Wal-Mart Organization

Identify and Analyze a Research Question
Wal-Mart is the chosen organization for this research and it seems that glass ceiling does exist within the organization. Glass ceilings are being faced by many women in organizations throughout the globe. Glass ceiling is something which cannot be taken lightly, even in this time era it seems that women are still struggling to break the glass ceilings they are facing in their respective organizations, even though the glass ceiling is getting better but it is still there. Women are being employed, but they are still faced with a great deal of constraints, for example, wage issues, i.e. they are not being paid equally like the men within the company.

The main objective of this research is to identify the problems that are being faced by women in Wal-Mart, i.e. when they are facing glass ceilings. The objectives would include; 1) constraints faced by women like wage issues, 2) the role of globalization and diversity, 3) strategies and solutions for overcoming this problem and 4) EEO’s role. (Monitor, 2007)
Research Question
Why does glass ceiling persists? What are the major reasons for its persistence and are there any solutions that might help women to break through this barrier?
Research Design
The marketing design of a research is based on the collection, analysis and reporting of findings. The research methods that are going to be used in collecting the information would be questionnaires and in-depth interviews. (Merriam, 2009)

Questionnaires: surveys will be conducted throughout the organization with the help of questionnaires. This will help the researcher to gather the data he/she needs for locating a solution.
In – Depth Interviews: in-depth interviews will also be used to gather data. Interviews help by gathering data which require detailed information regarding about the behavior and attitude of an employees.

The nature of the experiment regarding the research is always based on one or more than variable by the researcher, so that the effect that is left on the other variable can be measured.

Independent Variable: a variable which is being manipulated. In this case the glass ceiling that is being faced by women in Wal-Mart is considered to be an independent variable, which can be manipulated.
Dependent Variable: it’s a variable which sees the reflection of the impact on the independent variable. In this case the solutions and the strategies that will help the women to break through the glass ceiling. (Merriam, 2009)
Conceptual Definition: in this case the researcher is going to view glass ceiling as the concept. How is it defined by the researcher? Do glass ceiling actually exist in Wal-Mart or not?
Operational Definition: in this case the researcher needs to complete some activities in order to assign a value of a concept under consideration. Like when glass ceiling is defined it can be measures in a number of ways, for example, ‘a barrier which is invisible that separates women from the top management positions’ or ‘does not allow them to have the same wage like the men within the company’.
Nominal Measurement: the scale of measurement that is going to be used in nominal measurement. The basic empirical operation of this scale is determination of equality, the classification of this research is based on females. The statistics that are going to be used for this research would be descriptive (i.e. percentage modes) and inferential (i.e. Chi-square and binomial tests). (Merriam, 2009)

Sample Design
For this case scenario the method that is going to be used is probability versus non-probability. Where the probability sample is based on the selection of chance i.e. non-probability sample (which includes convenience, judgment, quota, and purposive sample) and a no-sample is also going to be selected on the basis of chance. The sampling methods that are going to be used for this research are as follows:-

Cluster sample
Quota sample (Merriam, 2009)

Sample Unit
Since the research is going to be based on a large scale, i.e. it is going to be covering the entire organization.

Departments

Respondents
Total

Finance
Women Executives
30
60

Women Mangers
30

Human Resources
Women Executives
30
60

Women Mangers
30

Marketing
Women Executives
30
60

Women Mangers
30

Sales
Women Executives
30
60

Women Mangers
30

Operations
Women Executives
30
60

Women Mangers
30

Total

300

References
Merriam, S B. (2009), Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. John Wiley & Sons
Monitor, C S, (2007), Wal-Mart Suit Shows Glass Ceiling Still a Big Issue. Available from <http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/WalMartSuitShowsGlassCeilingStillAnIssue.aspx>, retrieved on 7th June’10