Boston -- Twenty-five years ago, Margaret Hennig was asked to leave the all-male faculty dining hall at Harvard Business School when she tried to have lunch with some male colleagues.
Indignities awaited women in the classroom, too. Another female faculty member, Anne Jardim, would fume about the case studies used in courses. Women who appeared in the studies were always creating problems, never solving them.
When the two women got together to trade war stories, an idea took root.
Today, in an elegant, turn-of-the-century townhouse in the Back Bay district here, Dr. Hennig and Dr. Jardim are colleagues in a far different atmosphere. As co-founders and deans of the Graduate School of Management at Simmons College, they oversee one of only two graduate business schools in the United States for women only. (The other is at Meredith College.)
Here, women learn strategies to help them succeed in the male-dominated world of business. Case studies feature women as protagonists. Class times are flexible, to accommodate students with children; it’s not uncommon to find a child quietly coloring at the back of a classroom while a lecture proceeds at the front.
Some women’s colleges offer graduate programs open to both men and women, but Simmons’ M.B.A. program is strictly for women, and 10 of the program’s 13 faculty members are women.
Simmons has never sought national accreditation for its M.B.A. program, which would have forced it to scrap some of its unconventional approaches. For instance, about one in five women accepted into the program have no bachelor’s degree.
Some women are never encouraged to go to college. Others drop out for family or financial reasons, says Ruth Shuman, a spokeswoman for the graduate program."The women who are admitted in these cases tend to be very motivated, and many have extensive work histories,” she says.
The program may soon apply for accreditation, she adds, since the major accreditor of business schools has changed some of its criteria to include non-traditional,"mission-driven” programs.
Students at Simmons can compress their studies into an 11-month program, opt for a more traditional two-year program, or choose a three-year plan, designed for those juggling hectic schedules. Many here say they feel more relaxed and confident in classrooms where professors push but don’t belittle them. Students often work in groups rather than compete against each other on individual projects.
What sets the curriculum apart from those of traditional M.B.A. programs is its focus on the organizational behavior of men and women. Courses examine what motivates men and women in the workplace, whether they prefer to work individually or in groups, and how they work within a hierarchical chain of command.
“Students are required to study all of the core courses, such as accounting and finance, but we add this extra dimension of organizational behavior,” says Ann Lindsey, a professor of management here."I think it teaches women to understand the differences and assumptions men and women bring into the work environment.”
Women aren’t entirely isolated from men during their studies at Simmons, Dr. Lindsey says."Our students are being pushed out into the business world on marketing projects and internships, so they are interacting with men.”
The formula, now 23 years old, seems to be working. Simmons graduates are well represented in both middle-management and upper-level positions in business, particularly in the Boston area, says Ms. Shuman, the spokeswoman. This year, enrollment rose 34 per cent, with 121 new students entering in the fall of 1996 compared to 90 the previous year. Total enrollment is about 250.
The program’s founders believe that women are often better than men in encouraging employees to work together and to communicate effectively with each other. But their egalitarian style can be perceived as weak, and it can get them into trouble if they fail to show the proper deference for those in authority or to follow an established chain of command.
The program’s courses in organizational behavior and communication are designed to help students recognize their personal strengths and the problems they might run into as they move up the corporate ladder.
Even the deanship that Dr. Jardim and Dr. Hennig share reflects their belief in cooperative rather than hierarchical relationships. After serving as deans since founding the business school in 1974, the two will step down in August to pursue other scholarly interests. Dr. Hennig has a grant to start an ethics institute at Simmons, and Dr. Jardim plans to write a book on executive women.
“When we started, there were almost no women in senior management positions,” says Dr. Jardim. She and Dr. Hennig were among the first four women to enroll in Harvard’s Ph.D. program in business, in 1964. After receiving their doctorates in the mid ‘60s, they went in different directions. Dr. Jardim returned to her native Guyana, where she served as deputy ambassador to the United Nations and as ambassador to Brazil, Venezuela, and Chile. Dr. Hennig came to Simmons, her alma mater, where she taught management.
In 1972, the two met again at the Harvard Business School, where Dr. Hennig was a visiting associate professor creating a seminar on women in management. Dr. Jardim had joined the faculty and was teaching a course on the psychology of leadership.
“We became a magnetic north of sorts for the women students at Harvard Business School, of whom there were about 60 or 70 at this point,” Dr. Jardim recalls. Women are still a minority in the business program at Harvard, but not quite as outnumbered; 24 per cent of this year’s entering class of 890 students were women.
In 1973, frustrated with their inability to change the climate for female business students at Harvard, the two approached Simmons with the idea of an M.B.A. program for women. They were told that if they could raise the money, Simmons would gladly house the program. The women’s college already had graduate programs in social work and library science.
One of the program’s biggest benefactors turned out to be a “finishing school” that trained women in homemaking, parenting, and social skills. Garland Junior College was going bankrupt and wanted to transfer its assets to a women’s college. When it did go under, in 1976, its ballrooms, dining rooms, and kitchens were converted into classrooms, faculty offices, and libraries for Simmons’ graduate business program.
The business students are hardly aspiring socialites, but the cluster of townhouses, which is separate from the main campus of Simmons, retains an elegant, decidedly feminine aura. One classroom’s white walls are softened by framed Renoir prints, and throughout the buildings, flowers, plants, and handmade accessories -- like a quilt sewn by the Class of 1993 -- give the campus a home-like feel.
The students in Simmons’ M.B.A. program are generally older -- the average age is 35 -- and have more work experience -- 10 years, typically -- than their counterparts at other business schools.
Some observers question whether a women’s business school, born at a time when there were far fewer women in business than there are today, is still needed.
Dr. Hennig agrees that women have made some strides in the business world. Their share of middle-management positions had grown to 45 per cent in 1996 from 5 per cent in 1974. But, she notes, women are still egregiously underrepresented in senior management positions.
“It was 2 per cent when we started the program, and it’s still 2 per cent today,” she says."When the percentage of women in senior management and on governing boards is parallel to the percentage of women in the workforce, then maybe we won’t need a program like ours. But that’s a long way from here.”
For all their criticisms of Harvard, the deans have the Harvard Business School to thank for a $25,000 grant that started the Institute for Case Development and Research at the Simmons school, which publishes case studies that feature women managers. Harvard is among the business schools across the country that use these case studies in their classrooms.
One of the case studies came up in a recent management class taught by Ms. Lindsey at Simmons. The discussion involved the successful head of Bain & Company, a management-consulting firm. Students in the class were asked to analyze how Orit Gadiesh, a top administrator who later became chairman of the company, had handled a slump in employee morale. Rejecting the advice of a male colleague who wanted her to give a"numbers” speech, filled with optimistic economic forecasts, she delivered a moving, highly personal, appeal for employees to pull together. She praised individuals by name. The speech ended to thunderous applause, and not long after, she was promoted to head the company. In the classroom, students discuss how they would have handled her situation and recall how they have dealt with their own management crises.
During a break in the class, several students discuss their reasons for coming to Simmons. Camilla Meek, a former sales manager for a natural-foods business who is enrolled in the accelerated, 11-month M.B.A. program, chose the college in part because of its non-traditional student body.
“I felt that I’d get a good education anywhere, but here, I’d be with my peers,” she says."At Simmons, they address very specific issues that hinder women in their career paths. I feel like I’ve learned a lot about myself here.”
Gail Birger, who chose the school’s two-year program, says her courses have helped her understand some of the difficulties she had while managing a large law firm. Several times, she says, her failure to respect the lines of authority got her in trouble."I was a little anxious to have a lot of visibility, and I had a tendency to just go off and initiate things over my boss’s head,” she recalls."What the deans say about deference to hierarchy has to be emphasized over and over. A lot of women don’t realize how important it is to men.”
Like other Simmons students who enter the program frustrated by their inability to advance their careers, Ms. Birger sat down with one of the deans -- in this case, Dr. Hennig -- and received some one-on-one job counseling. Nearly all of the students interviewed said they felt comfortable asking either of the two deans for advice.
Students here also say they like the way Simmons supports them in any areas of study where they acknowledge that their skills are lacking. In a coeducational environment, many of these women would be afraid to ask questions, so as not to appear unprepared.
“I knew that if I needed extra support -- in mathematics, for instance -- that Simmons would provide it,” says Ms. Birger. “It’s a tough program, but you know from the beginning that they want you to succeed.”
