Blue Cross Blue Shield Organizational Design and Cultural Elements
Organizational design involves various aspects of an organization’s work environment, including work schedules, team formations, decision-making processes, and communication channels. Organizational cultural elements include leadership, values, purpose, employment empowerment, inclusion, professional growth and development opportunities, and communication. Organizations focus on aligning their organizational culture and design to create a conducive environment for employees leading to high performance and competitive advantage.
Design and Cultural Elements That Support or Work Against Women in Leadership at BCBS
Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) has created an organizational design and cultural elements that support women in leadership. One of them is promoting diversity and inclusion of people from different backgrounds. According to Galsanjigmed & Sekiguchi (2023), women must overcome stereotypes and gender bias to break the glass ceiling and get leadership positions in the organization (p. 367). Therefore, diversity and inclusion is among the factors that empower women to take leadership positions in organizations. Blue Cross Blue Shield has a diversity policy and a culture of inclusion that enables women to hold various leadership positions in the organization and gain respect from everyone. The second design and cultural element is support from management. According to Axelsson et al. (2022), support from management is essential in enabling women to leverage leadership opportunities and become effective leaders (p. 28). Blue Cross Blue Shield has employee resource networks that ensure all employees, including those in leadership positions, get the support they need. Another organizational design and cultural element that supports women leaders at Blue Cross Blue Shield is an environment where women can challenge gender expectations. According to Mousa et al. (2023), allowing women to challenge gender expectations empowers them to apply for leadership positions (p. 4). Blue Cross Blue Shield encourages women to challenge gender expectations by enabling them to compete for the same leadership positions as men.
Although Blue Cross Blue Shield has created opportunities for women leaders in different departments, some departments have design and cultural elements that work against women leaders. For instance, since I began working for the organization as a customer advocate ii for the pre-authorization department, I have realized that women are denied leadership positions in the department. According to Ely et al. (2011), women are denied leadership positions in organizations because of second-generation bias caused by cultural beliefs about gender, interaction patterns that favour men, and workplace practices and cultures (p. 4). Women are also underrepresented in senior leadership positions (Rincón et al., 2017, p. 321). Therefore, I would recommend offering training on cultural awareness to help eliminate cultural beliefs that encourage gender discrimination. Gupta (2019) argues that women leaders play a vital role in creating an inclusive culture through participative and democratic styles hence the need for cultural awareness (p. 3). Therefore, it is vital to increase cultural awareness among staff in charge of making promotion and hiring decisions so that they can avoid cultural beliefs that deny women leadership positions.
Conclusion
Blue Cross Blue Shield is among the organizations that use their design and cultural elements to support women in leadership positions. However, some design and cultural elements in the organization work against women leaders. The main design and cultural elements used by Blue Cross Blue Shield to support women leaders include promoting diversity and inclusion, support from management, and an environment where women can challenge gender expectations. The design and cultural element that works against women in leadership positions is denying women leadership positions in some departments, such as the pre-authorization department. Therefore, the organization should consider offering training on cultural awareness to help eliminate cultural beliefs that encourage gender discrimination.
References
Axelsson, T., Jacobsson, A., & Lagerlöf, N. (2022). Female leadership; Navigating the organizational context (thesis).
Ely, R. J., Ibarra, H., & Kolb, D. M. (2011). Taking gender into account: Theory and design for women’s leadership development programs. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 10(3), 474–493. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2010.0046
Rincón, V., González, M., & Barrero, K. (2017). Women and leadership: Gender barriers to senior management positions. Intangible Capital, 13(2), 319. https://doi.org/10.3926/ic.889
Galsanjigmed, E., & Sekiguchi, T. (2023). Challenges women experience in leadership careers: An integrative review. Merits, 3(2), 367. https://doi.org/10.3390/merits3020021
Gupta, A. (2019). Women leaders and organizational diversity: Their critical role in promoting diversity in organizations. Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal, 33(2), 8–11. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo-07-2018-0085
Mousa, M., Garth, B., Boyle, J. A., Riach, K., & Teede, H. J. (2023). Experiences of organizational practices that advance women in health care leadership. JAMA Network Open, 6(3). https://doi.org/10.1001/
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Question 
Prompt: Consider the design and cultural elements within your organization: Do these support women in leadership or work against them? Why? Share your recommendations for design and cultural elements that better support women leaders.
Blue Cross Blue Shield Organizational Design and Cultural Elements
MY ORGANIZATION: BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD, I AM A CUSTOMER ADVOCATE II FOR THE PRE-AUTHORIZATION DEPARTMENT.