16% in return on sales and 26% return on investment. Such studies not only demonstrates the women power but also necessitates the importance of gender diversity and inclusion which has not been practiced so far when it comes to the matter of business leadership. Women, naturally have that ability to connect themselves with both the ends of the business and women will play a vital role in establishing the anticipated level of last mile relationship. With improving business conditions in India, male-dominated strongholds are being overwritten by opening up more opportunities for women in the industry (Singh, 2015). It is also being understood from the same source that other than back-end operations like Analytics and route-planning there are lot many avenues for women in the front-end too, in which women have not been a part, so far. Several companies like DP World, DHL etc. are towards increasing the number of women workforce in their organizations. These companies started emphasizing through their women top officials that Logistics is not a problematic area for women to work at all (Hall, 2013). 3. FACTORS INFLUENCING WOMEN CAREER CHOICE Several studies have been made to narrow down the various factors that affects and effects the choice of career with respect to women. Though the factors keep on increasing in number, there are some important considerations which play a huge role in women career choice (Mutekwe, 2011). http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 233 editor@iaeme.com
P. Uma Maheswari and Dr. R. Perumal Women career choice Education Personality Economic Status Industry & opportunities f Society & Culture Work Life Balance Family & Quality acquaintances Work Life Figure 1 Factors affecting Women career choice Some factors are very common such as demographics and economic stability. But, there are some more to the list that displays the changing perception of today’s women. These factors remain same for determining the career choice of women across various industries. But, as far as the Indian logistics industry is concerned, these are found to be predominant factors that every women would look in for. In that context, the nature of logistics industry, its job descriptions, job environment and specifications keeps on improving due to external pressure in this multinational business scenario (Nigam, 2010). 4. EDUCATION It is only during the last 7 to 8 years that Logistics, Shipping and Supply chain management started gaining their momentum as far as education and professional studies are concerned. As this sector is highly perceived to be an unorganized sector as per various reports and the proportion of organized business operation is comparatively less than 20% (JLL, 2015), there were hardly very few institutions with specific course of focus. Even majority of the board room people in major Indian Logistics companies of India have not done any education program in Logistics prior to their intervention to the industry (Sahu, 2016). Education and training requirements peaks up for this sector in the country as the talent gap is getting extended year on year with the intervention of ecommerce and necessity to do efficient logistics. The situation is now getting different with more education programs of different levels and duration being offered on Logistics, Shipping and Supply chain management among Indian universities and private bodies. But, the percentage of women enrollment to these programs still remains under 10% (Interview feedback from CII Institute of logistics, Chennai). Only 35% of the logistics graduates across the globe are women. The encouragement given by schools to their students about their higher education and opportunities in Logistics sector plays a crucial role, which if done will improve this percentage (Morailogistics). Leading movements like “Women in Logistics” works internationally to improve the talents in this field thereby improving the number of women http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 234 editor@iaeme.com
Women Career Influencers In Indian Logistics Industry professional in Logistics Industry (Supplychain247, 2016). Education not only qualifies women but also prepares them with confidence for picking up jobs in the Indian Logistics Industry. 5. ECONOMIC STATUS Across the world, women in logistics industry are paid 20% less than men. As a male-dominated industry, there still exists the glass-ceiling effect where women are unable to capture top positions. Apart from that, there is also direct on-the-job discrimination which is due to the fact that women have more burdensome parenting responsibility which makes them take a break in their career. When women are paid less, it is normally substantiated with succession planning breaks and less availability when compared to that of men in the office. The additional effect of smaller opportunities makes the gender-inequality more prominent (Webb, 2016). The Gender gap report 2010 reports that even leading organizations in the world are partial towards their women workforce in terms of recognition provided. It is also perceived that there exists barriers for women even in occupying top positions of the organization. A report by Catalyst even says that organizations that swears to promote the advancement of women in warehousing sector of New York does not even have Female CEOs with them. In India, as logistics is concerned as a masculine field, women are paid less and are positioned in support functions like administration, Finance, IT and Human resources (Nigam, 2010). This makes women to be perceived as less important in this industry. But, with the growing focus on the management analytics and decision making, it is believed that women could render a better and unique style of working (Morailogistics). These are favorable situations for women to grab equal importance and indeed greater advantage in terms of both monetary and non-monetary, than men in Indian logistics industry in the near future (JLL, 2015). 6. SOCIETY AND CULTURE There exists myth among the society, that logistics industry is more of physical extensive work, driving trucks, handling containers and all of a rough work climate. It is being strongly perceived that because of the masculine nature of the industry women are least preferred for this industry (Jain, July 2014) and the career growth of women will not be as good as men. Apart from this, we live in a culture where women are perceived weak literally and they cannot take up tasks and responsibilities. India is a very free society, and because it is such a big democracy, choices are there for any part of the population. Cultural norms, however, may often prevent women from making those choices. Indian Women are not always able to access opportunities because they are not educated and other factors (Mehrotra, 2015). It’s this societal pressure to be the sole family caretaker while single handedly managing the home that prevents many Indian women from staying and thriving in technical roles. Even though the same case prevails around the world, the hurdles that our Indian women face are deeply tied to the social structure and expectations that are intrinsic to India’s culture (Kannan, 2015). A women Vice-president in an interview has deliberately told that to avoid herself being perceived as a weaker sex in a male-dominated industry, she has cut her hair short to make it more convenient for her. This clearly shows that women of the present era have started pursuing their passion with strong conviction and utmost determination. With the increase in the number of successful women occupying top positions in logistics organization, this older conventions are being overwritten by their gestures and power (Woemn's power in teh Logistics Industry, 2014). It has been found that power, advancement, type of work and the pride of associating themselves with a prospective industry are expected to increase the motivation level of women employees of current generation (ACCEL, 2015). All countries across the world, including India have started working towards improving the women count in this sector with more efforts to increase the awareness, exhibiting the employment opportunities for women and emphasizing on regular conduction of motivational program to keep up the motivational level of present workforce in the industry. http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 235 editor@iaeme.com
P. Uma Maheswari and Dr. R. Perumal 7. FAMILY AND ACQUAINTANCES In a recent NSDC report it has been clearly indicated that women career perseverance in Indian Logistics industry is mainly affected by their family and associates. As mentioned earlier, women as considered to be the sole responsibility for their family and children. Right from kitchen till taking tutorials for their kids, men are perceived to have the least role. Dependency level of girl children on their families is very high when compare to that of boys. In some families, parents decide on the type of employment that their daughters should pursue. In spite of their economic situation, girls are asked to avoid logistics industry and are advised to take jobs only in support activities, even at the worst case. After marriage, the same dictation is done by her husband and his family. This clearly depicts that it is not just enough to create awareness among the women job-takers but also their environment and keep continuously emphasizing that logistics industry is safe for women to work and they are taken care of carefully. This is why very big organizations like Maersk, DP World etc. have started providing women employee-friendly services that creates trust among her environment and make her sustain and grow in logistics industry (JPS Supply Chain, 2016). 8. QUALITY WORK LIFE This is an upcoming topic now, especially among women with the intervention of sophisticated and safe working environment and practices in order to motivate and increase the productivity of the employees. It is more focused towards the quality of human work experience in an organization. Improved quality work life is expected to increase the competition for talent, skilled employees and increased women force (Srivastava, 2014). This is one predominant issue that Indian logistics industry is facing as most of the organizations are still developing themselves to bring in better quality work life. In a shipyard or a container handling terminal finding hygienic toilets itself is too hard. Sometimes you may have to walk into wash room crossing men who are working in the dock, which makes women uncomfortable. Especially, in warehouses and Container handling terminals where the safety related problems are highly witnessed, the number of women employees are quite less in number and most of the time would be nil. In developed countries like UK and US, more and more number of women employees can be found in ecommerce warehouse due to the technological advancements that are adopted in the warehouses. They also show ergonomic concerns over their employees thereby resulting in improved Quality work life. Even in that case, more number of sexual harassment cases were filed. Sexual harassment is a common issue in warehouses (Illinois, 2012). This is supported by other reports like “Women at Work, Women at Risk: Sexual harassment and assault in Will County warehouses” and “Warehouse workers for Justice”. In India, with warehouse industry at its very nascent phase, it cannot be concluded that warehouses are not women area at all. There are various organizations that would like to ensure safer working environment for their employees by conducting regular audits. With increasing manpower requirement in this industry, the so called grey area is expected to open up job opportunities for women with right technology in terms of handling and stock maintenance combined with ergonomic compliance in place (KPMG, 2007). By removing discrimination in career planning and growth, Logistics industry can promisingly have more women workforce in the coming years. 9. WORK LIFE BALANCE Employees with flexi-time work, day-shift work are more satisfied than the others as it improves the amount of quality time that they can spend for their dependents and acquaintances (Kemmis, 2012). There is always a flair, regardless of gender for jobs that provide opportunities for achieving better balance between their work time and family time. A study also found that the difficulty of balancing life and work is a key reason why women in India leave their jobs. While 24% of Indian men surveyed said they quit their jobs because of long or inflexible working hours, for women that figure was 48% (Malhotra, 2013). Work life balance, in fact is not just an issue in Logistics industry but other industries as well in India. As mentioned earlier, organizations have understood the unique management style of women and so more opportunities have been opened up for women in India. If the most receptive working system, Work from Home, gets introduced for such off-floor works, it would help women achieving higher degrees of satisfaction (Cooper, 2012). http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 236 editor@iaeme.com
Women Career Influencers In Indian Logistics Industry 10. INDUSTRY AND OPPORTUNITIES The major drawback of Logistics industry is that it has been operating in a concealed manner for quite a long time and so awareness about this industry unlike the other industries like IT, BPO and KPO among Indians is very less. But, now with the increasing market size and the tremendous growth witnessed with a CAGR of 8.6 % accounting to 7% of the GDP of the nation amounting around $130.44 billion (Wire, 2016). As the industry is growing and getting better organized in terms of operations and other reforms, the job opportunities are also increasing. 28.4 million Skilled workforce would be needed in this industry by 2022 (Chhapial, 2015). With this prediction in hand, NSDC is working towards training floor-level and operational skills. They have identified function-wise talent gap and started training them for various operational level jobs in the industry. Ecommerce is another giant that is growing with the thirst of skilled manpower in Logistics Industry (JLL, 2015). It is being advocated that females should seek business schools offering programs in Logistics and Supply Chain Management to start their career at managerial level. Salaries in these industries are growing tremendously as the companies have agreed that logistics and Supply chain management are keys for their profitability (Firth). 11. PERSONALITY It is all the matter of personality of women that matters when it comes to successful women in Indian Logistics sector (CargoConnect, 2014). The successful women of this industry has got some common traits among them, which helped them reach the desired level of hierarchy and prove themselves. One of the important traits is they all share a very high level of intellectual curiosity and so it drives them towards self- actualization. Flexibility is another important trait that women should be ready work in any work environment and timings. The industry as such believes that women are at their best when allowed to handle the both the ends of the supply chain by their good relationship building and communication skills. Especially, when women are allowed in business development they create win-win relationship with suppliers as well as customers. Emotional stability is yet another quotient that women need to exhibit sometimes when they are listening to their customers. But at the same time, women with less emotional stability towards gender inequality and discrimination are found to be strong and aggressive. All these are few important traits that are expected to be evaluated by every woman for a successful career in Logistics sector (Sahu, 2016). 12. CONCLUSION The Indian Logistics Industry has opened new vistas of opportunities for women those who started their career it, thereby allowing them to pursue highly paid careers and gain enough experience with International business to develop skills or open new opportunities. The decision regarding the kinds of roles and responsibilities to be assigned to women in this industry depends on the company’s intention to unlock the full potential of women by raising the participation of women in various positions. It has now become the industry’s responsibility to attract more women workforce by addressing the gender imbalance issue, offering support and mentoring. This not only motivates fresh women talents to come in to the industry but also improves the lives of those who are already employed in this sector. http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/index.asp 237 editor@iaeme.com
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