Trisha Gail B.

Rivera
Assign Case # 1

Catherine Chang and women in management

Catherine Chang was a Chinese MBA student studying at a large university in the North of England. Her
MBA was designed for international students, most of whom were Chinese although there were
students from other Asian countries and mainland Europe. Catherine’s specialist stream was in
accounting, but for her research project she wanted to study the role of women in management
positions in Chinese organisations. In particular, she was interested in difficulties women experience in
management positions.

Catherine arrived at the decision to study this topic as a result of the difficulties she had experienced in
her employment in China. She had been employed by a large organisation partly owned by the State.
Her organisation espoused the principles of gender equality but the fact was that very few of the senior
management positions in her organisation were occupied by women. Management in her organisation
was thought to be largely a ‘man’s world’. At first she thought that this topic would not be acceptable to
the university, partly because it did not relate to her specialism, and partly because it seemed to her
that it might not be sufficiently ‘theoretical’. However, a brief discussion with one of her tutors, who
acted as a one of a group of MBA project tutors, set her mind at rest on both counts. She also valued the
encouragement from her fellow female Chinese students, some of whom had noted similar difficulties in
their employment experience in China.

The process of collecting ideas for the proposal started with the perusal of books and journal articles in
the university library. Catherine found many ideas from Maddock (1999), Moore and Buttner (1997) and
Marshall (1995) which she used to build her research proposal. Although these were Western books she
found the ideas pertinent to the changing social context in China. The process was also helped by
attendance at the MBA research methods course which helped Catherine prepare the proposal in the
format required by the university. Formal submission of the proposal was required but this did not form
part of the assessment of the research methods course. Indeed, the course was not assessed as such,
only the research project itself was the subject of formal assessment.

After some practice drafts which she shared with her fellow students, Catherine finally arrived at the
following title: ‘Women in management in China: what role do they play and what problems are they
facing?

The research objectives were:

1. To find out the reasons why so many women are now working in Chinese organisations.
2. To identify what difficulties and problems women face when they work in management.
3. To recommend actions that senior management should take to overcome the problems women
face when they work in management.
4. To understand the barriers which women may face when seeking top managerial jobs
As well as the title and objectives, Catherine included in her proposal the background to the research.
This included material on the problem facing women managers in China and an indication of the
literature which she used in preparing the proposal and would be used in preparing the dissertation. In
addition, Catherine included some detail on the methods she would use to collect her data (this was to
be a questionnaire and some follow-up interviews conducted on a return visit to China).

Catherine submitted her proposal and waited for the decision of the course tutor. It was made clear to
her and her fellow students that they should not commence their research until such time as the
proposal was approved.

After three weeks’ waiting Catherine received approval from the course tutor. She was pleased that her
proposal had been accepted but disappointed to note that the proposal document contained no
indication of what the tutor thought of the proposal. She found this demotivating at a time when she
felt her enthusiasm for the research should be at its highest. It was little consolation to her that her
fellow students had also received little or no feedback from the tutor. Nonetheless Catherine forged
ahead with her research.

QUESTIONS:

1. How advisable do you think it was for Catherine to concentrate her study in China?
 I think it is better for Catherine to concentrate her study in China because she is
much more familiar in this kind of problem/topic. And also, the main advantage of
this is she is a Chinese in which she has an idea about this matter and she is able
to communicate to her fellow Chinese female friends/acquaintances who
experience difficulties in managerial jobs. This will definitely will give her
credibility in her study.
2. Had you been Catherine’s course tutor, what comments would you have made in
response to her proposal?
 If I had been Catherine’s course tutor, I would surely encourage her and
acknowledge her efforts in her research. It is commendable that Catherine
put so much effort to build a strong theoretical foundation on her research. If
I’m her course tutor, I will so give comments or insights about her research in
which it can help her to improve more her research and also to give feedback
how she is doing well in her research. As her course tutor, I probably ask her
and seek clarification about precisely from whom she is seeking to collect
data. And I could also suggest that it is necessity to include senior managers in
the data collection process pertaining in her 3rd objective.
3. Why do you think Catherine was so disappointed to receive no feedback from her tutor?
 I think I understand why Catherine is so disappointed to receive no feedback from
her tutor because for me, giving feedback offers insightful direction on the
project's development to date and a source of ideas from someone who is not as
involved in it as the student. Also, the role of a tutor is vital because they are the
one who must give a motivational support to push through the research.
 4. What difficulties, of both a theoretical and a practical nature, would you alert Catherine
to were you her course tutor?
 The response to Question 1 has made mention of the practical challenges
associated with data collecting. The objectives provided may potentially be a
contributing factor to the theoretical challenges in the particular piece of work.
The objectives need "lists," or at least the first three of them do (of reasons,
difficulties, and actions). The issue with this is that it could result in a collection
of facts and conclusions that are unnecessarily detailed. This is not necessarily a
problem with the findings, but identifying phenomena like causes, challenges,
and behaviors offers fertile ground for creating models (for instance, of social,
psychological, and economic causes for the challenges and problems women
face when working in management), which could be the feature of an insightful
and extremely intriguing set of conclusions.
5. What specific comments would you make to Catherine about the main source books
she used in preparing her proposal?
 Although they (the websites and books read in the creation of the research
proposal) were western works, the case study's use of the phrase "yet she found
the theories pertinent to the changing social setting in China" may raise a few
eyebrows. It would be easy to think that the cultural and historical backgrounds
of working women in China, North America, and Europe did not require a
thorough analysis. Making these remarks to Catherine could just confirm the
opinions she already holds, but that would not be detrimental.

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