The consulting firm Spencer Stuart recently published a study of top management at Fortune 500 companies, the 500 richest companies in the United States.

The analysis focused specifically on the gender of the people in these positions, their functions and the source of their appointments, whether they came from inside or outside the organization.

Studying the composition of top management, often referred to as the C-Suite, is particularly important since it allows us to see how many women make it to the position of CEO in an organization.

Respectively Dean of the John Molson School of Business, and an expert for several decades on the place of women in the upper echelons of the business world, we will discuss the main findings of the Spencer Stuart study.

Three conclusions in particular caught our attention:

Men represent 60 per cent of the select group that constitutes top management. Men principally occupy the positions that offer the greatest potential for appointment as CEO, according to the history of appointments to such positions. These include, for example, Chief Operating Officer, Head of Division and Chief Financial Officer;

Although women are increasingly present in top management positions (40 per cent), they are still found in the positions of Head of Human Resources, Head of Communications, Head of Diversity and Inclusion and Head of Sustainable Development. In other words, women are in so-called support functions that, while important for organizations, are unfortunately perceived as having little impact on shareholder equity and financial performance;

Appointments to top management positions that lead to the position of CEO........

© The Conversation