CASES: THE CATALYST FOR

WOMEN IN FINANCIAL SERVICES

PRESENTER:
WAN NOORDIANA WAN HANAFI
MARYAM JAMILAH ASHAARI
SITI SARAH BAHARUDDIN

QUESTION 1: DISCUSS THE POTENTIAL CONFLICT BETWEEN

RESEARCHER (CATALYST) AND RESEARCH USER (SMITH
BARNEY)

 The potential conflict that would arise between the

Researcher (Catalyst) And Research User (Smith
Barney) would be in terms of result.

QUESTION 2: WHAT CONSTRUCTS AND

CONCEPTS ARE INHERENT IN THIS STUDY?

CONCEPTS AND CONSTRUCT

Concepts and constructs are both abstract ideas which
have
been
"defined"
according
to
particular
characteristics
A concept is a bundle of meaning or characteristics
associated with certain objects, events, situation and etc.
Construct are images or ideas developed specifically for
theory building or research purpose.
This will allow the researcher to "measure" the concept
and have a common acceptable platform when other
researches do a similar research.

CONCEPTS AND CONSTRUCT

Example:
Measuring advertising effectiveness is an
construct, and concepts related would be brand
awareness and consumer behavior.
Pain is a concept, a theoretical model of pain
would be a construct, and a pain assessment tool
would give a measurable variable.

 This case describe the methodology used to sample

both mens and womens beliefs and attitudes, as
well as revealing some of the basic findings.
Mens and womens beliefs and attitudes are the
concept, the theoretical model of womens beliefs
and attitudes would be a construct, and several
tested measurement questions would give a
measurable variable.

QUESTION 3: WHAT ARE THE ETHICAL

CONSIDERATIONS IN THIS STUDY

 Ethical conduct must be practiced in every stage

of research.
Follow the code of ethics provided.
In focus group: Consent and Confidentiality
In quantitative research

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN
CONDUCTING FOCUS GROUP
Voluntary of
every
participants

Communicate
the purpose of
the study and
expectation of
focus group

Do not pressure
them to speak

Identity and their

comments must
remain
confidential

Do not use the

data for other
purposes

Treat participants
with respect

Avoid influencing
response by
leading
questions

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Present
findings&
interpretations
honestly and
objectively

Avoid untrue,
deceptive or
undocumented
statements

Collect only data

needed for the
purpose of the
research

Be prepared to
document data
sources used in
research.

Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice of the American

Statistical Association (1998),

QUESTION 4: SPECULATE ON HOW THE RESEARCHERS

CREATED OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS FOR THE
CONSTRUCTS.

 Constructsare the building blocks oftheories, helping to

explainhowandwhycertain things behave the way that they do.
Construct need to be translated from ideas to the concrete,
measurable in the form of variables.
Operational definition = defines a construct by specifying the
procedures used to measure a construct by:
Providing a clear definition
Designating a particular measurement instrument to represent
the concept.
Operational definition:
May not accurately capture the intended construct (especially
when dealing with perceptions and feeling)

 In this case, focus group was used to clarify concepts and

constructs.
For example, to measure job satisfaction, Catalyst used a
multiple-item evaluation (that maybe an information
obtained from focus group);
current position satisfaction,
satisfaction with employer,
work schedule control,
career advancement opportunities,
opportunities for networking and mentoring, and
compensation fairness.

QUESTION 5: ASSUME THAT THE LIMITED FINDINGS PRESENTED HERE

ARE ALL THE STUDY COVERED. WHAT WOULD YOU RECOMMEND
THAT SMITH BARNEY INCLUDE IN A FOLLOW UP STUDY?

 Phone call
Call as many respondents as before the mail out to confirm contact details and
encourage participation. The phone call has to be done in order to gain the respondent
participation and to get their cooperation during the follow up study. Explain to the
respondent about the objective and the importance of this research towards financial
services industry.

Continuously mail questionnaire

Do not give up in gaining information and collecting data. Since the response rate is 38%
as 838 members of the sample responded over 22000 potential respondents. There are
some respondents who may did not noticed the email that has been sent before thus it will
affected of the return rate of the questionnaire.

Follow up questionnaires
Provide second copy of questionnaire where necessary. Some of the respondent may lost
or misplaced the questionnaire.

 Follow-up contact
Ask follow-up questions to get more depth and understanding about an
idea, a concept or an issue suggested by the interviewees. After an interview
finish, carefully examine the transcript, figure out where else could be
followed up. Pose these questions in subsequent interviews.

Assurance of confidentiality
Maintain respondents confidentiality. It is important in gaining trust of
respondent. Maintaining the relationship with respondent is a particular
challenge as the study is being conducted over a long period of time as the
data is collected from the respondent through mail, interview and phone call.

Repeated of survey in increasing response rate

QUESTION 6: EVALUATE THE DATA DISPLAYS IN EXHIBIT CCATALYST 11 AND C-CATALYST 12 AS PART OF A RESEARCH
REPORT. WHAT RECOMMENDATIONS, IF ANY, WOULD YOU MAKE?

Exhibit C-Catalyst 11
The data displays in exhibit C-Catalyst 1-1 is about the barriers to advancement
of women at current firm, by gender.
The data discussed on the lack of mentoring opportunities, commitment to
personal and family responsibilities, exclusion from informal networks of
communication, lack of women role models, exclusion from informal networks of
communication for womens advancement, stereotyping and preconceptions of
womens roles and abilities, lack of opportunities to take on visible and /or
challenging assignments and lack of significant general management or line
experience.
There is difference of perception between men and women which shows a lot of
comparison.
Most of the women think that lack of mentoring opportunities is the major barrier
to advancement of women at current firm.
While men think that commitment to personal and family responsibilities is the
major barrier.

Exhibit C-Catalyst 1-2

The data displays in exhibit C-Catalyst 1-2 is about perceived fairness of reward
allocation, by gender.
The data shows the Percent strongly
agree/agree for question which is:

disagree/disagree

and

Percent

strongly

1) projects and clients are assigned in a fair manner

2) decisions to promote people in my firm are made in a fair way
3) my pay is reflective of the quality of work I perform for my firm,
4) in my firm, rewards are based on who you know, not how well you do your job.
53% women and 62% do not agree that their pay is reflective of the quality work they
perform for their firm.
They agree that in their firm, rewards are based on who they know and not how well
they do their job.
Based on the survey, it shows that the percentage of men and women that perceived
the reward allocation by their firm are not fair is high.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Financial service sector has to improve the management style of

the company.
Improvement that can be done:
1) In terms of the high barrier feels by the employee.
2) Improve the mentoring opportunities for the
employee and other aspect that act as a barrier for
the employee.
3) Improve the reward allocation given to employee.

The response rate should be increased