Applied Business Research: Gender Representation in Organizations

This report investigates the under-representation of women in senior management positions, examining the biases and barriers that hinder their advancement. The research delves into societal beliefs, prejudices, marriage, children, and organizational cultures as contributing factors. It explores the challenges women perceive in the workplace, their experiences with opportunities, and potential strategies to achieve gender balance at higher management levels. The study utilizes a mixed-method research design with a pragmatic approach, incorporating a literature review that highlights key issues such as gender inequality, societal expectations, and the impact of family responsibilities. The report aims to identify the challenges faced by women and recommend strategies to bring about gender balance at the higher level of management. The research questions focus on the ways women perceive challenges, biases and barriers, and how they assess opportunities for promotion. The methodology incorporates a systematic approach to data gathering and analysis, using Saunders research onion to determine methods, frameworks, and assumptions. The research emphasizes the importance of understanding the multiple realities and diverse perspectives within the context of women in management.

Running head: APPLIED BUSINESS RESEARCH
APPLIED BUSINESS RESEARCH
Name of the student
Name of the university
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Title
Investigation of the under-representation of women at senior management levels in
modern organisations: Biases and Barriers
Background and significance
This research has aimed to examine the under representation of women at
senior management level in different organisations. The current global market has
changed the demographics of women in workforce where there has been significant
increase in the number of female workforce. This has led to corporate restructuring
in many organisation and companies were forced to develop equal opportunities and
rights for women (Tan, 2019). This has led to development of new creative
approaches for managing workforce effectively. This has been included
organisational policies in all organisation which can be referred to diversity and
inclusion management within various business entities. Diversity management is not
only restricted to equal opportunity but it is the process of developing a work
environment that is inclusive to everyone (Saleem, Rafiq & Yusaf, 2017).
Gender is one of the major dimension of diversity initiative in the past few
years due to the increase in number of female employees within organisations.
Gender equality and women empowerment is one of the major development goals in
different companies. Companies have been able to realise the advantages of
promoting diversity and gender equality at workplace. Many countries have passed
laws to develop quota system for women in different levels of management to
promote equal representation of both the genders (Nikolaou, 2017). However, this
policies have not been able to make much of a difference in the top level of
management. Survey shows that fewer women have taken up senior positions held
by women and ever fewer positions are held by women in executive position. It is
still unclear in majority of the cases the reason for under representation of women at
various levels of management, especially, senior management positions even
though significant efforts have been made by companies to bring women into
organisations (Modesto et al., 2016). This makes is apt to analyse the various
reasons due to which women are facing challenges in growing in organisations and
moving to higher levels of management.

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Research challenge and questions
Various surveys conducted on women representation in organisations, it has
been seen that there has not been significant changes in the position of women in
organisations. It is highly problematic to see that there is under representation of
women in organisations, even though there has been significant increase in number
of women with higher educational background. This continuously is hinting at
discrimination at workplace and this imbalance between genders raises a critical
question about the distribution of roles of different genders at top level of
management. This also results in issues for women working in lower levels of
hierarchy within the organisation and makes life difficult and challenging for them.
The increase in women in among the highest level of management results in balance
and implementation of strategies to promote equality at lower levels of management.
Moreover, it also reduces the gender wage gap at the lower level of management
which is relatively higher in corporate organisations. This indicates that companies
are unable to fully utilize the potential of existing employees at workforce.
The main objective of the research is to investigate the barriers and
challenges faced by female employees at work while trying to get promoted to higher
level of management. This will determines the biases, challenges and barriers
perceived by women to highlight the key issues to understand the under
representation of female employees at work. The research will take in to account the
women perspective to identify the self-perceived barriers highlighted by social
convention of roles of different gender. The objectives of the current study are as
follows:
 To highlight the ways women perceive challenges, biases and barriers of
under representation at work
 To evaluate the ways women assess and experience the various
opportunities related to work for promoting to higher level of management
 To recommend suitable strategies to bring about gender balance at higher
level of management.
Research questions
What are the ways women perceive challenges, biases and barriers of under
representation at work?

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What are the ways women assess and experience the various opportunities related
to work for promoting to higher level of management?
Literature review
The underrepresentation of women in the senior management is specifically
based on the different factors like societal beliefs, prejudices, marriage and children,
organizational cultures and the dominance of men’s values. The different factors
greatly affected the rate of involvement of women in different managerial positions in
the organizations. Roulstone and Williams (2014) opined that the prevalence of
gender inequalities and the prejudiced social forums restricts the women to get
indulged in respective senior managerial roles even with their qualifications. The
different changes in the organizational operations and the cultural affinities and
biases influenced gender inequality.
Societal beliefs
Mulcahy and Linehan (2014) opined that more than 47% of the global labour
force and 38% of all managerial positions worldwide were occupied by women in the
year 2011. However, Chapple and Humphrey (2014) argued that the inclusion of
women in the years were not up to the mark as the overall percentage of women in
the managerial positions accounted for 8.5% which declined to professional
positions. The major cause of underrepresentation of women in the different
managerial roles are based on the prejudiced beliefs of the social structure. It has
been noted through evaluation of different cases that women has an enhanced
capability of managing a situation as compared to men. However, the male
dominance and the outlook of the social structure greatly acknowledges the
potentials of a male manager over a female candidate.
The outlook and perception of the society towards the contribution of women
in achieving a greater benefit is often disillusioned by the biases and the prejudices.
On the other hand, Parker and Roan (2014) opined that the male ego relating to
dominance is again an important factor that has affected the rate of involvement of
women in the managerial positions. It has been noted that more than 40% of the
women in US are indulged in managerial roles as compared to the other 60% male
population (Haile, Emmanuel & Dzathor, 2016). The biases and beliefs that are
retained by the society and the domination of male in the different aspects has

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affected the rate of women in managerial posts. The patriarchal structure is being
followed in most of the societies which restricts the professional development of
women and inclusion in different senior management roles. Therefore, the societal
outlook, approach, beliefs and biases play an important role in the context of women
being placed in senior managerial posts.
Marriage and children
Tlaiss (2014) noted that more than 72% of the women in the senior
managerial posts retired from their respective positions due to pregnancies, children
and the lack of kindergarten facilities. The lack of appropriate kindergarten facilities
has threatened the employability and consistency of the working mothers. On the
other hand, the long departure from the significant positions resulted to inconsistent
outcomes affecting the profitability of the venture. The enhanced functioning of the
organizations are reliant on the consistent functioning of the managers which will
contribute to the competitive edge of the businesses (Mulcahy & Linehan, 2014).
The different modifications in the organizational operations are reliant on the
effective functioning of the managers. In this relation, the presence of the managers
and the active involvement in monitoring and controlling the operations play a major
part. However, the women managers are restricted by factors of family, children and
lack of kindergarten facilities for taking care of their children which affect the interests
of the organization through interrupted operations. In this relation, Klettner, Clarke
and Boersma (2016) opined that most of the companies consider the different
factors relating to pregnancy, family pressure and the like that is encountered by
women as their loopholes while offering significant managerial roles to the same.
Therefore, the different factors relating to pregnancy, lack of kindergarten or family
pressure restricts and ensures the underrepresentation of women in different
significant managerial posts.
Organizational cultures
Saleem, Rafiq and Yusuf (2017) opined that most of the companies have taken
steps to include women in their senior management positions with the objective of
adhering to anti-discrimination legislations. However, Chapple and Humphrey (2014)
noted that the lack of solidarity among the women affects the capacity of the
organizations in maintaining the efficiency of the operations. It has been noted that

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women in positions of power resists the ascension or growth related options of other
women. It might again affect the capacity of the organization in maintaining the
balance of the operations while operating in the different markets. However, it has
also being noted that the superior decision making skills of the women in the
managerial positions supports an organization in improving the position of the same
while undertaking operation in global economies.
Tlaiss (2014) stated that the development of the organizational operations are
reliant on the culture followed by the same. Most of the companies believed that the
differences in the style of communication between the males and the females might
create a situation of conflict. On the other hand, it has been noted that most of the
companies hold paternalism culture where the general inclination of the
management reflects biased preferences towards males. The policies that are
created by the organizations are reliant on the cultural influences. More than 77% of
global organizations follow diversity policy which assisted the businesses in
recruiting male and female employees without discrimination (Saleem, Rafiq &
Yusaf, 2017).
However, certain companies hold the view that most of the women in
management positions are inconsistent due to family and children related
engagements (Klettner, Clarke & Boersma, 2016). Inconsistency of women in the
different managerial roles might interrupt the organizational operations which might
reduce the rate of profitability. On the other hand, the underrepresentation of women
in senior management’s roles are related to the prejudiced workplace environment.
The different changes in the organizational operations are reliant on the
effectiveness of the operations in alignment with the needs of the venture while
operating in the different markets. Therefore, the culture and prejudiced outlook of
the organizations might restrict the representation of women in senior managerial
posts.
Theoretical Framework/ Methodology
Research methodology is the systematic method of gathering data and then
analysing it to complete the objective in the research. Research methodology is
chosen based on the objective of the research and Saunders research onion is used
to unfold the methods to be used in different stages (Kumar, 2019). This will consist

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of 6 layers which will determines the methods, frameworks and assumptions for data
collection and analysis. The main purpose of the research is description and
evaluation of the issue so a descriptive research design will be used in this research.
The research will develop a mixed method research design to address the
objectives. Research methodology will described the different methods along with
the advantages and disadvantages of using each of the method.
Research philosophy consists of values, beliefs and assumptions for
developing knowledge in the research. Research philosophy is used to shape the
research question. Assumptions are made in every stage of a research and it defines
the research problem more effectively for data collection. Assumptions can be of
different types and they are epistemological, axiological and ontological. A well
thought out research philosophy helps in knowledge generation by shaping the
research problem (Hughes & Sharrock, 2016). Pragmatism, positivism, interpretivism
and realism are the four types of research philosophies. This research has chosen
the pragmatic approach which believes in the existence of multiple realities. In every
research, multiple realities exist which means that there are multiple ways of
addressing a single research problem (Padilla-Díaz, 2015). Similarly, pragmatism will
accept theories when these theories are supported by valid actions. Pragmatism
focuses on the research questions and develops methods to address each of the
questions. Pragmatism will facilitate in performing the mixed method analysis based
on the need of the study.
Every stage of the research methodology is linked to the previous stage of
methodology. The pragmatic philosophy has been chosen so the research will use a
deductive approach in the research (Sekaran & Bougie, 2016). The deductive
approach will facilitate in testing existing theories using quantitative methods and it
will also facilitate in using qualitative method for data analysis.
Research design is the overall plan for choosing the research method for data
collection and analysis. It can also be defined as the method for choosing between
quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Research design can be divided into three
types and they are exploratory research design, explanatory research design and
descriptive research design. The exploratory research design as the name suggests
is used for exploring the research for conducting further conclusive study on it

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(Schoonenboom & Johnson, 2017). The descriptive research design is used for
identifying an issue and highlight by using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Causal research design or explanatory research design is used to measure the
causal relationship. This research has chosen the descriptive research design which
facilitates in identifying and highlight the issues faced by women.
There are two types of data collection method, one is primary and another is
secondary. This study will use primary data collection method where both
quantitative and qualitative data analysis will be used. The quantitative data will be
collected through a survey questionnaire (Palinkas et al., 2015). The survey
questionnaire will consists of close ended and questions on five point Likert scale
which will be asked to the employees working in different organisations in New
Zealand. Similarly, the qualitative data will be collected through semi structured
interview questionnaire which will be asked to the managers in different
organisations.
In case of the quantitative data, the data collected will be analysed using
statistical tools like MS Excel and SPSS. The response frequencies will be
represented in graphs and charts. Pearson’s correlation method will be used to
check the degree and nature of relationship between the variables (Palinkas et al.,
2015). Regression analysis will be used for trend analysis and perform ANOVA to
test the developed hypothesis. In case of the qualitative data, coding will be used to
identify the patterns in the answers and develop themes based on the in depth
answers.
Sampling will start by choosing the target sample in the research and this
study, the target population are the population in New Zealand (Yang et al., 2018).
The next part is choosing the sampling frame in the research which will consist of
choosing only the female employees working in the corporate sector in New
Zealand. The next step is choosing the sample size and the current study will choose
100 respondents from different organisations through public survey. In case of the
interview, the sample size for the research are the managers working in various
organisations. The research will quota sampling to select preferable respondents
based on the needs in the research.

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Reliability of the questionnaire will be measured using a pilot study where the
questionnaire will be send to 10 respondents to identify the drawbacks and make
changes. Reliability of the data will be analysed using Cronbach’s alpha test which
measures scale reliability (Heale & Twycross, 2015). The validity of the given data
will be measured using Bartlett test of Sphericity and KMO test of sampling
adequacy.
Timeline
Task Name Duration Start Finish
research plan 56 days Thu 11-07-19 Thu 26-09-19
Selecting the Topic 6 days Thu 11-07-19 Thu 18-07-19
Research suitable project topics 2 days Thu 11-07-19 Fri 12-07-19
Discussion with professor 2 days Mon 15-07-19 Tue 16-07-19
topic finalization 2 days Wed 17-07-19 Thu 18-07-19
Milestone 1: Topic Chosen 0 days Thu 18-07-19 Thu 18-07-19
Secondary data collection 12 days Fri 19-07-19 Mon 05-08-19
Search for articles, peer
reviewed journals and web
articles
3 days Fri 19-07-19 Tue 23-07-19
choose the sources that are
relevant 4 days Wed 24-07-19 Mon 29-07-19
research layout designing 5 days Tue 30-07-19 Mon 05-08-19
Milestone 2: Secondary data
collected 0 days Mon 05-08-19 Mon 05-08-19
Literature review 12 days Tue 06-08-19 Wed 21-08-19
Critical examination of data
collected 4 days Tue 06-08-19 Fri 09-08-19

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annotated bibliography
preparation 5 days Mon 12-08-19 Fri 16-08-19
preliminary literature review
development 3 days Mon 19-08-19 Wed 21-08-19
Milestone 3: Literature review
completed 0 days Wed 21-08-19 Wed 21-08-19
Research methodology and
Analysis 6 days Thu 22-08-19 Thu 29-08-19
Selection of the Appropriate
Research Techniques 2 days Thu 22-08-19 Fri 23-08-19
Validate the methods 2 days Mon 26-08-19 Tue 27-08-19
Check for reliability 2 days Wed 28-08-19 Thu 29-08-19
Milestone 4: Research methods
selected 0 days Thu 29-08-19 Thu 29-08-19
Data collection from primary
sources 44 days Thu 11-07-19 Tue 10-09-19
collect data from survey and
interview 4 days Fri 30-08-19 Wed 04-09-19
qualitative data analysis using
coding 3 days Thu 11-07-19 Mon 15-07-19
Data analysis using SPSS and
other statistical tools 4 days Thu 05-09-19 Tue 10-09-19
Milestone 5: secondary data
collected and analysed 0 days Tue 10-09-19 Tue 10-09-19
Conclusion of the Study 12 days Wed 11-09-19 Thu 26-09-19
Formation of Rough Draft 4 days Wed 11-09-19 Mon 16-09-19

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Discuss with the lecturer 3 days Tue 17-09-19 Thu 19-09-19
Submission of Final Work 5 days Fri 20-09-19 Thu 26-09-19
Milestone 5: Project concluded 0 days Thu 26-09-19 Thu 26-09-19
Budget/ Resources
Task Name Cost
research plan $550.00
Selecting the Topic $0.00
Secondary data collection $200.00
Literature review $0.00
Research methodology and Analysis $0.00
Data collection from primary sources $350.00
Conclusion
The research is expected to derive the factors, issues and challenges faced
by women in order to reach the highest level of management. The research is
expected to use a correlation analysis to identify the significant factors at two tail
using Pearson method. The research is expected to develop and recommend
strategies for improving the gender balance in modern organisations.
Dissemination
The research will collect data from participants working in Fonterra which is
one of the biggest companies in New Zealand. The data will be collected from
female employees and managers working in the organisation. In order to collect
data, consent will be taken from beforehand, so that privacy and anonymity of the
participants can be maintained.

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