Women Who Knocked Holes Through The Glass Ceiling: A Phenomenological Study

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2015 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, Argosy University, Sarasota, language: English, abstract: The Glass Ceiling is a notorious phenomenon which consists of biases and unfair treatment to women and minority males. The study consists of a qualitative analysis which is conclusive in regards to learning as the overall theme. Various other themes emerged in the study about the life experiences of female managers and CEOs who knocked out the glass ceiling. The problem is that too few women are getting CEO positions in large organizations. The nature of the research was to explore the advice from women who understand the experience with management positions. Some of the female managers have experience as a female CEO and functioned in a dual role as manager and female CEO. The advice may offer a tool for other females to pursue to gain the CEO position or top positions in firms. The research methodology employed was qualitative analysis. The summary of the procedures was to schedule an appointment with the current female managers and interview them using phenomenological research. The results of the study are conclusive in that the common category among the 10 interview codes was learning. Also, the findings of the study revealed common themes with a frequency of three as Who You Know Helped You Get Your Position (Q1), Climbed the Ladder (Q1), Knowledge of the Roles (Q3), Come Prepared (Q3), Learning by example (Q4), Open to questions (Q4), Learning to deal with different attitudes (Q5), Communication (Q5), Hard work (Q6), Learn (Q8), Report it to HR (Q9), Don't keep quiet about it (Q9), Hard work (Q10) and Be strong (Q10), respectively. Less common themes reflected a frequency of two for (Q2) as Keep Calm and Have Goals. Moreover, less than common themes were a frequency of two for (Q7) as Be Yourself. Recommendations for further study include researchers that continue to seek interviews with female CEOs in large firms. This may shed light on ways that women can obtain the CEO position in large companies. Also, this may allow for women to climb to higher positions in firms.