The glass ceiling is not exclusively a result of the employers biased attitude towards women. Apparently such constraints exist mainly due to women-centric timerelated problems and their pre-disposition towards their family. The article looks at the demands made by career as well as family on women managers.

The world over, work-teams are being increasingly realized as the dynamic engines of growth. A majority of Fortune 1000 companies are reportedly using self-managed teams to realize their business goals. Diversity in these teams is correlated with high-performance provided, of course, `process-challenges' are properly addressed to. Diverse teams are shown to be capable of generating a variety of ideas drawing from the repository of tacit knowledge brought in by their sheer heterogeneity. Gender is one such diversity within the teams.

Research indicates that women are more comfortable than men with team-based evaluations and the associated rewards. This, gender-scientists say, is more due to women's tendency to value relationships based on communication and understanding, while men define their relationships more on the lines of their roles and status. Indeed, research carried out in the western corporate world reveals that women perceived less severe team problems than men. Some theorists have tried to explain this difference by saying that women focus more on problem solving, while men are more `problem solution' oriented. They point out, moreover, that men, when exposed to teamconflicts and stresses, prefer to work independently whereas women are more likely to seek improved communication in the face of a conflict and to support cohesion via team-maintenance behavior. It is, of course, a different matter that men may get further alienated from the teammates on account of this increased desire of women to communicate more in the face of a conflict. This, certainly poses a great challenge to the management. But managements have realized it as worth undertaking looking at the larger gains that one could reap from diversity. This openness has led to a significant progress in women occupying various professional and managerial jobs. Indeed, women today have captured an everincreasing share in the labor market.

Glass Ceiling, employers, women, demands, career, women managers, managers, women-centric timerelated problems, high-performance, business goals, dynamic engines, process-challenges, self-managed teams, heterogeneity, western corporate world, team-maintenance, teamconflicts, problem solving, gender-scientists.