School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses

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Type: Masters Research thesis × Start date: 2000 × End date: 2000 × Subject: case studies ×

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    Why women in senior roles leave organisations
    Heilemann, Barbara ( 2000)
    In this thesis I discuss the reasons behind women's decisions to leave their senior positions in organisations in the finance sector. My findings are that all women experience some level of dissatisfaction with their employer. These include dissatisfaction as a result of systemic barriers within their organisations, unconscious discrimination on the part of colleagues as well as tokenism and marginalisation. It is a 'trigger' or 'last straw' that push women into the actual act of resigning from the organisation. I have called these triggers catalysts and categorised them to include the following: • Wanting more time for family and/or more balance in their lives; • High levels of stress which can result in illness; • Pay discrimination; • Passed over for promotion; • Changes to the organisation as a result of retrenchments and downsizing; and • Sexual harassment I have developed a model to show how these two classifications combine to trigger women to resign from their organisations. My research includes a review of current literature as well as face-to-face interviews with 30 respondents at senior levels within the finance industry. The sample included fifteen women who had recently left their organisations and fourteen women and six men who had stayed with their organisations for at least two years. The latter group of men formed a control group. Similar to the findings of other researchers, all thirty of my respondents had underlying reasons for dissatisfaction with their organisations. Those who had left their roles however experienced one or more of the catalysts noted above. The group of respondents had layers of reasons as to why they left their roles, which they would discuss with differing individuals. For example the reasons given to their families may differ to those they gave to their boss or a recruitment agency. My research shows that it is the combination of both the underlying reasons for dissatisfaction as well as catalysts that prompted women to leave their organisations.