The aim of this research is to identify the key challenges for employers in promoting equality and diversity in the workplace, focusing on ways in which organisations in the UK can increase their numbers of senior managers.
The research objectives are:
1. To explore how organisations can increase their percentage of senior managers
2. To identify they key barriers to women progressing to senior management positions in their chosen career
3. To examine the differences in challenges that men and women face in career progression, whilst identifying gender related issues
4. To explore ways that organisations can support women in progressing to senior positions.
Research Design
Throughout this study, a Mixed-Method approach will be adopted. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches will be utilized to increase the validity of findings, allow for better data collection instruments and lead to greater understanding of the subject field. A mixed methods study allows data to be collected through a number of means to lead to a final conclusion, so in-depth and contextualized aspects of qualitative research can be combined with efficient but less in depth outcomes of quantitative research to allow for accurate and concise findings.
Qualitative
Undertaking qualitative research is the most appropriate method to adopt when exploring people’s lives, motivations and comprehensions (Parahoo, 2006). Although, it has been scrutinized for its tendencies to be too descriptive, thus leaving findings open to misinterpretation (Parahoo, 2006). A major weakness associated with qualitative data involves the likelihood that simply too much data is collected, overwhelming the researcher and reducing the validity of its findings. However, as a mixed ...
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...suggests that the disadvantages of quantitative research often relate to errors in the collection process.
The quantitative method of research that will be adopted for this study will be a survey. Utilizing this form of deductive methodology in a positivistic paradigm will allow the statistical data to be interpreted according to the appropriate theory and allow its findings to be concise and appropriate to the research. A stratified sample will be adopted as the whole population of the organisation can be categorized depending on their views of equality in the workplace.
All employees of the organisation will be required to complete a short 10 minute survey containing carefully constructed questions; this will be the basis of the qualitative research in that the findings from the survey can be analysed in order to develop more detailed questions in the focus group.
Whitmarsh, Lona, and Diane Keyser Wentworth. "Gender Similarity Or Gender Difference? Contemporary Women's And Men's Career Patterns." Career Development Quarterly 60.1 (2012): 47, 48, 49. Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
The author could have employed other methods of qualitative research such as, narrative analysis, grounded theory, discourse analysis, data display and analysis, content analysis and quantifying qualitative data and computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAPDAS) (Saunders et al., 2016). Nevertheless, these approaches seem cumbersome sometimes and take a long time to complete (Willig, 1999; Braun and Clarke, 2006 and Smith and Bekker,
There are two types of research that can be conducted in research studies, these are qualitative and quantitative (Newman, 2011). Qualitative research is a process that uses detailed oriented methodology that tries to achieve a profound knowledge or understanding of specific incident and circumstance, wh...
My research opened my eyes to the struggle of women in the job market. The differences range from how we speak, what we wear, to where our priorities exist in business. One of the first books I came across was Managing Like a Man by Judy Wajcman. The title alone highlights the severe psychological separation of men and women in the workplace. Everyone faces difficulty at some point or another in a working environment. Unfortunately for women, workplace issues can range from not getting along, not keeping the job, or simply not getting the job. ‘Bust through the glass ceiling’ is a term coined in regards to women and the seemingly impossible climb up the ladder of success. Multiple books and studies about women seeking leadership roles give the theory a legitimate hype. The female gender has to fight for their role in the workplace, even when they have more education, more experience, and a newly found focus on equality for women. Extended research is still being done because the issue has not been completely eradicated; even now in the 2000’s.
Today, many women have advanced professional and regained self-images. Women in some parts of the world have progressed in numerous fields where normally only a man would be accepted or succeed. However, inequality still exists in a lot of the workforce throughout the world. Some women have ambitions of entering male-dominated career fields. A lot of women who would not take no as an answer have achieved these goals by becoming leaders in medicine, business, and
It is primarily evident that a lot of amendments have been made in the field of employment to achieve a sense of work place equality for men and women. However, there is the understanding that the topic of inequality and inequity is still persistent in contemporary society. It is manifest that there are a numerous amount of barriers that females endure in the workplace environment, and this binary is occurring because of their gender roles. This paper’s intent is to recognize that the concept of gender stratification experienced in the occupational spectrum causes the downward social mobility for females. The focus of this paper is to further investigate the argument that women in the workplace are still facing numerous amounts of impediments,
Also, the majority of women have been able to secure employment from traditionally female occupations such as teaching compared to male-dominated careers like engineering. Moreover, democratic country like the United States of America has recognized gender inequality as a fundamental issue and espouse equal right between men and women in contributing to social, economic and cultural life. Despite this improvement, gender inequality persists as women are not represented and treated equally in the workplace (Michialidis, Morphitou, & Theophylatou, 2012). The increasing number of women in the workplace has not provided equal opportunity for career advancement for females due to the way women are treated in an organization and the society. Also, attaining an executive position seem impossible for women due to the glass ceiling effects which defines the invisible and artificial barrier created by attitudinal and organizational prejudices, which inhibit women from attaining top executive positions (Wirth
Jones states in his Gallup news article entitled Americans Say Equal Pay Top Issue for Working Women, (Jones, 2014) that the data from a September 2014 Gallup poll shows that two of the most important issues facing working women in this country today are equal/fair pay and equal opportunity for advancement and promotion. These concerns placed higher than the issues of better childcare and healthcare and the economy in general. The number of working women in the United States is almost equal to that of men, however the challenges women face in establishing careers and advancing in them is different from men. The EEOC Women 's Work Group issued a report (EEOC Women 's Work Group, 2010) that cites many of the biggest challenges for women seeking equal opportunities in the workplace. These include lack of mentoring and grooming for management positions, being less likely to be invited to networking events, women not being granted training and developmental assignments on as equal footing as men, and women not being targeted in recruitment efforts for upper level and management positions. In order to combat these discriminatory practices, employers should develop mentoring programs and monitor their effectiveness, actively making sure that women are as equally included as men. Senior level officials should be expected to mentor subordinates and that mentoring should not be gender biased. Businesses should perform a barrier analysis to discover what obstacles
In this paper, I will define quantitative and qualitative research methods and provide examples in the context of social issues which will hopefully provide insight into how this methods are properly applied.
Liamputtong, P. & Ezzy, D., 2005, Qualitative research methods, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Victoria, pp. 12-31.
Gender stratification limits women’s achievement in their lives. In term of jobs, women continue to enter a narrow passage of occupations range. Compared to men, women often face greater handicap in seeking job because the higher income and prestigious jobs are more likely held by men. In the workplace institution, men are also prior to a faster promotion. There is a case where women were allowed to get promoted to a more advance posi...
….both quantitative and qualitative research are important and useful. The goal of mixed methods research is not to replace either of these approaches but rather to draw from the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of both in single research studies and across studies.
Qualitative and Quantitative study designs both can be beneficial in research design. They both provide valuable options for researchers in the field. These techniques can either be used separately in a research study or they can be combined to achieve maximum information. This paper will define the terms qualitative and quantitative; describe the similarities and differences between each; discuss how qualitative and/or quantitative research designs or techniques could be used in the evaluation of my proposed research; and discuss why linking analysis to study design is important.
Another option available to a researcher is mixed methods which focuses on collecting, analyzing, and mixing both qualitative and quantitative data in a single study; also, it is based on the premise that the use of quantitative and qualitative combination provides a better understanding of the research problem than either approach alo...
Qualitative and quantitative researcher’s exhibited conflicting ways of approaching a research. Some researchers prefer qualitative over quantitative and vice-versa. Also, it is common for qualitative and quantitative to be used together in a research. But, both methods when carried out correctly provide good research. Plus, both methods have their own unique differences and characteristics. In this paper I will define three of these characteristics in a quantitative and qualitative research design and discuss and compare their differences. (Smith & Davis, 2010)