Critical Review about Postgraduate Research Methods - Essay Example

The author defined the glass ceiling as those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions. Since the feminist movement gained power since the late sixties of the twentieth century the women began to think that they should gain the power and authority among the men community. As a result they from the very beginning women placed themselves to the other side of the discussion.

Nowadays women are trying to prove their self-dependence, putting aside the case of that they had begun this confrontation. To show the relevance of the problem, the author shows some statistic data about salary inequities between women and men. She asks following questions: Why are women still paid substantially less than men are Why does the glass ceiling stay in place And why does much of the popular press do its best to paint a rosy picture of job prospects for women The main purpose of Brenda's research was to identify factors that support and perpetuate the glass ceiling for women in public relations and corporate communications management.

The author points out, that many researchers in management have attempted to isolate factors contributing to sex segregation and sex discrimination. After analysis of their work she made a conclusion that the body of knowledge is contributed in two very important ways: First, it highlights the need for research about women, research frequently marginalized in both the academic and business arenas. Second, it has begun to suggest factors that create and maintain the glass ceiling in corporate public relations and communications.

The author describes in details research problem and its reflection in literature. The research project assumes the glass ceiling as an important area for further study for several reasons that are enumerated by the author. Feminization of the field means that although women make up more than half of the U.S. population their representation in management in public relations and many other fields is a much smaller percentage. The author points out that this limits opportunities for women and the organizations that could benefit from their contributions.

Vrenda emphasizes that women in public relations have difficulty being treated equally interms of advancement and salary. She looks at nature of today's business climate and remarks that the pressure on organizations to practice public relations as more of a two-way communication process becomes even more urgent. The author suggests the following points for consideration:1: Do women in corporate public relations and communications management perceive a glass ceiling to be in place2: What factors do women think help to create or maintain the glass ceiling for women in public relations and communications3: What strategies are there for women in public relations and communications who want to work to eliminate the glass ceilingThese are the main questions of the research.

In the research the author used qualitative methods because, as the author explained it, the factors contributing to the glass ceiling have not yet been clearly delineated. The study used focus groups (one pretest and two subsequent focus groups) and depth interviews (a total of 10 interviews). Nevertheless, the author uses statistic to show the tendency of nowadays situation in case that groups are too small to show off the full idea. That is reasonable because