Gender differences in the workplace usually stem from social factors. Some companies encourage gender diversity when offering promotional opportunities and making essential decisions, whereas others discourage it. Gender differences illustrate differences in perception related to the style of problem solving, organizational structure, view of work-related conflict, an individual working style and performance. The main purpose of the research is to provide better understanding and explanation of differences between women and men in the workplace in terms of performance.
Research Design
Research is considered to be the process that defines problems that formulate suggested solutions with the help of collecting, organizing, summarizing and evaluating different data. Hence, it refers to knowledge search, whereas methodology is considered to be a procedure or set of procedures that are used to find answers to problems. This study explores the difference between man and woman in the workplace in terms of their performance. It is based on one research question. This chapter provides the methods used to collect research data as well as explains the rationale for the selected method. Research design is represented.
The choice of the research approach was based on the research aim, the research question and analysis of relevant literature. Exploratory type of research type was used for the analysis of previous researches, whereas analytical research helped to get a better understanding of the researched concept. The chosen methodology includes the scientific approach, the methods of data collection, chosen theories and their critique and key term definitions. We seek to get a better and deeper understanding of the differences between men and women in the workplace in terms of their performance. That is why we found the methods of qualitative research to be the most appropriate for our study. We conducted qualitative interviewing that is very flexible as it adjusts to the research making emphasis on the most essential points that might appear while interviewing. Qualitative interviewing helped to provide a greater interest in the interviewee's beliefs, ideas and reflects researcher's concerns. In this type research interviewees are not encouraged to closely stick to the topic. The tactics of going off the topic gives the opportunity to see what point is the most essential or interesting for the person.
Setting and Background
A Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation is headquartered in Toyota, Japan. The company was established in 1988. It has been stated that the oldest Toyota dealer Kentucky has been owned since the year of establishment. Toyota of Murray has been known for providing high quality, affordable vehicles and the best financial plans (Toyota of Murray Official Website, 2013).
In 1934, Toyota Industries created its first passenger car, the Toyota AA. The company which started to create automobiles was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937. It was a spinoff from the company Toyota Industries that was owned by Kiichiro's father.
Nowadays, it is a multinational corporation that consists of over 330,000 employees worldwide (Toyota Motor Corporation Official Website, 1995-2013). In 201, Toyota was the largest automobile manufacturer by production (World Motor Vehicles Production by Country and Type 2012). In March 2013, the corporation was the 13th largest company in the world revenue. In July, the corporation announced the production of its 200-millionth vehicle (Flynn, 2012).
Today, Toyota Motor Corporation is a part of the Toyota Group that is one of the world's largest conglomerates. The companies of the Toyota Motor Corporation group are Toyota, Daihatsu, Lexus, and Hino Motors, along with several non-automotive companies.
Population and Sample
The interview participants were male and female employees from Toyota (KY, USA). 30 women and 30 men were interviewed. All the respondents provided answers.
Hypothesis/Research question(s)
The research question is “What is the difference between man and woman in the workplace in terms of their performance?”
Instrument
To get research data we conducted an interview. Qualitative interviewing does not need to follow any schedule or guide. In some cases schedules do exist, however interviewers are allowed to depart from them. It is also allowed to paraphrase the questions and change their order. Hence, none of the above mentioned things should be used to provide the validity of the measurement (Interviewing in Qualitative Research, n.d., p. 313). It should be emphasized that a good interview is closely related to the interviewer's communication skills (Kvale, 1996) with the researchers asking questions and listening, and participants answering (Rubin & Rubin, 1995). In qualitative interviewing participants are often viewed as meaning makers (Holstein & Gubrium, 1995). The main purpose of such interviewing is to get interpretations, not laws or facts. The success of an interview depends on the interviewer's ability to listen, communication skills, ability to make pauses and ask clearly structure questions. Attention should be also paid on humility and humor as they draw attention to the trust between participants and relational aspect (Newton, 2010).
Qualitative interviewing provides an opportunity to collect rich and detailed information about the respondents' individual experience, the way they explain events and understand and explain events in their lives. It also allows respondents to express their thoughts freely, with minimal imposed control. Hence, during the interview, the interviewer gently guides the information flow by probing the interviewee for more details.
Data Collection
To collect theoretical data we examined a number of articles, textbooks, Internet resources and others. Qualitative data collection was used by creating an interview. An interview is the way of gathering information about certain needs, opinions or characteristics.
In order to develop relevant and well-structured questions, we were involved in observation and informal interviewing. The benefits of such a type of interviewing are the prepared questions giving the interviewer's opportunity to be competent during the interview, informants have freedom to express their own views, and provide us comparable and reliable data.
Data Analysis
In the making of this research both primary (the interview results) and secondary data (literature reviews and information from reports) have been used. All interviews have been conducted in person. Notes have also been made during the interviews and data collecting.
The difficulties, obstacles or flaws that arise in the phase of design of a construction project were examined. The implemented methods of research helped to study the differences between men and women in the workplace in terms of performance. Interview results were particularly useful as they helped to get the story behind respondents' experiences and examine in-depth information around the research (McNamara, 1999).
Qualitative interviewing is very flexible because it responds to the direction of an interviewee and adjusts to the research with the emphasis on the most important issues that might appear while interviewing. This type of interviewing provides a greater interest in the interviewee's ideas and beliefs and reflects the researcher's concerns. In the qualitative interview, the interviewee is encouraged to go off the topic because it helps identify the most interesting or important for the person and allows to reveal nuances.
Summary
In this chapter, we have explained the research methodology used in this paper. An interview was designed to gather data for analysis. The analysis of secondary data was also used to get a better understanding of the research subject.
