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Monica Wirz BA, BSc, MBA, MSc, MPhil

PhD Candidate

Main research interests: critical management theories; power and leadership theories; gender theories of performativity, subjectivity and epistemology; women in business; diversity and inclusion; institutional ethnography; social justice through corporate social responsibility and the labour market practices; integration of theory and practice through academia and the business community

Biography

Monica Wirz has 26 years of international corporate experience comprising secondments in Germany, UK and Brazil; regional coordination in Latin America. Solid track record in a wide range of Marketing disciplines in varied industries, among these: FMCG, media, management consultancy and business start-ups. Main skills developed in the areas of strategic planning, brand management, product development, marketing research, e-commerce and new business development. The professional experience in the field of management and leadership has evolved into a strong interest in investigating the relationship between theory and praxis in the context of gendered embodiment.

Career

  • Cluetrain Consultancy – Partner. Management & Marketing Consultant
  • Crown Business Communications – Amey plc – Head of Research and Planning
  • BAT – British American Tobacco – Head of Market Information and Strategic Planning
  • Southwest Airlines – MBA Consultancy (Dissertation Project)
  • Wella – Group Brand Manager, Head of Strategic Planning, Latin America's Area Co-ordinator –Brazil, Germany, Latin America
  • Gillette – Brand Management Trainee
  • Petrobrás Energy - International Relations Trainee

Qualifications

  • PhD - Multidisciplinary Gender Studies – Cambridge University (current)
  • MPhil – Multidisciplinary Gender Studies (with Distinction) – Cambridge University (2009/10)
  • MSc – Gender (with Merit) – London School of Economics and Political Sciences (2005/2008)
  • MBA – Masters in Business Administration – Warwick Business School (1995/1996)
  • BSc – Business Administration – Universidade Candido Mendes (1988/1991)
  • BA – English and Literature – Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (1986/1990)

Awards, Grants, Fellowships and Scholarships

  • New Law: New Gender Structures Conference Grant, International Research Network, Austria, 2012
  • UC Berkeley & Pembroke College, Cambridge, Visiting Scholar's Award, Mellon Foundation, 2012
  • GEXcel Fellowship, Swedish Research Council, 2011
  • InterGender Research Grant, Linköping University, Sweden, 2011
  • Fellowship, Cambridge Philosophical Society, University of Cambridge, 2011
  • Griffith A.V. Morgan Award, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, 2011
  • Key Concepts and Methods in Ethnography, Language & Communication Summer Course Grant, King's College London, 2010
  • PhD Scholarship, Egon Zehnder International, 2010
  • NOISE Summer School Grant, Universiteit Utrecht, Holland, 2009
  • NOISE Summer School Grant, University of Bologna, Italy, 2007
  • MBA Scholarship, British Chevening Scholarship, 1995

Research

Gender parity in processes of decision-making is recognised as a topic of universal relevance for the achievement of gender equality. Not only a human right, it is also seen as a precondition for justice and democracy and as a requirement for women's interests and rights to be taken into account[1]. Nonetheless, despite recent advances, women are still a significant minority in top corporate executive posts. Given a context of well-established anti-discrimination legislation and corporate policies, the underlying reasons for the relentless dearth of women in high-status positions can be partly attributed to the inability of mainstream analytical frameworks and workplace practices to address ingrained background assumptions about 'femininity' and 'leadership'.

My doctoral thesis addresses such paradox by critically assessing conventional epistemologies and methodologies relating to gender in corporate boards and in senior executive positions. The empirical level of this research involves a gender analysis of the practices through which executive search firms facilitate the assignment of top executives for positions of corporate leadership. This project has been conducted through the approach of institutional ethnography: I have spent the past 3 years doing participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus groups and document analysis in organisations involved with executive search in nine Western countries. In this context, particular consideration has given to the gendering of recruitment practices through its full cycle: from the corporate client's brief to the executive search firm, through the internal stages that search firms take to (de-) select potential candidates, to the final 'closing' of the case, after a candidate has been successfully hired.

The starting premise of this research is that leadership positions in corporations are key sites of knowledge production with a global impact on wider societal issues, which consequently must be critically interrogated as part of any attempt to achieve gender equality and to theorise social change. The close analysis of the practices within executive recruitment/selection aims to develop a more subtle understanding of the processes undermining women's potential as leaders and, ultimately, as change agents.

[1] United Nations: Inter-agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (2007) "Women in Leadership Roles" Online Discussions @ Women Watch. Retrieved on 20 August 2008 from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/forums/leadership/

[2] Sealy, R.; Vinnicombe, S. & Doldor, E. (2009) The Female FTSE Report 2009. Cranfield International Centre for Women Leaders. Cranfield School of Management

[3] Equality and Human Rights Commission (2008) Sex and Power 2008, pp: 4. Retrieved on 04 September 2008 fromwww.equalityhumanrights.com

Publications

Publications and Media Coverage

  • FLACK (2013) 'Why Aren't There More Women Leaders?' (March 2013). Cambridge: FLACK
  • Wirz, M. (2012) 'Chapter 10: Gender Paradoxes in Corporate Leadership:Through the Lenses of Executive Selection'. In S. Strid, L. Husu, L. Gunnarsson (eds.) GEXcel Work in Progress Report, Volume X - Proceedings from GEXcel Theme 11-12: Gender Paradoxes in Changing Academic and Scientific Organisation(s). Linköping, Sweden: Swedish Research Council - Centre of Gender Excellence
  • World Economic Forum (2010) The Corporate Gender Gap Report. Geneva: WEF – UK representative of research project; Partner Institute: LSE, 2010

  • The Independent (2010) The Way to Shatter the Glass Ceiling (17 October 2010)

Conference Papers & Specialist Courses

  • New Law, New Gender Structure? Codifying the Law as a Process of Inscribing Gender Structures Conference. International Research Network: Austria, 2012
  • Discourses of Expertise. Discourse in Organisations Research Network. Belgium, 2012
  • Ethnography of Communication: Ways Forward Conference. USA, 2012
  • GEXcel Conference: Women on Corporate Boards in the UK: The Paradox of Interventions. University of Örebro: Sweden, 2011
  • In the Field. The Anthropological Way. Linköping Universitet: Sweden, 2011
  • Key Concepts and Methods in Ethnography, Language & Communication. King's College London: UK, 2010

Teaching

  • Gender and Business. MPhil Text Seminars. University of Cambridge Centre for Gender Studies. 2010 - current

External activities

Websites and blogs