MA, Industrial Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2010 / This study explored the career barriers of black women in middle management through the
application of Schlossberg’s Transition Theory. The rationale behind the study was informed by
statistics that show that there are few black women in top management, a fact attributable to the
double discrimination faced during Apartheid because of their gender and race. The two aims of
the study were to explore any career barriers that these women may be experiencing or have
experienced as they attempt to advance their careers to top management; and secondly, to
explore the coping strategies that these women use to deal with the barriers experienced while
attempting to advance their careers. In order to investigate the research questions, nine women
who met the criteria of the study participated in semi-structured interviews. The study was
qualitative in nature, and the interview transcripts were analyzed through thematic content
analysis. The main themes were identified and presented under the 4 S’s: Situation, Self, Support
and Strategy. What became apparent from the findings was that the participants were dealing
with a dual challenge of gender and race discrimination. They were also dealing with role
conflict and other barriers such as politics in the workplace and age discrimination. However, it
was found that these women were proactive in confronting their challenges as they engaged in
numerous coping strategies including education and social support to cope with the career
barriers. Schlossberg’s Transition Theory proved to be an appropriate framework for exploration
of the career barriers and thus the application of this theory had implications for theory,
organisations and future research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/8293 |
| Date | 16 July 2010 |
| Creators | Ramashamole, Maliile A |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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