Reader in Organisational Behaviour
Dr Elena Doldor is a Reader in Organisational Behaviour and Co-Director for the Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity in the School of Business and Management. Her research focuses on diversity, leadership, and the disparities experienced by women and minorities in reaching top leadership positions.
Initially delving predominantly into gender dynamics, Elena gradually expanded her scope to include ethnicity, recognising the intersecting complexities within diversity. By scrutinising both micro-level career experiences and meso-level organisational structures, she researches how systemic factors can be optimised to nurture diverse talent and promote equitable pathways to leadership success. Her research often draws on qualitative methods, delving into the experiences of senior women leaders and identifying obstacles to their advancement. Her projects explored gender and ethnic inclusivity in how leaders are promoted, developed, and selected onto corporate boards. Through her research, she has informed corporations and policymakers about women's challenges in reaching leadership positions and advocated for solutions to foster more inclusive cultures.
Driven by her ethos of conducting research that creates tangible impact and bridging the gap between research and real-world outcomes, Elena gravitated towards avenues of engagement with policymakers and policymaking organisations. As a result, Elena has engaged with several national stakeholders active in changing the landscape of women on boards and in senior leadership: policymakers such as the Government Equalities Office (GEO) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), policy-making independent reviews such as the Davies Review (2011-2015), and the Hampton-Alexander Review (2016-2020), as well as leading FTSE-listed organisations and professional services firms such as Aviva, Barclays, EY and KPMG. UK’s ‘comply or explain’ approach to corporate governance means that organisations’ approach to diversity and inclusion is shaped not only through governmental policies, but also through independent business-led government-endorsed reviews that set out best practice. These reviews, which produce annual reports monitoring board and executive committee compositions, serve as influential platforms to shape policy and practice at the highest levels of industry. As such, it was important to approach policymaking in this broader sense, as co-shaped by both governmental and business stakeholders.
Over several years, Elena has co-authored research reports commissioned and endorsed by GEO, EHRC, the Davies Review, Aviva, Barclays, EY and KPMG. Elena’s research shaped national policies for women on boards by providing insights into senior women’s career obstacles and by supporting the case for voluntary gender targets on boards and below. The research has been frequently cited by the Davies and Hampton-Alexander reviews. Elena and her co-authors (Prof Vinnicombe - Cranfield and Prof Sealy - Exeter) provided regular advisory input into these reviews.
The widespread adoption of voluntary gender targets recommended by these national reviews has created a tangible impact, evidenced by the significant increase in the representation of women on FTSE 100 corporate boards, surpassing 40% in 2023 from a mere 12% in 2011.
Crucially, voluntary gender targets were recommended for executive levels below boards, and more attention is now paid to developing pipelines of leadership talent more inclusively.
Throughout her career, Elena has encountered multi-layered challenges in pursuing impactful work while balancing traditional academic expectations. Early on, she grappled with the inherent risks of prioritising impact-driven projects over focusing solely on publishing. Navigating the academic landscape, she found herself occasionally lured into engaging in fast-paced projects that addressed the needs of collaborating policy bodies and organisations, but left little time to convert the work into high quality academic outputs. Moreover, she had to navigate the intricate politics surrounding collaborative engagements with organisations, policymakers, and fellow academics. The pressure to align with prevailing viewpoints and ‘speak the language’ of business (e.g. the business case for diversity) while pushing against some of the mainstream arguments underscored the delicate balance between maintaining professional relationships and staying true to scholarly principles. Managing these challenges alongside teaching, lecturing, marking, and publishing was at times challenging, highlighting the demanding nature of academic life.
When embarking on the journey of policy engagement, Elena emphasises the importance of mapping out the key stakeholders in your field of interest, and the foundational importance of building and nurturing relationships. Recognising that policy engagement thrives on interpersonal connections, she underscores the significance of investing time and effort into cultivating networks with relevant stakeholders. For Elena, engaging with policymakers and organisations is a matter of social responsibility, a means to leverage academic inquiry and expertise to address pressing societal issues. She encourages individuals to introspect and identify why policy engagement is essential for them personally.
This case study was supported by Audrey Tan (Policy Partnerships Manager, Mile End Institute) and Maja Wawrzynowicz (Policy Associate, Mile End Institute). If you’re interested in learning more about how you can build policy engagement into your own work, check out the Queen Mary Policy Hub’s Learning Resources and Policy Engagement How-To Guides.