FEMALE CAREER PROGRESSION

A Study of Cultural Impacts on the Career Progression of Female Staff

By

Eugenia Coker

Kingston University Business School

Faculty of Business & Law

February 2011

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This is an opportunity for me to thank my dear lord for providing me with the strength to continue to face those fiery darts that were thrown at me at work. Thank you Lord. Without you I would not have done it. A special thank you to my colleagues who vowed to support me through thick and thin. God bless you all. To the staff at Kingston Business School, thanks for your patience and understanding regarding my situation. Last but not least, my family. To Eugene, my eldest son, you and Satta blessed me with a beautiful grand-daughter during the course of my studies. Sierra, her name is. I love her very much. I pray that God will continue to use you for his glory. To Hajiru, my daughter. You gave me the inspiration to continue regardless. Hajiru, you have sowed the seed of endurance by qualifying as a teacher this year. You made me proud. To Joseph, my son. I can only hope that you soon come to realize that education is the key to success and nothing else. To my numerous friends, known and unknown, at home and abroad. Some I have lost because I have not had the time to 'be a friend' because of work and studies commitment. Forgive me. Thanks for all your kind gestures. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

DECLARATION

I, Eugenia, Tenga, Josephine, Coker, declare that the following dissertation and its entire content has been an individual, unaided effort and have not been submitted or published before. Furthermore, it reflects my opinion and take on the topic and is does not represent the opinion of the University.

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ABSTRACT

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to address the existence of cultural barriers in female career progression in organizational context. This paper threw light on the research gap on female managers and officials in order to examine female managers' perceptions of their organizations in relation to women's career progression.

Design methodology/approach - The research used semi-structured interviews and questionnaires in order to estimate that the relative disconnection and invisibility of women in professional networks is one of the causes of the difficulty of women to break the glass ceiling. The research was quantitative in nature. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from female managers. Measures included personal and demographic characteristics, organizational culture, organizational practices, organizational networks, mentoring and role modeling.

Findings - Responses obtained from female managers and officials via interviews and questionnaires were used to deduce the results of this study. The results revealed that female managers perceive that their career imbibitions are suppressed by certain intriguing factors in the organization, including “cultural masculinity”, practices, dominance, seniority limitations, networks and other pressing challenges. Female, while balancing their domestic responsibilities with work related tasks, it was maintained the “glass ceiling” was hard to break.

Practical Implications - The findings contribute to a realization of ...