INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENTSEMINAR IN BUSINESS POLICY TERM PROJECT

HOW MEN AND WOMEN DIFFER IN TERMS OF CAREER PLANNING

Course Instructor:Sir Baber Khairi

Program:MBA Regular

Semester:Fall 2015

Group Members:Abdul Bait Shami (17178)Adeel Ahmed (17461)Saba Ishtiaq (18060)Sidra Razi (17360)SyedaMehak Zahra (17361)

Executive Summary

The research article is all about the factors that affect men and women in choosing the right path towards their career. We have worked on different case studiers and articles to find out the possible causes about career planning. A sample size of 60 respondents including 32 men and 28 female respondents from different organizational level has been collected. It has been found out that promotion gap could be one of the possible factor that influences career planning. Women after getting married sacrifices their career for the sake of their families. It is a natural phenomenon. It all happens of the most of the societies. This concept has been supported by many studies mentioned in this article.

Our empirical findings shows that men always have a clear career target when the start their job hunting as compare to women they mold their careers as opportunities comes to their way, whereas we cannot ignore those few moment to achieved their career goals as accurately as they planned and if we talk about today’s female student we can easily see an immense energy in them to achieve something in their life.

Now again talking about our study the empirical findings of our study shows that more are more confident about their skills and abilities as compare to women and family plays a vital role in women career planning, most of the time it became a reason for them to leave their careers whereas for men family became their strength to work more harder in their careers. Some of the times the nature of our society which is male dominating, discourages women and encourage men to strive harder for career advancements

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

December 21, 2015

Mr. Baber Saad KhairiFaculty: Seminar and business policyInstitute of Business Management

Dear Mr. Khairi,

Along with this letter we are submitting our research report under the title of “How men and women differ in terms of career planning” which you had approved earlier. This research report is compulsory part of our Seminar and business policy course.

The report being submitted is complete and thorough. We hope that it would make for an interesting read.

For any further queries please feel free to ask us.

Yours sincerely,

____________________Abdul Basit Shamim

____________________Adeel Ahmed

____________________Syeda Mehak Zahra

____________________Sidra Razi

____________________Saba Ishtiaq

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All thanks to Almighty Allah who granted us the strength to complete this project within a given stipulated time.

We would like to thank our dear mentor Mr. Baber Khairi who taught us the course in a very effective manner. Without his support and guidance, it was difficult for us to make this case study. He provided us with different information regarding this topic which enabled us to compile all of the information into a case article

In the last we would like to thank our parents and other colleagues who gave us different sources and links to gather all of this information and compiling it in our term project. In this short span of time, it was way difficult, but because of the reliable sources from our colleagues, it becomes easy for us to compile in our article. We hope that this article would be an example for our future endeavors.

Abdul Basit Shamim (17178)Adeel Ahmed (17461)Saba Ishtiaq (18060)Sidra Razi (17360)SyedaMehak Zahra (17361)

ABSTRACT

The research article emphasizes the detailed information on the career plans and their expectations of men and women. We have done questionnaire survey to identify the factors that affect their career. The overall approach of this study is quantitative as well as qualitative. We have made graphical representations of this test and found out that women are less career sensitive than men.. As men are more active towards the development of career. They have more chances of getting higher positions and more pay scale than women. as women compromises their career when it comes to family burden. Men never compromise their career because of their strong position in the society.

The overall goal of this study is achieved by reviewing different literature review and research articles from different sources. We have also found out the career theory in which we have also found out the same results. Gender differences are one of the most important factors that occurs in most of the organizations. No matter how worthy that organizations are. Female managers have fewer expectations of their career promotions and high pay scale than men because of this main factor. The purpose is achieved by reviewing the theories and literature in the following field.

Table of Contents

PREAMBLE......................................................................................................................................8

HYPOTHESIS TESTING..............................................................................................................10

DATA COLLECTION....................................................................................................................12

APPENDICES....................................................................................................................................33

Questionnaire:.................................................................................................................................33

PREAMBLE:According to the equal percentage of opportunities of male and female, we have noticed that men are more career conscious than women. Men have more consistent career than women. Men are more continuously on the lookout for career advancement opportunities. Men are always seen as beneficial in their career for two main reasons. First, women take primary responsibilities of taking care of their children and family, they sacrifice their careers and this makes men continue pursuing their careers, either they become father. Second, personality characteristics also makes important for men to flourish their career as in their profession identical to those central to male role (Betz & Fitzgerald,1987; Eagly&Karau, 2002). According to Gallos, 1989, he said that majority of the female careers were distracted from male perspective. It ias because after females getting married, they were being influenced by this huge family burden of taking care of home rather than putting interest on career development.

There are multiple theories and arguments presented to explain the observed gender gap in career achievements and experience.

According to Hansen, 1976, Career development is one of the most important factors that is a long lasting process of development experiences focuses on obtaining, processing and seeking different sorts of information about occupational alternatives, and role options. In other words, career development is one of the essential processes that people tend to understand, as it relates to their work and their roles. Career development is a broader process of human development. For the last 75 long years, Career development theory has been broadly categorized into different theories.

According to Holland Approach, career development defines that different types of personality as well as behavioral styles are one of the major factors that influences career development. The most important factor in case of Holland Approach is employee’s behavior. Holland Theory states that men are more sensitive towards accomplishment of their career.

Vocational Development is the procedure for developing as well as implementing self-concept. It is the procedure that when self-concept becomes a reality, vocational choice as well as behavior also becomes a reality. Employees always choose those occupations that allow them to express self-concepts.

Researchers have found multiple reasons behind this discrimination including the nature of our society which is male dominating, the fields offered in Pakistan for men and women, the level of confidence found in both genders about their skills and abilities or priorities that men and women gives to their home and career. McWhirter(1997) have worked on ethnic as well as gender discrepancies. He worked on this field work on American and Mexican people. The overall result from this research was that most female face more barriers towards advancement of career than male participants.

According to Hudson (2011), he suggests about women that they are internalizing message that the top level positions are beyond their reach. On one hand, it can be said that gender discrimination could be one of the reason that both hold different positions. As far as gender differences is concerned, so women are much struggling then men as gender differences is a bigger obstacle in the field of career success (Eagly&Carli, 2007). Gender discrimination is one of the biggest hurdles in a large number of organizations. It is the result of many factors.

According to (Burt, 1992, Linehan, 2001), their studies and research have highlighted the importance of formal as well as informal socializing networking towards their career advancement. As discussed earlier, the difficulties women are facing accessing these networks might result in differences in promotion opportunities for both men and women.

According to Ceiber, Crant, and Kraimer, 1999, the two major indicators of career success are promotions and salary. Talking about promotion and salary, so there is huge gender discrimination in these variables. As men gets more promotion than women.

Research Question:We have made a 2 page questionnaire filled by every organizational level. At junior, middle and senior level, we have filled this questionnaire. Our target was male and female who work in the organizations and those who conduct their own business. Different questions regarding career planning, organizational level, future goals, career consciousness etc.

The overall purpose of asking these questions were to get answers of these questions.

What factors explain the disparity of career planning intensity between men and women?

The research questions of the study are:

RQ 1: What are the reasons that men and women have different ideas for achieving higher level position?

RQ 2: What are those factors that affect the difference between experiences of career of male and female?

TESTING OF HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis 1:

H1: Men plan their career effectively and take a more active approach towards career advancement than women.Ho: Men do not plan their career effectively and do not take an active approach towards career advancement than women.

Explanation:

The above hypothesis is based on the fact that men tend to plan their careers more effectively and rigorously than women which results in men having high successful rates in accomplishing their professional goals. With a specific end goal to test the above hypothesis, numerous variables are taken into consideration for examination. There are few independent variables that are considered to see its adverse impact on women career planning. In this hypothesis dependent variable in effective career planning whereas independent variables are the opportunities offered, sense of responsibility, the skills and abilities they have and the confident level to achieve what one aimed for.

Hypothesis 2:

H1: Men strive more intensely for a higher organizational position than women.Ho: Men strive less intensely for a higher organizational position than women.

Explanation:The hypothesis stated above is to examine the intensity to which men fight to get better positions in their career, whereas female do not actually that much struggle for career advancement despite the fact that women anticipate more barriers in career path than male. In order to test above hypothesis we have taken our dependent variable degree to which women strive for higher positions and independent variables are how they lookout for the opportunities, clear career view, work family life balance and male dominating society.

DATA ANALYSISFollowing is the bar chart of total population of male and female respondents. We have surveyed from a total of 32 men and 28 female respondents for finding out the factors affecting career planning.

Age Range:

By looking at this pie chart, most of the male respondents lie under the age 30-34 years. These are those respondents that are proceeding towards a stable position in their career. While some of the respondents who are at a rising position lie under the age of 30 years. Few of the respondents who are having their stabilized position lie under the age 35-39. The rest of the respondents lie under 40-44, 45-50 and 50-54.

Marital Status of male Respondents:

In this pie chart, most of the male respondents that we surveyed are those who are married. In married respondents, most of the respondents are those that are having a stable position. Some of the respondents are those who are at senior executive position. The rest of the respondents that are single are those who are in a position of rising. They are in a position of making their career. While the rest of the respondents lie under the category of others. It includes those respondents that are either divorced or widower.

Your partner’s work status/ organizational level

In this pie chart, most of the male respondents who are married or single have stated that their partner don’t work in the organizations at any level. Some of the male respondents who are married have stated that their partner works in the organization at a low level. While the rest of the male respondents stated that their partner are working at higher position as well as at the same position.

Employment Level:

According to the given pie chart, most of the male respondents that we have surveyed are working at middle and junior positions. While the rest of the male respondents are enjoying their career and are lying at the senior executive position. It consists of those respondents, that lie under the age of 45 to 59 years

How long they have been working:

In this bar chart, we have surveyed from 32 male respondents. When we asked this question, we have found out that most of the male respondents are working in the organization and making their career for 5- 10 years. The other respondents who are at the rising position or just started making their career are working for less than five years. The senior male respondents are working in the corporate sector for more than 15 years.

How they see their career:

In this bar chart, most of the male respondents have started their careers and hence are at the rising position. While the rest of the respondents who are at senior management level position have gain stability in their career.

Willingness for high pay scale position:

Male respondents are career conscious, and it is a fact that has been shown in this pie chart. Majority of the male respondents are always willing to go for a high pay scale position. The rest of the respondents do not tend to go to high pay scale position. It is because of the family matters and some of the respondents are highly satisfied with their current jobs.

Satisfaction in achieving professional objective:

Majority of the male respondents are highly satisfied by achieving their professional objectives while some of the male respondents are not satisfied with achieving their professional objective.

Highest org. level to achieve:

Every male respondent has a desire to achieve a higher position in the organization. The following graph shows majority of the male respondents as they have a huge desire of achieving executive level position. While the rest of the male respondents desire to get senior executive position. It is for those respondents who are working at executive level position and desiring to go to the CEO Director Position.

Clear career target:

Majority of the male respondents entering in the organization level have a clear cut target towards accomplishment of their career. The rest of the respondents who have just entered didn’t have make up their mind what they have to do or where they pursue their career.

Confidence in one-self:

Men while working in the organization have a strong belief that they will soon achieve their career. As they have lower family pressures . While the rest of the respondents who don’t know their career, do not have the idea either they will achieve their goal or not

Have skills for career advancement:

Men have more skills and abilities towards accomplishment of their career. The given graph shows that men agree that with their skills, they will soon achieve senior level positions.

Looking out for career opportunities:Majority of the male respondents agree with this statement that they agree that they look out for more career advancement position. While the rest of the respondents don’t have idea of career advancement position as they havent planned their career.

Consciously planned my career:

Male respondents haven’t planned their career, that’s not possible. The given chart shows that, men always plan their career while entering in the practical life. The rest of the respondents haven’t planned their career so they don’t have idea about career planning.

Women less willing to fight barriers:Majority of the male respondents agree with this fact that women are less willing than men in their career. It is because women are struggling towards the career advancement. The respondents whose partners are working at a lower position or not working agree with t this

statement. Those respondents whose partners are working at the partner’s same position or working at a higher position believe that women are more willing towards accomplishment of their careers.

Consideration for specific field:While entering in the practical field men always plan that they desire to have their respective position according to their choice. Majority of male respondents agree that they always consider specific field before applying for a suitable job. While the rest of the respondents feel whatever they get position that their choice.

Family affected by professional life:Men are career conscious, and that’s why the family matters didn’t affect their professional life/ it has been stated by majority of the respondents. The rest of the respondents going for a high position look for their family matters and it strongly affects their career.

Age Range:

The above chart shows the women percentage of different ages in which most of the women are under 30 and 30-34. The rest of the respondents lie under the age of 35-40, 40-45 till 50 years.

Marital Status of female Respondents:

The given pie chart shows that most of the female respondents are those that are married and also working in organizations at different levels respectively. While the rest of the women are not married and focusing on making their career. The rest are widowed or divorced who are working for the sake of their family.

Your partner’s work status/ organizational level

According to the given bar chart, following are those respondents whose partners are working at a higher position. While the rest of the respondents are having their partners having senior or similar position than them.

Employment Level:

Most of the women are at middle and junior level because of their families and other responsibilities they didn’t give much time to their work and remains at middle level while the other are at executive level and having a balanced life of work and family.

How long they have been working:

The following bar chart shows that most of the women are working in the organizations for less than 5 years and 5-10 years. The rest of the respondents are working in the organization for 10 to 15 years and more than 15 years respectively.

How they see their career:Most of the working women said yes as they are looking for a job with high pay scale as they want to get more salary to accomplish their goals what they want to achieve in their life as a women, While the other say no as they are doing job but more dependent on their husbands.

How they see their career:Most of the women said that they are at rising career while the remaining are at stable and lower, it is because of their family life they are at rising but they have to left the job because of their children’s and for their family life.

Willingness for higher pay scale:Most of the women are willing to consider their job with higher responsibility and try to lead their organization towards the goals as they are more dedicated towards their work, what they do they do it with responsibility,.

Highest Org. level to achieve:

Most of the women want to achieve executive level , most of them had already achieved but still they have to maintain their family as well as working life due to which they sacrifice their positions and restricted to senior and middle level positions.

Clear career target: Most of the women are totally agree that they have a clear career target what they want to achieve while the remaining are tend to disagree and other don’t know about career they only work because they want to work.

Confidence in one self:

Most of the female respondents while entering in the field have a strong belief that they will soon achieve their career. The rest of the female respondents don’t have idea about career planning because of family pressures.

Look out for career advancement opportunities:Following is the graph of the women who look for career advancement opportunities. Majority of the female respondents look for career advancement while some of the females disagree with this statement as of family pressures.

Need specific skills:

As most of the women needs skill for further career advancement but due to their family life they don’t have enough time to increase their skills, while the other don’t know and disagree with this question.

Hadn’t planned career: While entering in the practical field, it is decided that everyone plans their career no matter what will be their future after their marriage. The following graph shows the fact. Majority of the female respondents make their career.

Women are less willing to fight barriers:Men agree with this statement that women are less willing to struggle with their career. But when asking the same question from female respondents, it was a vice versa. Women are more willing than men. They have more potential, as they can do better than men. Majority of the female respondents disagree with this statement. Only a few of the respondents feel that they have less potential than men to fight for their career.

Considered any specific field:Women consider more their fields because they need to maintain their working hours and family hours and they are more focused on office work related to man.

Family affected by professional life:

In this question, majority of the women feel that family matters affect their career advancement. While talking about rest of the female respondents, so they believe that family matters don’t affect their career. As they have more potential to manage the personal as well as professional life effectively.

CONCLUSION: The research has been conducted from a sample of 60 respondents from different levels of respective organizations. At senior, junior, and junior level position, we have conducted this research. By collecting our findings and putting all in SPSS, it has been found out that Family matters, Gender Discrimination, Psychological issues, family pressures are those factors that influences women towards career planning. But on the other side, these factors don’t influence men towards career planning. As men have a strong position in the society. They prefer career more than the family. They can’t even compromise on their career planning rather than females. This philosophy is almost same in other countries. Even in India and other Asian countries, majority of women after getting married compromised their career because of family matters. In some of the extreme cases, men and women work together. Some women are career conscious as they also focus on their careers. But while entering in the practical field, all men and women do career planning as it is already explained in our term project.

Men while working in the organization have a strong belief that they will soon achieve their career. As they have lower family pressures so they have less family pressures.

In the western culture, it is opposite a little bit. In western culture, female as well as men work at different levels. Females are equally motivated than men.

By looking into big five career theory, we have also found out that women are less willing than men towards career advancement. The Holland Theory is the best example of this career theory. Even other career theory states the same thing. Women that are divorced or widowed look for career accomplishment. They look for jobs to take care of their family and kids. In most of the organizations, gender discrimination occurs to a large extent. Promotions and Salaries increase are given to men rather than women and this reduces their level of confidence to flourish their career.

One of the main reason is that females are not promoted to senior position is because of the lack of confidence and enjoyment that comes along with the title.

The women are the ones who can manage personal as well as professional lives very accurately. They have more potential than men. But because of family pressures and personal matters, the women get discouraged with this. On one hand, it can be said that gender discrimination could be one of the reason that both hold diverse positions. On the other side, the absence of female guides and role models would be the central point that females are more reluctant of striving for higher positions. They need to have a woman mentor that could motivate them towards accomplishment of career by making them feel that they have more skills and abilities than men.