Sunday, December 13, 2009

39

Organization initiatives that need to occur before work/life balance can be obtained and equity among men and women is gained in the legal profession varies. One of the initiatives is to form a system. “Many respondents complained that systems within organizations often were nonexistent, or poorly designed to prevent inadequacies. The value of a good system is inestimable; a host of gender issues occur because of a lack of alignment between a professed policy and actual practice.” (306) These systems can be used in many different ways. For example they can be used for performance reviews, mentoring, work assignments, flexible work arrangements, risk taking and measurements for success. Along with systems, organization initiatives include engaging in dialogue. “Organizations that seek to reconcile clashing views often employ open group debate and dialogue techniques and reach a consensus and find common ground.” (310) Two topics that require engaging in heavy dialogue would be workplace responsibility and underlying attitude. If those things are not discussed in an organization, then they can lead to many problems.


When it comes to re-imaging the future, English believes, “ We can’t get to the numerical goals without embracing new, broad ideas. One way to do that is to go back to first principles about how best to deliver legal services, who makes a good lawyer, the best way to manage a workplace, and the most effective way to deal with the intersection between personal and professional lives.” (315) I think all of these are very good points brought up by English. Both males and females in the office need to work together in order to make the environment more compatible for themselves as well as their clients. The structure of a good lawyer and the norms of a good lawyer need to be revamped too. The norms need to be set for both male and female and not just male. When you take these things and put them together, there is hope for a re-imaged future, but it is going to take a lot of time and effort and that needs to be recognized as well.

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