SCPS Faculty Profile

Organizational Expert Explains American Women's Real Economic Clout: What it Means for Businesses

Dennis Garritan
Academic program director and clinical associate professor, graduate programs in Human Resource Management

Whether they realize it or not, American women wield economic power of historic proportions—$5 trillion to be exact—and it‘s time they started using it, argues Professor Dennis Garritan, academic program director of NYU-SCPS‘s graduate programs in Human Resource Management and Development.

“The aggregated GDP of U.S. women alone is greater than the entire GDPs of either Japan, China, or India,” he says. Garritan arrives at this finding, detailed in a recent res earch paper, by adding together all the financial decisions typically decided by American women, such as what house to buy or car to drive; the amounts of money women control within corporations; and the amounts of money controlled by women who own entrepreneurial small cap businesses. If American women concentrate this economic power, Garritan concludes, they are a powerful consumer lobby that can impact organizations, businesses, and even the way companies structure the employment contract.

Asked why a man would point this out, Garritan is unwavering. Aside from the enormity of identifying such a momentous paradigm shift, he says that the data show “that affluent women—t hrough their philanthropy and interest in education—generally make our world a better place. As a result, we are greatly invested in their success.” Besides, he adds, he already understands how men think, act, and lead but needs to do the same with the “other powerful gender out there.”

Spotting demographic shifts and economic trends such as this is a skill needed by today‘s human resources executive. Over the course of 23 years managing HR and emerging global business for every size organization, Garritan has seen the profession grow in strategic importance. And, this is because its role in finding and nurturing the best people is the competitive advantage for most businesses in the global knowledge economy.

“It‘s all about attracting, developing, and retaining top talent,” he says, by building a great internal brand for employees, “à la Google.” The best ways to do this? Create an amazing orientation program for new employees. Make the management process something more collegial and less hierarchical. And, finally, motivate employees to improving their skills set, in pursuit of an identified career goals.

A licensed psychologist, Garritan has been with NYU since 2005 when he helped found the graduate HR programs here. He teaches courses on such topics as business strategy and ethics, organizational behavior, and managing complex change.