Glass Ceiling in UK: Research Proposal for Workplace Impact

This research proposal investigates the glass ceiling phenomenon in the United Kingdom, focusing on its impact on women's career progression. The study aims to identify the concept of the glass ceiling, its presence in the UK market, and the challenges women face in achieving senior-level positions. The research includes a literature review examining existing studies on the topic, particularly the barriers faced by women and minorities. The methodology employs a mixed research design, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, including surveys with 80 female participants from various UK companies. The proposal outlines data collection methods, including primary data through questionnaires and secondary data from journal articles, reports, and websites. Data analysis will involve statistical methods using tables and graphs. The research intends to explore the business implications of the glass ceiling and potential solutions to address gender inequality, contributing to increased productivity and equal opportunities in the UK workplace. The research will also address ethical considerations and limitations.

Running head: GLASS CEILING
Glass Ceiling in UK
Research Proposal
1-8-2020

GLASS CEILING 1
Abstract
The Glass Ceiling topic is mostly discussed in the research field of social science and in the
higher education from last 20 years. These researches have determined the impairments that
people of colour and women experience in their pursuit for the position of senior level such
as chief executive office in the society as the effect of glass ceiling. This research is also
highlighting the concept of Glass Ceiling in the society and how it is impacting women at
their workplace. Besides this, this research has given major influence to the existence of glass
ceiling at the workplace of the United Kingdom. The literature review of the report has
revealed that glass ceiling has been decreased in this market as more women are getting
chance to get promoted to senior post, however, there is huge scope to improve. In order to
gather the primary data, the researcher has selected 80 research participants who are women
working in different companies of United Kingdom. In addition to this, for presenting proper
results, the researcher has used mixed research design such that it can provide the validity of
the results and conclusion.

GLASS CEILING 2
Table of Contents
Abstract......................................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Research Title.........................................................................................................................3
Background of the study.........................................................................................................3
Aim and Objective or research question................................................................................3
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................4
Glass Ceiling..........................................................................................................................4
Glass Ceiling at the Workplace of United Kingdom..............................................................4
Research Methodology...............................................................................................................6
Type of Investigation..............................................................................................................6
Research Approach.................................................................................................................7
Research Strategy...................................................................................................................7
Data Collection Method.........................................................................................................7
Sampling Method...................................................................................................................8
Data Analysis..........................................................................................................................8
Business Implication of the Research........................................................................................8
Limitations of Research.............................................................................................................9
Ethical issues and consideration.................................................................................................9
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
Research Timeline....................................................................................................................10
Gantt Chart...........................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

GLASS CEILING 3
Introduction
Research Title
The Glass Ceiling at Workplace of United Kingdom.
Background of the study
According to Arasu and Lathabhavan, (2017), the Glass Ceiling is a term that is adopted by
people for highlighting an unseen fence that ceases or restrict a specific demographic from
growing or rising beyond at a specific point in a hierarchy. The metaphor was introduced by
the feminists in consideration to the barriers in the careers of the women that can achieve
high goals. The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission of United States determines the glass
ceiling as the unseen as well as unbreachable barrier that restrict women and minorities from
growing to the higher post in the corporate setting, irrespective of their experiences or
successes (Australian Centre for Leadership for Women, 2012). In the view of federal Glass
Ceiling Commission of 2003, it was identified that only 7-9% of the upper management were
women in the firms listed on the Fortune 1000. As per the article presented by the Paul Igasak
in the year 2005 on the Wall Street Journal, a similar research conducted revealed that 97%
of the top management at the same firms were white (Everyday Health, 2017). Evidently, the
consequence is pervasive in all the types of industries across the world.
Unfortunately, there is no specific and guaranteed strategies that can support an individual to
break this glass ceiling. But there are definitely some exclusions to all the rule, by and large
both minorities and women must suppose that their growth and development towards the top
post in the company will be tough (Bombuwela and DeAlwis, 2013).
Aim and Objective or research question
The aim of this study is to identify the concept of Glass Ceiling and its presence in the United
Kingdom market. In order to meet this aim, some of the objectives are framed that can help in

GLASS CEILING 4
identifying whether or not the research aim is met. The following are the objectives of the
research study are:
 To identify and discuss the concept of Glass Ceiling.
 To identify the presence of Glass Ceiling at the workplace environment of United
States.
Literature Review
Glass Ceiling
According to Gyamfi, Fosuah and Agyedu, (2017), today’s women are increasingly getting
involve in the career development that succeed them to undertake occupations, managerial
positions and professions that has always been taken by the men, in spite their hard work,
they are dealing with the issue that is termed as ‘Glass Ceiling’. This term was first identified
in the research in the 1980s by the Center for Creative Leadership (Fiedler, 2010). The glass
ceiling concept has become progressively entrenched in the treatise of the society. As per the
statement of Jackson and O’Callaghan, (2009), the key principles of this concept are related
with the current drive to diversify the senior positions in the society by making progressions
in consideration to the racial and gender participation. In precise, the notion of Glass Ceiling
is seen as the blockades to career advancements for people of colour and women.
Glass Ceiling at the Workplace of United Kingdom
According to the report presented by the Guardian, it has been around 100 years since women
received the voting rights, but there are only 29% of the women who have got the place of
British MP, up from 23% (The Guardian, 2015). This is showing that little progress and
change is taking place in the United Kingdom in consideration to Glass Ceiling. According to
the reports of London, more women are now grabbing the opportunity to sit on the top
position of in boards of the blue chip companies but still there is requirement to crack the
glass ceiling, because many of the top jobs in the market are hold by the men and businesses

GLASS CEILING 5
need to get involve in promoting women at higher post. As per the third annual progress
report, it has been identified that now women occupy fifth or 20.7% in the FTSE 100
companies which is an increase of 12.5% in 2011(Goldsmith, 2014). However, the activists
acknowledged that there is still a long way, because there are only 6.9% of the roles of senior
executives are hold by women in the FTSE 100 and there are just four chief executives who
are women. Besides this, in the list of FTSE 100 companies, there are companies named as
Miner Antofagasta and Glencore Xstrata who have all the male candidates in the board
(Goldsmith, 2014).
In addition to this, as per the survey conducted by Forbes, it has been identified that there are
women who are struggling a lot to fill the leadership roles. In the year 2012, this study got
started and they identified that there is discrimination in the market. In the year 2017, it was
identified that females now get the chance to earn 75% of the men’s salary (Web, 2017).
According to Snowdon, (2011), diversity is presently considered to be the main watch-word
in the United Kingdom business discourse, with different businesses trying to grab the talent
from diverse ethnic groups and gender, as the reflection of good sense of business. Recently,
it has been identified that top professional service companies like Deloitte, EY, and PwC
willingly print their figures related to pay-gap for ethnicity and gender, to exemplify the way
they have enhanced in these areas. This reveals that notable companies are putting efforts to
address gender inequality in the country that can be proved by the below image (Consultancy
UK., 2017).

GLASS CEILING 6
Source [(Consultancy UK., 2017)]
The above image is representing that there is little increase in the female directors for both
the groups at over 27% for the FTSE 100 companies and 20% for the FTSE 250 companies.
It needs to noticed that business with at least one female director is at 100% for the FTSE 100
companies and 95% for the FTSE 250 companies (Consultancy UK., 2017).
The above discussion reveals that the Glass Ceiling trend in the United Kingdom market is
slowly getting reduced however there is a long way to achieve. In order to eliminate this
completely, there is need for all the companies in the country to consider this and contribute
by providing equal and reasonable chance to women to reach to the top executive position.
Besides this, government also needs to work for improving this situation by introducing
different policies and legislation that force all the companies in the country to abide the rules
and regulation and avoid gender and ethnicity biasness. This will not just support women to
grow at their workplace but will also result in increasing the productivity of the country.
Research Methodology
Research Design
The type of research design that will be selected by the researcher to complete this research is
mixed research design that is comprised of both qualitative and quantitative research design.

GLASS CEILING 7
Under this, not just theoretical data will be gathered for the research issue but also numerical
and statistical data to prove the rationality of the outcomes.
Research Approach
For this research, selecting the type of research approach is essential as it helps in presenting
the justification for the different research methods. The different types of approaches that are
generally used are inductive approach and deductive approach. In order to proceed with, the
investigator will make use of inductive approach as it will enable in collecting the subjective
understanding for the research topic that is The Glass Ceiling at Workplace of United
Kingdom.
Research Strategy
This section of the methodology is considered to be the important part of the study as it helps
the researcher in properly gathering the data and presenting the results. For this study, the
research strategy that the researcher will adopt is literature review and survey through
questionnaire. In order to gather qualitative and secondary data the use of literature review is
done under which the findings of different researcher are presented related to research topic
(Harris, 2019). Besides this, the researcher will make use of survey through questionnaire
under which he will prepare a questionnaire and will be filled by the research participants of
United Kingdom.
Data Collection Method
For this study, the data collection method that will be considered is primary and secondary
method. Under this, the primary data will be collected by the researcher which is considered
to be fresh data on any research topic with the use of different primary sources (Goodwin,
2012). For this research, the primary sources are survey through questionnaire. Besides this,
the researcher has also planned to make use of secondary data which is considered to be
collecting the findings and results of different authors. The sources of secondary data that are

GLASS CEILING 8
adopted for this study are journal articles, articles, websites, government reports, newspaper
articles, books, etc.
Sampling Method
Sampling is said to be important for the research study because under this the researcher
selects the sample that can help in providing the data related to research topic. Considering
the research topic that is The Glass Ceiling at Workplace of United Kingdom, the method of
sampling that will be selected is probability sampling. Under this, random method of
sampling will be considered such that equal chance can be provided to all the members o the
population in getting selected in the survey and provide their reviews. The sample that will be
collected is 80 women working at different companies of United Kingdom. This has been
decided because they are the one who can provide clear picture of Glass Ceiling in the United
Kingdom companies.
Data Analysis
This section of the research study is also an important part as the strategy that is used in this
helps in clearly analysing the amount of data collected. The methods of data analysis that will
be selected for this study is statistical analysis method, under which the data will be analysed
researcher with the use of different tables and graphs. In order to clearly represent the
statistics, the researcher will make use of graphs and tables which will be prepared in the MS-
Excel.
Business Implication of the Research
The above research proposal has highlighted the concept of Glass Ceiling that represents that
in the United Kingdom market there is still gender biasness under which women do got get
equal chance at men to sit in the board or top executive position of a company. In order to
completely eliminate this trend of glass ceiling from the workplace of United Kingdome, it
has been suggested that companies need to design their code of conduct and policies under

GLASS CEILING 9
which gender biasness will be avoided and equal opportunities will be provided to women.
Some positions at the topic management must be reserved for women with talent. Besides
this, they must encourage women to develop their skills and talent by providing development
programmes such that they can develop a confidence and boost their moral to work at higher
post in a company.
Limitations of Research
The key limitation of this investigation is that the researcher will only conduct the survey on
80 research participants which is not enough to get clear data related to glass ceiling in
United Kingdom. Besides this, conducting survey only on women and not men hold the
chance that they may not provide complete information. In addition to this, the research has
only considered the issue of glass ceiling in the United Kingdom, whereas this issue has been
experienced across the world.
Ethical issues and consideration
In order to meet the university guidelines related to research ethics, all the required ethics and
rules have been followed in order to prove the credibility of the collected data. The important
consideration that has been taken care is to provide credit to the researchers and scholars
whose findings and results have been used in the literature review section by providing
proper in-text citation. In addition to this, the confidentiality of the private information of the
research participants will be maintained. Before collecting the data, the researcher will take
the permission of the research participants.
Conclusion
The above study is about the glass ceiling and its presence at different workplace of the
United Kingdom. The research has identified that the trend of glass ceiling is decreasing and
women are slowly reaching to the higher post in the companies. But there is huge scope of
improvement that needs to considered by companies as well as government of the country. In

GLASS CEILING 10
order to eliminate glass ceiling from the country, companies need to prepare guidelines
related to eliminating gender biasness by providing equal chance to women to apply for
higher post and providing women equal salary as men.
Research Timeline
Gantt Chart
Time taken to finish the Research (In Months)
Research Activities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Selecting the Research Topic
Research Aim, Objective and Research
Question
Secondary data collection
Preparing Literature Review
Primary data collection through Questionnaire
Research Methodology
Data Analysis and Findings
The above table is discussing about the time that the researcher will consume for completing
this entire thesis. This research will be completed in 12 months or one year in which different
research activities will be undertaken. Different activities that the researcher will undertake to
timely complete the research is selecting research topic, presenting research aim, objective,
and question, collecting secondary data, preparing literature review, gathering primary data,
presenting research methodology, and data analysis and findings.

GLASS CEILING 11
References
Arasu, B.S., and Lathabhavan, R. (2017) Women’s glass ceiling beliefs predict work
engagement and burnout. Journal of Management Development, 36(10), 1125-1128.
Australian Centre for Leadership for Women (2012) The Glass Ceiling Commission [online].
Available from https://www.leadershipforwomen.com.au/empowerment/articles-on-the-
glass-ceiling [accessed 8 January 2020]
Bombuwela, P. M., and DeAlwis, A. C. (2013) Effects of Glass Ceiling on Women Career
Development in Private Sector Organizations – Case of Sri Lanka. Journal of
Competitiveness, 5(2), 3-19.
Consultancy UK. (2017) Glass ceiling remains as UK director positions less than quarter
female [online]. Available from https://www.consultancy.uk/news/14906/glass-ceiling-
remains-as-uk-director-positions-less-than-quarter-female [accessed 8 January 2020]
Everyday Health (2017) The Glass Ceiling Effect And Its Impact On Women [online].
Available from https://www.everydayhealth.com/womens-health/glass-ceiling-effect-its-
impact-on-women/ [accessed 8 January 2020]
Fiedler, M.E. (2010) Breaking Through the Stained Glass Ceiling: Women Religious Leaders
in Their Own Words 1st ed. U.S: Church Publishing, Inc.
Goldsmith, B. (2014) Women struggling to crack glass ceiling in top UK companies – report
[online]. Available from https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-boardroom-women/women-
struggling-to-crack-glass-ceiling-in-top-uk-companies-report-idUKBREA2P00320140326
[accessed 8 January 2020]
Goodwin, J. (2012) SAGE Secondary Data Analysis 1st ed. U.K: SAGE.

GLASS CEILING 12
Gyamfi, E.O., Fosuah, J., and Agyedu, G.O. (2017) Causes and Effects of ‘Glass Ceiling’ for
Women in Public Institutions of the Ashanti Region, Ghana. International Journal of
Business and Management, 5(10), 257-266.
Harris, D. (2019) Literature Review and Research Design: A Guide to Effective Research
Practice 2nd ed. U.S: Routledge.
Jackson, J.F.L., and O’Callaghan, E.M. (2009) What Do We Know About Glass Ceiling
Effects? A Taxonomy and Critical Review to Inform Higher Education Research. Research
in Higher Education, 50(5), 460-482.
Snowdon, G. (2011) Women still face a glass ceiling [online]. Available from
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/feb/21/women-glass-ceiling-still-exists-top-jobs
[accessed 8 January 2020]
The Guardian (2015) Women of 2015: where are the cracks in the glass ceiling? [online].
Available from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/30/women-feminism-2015-
glass-ceiling [accessed 8 January 2020]
Web, J. (2017) Glass Ceiling Still Keeps Top Jobs For The Boys: Women Earn 75% Of
Men's Salary [online]. Available from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jwebb/2017/01/30/glass-
ceiling-still-keeps-top-jobs-for-the-boys-women-earn-75-of-mens-salary/#3dc62f0f2bb2
[accessed 8 January 2020]

GLASS CEILING 13