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FACTORS THAT AFFECT WOMEN’S PROGRESSION IN

ENGINEERING WORKFORCE – A CASE STUDY IN PETRONAS

CARIGALI SDN BHD

NURFADILLAH BT AHMAD MAHMMUD

(2007126479)

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION WITH

HONOURS (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS)

FACULTY OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

SHAH ALAM



April 2010

TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK………………………………… iLETTER OF SUBMISSION…………………………………………………. ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………… iii

LIST OF FIGURE…………………………………………………………… iv

LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………….. iv

ii



BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................

48

APPENDICES.............................................................................................

CHAPTER

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Background of PETRONAS…………………………........................... 1

Background of Study………………………………………………….…. 2Problem Statement…………………………………................................. 4Research Questions ……………………………………………………. 6

Research Objectives…………………………………………………..….. 8

Scope of Study ……………………………………………………….…. 9Significant of Study………………………………………………………

Definition of Terms.....................................................................................

Limitation of Study......................................................................................

10

11

13

2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction……………………………… 14Career progression……………………………………………………….. 13

Barriers to Career progression…………………………………................. 15

• Work-Life Balance........................................................................... 17

• Opportunities for Growth .……………………………………….. 20

• Working Environment..........…………………………………….. 22

Theoretical Framework………………………………………………. 25Hypothesis………………………………………………………….. 26

3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN

Data Collection Method………………………………………………. 27Sampling Technique…………………………………………………...... 31

4.0 DATA ANALYSIS & FINDINGS..........................................................

Descriptive Statistics..................................................................................

Regression Analysis..................................................................................

33

34

40

5.0 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION.......................................... 45

iii



BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

WITH HONOURS (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS)

FACULTY OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

“DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK”

I, Nurfadillah Bt Ahmad Mahmmud, (I/C Number: 850413-14-5832)

Hereby, declare that:

• This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree, anylocally or overseas and is not being concurrently submitted for this degree or any

other degrees.

• This project paper is the result of my independent work and investigation, except

where otherwise stated.

• All verbatim extracts have been distinguished by quotation marks and sources of my information have been specifically acknowledged.

Signature: ……………………….. Date: …………………….

i



22nd April 2010.

Puan Azlina Bt Haniff

Encik Nurul Hafiz Bin Abdul Halil

Faculty of Business ManagementUniversiti Teknologi MARA

40450 Shah Alam

Selangor

Dear Sir/Madam,

SUBMISSION OF FINAL REPORT (DRAFT)

Enclosed is a copy of final draft report on Factors that Affect Women’s Progression inEngineering Workforce – A Case Study in PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd. Basically, this

paper will help the management to determine the major issues surrounding women’s

progression in the technical profession and assist them in developing and implementing better strategies in the future.

The main purpose for the submission of this project paper is to fulfill the practical

training requirement as needed by the Faculty of Business Management, UniversitiTeknologi MARA.

Thank you.

Regards,

………………………………… NURFADILLAH BT AHMAD MAHMMUD

BBA (Hons) International Business

Faculty of Business Management

Universiti Teknologi MARA

Enclosure: Final Draft Report

ii



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, praise to Allah, the Almighty, the Generous for His blessings and

guidance for giving me the inspiration to carry on this research study and instilling all the

strength to complete this research successfully. Thousand of compliments were awarded

to all respondents who promptly answered and returned the questionnaires completely as

well as those who kindly allowed themselves to be interviewed during the study.

I would like to express my honorable gratitude to all Carigali Human Resources

department especially People Strategy & Planning Section, the Managers and executives

whom has shared their experience and knowledge during conducting my study in

PETRONAS Carigali Sdn. Bhd. Without their assistance and guidance, I may not be

able to get respondents to answer my questionnaires.

I am heartily thankful to my supervisor, Puan Azalina Bt Hanif whose encouragement,

guidance and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an

understanding of the subject. Not forgotten, the second examiner, Encik Nurul Hafez

Abdul Halil.

Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported me in any respect

during the completion of the project.

iii



LIST OF FIGURE

Figure

1

2

3

4

Theoretical Framework…………………………………….

Demographic Profile (Diagram I)…………………...............

Descriptive Statistics (Variables).............................................

Regression Plot.........................................................................

25

34

35

44

LIST OF TABLES

Table

3.1 Rating Scale (Section B)…………………………………..... 313.2 I am interested in my job......................................................... 35

4.1 I Feel Stressed in my job.......................................................... 354.2 I am satisfies with the professionalism of my co-wrokers....... 36

4.3 I see more positive than negative aspects in my job............... 37

4.4 The Organisation has reasonable expectations of its employees...... 37

4.5

4.6

Regression ………..…………………………………………

Reliability Test ……………………………...........................

41

42

4.7 Correlation ………………………………………………..... 43

iv



1.0 - INTRODUCTION

1.1 – Company Background

Petroleum Nasional Bhd ( PETRONAS ), is Malaysia’s national petroleum

corporation established on 17 August 1974 under the Company’s Act 1965. Since

its incorporation, PETRONAS has grown to be an integrated international oil and

gas company with business interests in 35 countries. As at the end of March

2005, the PETRONAS group comprised of 103 wholly – owned subsidiaries, 19

partly-owned outfits and 57 associated companies.

PETRONAS is ranked among the Fortune Global 500 largest corporation in

the world. The Fortune Global 500 is a ranking of the top 500 corporation

worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by

Fortune magazine. Fortune ranks PETRONAS as the 80 th largest corporation in the

world in 2009. It also ranks PETRONAS as the 8th most profitable company in

Asia.

Basically, PETRONAS’ primary business activities can be divided into

three major activities which are the international operations, upstream activities

and downstream activities. PETRONAS is actively engaged in the exploration,

development and production of crude oil and natural gas both at home and

abroad. In Malaysia, these activities are undertaken and managed through

production sharing contracts (PS) with a number of international oil and gas

companies as well as its’ subsidiary, PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd.

1



PETRONAS Carigali Sdn bhd or PCSB in short is the wholly – owned

subsidiary of PETRONAS incorporated on 11 May 1978. PCSB was formed to

expand the exploration and development activities of foreign oil companies and

enhance the pace of development of upstream sector in the country.

1.2 – Background of Study

In today’s global market, companies are surrounded by competitors,

regardless of industry. To develop a competitive advantage, it is imperative that

companies truly leverage the workforce as a competitive weapon. A strategy for

improving workforce productivity to drive higher value for the organisation has

become an important focus. Companies seek to optimize their workforce through

comprehensive development programmes not only to achieve business goals but

most importantly, to survive and thrive for the future.

To accomplish this undertaking, companies will need to invest resources

to ensure that employees have the information, skills and competencies they need

to work effectively in a rapidly changing and complex environment. For this,

companies need to understand policies and programmes that would enhance

employee satisfaction and improve their performance.

PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd (PCSB) has grown to become (established

itself) a full-fledged field operator and is one of several companies currently involved

in crude oil and gas production in Malaysia. Having earned a place alongside

multinationals in the country's petroleum sector through determination and hard work,

PCSB is actively expanding beyond the shores of Malaysia towards attaining its vision

2



to be A Multinational Exploration and Production ( E&P ) Company of Choice

Creating Value through Continuous Improvement and Growth.

As part of the E & P arm, PCSB has a big role in building distinctive

capabilities to support international growth and ensure excellent performance. This

is because, the success of exploration and production ( E & P) operations depends

on the skills of its workforce to discover and develop oil and gas reserves. The E

& P’s team work in increasingly technical challenging conditions consist of four

Petro-technical disciplines; subsurface and wells, projects and engineering, drilling

and completions and safety and operations. It takes talented, highly educated and

motivated engineers and scientists to meet this challenge.

At present, PETRONAS has a workforce of more than 30000 people

operating in more than 30 countries over the world. This number represents 28

nationalities with varying capabilities, knowledge and skills to undertake various

upstream and downstream projects in a variety of geographic and business

environment. Inspired by a vision to become oil and gas multinational of choice,

PETRONAS is strategically developing it’s core capabilities in the exploration and

production ( E&P ) business to achieve competitive advantage and growth

internationally. Thus, PETRONAS requires a regular supply of technically

proficient and organizationally prepared graduates. Furthermore, PETRONAS strive

to recruit and retain the best and brightest talents in a variety of challenging

fields ( PETRONAS, 2005 ).

3



Historically, the image of engineering has been heavy, dirty and involving

machinery. Both women and men have seen engineering as a masculine profession.

However, advancement in computer technology and improvements in working

condition have softened the field and is attracting more and more women.

Nowadays, more women are joining the engineering profession to exploit their

potentials in engineering field even if it is physically demanding. For instance, the

total number of professional women engineers in the UK is expected to reach 12

percent by the year 2010 from 4 percent in 1990 ( Evetts, 1998 ). Similarly, there

have been progressive increases of female engineers in the USA including

technologist and technicians.

Engineering is often seen as a non-traditional career for women. In Malaysia,

the enrolment of women and the number graduating in engineering has increased

steadily in the last 5 years ( DOS, 2000 ). The growth of industries in Malaysia has

resulted in an increased numbers of engineers, both men and women working in

large industrial organisations. Statistics show that there are about 35500 engineers

in the country. They are included in the group of professional and technical

workers which accounted for 10.6 percent of the total employed population in the

country. (2000).

Due to the equal opportunity in education for both genders in Malaysia,

the participation and contribution of women in the engineering field in the last

few decades are invaluable. Besides, there is a demand for women engineers in

many areas including in petroleum industry.

4



1.3 – Problem Statement

As a technical – based company, hiring and retaining employees that can add

value to the company is a priority. Currently, the average oil and gas employee is 50

years old and while this translates to an experienced workforce, when these people retire,

there are not enough skilled people to take over (Devon, 2008).

According to the centre for work – Life Policy in New York (2008), large

numbers of women scientists, engineers and technologists are giving up their

chosen professions. Hewlett, Luce and J.Servon, (2008 ) indicated that 52 percent of

these talents drop out at the age ranging between 35 to 40 years old. Based on the

demographics, it seems likely that they leave to start families. Besides, there are

other contributing factors such as work culture, nature of the career path and the

working environment. Furthermore, the researcher found that 63 percent of women

in science, engineering and technology have experienced sexual harassment (2008).

The number of woman engineers registered with Board of Engineers

Malaysia is still very low as compared to male engineers. In Malaysia, women

engineers accounted less than 10 percent of the total professional workforce

despite the encouraging number of Malaysian girls enrolling in the field of

engineering, locally and abroad. PETRONAS’ recognition of women’s competitive

advantage in the engineering field can be strengthened by the unique perspective

that women can bring to the workplace. Thus, there are efforts established to

attract and retain women in engineering profession by enabling talented people to

develop their fullest potential.

5



Currently, in PCSB, there are 712 female executives in various technical

fields such as Geosciences, Petroleum Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and

Electrical Engineering. Although the number of male versus female workers remains

uneven as it is a predominantly male work force, the trend is changing rapidly and

women are rising through the ranks at PCSB and PETRONAS as a whole.

However, the number of career change requests among women engineers who are

currently working in PCSB is on the rise.

Although a minority, women engineers can be found in a broad spectrum

of engineering expertise (Institute of Engineering Malaysia, 2002). They have

proven themselves capable, not only in the office but also on site. At present, the poor

retention rate of women engineers in engineering workforce could essentially be

due to the challenges that they face being a woman performing their duties in a

male-dominated profession. These challenges could deter capable women from

advancing their careers in engineering. Among these challenges, sexual harassment

is not an issue. However, some women engineers have cited cases of discrimination

in terms of pay and promotion (2002).

Given the above discussion, this research seeks to identify the challenges

faced by women engineers in practicing their engineering skills. It focuses

particularly on job factors, organizational factors and quality of life for women

engineers. At present, such study has never been conducted particularly for PCSB. Thus,

this study provides valuable information to PCSB in designing policies and

strategies to promote women’s pursuit of engineering careers. Additionally, the

6



findings from the study may be used by the company to ensure the retention of their

women engineers in the profession.

1.4 – Research Questions

1.4.1 – Main Research Question

i. What are the barriers that affect women’s progression in

engineering workforce?

1.4.2 – Secondary Research Questions

i. What are the factors that affect women engineers’ career

progression?

ii. What measures can the management take to retain and

motivate women engineers to progress in their career?

iii. Is there a relationship between work life balance factors and

career progression?

iv. Is there a relationship between working environment factors

and career progression?

v. Is there a relationship between opportunity for growth factors

and career progression?

7



1.5 – Research objectives

1.5.1 – Main Objective

The main purpose of this study is to examine the major issues related

to career progression and job satisfaction among women in engineering workforce.

In addition, this study seeks to identify the problematic areas relating to the

company’s current managerial practices that may serve as obstacles to women

engineers career progression in the company.

1.5.2 – Secondary Objective

The other objectives of this study are:

1. To analyse the major factors that give affect to women engineers’

career progression.

2. To suggest policies that can be implemented to retain women

engineers in the workforce.

3. To identify the relationship between work life balance factors

and career progression in order to develop better policies to

improve women advancement in engineering workforce.

4. To identify the relationship between working environment factors

and career progression in order to develop better policies to

improve women advancement in engineering workforce.

5. To identify the relationship between opportunity for growth

factors and career progression in order to develop better policies

to improve women advancement in engineering workforce.

8



1.6 – Scope of Study

This cross-sectional study will be carried out in Petronas Carigali Sdn

Bhd where a survey will be conducted among the female executives in various

technical skills such as geologists, geophysicists and engineers in various

departments. The sampling population is estimated to be 100 respondents.

For the study, the researcher deals with three issues related to the career

progression of women in engineering field which are work life balance, working

environment and opportunity for growth. These criteria are being used as

independent variables because they play a crucial role in measuring job

satisfaction among women engineers that ultimately influences their career

progression

9



1.7 – Significance of the Study

As mentioned earlier, to date, not much study has been conducted to examine the

issues surrounding women engineers’ career progression particularly in a technical-based

company such as PCSB. Thus, the present study will fill this scarcity in knowledge.

Through this study, the challenges faced by women engineers in the male-dominated

workforce can be identified. Currently, the much-needed talent of women engineers is

being wasted and underutilized as a result of the challenges they unnecessarily face.

This study is significant as it aims to contribute to the theoretical

knowledge about women’s career and the barriers they encounter, as well as for

Carigali Human Resource Department professionals to better implement planning

initiatives and training programs with gender sensitivity. Many organizations today

are trying to retain their female employees in response to regulations that call

equal treatment; therefore, understanding the barriers that women face would help

in creating a friendlier and more gender sensitive work environment.

This study also presents the researcher with an opportunity to gain valuable

knowledge and experience on the correct technique to conduct research. Besides,

the researcher also learns how to manage time effectively and efficiently in

conducting the research and doing practical training at the same time.

10



1.8 - Definition of Terms

Engineer A person employed in technical work for which

normal qualification is a Degree in Science or

Engineering.

Career Succession of related jobs through which persons

in an ordered sequence overtime and progressively

more responsible roles within an organization

Career advancement Progression through a sequence of jobs, involving

continually more advanced or diverse activities

and resulting in wider or improved skills, greater

responsibility and prestige.

Work Life Balance Satisfactory level of involvement or “fit” between

the multiple roles in a person’s life.

11



1.8- Definition of Terms

Secondary Data Data that have already been collected for the purpose

other than the problem in hand.

Primary Data Primary data are originated by a researcher for the

purpose of addressing the problem at hand.

Questionnaire Define as a formalized set of question to obtain

information from respondent.

Sample Define as a subgroup of the population selected

participation in the study.

12



1.9 – Limitation of Study

The study raises important issues for women engineers in the

engineering workforce but is limited only to those who are currently working in

Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd and the barriers that they faced were based on the

perception of the respondents.

Future research could broaden the macro and micro factors explored, as

well as compare these results with those of women in other fields and industries,

women at other career stages, and women across other geographic regions. This is

because, in this study, most of the respondents were in the early career stage,

having relatively short job and organisational tenures. It may not be clear to what

extent the findings can be generalized to women professionals with longer job and

organisational experience.

Other limitations faced by the researcher while conducting this study

include the researcher’s lack of experience and knowledge as she has never before

been exposed to a proper research exercise. As such, the quality of research may be

affected by this limitation. In addition, there is insufficient time to collect the necessary

information or data that could be used to increase the quality and scope of the research.

13



14



2.0 – LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 – INTRODUCTION

This chapter reviews the current literature related to the topic. Specifically, it focuses on

the findings from existing studies regarding the issue of barriers in career progression

among women. It helps the researcher to include all the relevant variables in the research

project and provides a good basic framework to proceed with the investigation ( Sekaran,

2003 ). From the discussion, the foundation for a comprehensive theoretical framework can be

developed. This would enable the researcher to formulate several hypotheses for testing

purposes (2003).

2.2 - Analysing career progression

From previous studies, the interpretations of career progression of engineers are

grouped into two relevant career routes( Bowden, 1997; Pool and Langan – Fox, 1997 ). The

first is the technical career route which is a career pathway in which an employee

progresses in his or her career while still remaining involved in technical specialization.

The second route is the managerial route, which slowly moves a person away from

technical work. Between the two routes, the second route is the path most usually described as

successful. It is generally the more attractive because it carries with it the higher prestige

and often provides employees such as engineers with the possibility to have real

influence on the technical growth of an organization ( Maimunah, 2003 ).

As conceptualized by Petroni ( 2000 ), there are two other relevant career routes

experienced by engineers, namely from “ project to project” and technical transfer. The

14



former refers to a situation in which an engineer neither desires nor expects promotion

up a managerial or technical lader but would prefer the opportunity to engage in

challenging engineering activities irrespective of promotion. The technical transfer route

meanwhile refers to the transfer of technology out of the R & D laboratory for production

and commercialization purposes.

2.3 – Barriers to women’s career progression

Many studies indicated that the possibility of Malaysian women participating and

succeeding in careers inherently depends on their ability to manage multiple roles as a

wife, mother and worker ( Maimunah, 2006 ). To put in more general terms, career success

depends on the interplay between work, family factors , organizational demands, women’s

socio – demographic characteristics and the development climate in the country

( Maimunah and Ahmad, 1999, Maimunah and Roziah, 2006 ).

In the world of work, Schien ( 2001 ) finds that barriers to women in their career

progression exist worldwide. Morrison ( 1992) has developed a model for successful career

progression which consist of three elements. These elements are challenge, recognition and

support. According to Morrison ( 1992 ), all these three elements have to be balanced in

order to succeed in the career progression.

Morrison ( 1992 ) proposed that, for women, an imbalance typically occurs such that

the level of challenge exceeds the other two elements. Her research shows that aspects of

assignments and day-to-day life that constitute challenge are often overlooked. Common

15



barriers to advancement ( Stereotypes, prejudice, male discomfort ) contribute to the

imbalance and as a consequence, women become exhausted, experienced failures and may

bail out of this frustrating work situation ( White et al. , 1992 ).

In a survey of chief executive officers and human resources professionals in

Fortune 500 companies in USA, Mattis, ( 1995 ) identified several barriers to women’s

advancement in corporations which include stereotypes, lack of access to line positions,

lack of careful planning, exclusion of women from informal channels of communication

and counterproductive behaviour of male co-workers.

In 1992, The Canadian Committee on women in engineering published a list of

“common and difficult” barriers faced by women engineers. The list includes lack of

collaboratively planned career development, absence of policies that support individuals,

balancing career and family, workload demand, promotion policy, traditional attitudes

towards women in professional roles, absence of network, lack of role models and

mentors.

It is important to first understand these barriers that women face in order to

implement better career strategies for women to succeed in their career advancement. The

following section discusses three barriers, which are; work life balance, opportunities for

growth and working environment.

16



2.3.1 – WORK LIFE BALANCE

Work life balance is a global topic of growing importance and frequently

discussed nowadays. It is defined as satisfactory level of involvement or “fit” between the

multiple roles in a person’s life ( Hudson, 2005 ). Research indicated that failure to achieve

the correct balance, effort and rest is linked to a feeling of over your workload, plus

lack of energy to fulfill personal goals and commitments. If the balance is wrong, the

result may be fatigue, poor performance and dissatisfaction with the job ( The Work-Life

Balance Trust, 2004).

Women make up an increasing proportion of the full-time workforce and of

managers around the world ( Wirth, 2001). Yet, they are still under-represented in

management in most countries and in senior management everywhere ( Davidson and

Burke, 2004; Wirth, 2001). This may be attributed to having to juggle both work commitment

and family responsibilities simultaneously. According to Lift and Ward (2001) and Metz and

Tharenou (2001), many women believe that family responsibilities are a barrier to their

advancement. They also believe that their focus on family responsibilities partly affects their

collegues’ and superiors’ perception of them (Griffith and MacBride-King, 1998; Ragins and

Sundstrom, 1989; Swiss and Walker, 1993). This is in line with the time scarcity hypothesis,

in which time spent in fulfilling family responsibilities is time that cannot be spent at

work.

These perceptions and stereotypes of women with children can lead to

discriminatory behavior, thus creating an additional obstacle to advancement for mothers.

Women often feel that they have to make choices between work and family life, as the

demands on being effective in both areas are difficult to achieve. They often perceive

17



two distinct areas of responsibility that are in direct competition with each other and feel

guilty being at work and guilty being at home.

Traditionally, society has always maintained that a woman’s place is at home

( Jacob, 1999 ; Moore, 1995 ). However, with the introduction of education and the

changing role that women play, they started to participate in the public domain and

progressed into the managerial ranks. Woman typically would work for a period of time

after completing education and then marry, raise children and may or may not have re-

entered the labour force. Many women still follow this sequential career pattern, although

the trends are moving towards more and more women staying in the labour force after

they marry and have children.

In studies of women scientist and engineers by Rosser ( 2004 ), Maskell-Pretz and

Hopkins (1997) and Miller (2004), the pressure that women face in balancing career and

family is the most significant barrier in women’s attempt to advance in their career.

Rosser’s research has shown that women in the field of engineering fail to reach senior

positions due to 12 -14 hours work duration. Maskell-Pretz and Hopkins note that women

engineers face career advancement as they began to consider starting a family. Little time

off, long and tiring work call for a sacrifice of private life which many women are not

prepared to make at least until their children grow up. Miller’s study at an oil company

indicate that women have to reinforce the masculine system values in order to gain

promotion and recognition of the industry which have been shaped by the philosophies, values

and interest of men.

18



A recent research done by Maimunah and Mariani, ( 2008 ) in a Malaysian

multinational oil company support the previous studies that having family responsibilities

was considered the most significant barrier by career women indicated that women’s

involvement in the family reduces their career commitment due their duty in the family.

According to the results, women appear to know where they stand in the family

structure and that they have their parts to play.

As such, when it comes to household duties, women agree that they should

not shirk their household responsibilities in chasing their career. This is in accordance with

the gender role theory ( Konrad and Linnehan, 1999; Connell, 2002 ).

Furthermore, women also agree that they should not sacrifice their femininity in

order to be successful in their career ( Maimunah & Mariani, 2008). Besides, most women

disagree that women should not marry or better off not become mothers, indicating that

women still have the opportunity to progress in the organization without compromising

their womanhood. The two key findings directly related to family barriers conclude that

women’s involvement with the family reduces their career commitment and vast changes

need to be made to the family structure to promote women’s careers ( 2008 ).

Furthermore, the finding indicates that most women strongly believe that their husband’s

support is key to their quest of becoming career women.

19



2.3.2 – OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH

Opportunities for growth can be defined as the opportunity that is offered by top

management to employees in order to use or expose their skills and abilities in their

work. Opportunities are actually the interaction between oneself and the change nature of

organizations. As an organization is in its stage of dynamism, opportunities are being

created and recreated ( Maimunah, 2003 ). Allen and Ketz ( 1992 ) and Petroni ( 2000) have

demonstrated that organizational expansion especially through establishment does give

impact to the career growth of engineers.

A study done by Bigliardi, Petroni and Dormio (2005) indicates that management

system does not have a sound understanding of engineers’ expectations as professionals.

Standards of job description and advancement are generally put forward by management

in a fuzzy and unclear fashion (2005). Most respondents in the study also claimed that

firms still put emphasis on measuring engineers’ productivity in a traditional way and

low effort is spent by managers to communicate on what criteria would be used in

measuring individual’s achievement( 2005).

Opportunities for growth for women engineers are the same as that for men.

Evidence from the study by Gasomax, ( 2003 ) has supported and further strengthened the

fact that in order for an engineer to go to higher positions in the career ladder one

should go through managerial posts as well as technical post. However, Evetts (1997)

finds that a career move into management results in increased difficulties for women

since the woman manager has to resolve contradictions in gender and work identities. It

is difficult for a woman to manage men since gender expectations are in conflict with

managerial responsibilities (1997). There are some indications that these gendered patterns

20



also apply in professional engineering. The analysis by Glover et al.(1996) of the Labour

Force Survey indicates that there are higher proportions of young women professional

engineers in management.

Promotion on the professional ladder continues to be clearly specified and

depends on work done ( Evetts, 1997). In that sense, promotion is retrospective i.e

individuals have to demonstrate that they have operated and performed at a particular

level before getting promoted (1997). Research done by Evetts (1997) for women

engineers at Airmax found that their career movement was more difficult than men’s. They

were as able as the men in developing their expertise and skills but were not being

promoted in the company’s managerial ladder. Only women and men with a single-minded

focus on career were likely to climb to this level. In Airmax, no women held the company

senior staff positions. The only one in a director post was single and child-free ( 1997 ).

The previous study is supported by a research done by Maimunah (2003). In her research,

male engineers have more advantages in terms of career advancement in the engineering

field. This is because, their performance may not be affected after marriage. In contrast,

the priority for married women is inclined more towards the family. Pregnancies and taking

care of young children are two most important factors to slow down their performances.

There are managers who do not favor women engineers in his team because after they

get married, they have to take leave and refuse to go out station or to the operating

plant. In her research, Maimunah concluded that women engineers have chances to go up

the career ladder but limited only to a certain level.

21



Maimunah (2008) also found that 72 percent of the 103 female executives in her

study cited organizational barriers as those that include the organization being very male-

oriented and inhospitable where women have to compete on men’s terms without

consideration to women’s needs. Meanwhile, 49.9 percent of women agreed that they have

to work harder and longer to prove their credibility in order to achieve the same

progress. Furthermore, skills and support from their supervisor would help in their career

advancement ( 2008 ).

2.3.2 – WORKING ENVIRONMENT

Working environment refers to the physical surroundings required for human

activity or industrial processes. Career success and person-environment fit have significant

studies of the workplace. People generally want to work in an environment where

differences are accepted, appreciated and encouraged.

Sometimes, without being conscious about it, companies can encourage and value

certain behaviour that are foreign or natural to women ( Society of Petroleum

Engineering, 2008). This is probably the main reason for women to not continue working

because they perceive that they will not progress ( 2008 ). J.Burke , Burgess and Fallon

(2006) found that it is important for the management to understand the qualities of

work environments that are supportive to women’s career aspirations. These include top

management support and commitment to the exercise, the explicit use of gender in

decision making in recruitment, career planning and development, as well as the

22



development of policies and procedures consistent with the goal of supporting women’s

advancement.

The concept of organizational culture is important to understand barriers faced by

career women. Harvey and Brown (1996) define organizational culture as a system of

shared meanings, values, beliefs, practices, group norms of the members to produce

behavioural norms with regards to the working conditions of the organization.

Organizational culture is often cited as either the key facilitator or barrier to work-life

policies, as cultural norms often over-ride formal policy intentions.

A supportive culture can improve morale and motivate people to reduce stress

and absences ( Wise and Bond, 2003). The cultural association of power and authority

with masculinity makes it difficult for women to hold positions of power and because

their gender identity contradicts that of the masculinity of power (Charles and Davies,

2000).This is supported by other study (Robinson and Mcllwee, 1999) which indicated that

the culture of the engineering profession is clearly identified with the masculine gender

role. It dictates patterns of trust and behavior that make it difficult for women to be

integrated professionally ( Robinson and Mcllwee (check spelling of the name), 1999).

The CREW study (2002) confirms that cultures of many engineering workplaces

are female- and family – unfriendly. Women are generally more dissatisfied with workplace

culture and conditions than their male counterparts. Women are disadvantaged by negative

perceptions about their abilities and commitment to engineering, their exclusion from

social and other networks and harassing behavior from male colleagues (2002).

23



Another research done by Society of Petroleum Engineering, ( 2005 ) indicates

that a hostile and lonely workplace ranked high in the survey for those women working

for independent and major oil companies. One of the issues most often listed for

prompting one to consider switching jobs is job satisfaction. The result shows that the

industry currently has more work than it has people and jobs are not structured in a

satisfying way which do not really address the career development needs (2005).

The finding is supported by another study of a Malaysian multinational oil

company which indicates that most women acknowledged that there were policy supports

for a friendly work environment but the organization should consider and provide

appropriate suppport to women to help their advancement (Maimunah and Mariani, 2008).

Overall, more women perceived the organization’s culture as discriminating and that the

organization should specifically address this issue in order to retain and promote women

(2008).

After a brief literature of this study, the researcher had identified several factors which

are frequently mentioned that affect the women’s engineer career progression. Women are

disadvantaged by the engineering culture which is dominance by men where there is little

recognition for women. Some of the key factors that explain women engineer at disadvantages

include organisational structures, promotion criteria and processes, lack of mentoring, sexual

harassment and discrimination as well as balancing career and family. Thus, the researcher has

grouped all these factors into three; work life balance, opportunity for growth and working

environment.

24



2.4 – Theoretical Framework

Barriers to career progression:

Independent Variables Dependent Variable

The literature review assist the researcher in developing the theoretical framework of the

study which the most frequent variables are choosed. The dependent variable is the career

progression among female engineers in PCSB. From the dependent variable, the researcher can

derive the independent variables which are working environment, work life balance and

opportunity for growth. The researcher expected that there is a significant relationship between

the dependent variable and the independent variables.

25

Career progression

among female engineers

in PCSB

Work Life Balance (H1)

Opportunity for Growth (H2)

Working Environment (H3)



Once the researcher has identified the important variable and established the relationship

among them through logical reasoning in the theoretical framework, it is time to test whether the

relationships that have been theorised in fact hold true. As such, several testable statements

called hypotheses must first be formulated before being tested scientifically through the use of

appropriate statistical analysis. The results from the tests enable the researcher to ascertain on

what kind of relationships exist among the variables. They can also offer us some insights into

minimizing the obstacles faced by women engineers in their career development.

The hypotheses that have been developed for this research are as follows:

H0: There is an insignificant relationship between work life balance and barriers to career

progression.

H1: There is a significant relationship between work life balance and barriers to career

progression.

H0: There is an insignificant relationship between opportunity for growth and barriers to

career progression.

H1: There is a significant relationship between opportunity for growth and barriers to career

progression.

H0: There is an insignificant relationship between working environment and barriers to

career progression.

H1: There is significant relationship between working environment and barriers to career

progression.

26



CHAPTER 3.0

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN

3.1 DATA COLLECTON METHOD

In general, this chapter discusses the research methodology and design of the study. More

specifically, the chapter describes how data is collected and how the data analysis technique is

carried out. It is important to ensure that all data gathered are relevant to subject of

study, up dated and help in conducting effective study.

A preliminary search was conducted on the web, databases and print materials to

specify the scope of the research topic. For this research study, primary data for researcher

were the data collected from the questionnaires that will be completed by 100 respondents from

various technical backgrounds who are currently working in PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd.

Secondary data is gathered through literature review on issues relating to women’

career advancement in engineering field gave a comprehensive insight of the study. There

are two journals used as a main reference for this study which are from Malaysian researcher

(Maimunah and Mariani,2008) and Australian researcher (Roberts and Ayre, 2002).

27



3.1.1.1 Design of Questionnaire

A set of questionnaire has been designed to get the required data to

meet the purpose of the study. Most of the questions are derived from other

related journals but had been edited by researcher so that it is best suited

to the respected respondents .

The researcher decided to distribute the entire questionnaire by

personally administering questionnaires to groups of individuals in the Lady

Technical Forum organised by the Human Resource department in Carigali.

It helps the researcher to establish rapport with the respondents while

introducing the survey, provide clarifications sought by the respondents on

the spot and collect questionnaires immediately after they are completed.

There are 27 questions in total and it has been divided into 2

sections to give clear understanding what the researcher actually searching

for. In section A, it consist of 4 questions focused on demographic profile

such as age, marital status , length of services and the position of the

respondents in the organization.

28



Next , for section B , consist of 24 questions and it is divided into 3

subsection, which based on the variables related to working environment ( 8

items ), opportunity for growth ( 8 items ) and work life balance ( 8 items).

Eight items of working environment were included in the questionnaire:

1. The company tries to create an exciting work environment.

2. I am interested in my job.

3. I feel stressed in my job.

4. My manager values my talents and the contribution I make.

5. My manager always treats me with respect.

6. I am satisfied with the team spirit in my work environment.

7. I am satisfied with the professionalism of my co-workers.

8. Overall, I see more positive than negative aspects in my job

environment.

Eight items of working environment were included in the questionnaire:

1. The environment in this organisation supports a balance between

work and personal life.

2. My manager understands the importance of maintaining a

balance between work and personal life.

3. I am able to choose between job and family obligations.

4. The pace of work in this organisation enables me to do a

a good job.

5. The amount of work I am asked to do is reasonable.

29



6. The organisation has reasonable expectations of its employees.

7. The company is flexible with respect to my family

responsibilities.

8. Overall, I am satisfied with my career.

Eight items for opportunities for growth included :

1. I have adequate opportunities for professional growth in this

organisation.

2. I receive adequate training to do my job well.

3. My manager is actively interested in my professional development

and advancement.

4. My manager encouraged and support my development.

5. I am encouraged to learn from my mistakes.

6. The policies for promotion and advancement are fair.

7. I am given enough feedback on my performance.

8. My current job is the place where I can make my best

contribution.

30



Questions are answered using a 5-point likert scale to see how strongly

respondents agree or disagree with statements which consists of strongly disagree,

disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, and strongly agree. Below is the

sample of rating scale provided for Section B:

Table 3.1: Rating Scale (Section B)

3.2 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

Sampling is the process of selecting a sufficient number of elements from the

population, so that a study of the sample and an understanding of its

characteristics would make it possible for us to generalize such characteristics to

the population elements ( Sekaran, 2003 ). In order to learn how representative data can

be collected, a few terms such as population, sample size and sampling technique have to

be first understood (2003).

3.2.1 Population

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly

Disagree

Disagree Neither agree

nor disagree

Agree Strongly

Agree

31



The population of this study consists of total number of female engineers in

Petroleum Engineering department, geosciences, development and exploration in

Carigali. Specifically, the female engineers of interest are those from the Executive

level 1 to level 3 only.

3.2.2 Sampling Frame

Sampling frame is a listing of selected numbers of elements from the

population. It is actually a subgroup or subset of the population. By using the

sampling frame, researcher will be able to draw conclusions that generalize to the

population interest. The sampling frame for this study is estimated of 100

female executives in various technical field who are currently working

in Carigali.

3.2.3 Sampling Technique

The researcher uses non-probability sampling technique that is applied in

convenience sampling. It involves the collecting of information from members of the population

who are conveniently available to provide the information. Convenience sampling is most

often used and perhaps the best way of getting some basic information quickly and

efficiently.

32



CHAPTER 4.0-DATA ANALYSIS & FINDINGS

A survey study was carried out in an attempt to understand the major barriers for

women in their career progression in today’s organizational setting. The population for this

study concentrated on female engineers with executive rank from E1 to E2 in PETRONAS

Carigali Sdn Bhd. The researcher managed to get 95 respondents who returned the survey.

To analyze the data, SPSS, a statistical software packages was used.

All the data gathered from the questionnaires has been analyzed using descriptive

statistics such as frequency counts, means, median and standard deviation. Besides,

researcher also applied a logistic regression in order to assess the relationship between

the variables on women’s career progression in order to identify the important predictors.

4.1 – Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive statistics are useful to describe the data and to see characteristics of the data.

The researcher has applied frequency distribution method to show the frequency of occurrence of

each score value of the research data. The objective is to obtain a count of the number of

responses associated with different values of the variable. The respondents’ demographic data

are presented in bar charts form based on respondents’ age, marital status, duration of services

and skill groups.

33



5-8years

1- 4years

lessthan1year

Durationof services

60

40

20

0

P e r c e n t

Durationof services

DIAGRAM 1-DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE.

The bar chart shows that most of the respondents came from the age

group 25-30 years old, followed by 14.7 percent from 24 years old

and below and only 8.4 percent are at the age 31 years old and above.

Most respondents which constituted of

62.1 percent are already served with the organisation for 1-4

years, followed by 5-8 years duration of services which is 18.9

percent and only 3.2 percent is less than 1 year.

The bar chart shows that 64.2 percent are single respondents and

only 35.8 percents are married.

34

31years

oldand

above

25-30years

old

24yeqrs

oldand

below

age

80

60

40

20

0

P e r c e n t

age

MarriedSingle

Maritalstatus

60

40

20

0

P e r c e n t

Marital status



Most of

respondents came from Geoscience and Petroleum Engineering division which both constituted

of 35.8 percent.

In conclusion; from the bar chart (Diagram I) , the age of the respondents was

subdivided into three main sub-groups of 24 & below, 25-30 and 31 and above. The highest

was the 25-30 group with 76.8 percent followed by 24 years old and below group of 14.7

percent. This corresponded well to the length of service that employees served in the company.

Single participants constituted most of the responses at 64.2 percent while married participants at

35.8 percent. Most of the respondents came from skill group 9 and 10 which are Geosciences and

petroleum engineering division with both constituted of 35.8 percent followed by other skill

groups.

Respondents were asked about the variables related to working environment, opportunity

for growth and work life balance which consist of 8 items each. They were allowed to select

35

SKG19(projectmanagement)

SKG18(HSE)SKG16(processtechnology/operati…

SKG14(instrumentation/controlen…

SKG13(electricalengineering

)

SKG12(mechanicalengineering)

SKG11(civil/structuralengineering)

SKG10(petroleumengineering

)

SKG09(geoscience)

Skillgroup

40

30

20

10

0

P e r c e n t

Skillgroup



answers using a 5-point likert scale range from Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor

Disagree, Agree and Strongly Agree.

DIAGRAM II-DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS (VARIABLES)

1. I AM INTERESTED IN MY JOB.

stronglyagree

agree

neither agree or disagree

Disagree

stronglydisagree

interested in my job

1 1.1

3 3.2

14 14.7

58 61.119 20.0

95 100.0

strongly disagree

Disagree

neither agree or disagree

agreestrongly agree

Total

Valid

Frequency Percent

More than 80% of the respondents agreed that they are interested in their current job compared to

those who are disagreed; only 4.2% while 14.7% neither agree nor disagree.

2. I FEEL STRESSED IN MY JOB.

stressed in my job

5 5.3

20 21.1

39 41.1

27 28.4

4 4.2

95 100.0

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree nor

disagree

Agree

strongly agree

Total

ValidFrequency Percent

More respondents feel stressed in their job as the percentage for those who are agreed is

32.6% compared to those who are not agreed; 26.4%.

36



Skillgroup * stressed in my job Crosstabulation

Count

0 8 15 11 0 34

2 8 11 9 4 34

0 1 4 0 0 5

1 1 3 4 0 9

0 0 2 0 0 2

1 1 0 0 0 2

1 0 3 3 0 7

0 1 0 0 0 1

0 0 1 0 0 1

5 20 39 27 4 95

SKG09(geoscience)

SKG10(petroleumeng

ineering)

SKG11(civil/structural engineering)

SKG12(mechanicalen

gineering)

SKG13(electricalengi

neering)

SKG14(instrumentatio

n/controlengineering)

SKG16(processtechn

ology/operations)

SKG18(HSE)

SKG19(projectmanag

ement)

Skillgroup

Total

Strongly

Disagree Disagree

Neither agree

nor disagree Agree strongly agree

stressed in my job

Total

In order

to get details information for the second variables; I feel stressed in my job; researcher did a

crosstabulation to identify the details of the respondents’ answers. All the respondents who are

strongly agreed and agreed with the statement came from Petroleum Engineering, Geosciences

and Mechanical Engineering division. However, those there are two respondents form Petroleum

Engineering strongly disagreed with the statement followed by those from Instrumentation

Engineering and Process Technology.

3. I AM SATISFIED WITH THE PROFESSIONALISM OF MY CO-WORKERS.

satisfied with the professionalism of co-workers

1 1.1

4 4.2

27 28.4

52 54.7

11 11.6

95 100.0

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree nor

disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

Total


More than half of the respondents, which is 54.7% agreed that they are satisfied with the

professionalism of co-workers while 28.4% neither agree nor disagree and only 5.3% disagreed.

37



4. I SEE MORE POSITIVE THAN NEGATIVE ASPECTS IN MY JOB AND WORK ENVIRONMENT.

More positive than negative aspectsin my job and

work environment

4 4.2

5 5.3

21 22.1

53 55.8

12 12.6

95 100.0

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree nor

disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

Total

Valid

Frequency Percent

68.4% agreed that they see more positive than negative aspects in their job and work

environment while only 9.3% disagreed.

5. THE ORGANISATION HAS REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS OF ITS EMPLOYEES.

Strongly

Agree

Agree

Neither agreenor disagree

Disagree

StronglyDisagree

The organisation has reasonableexpectations of its employees

The organisation has reasonable expectations of its

employees

3 3.2

9 9.5

35 36.8

44 46.3

4 4.2

95 100.0

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree nor

disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

Total


46.3% agreed to the statement while 36.8% neither agree nor disagree and 12.7% disagreed.

38



Skillgroup * The organisation has reasonable expectations of its employees Crosstabulation

Count

0 1 17 15 1 34

3 7 7 16 1 34

0 0 1 4 0 5

0 0 3 5 1 9

0 0 1 1 0 2

0 0 2 0 0 2

0 1 4 1 1 7

0 0 0 1 0 1

0 0 0 1 0 1

3 9 35 44 4 95

SKG09(geoscience)

SKG10(petroleumeng

ineering)

SKG11(civil/structural

engineering)

SKG12(mechanicalen

gineering)


neering)



SKG16(processtechn

ology/operations)

SKG18(HSE)

SKG19(projectmanag

ement)

Skillgroup

Total

Strongly

Disagree Disagree

Neither agree

nor disagree Agree Strongly Agree

The organisation has reasonable expectations of its employees

Total

According to cross tabulation, majority of the respondents who are disagreed came from

Petroleum Engineering, followed by Geosciences & Process Technology. Besides, those who are

agreed with the statement also came from the same divisions. This is because, according to

demographic profile, majority of respondents came from these two divisions.

6. MY CURRENT JOB IS THE PLACE I CAN MAKE MY BEST CONTRIBUTION.

My current job is the place I can make my best contribution

3 3.2

9 9.5

31 32.6

41 43.2

11 11.6

95 100.0

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree nor

disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

Total

Valid

Frequency Percent

More than half of the respondents, 54.8% agreed with the statements compared to those who are

disagreed; 12.7%.

39



Skillgroup * My current job is the place I can make my best contribution Crosstabulation

Count

0 2 10 19 3 34

3 5 10 12 4 34

0 0 1 3 1 5

0 1 4 3 1 9

0 0 1 1 0 2

0 0 1 0 1 2

0 1 3 2 1 7

0 0 1 0 0 1

0 0 0 1 0 1

3 9 31 41 11 95

SKG09(geoscience)

SKG10(petroleumeng

ineering)

SKG11(civil/structural

engineering)

SKG12(mechanicalen

gineering)


neering)



SKG16(processtechn

ology/operations)

SKG18(HSE)

SKG19(projectmanag

ement)

Skillgroup

Total

Strongly

Disagree Disagree

Neither agree

nor disagree Agree Strongly Agree

My current job is the place I can make my best contribution

Total

From Crosstabulation table, those who are disagreed again came from SKG 10 & 9. Besides,

there are three respondents who are constantly answered strongly disagreed with most of the

statements in the questionnaires.

Thus, according to the survey result ( Diagram II ), most of respondents were agreed with

the statements in the questionnaire which 61.1 percent agreed that they interested in their current

job which is higher than those who are disagreed which constituted only 4.3 percent while the

others are neither agree nor disagree. More than half of the respondents which is 53.7 percent

agreed that their manager values the talents and contribution they make compared to 10 percent

who are disagreed. The survey also indicated that 56.8 percent of respondents agreed that they

are able to choose between job and family obligations while only 6.4 percent are not agreed.

Furthermore, 54.7 percent agreed that they have been given adequate opportunities for

professional growth and 13.2 percent are not agreed.

Furthermore, researcher had identified that respondents who are not agreed with most of

the statements in questionnaire came from Petroleum Engineering division and Geosciences

40



division. One of the reasons is that majority of the respondents came from these two divisions

which gave more impact to the output result compared to other reason. Besides, there might be

due to the nature of the job itself as these respondents are not interested in their current job which

cause them to feel stressed and as consequence, cannot contribute best in their current job.

Based on the descriptive statistics, researcher concluded that working environment, work

life balance and opportunities for growth are contributed to women’s progression in engineering

workforce as 68.4 percent agreed they see more positive than negative aspects in their job and

work environment which lead to satisfaction in their career and can contribute best in their

current job.

4.2 – Regression Analysis.

Descriptive statistics only provide an easy indication of relationship and differences among

variables in the research. Nevertheless, the researcher does not know for sure both the

relationship and differences among variables are statistically significant unless they have been

tested. Regression Analysis is a method used to describe the relationship between variables

whether the relationship is positive or negative; linear or non-linear relationship. For this

research, researcher had used multiple regressions under the Standard Approach which allow

researcher to explore the relationship between dependent variable with more than one

independent variables. The dependent variable is ‘My current job is the place I can make my best

contribution’ and independent variables are all the other 23 items in the questionnaires.

41



DIAGRAM III- R EGRESSION OUTPUT.MODEL SUMMARY(B)

MODEL R R SQUARE

ADJUSTED R

SQUARE

STD. ERROR OF THE ESTIMATE

1 .825(A) .680 .576 .60703

A PREDICTORS: (CONSTANT),ALL

B DEPENDENT VARIABLE: MY CURRENT JOB IS THE PLACE I CAN MAKE MY BEST CONTRIBUTION

Coefficient of determination, R² measures the variation of the dependent variable that is

explained by the regression line and the independent variable. From the regression result,

R²=0.68 explain 68 percent of the variation in the dependent variable can be attributed to the

variation in the independent variables, which is moderately significant. However, more important

is the Adjusted R² which is 57.6 percent has been adjusted for the number of independent

variables. The difference is that R² can never fall and only increase if we add another variable to

the regression equation but adjusted R² can decrease if the added independent variable does not

have any relationship with the dependent variables.

ANOVA(B)

MODEL SUM OF SQUARES DF MEAN SQUARE F SIG.

1 REGRESSION 55.585 23 2.417 6.559 .000(A)RESIDUAL 26.162 71 .368TOTAL 81.747 94

a Predictors: (Constant), ALL

B DEPENDENT VARIABLE: MY CURRENT JOB IS THE PLACE I CAN MAKE MY BEST CONTRIBUTION

F-test is used to test whether the independent variable as a group is significant or not in

determining the dependent variable. If the calculated F-value is greater than F-critical value, then

the independent variables as a group are significant in determining the dependent variable. F-

Value of 11.593 in the above table support that the relationship is highly significant as F(4,55) =

11.593, p<0.001. Thus, The researcher concluded that R is significant.

42



Coefficientsa

.342 .947 .361 .719 -1.546 2.231

.230 .106 .187 2.177 .033 .019 .440

.167 .130 .155 1.284 .203 -.092 .425

.277 .178 .210 1.562 .123 -.077 .632

-.378 .141 -.311 -2.686 .009 -.659 -.097

.260 .126 .255 2.062 .043 .009 .511

.322 .129 .306 2.499 .015 .065 .579

-.124 .119 -.102 -1.045 .300 -.361 .113

-.297 .131 -.268 -2.263 .027 -.558 -.035

.396 .138 .352 2.877 .005 .122 .670

.290 .114 .273 2.546 .013 .063 .516

.187 .178 .150 1.046 .299 -.169 .542

.193 .111 .172 1.743 .086 -.028 .415

-.154 .120 -.126 -1.288 .202 -.393 .085

(Constant)


My mgr values my talents& the contribution I make

My mgr treats me with

respect

satisfied with the

professionalism of

co-workers

More positive than

negative aspects in my

job and work environment

The environment in this

organisation supports

between work and

personal life.

The amount of work I am

asked to do is reasonable

The organisation has

reasonable expectations

of its employees

Overall, I am satisfied

with my career

Adequate opportunities

for professional growth

Manager encourages and

supports my development

The policies for promotion

and advancement are fair

I am given enough

feedback on my

performance

Model

1

B Std. Error

Unstandardized

Coefficients

Beta

Standardized

Coefficients

t Sig. Lower Bound Upper Bound

95% Confidence Interval for B

Dependent Variable: My current job is the place I can make my best contributiona.

A closer look at the t-values indicates that out of 24 independent variables, 6 variables; interested

in my job, more positive aspects in work environment, balance between work and personal life,

satisfied with career and adequate opportunities for growth contribute to the prediction of

respondents’ attitude towards their career progression. This is because, the t-value is more than

2, and therefore significant relationship exists between the dependent variable and the

independent variables.

43



Correlations

1 .293** .456** .204* .293** .481** .172 .558** .348** -.341**.004 .000 .047 .004 .000 .096 .000 .001 .001

95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95

.293** 1 .556** .398** .442** .451** .202* .362** .336** -.398**

.004 .000 .000 .000 .000 .050 .000 .001 .000

95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95

.456** .556** 1 .425** .594** .610** .197 .519** .433** -.463**

.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .055 .000 .000 .000

95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95

.204* .398** .425** 1 .612** .486** .186 .281** .427** -.414**

.047 .000 .000 .000 .000 .072 .006 .000 .000

95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95

.293** .442** .594** .612** 1 .575** .275** .275** .448** -.457**

.004 .000 .000 .000 .000 .007 .007 .000 .000

95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95

.481** .451** .610** .486** .575** 1 .314** .607** .554** -.492**

.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .002 .000 .000 .000

95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95

.172 .202* .197 .186 .275** .314** 1 .289** .302** -.232*

.096 .050 .055 .072 .007 .002 .005 .003 .024

95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95.558** .362** .519** .281** .275** .607** .289** 1 .467** -.444**

.000 .000 .000 .006 .007 .000 .005 .000 .000

95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95

.348** .336** .433** .427** .448** .554** .302** .467** 1 -.406**

.001 .001 .000 .000 .000 .000 .003 .000 .000

95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95

-.341** -.398** -.463** -.414** -.457** -.492** -.232* -.444** -.406** 1

.001 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .024 .000 .000

95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95 95

Pearson CorrelationSig. (2-tailed)

N

Pearson Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

N

Pearson Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

N

Pearson Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

N

Pearson Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

N

Pearson Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

N

Pearson Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

NPearson Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

N

Pearson Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

N

Pearson Correlation

Sig. (2-tailed)

N


satisfied with the team

spirit

More positive than

negative aspects in my

job and work environment

The environment in this

organisation supports

between work andpersonal life.The organisation has

reasonable expectations

of its employees

Overall, I am satisfied

with my career

Adequate training to d o

job well

My current job is the place

I can make my best

contribution

The policies for promotion

and advancement are fair

stressed in my job

interested

in my job

satisfied with

the team spirit

More positive

than negative

aspects in my

job and work

environment

The

environment

in this

organisation

supports

between work

and personal

life.

The

organisation

has

reasonable

expectations

of its

employees

Overall, I am

satisfied with

my career

Adequate

training to

do job well

My current job

is the place I

can make my

best

contribution

The policies

for promotion

and

advancement

are fair

stressed

in my job

Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).**.

Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).*.

Researcher then examines the coefficient and its associated significance value. The output

reveals that most of independent variables have significant positive relationship as p<0.05 with

dependent variable. For instance, if the environment in the organisation supports a balance

between work and personal life, women engineers will be more motivated to progress in their

career. Furthermore, the output also shown that there is a significant negative relationship

between dependent variable and stress in the job as p<0.05 which indicate that less job stress

will lead women engineers to give their best contribution to the company. Followed by other

variables; satisfied with the professionalism of my co-workers and the amount of work is

reasonable which are moderately positive significant with p>0.05.

44



The normal plot of regression standardised residuals for dependent variable indicates a relatively

normal distribution.

1.00.80.60.40.20.0

Observed Cum Prob

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0

Normal P-P Plot of Regression StandardizedResidual

Dependent Variable: My current job is the place I canmake my best contribution

45

Expe

cted

Cum

Prob



CHAPTER 5.0

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

This study shows that women’s engineer career progression in Carigali is effected by the

work life balance, working environment and opportunities for growth. In all areas surveyed,

more respondents agreed that these barriers are still prevalent in the organisation. These women

need equal treatment and organisational support that would promote them to the organisation’s

top position. Motivating technical employees who are typically bright and independent-minded

can appear difficult to Human Resources department especially in creating the right internal

environment and using it to motivate individual motivation.

The study also indicates that younger women engineer still saw these as their fight just as

much as the earlier generation of women engineer and those who have been in the workforce for

a longer period of time. Besides, women engineers also need support and understanding from the

organisation to inculcate a work culture that valued their contribution. The organisation should

look into creating a work environment that supports their career through flexible and part-time

working options. For instance, other oil and gas companies such as Schlumberger and SHELL

introduced flexible working policies in order to retain and increase its women employees. At

SHELL Malaysia, these policies cover part-time working hours where employees may opt for

fewer working hours per week and flexible working hours where the employee agrees with her

manager on start and finish time outside of the regular pattern. The eligibility will depend on the

job role and the employee. Several women in various position such as HR advisor, Finance

executive and Process Engineer had taken the opportunity to apply for flexible working hours

and they agreed that these options have enable them to achieve their work-life balance goals.

This is because; working mothers have to learn many transferable prioritization, time and people

46



management skills. Companies that are flexible and accommodate working mothers with flexible

time, part-time work and family-friendly benefits will have loyal employees with superb

multitasking capability for many years and just need some flexibility.

Besides that, recognising and rewarding performers is one of the most effective tools to

attract and retain the right talent. Instead of offering profit-linked incentives, company may also

include work life balance programmes and career opportunities such as overseas assignments and

new projects to reward staff. This reward can be tailored to suit the top performer’s aspirations to

achieve maximum effect in order to create an exciting working environment.

Finally, it is important for the organisation in matching jobs with a particular level of

training and based on the employees’ interest in order to broaden their talent so that they are

motivated to progress in their career.

47



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bigliardi B., Petroni A., & Domio, A. I. ( 2005). Status, role and satisfaction among Engineers.

Journal of Innovation Management , 8(4), 453-470.

C.Mattis, M. (1995). Corporate initiatives for advancing women. Journal of Women in

Management Review, 10(7), 5-14.

I.M.Jawahar. (2006). Perceived Organizational Support for Women’s advancement and turnover

intentions. Journal of Women in Management Review, 643-661.

Ibrahim,M. & Ismail,M. (2008). Barriers to career progression faced by women. Journal of

Gender in Management , 23(1), 51-66.

Ismail,M. (2003). Men and women engineers in a large industrial organization:interpretation of

career progression based on subjective career experience. Journal of Women in Management

Review,18(2), 60-67.

Burke, R..J, & C.Mattis, M. (2005). Supporting Women’s Career Advancement: Challenges and

Opportunity. London: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Burke, R.J, Burgess, Z., & Fallon, B. (2006). Organizational practices supporting women and

their satisfaction and well being. Journal of Women in Management , 21(5), 416-425.

PETRONAS. (2009). Retrieved from PETRONAS Corporate website:

http://www.petronas.com.my

Roberts, P., & Ayre, M. (2002). A Study of Women’s retention in the Engineering workforce.

Journal of International Engineering , 415-421.

Wan, H.L. (2007). Human Capital Development Policies: Enhancing Employees’ Satisfaction.

Journal of European Industrial Training, 297-322.

48

http://www.petronas.com.my/

http://www.petronas.com.my/



Employee Satisfaction Survey – Sample Survey Questions. (2009). Retrieved July 12, 2009, from

CustomInsigh.com: Official Site Web site:

http://www.employee-satisfaction.com/sample-survey-items.asp

Sample Employee Satisfaction Survey. (2009). Retrieved August 17, 2009, from HR

Management Official Web site:

http://www.humanresources.hrvinet.com/sample-employee-satisfaction-survey/

Sekaran, U. (2003). Research Methods for Business, A Skill – Building Approach, John Willey

& Sons. inc

49







APPENDICES



25th January 2010

Datin Zarina Bt Zakaria @ Mohamad

Senior Manager,

People Strategy & Planning Section,HRM Department,

Corporate Services Division,

PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd.

Dear Madam,

RESEARCH PROPOSAL APPROVAL

I am Nurfadillah Bt Ahmad Mahmmud, trainee from the Faculty Of Business Management,

UniversitiTeknologi Mara, Shah Alam.

As part of my practical training project paper, I would like to carry out a survey to identify and

understand the major factors that influence job satisfaction among women in technical professionwho are currently working in PCSB.

Basically, this paper will help the management to determine the major issues surrounding

women’s satisfaction and progression in the technical profession and assist the company indeveloping better strategies and program to improve women’s advancement in the technical

workforce.

Kindly note, the survey is planned to be distributed during the ‘Lady Technical Forum’ on the

27th January 2010.

Your approval is kindly appreciated.

Thank you,

Yours Faithfully,

Nurfadillah Bt Ahmad Mahmmud

Approved by,

....................................

Datin Zarina Bt Zakaria @ Mohamad



DATE: 25th January 2010.

15



SECTION A – PERSONAL DETAILS

Please tick (√) in the appropriate box

1. Age 24 years old and below 31 years old and above

25-30 years old

2. Duration of services < 1 year 5 – 8 years

1 – 4 years 9 years and above

3. Marital status Single Married

4. Skill group : _______________________

5. Current position : _______________________

SECTION B

Please state your honest opinions regarding the following statements. Thank you for your time.

i. WORKING ENVIRONMENT

Please circle your answer based on the provided scale:

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither agree nor

disagree

Agree Strongly Agree

1 The company tries to create an exciting work environment. 1 2 3 4 5

2 I am interested in my job. 1 2 3 4 5

3 I feel stressed in my job. 1 2 3 4 5

4 My manager values my talents and the contribution I make. 1 2 3 4 5

5 My manager always treats me with respect. 1 2 3 4 5

6 I am satisfied with the team spirit in my work environment. 1 2 3 4 5

7 I am satisfied with the professionalism of my co-workers. 1 2 3 4 5

8 Overall, I see more positive than negative aspects when I think about my job and the work

environment.

1 2 3 4 5

i



ii. WORK LIFE BALANCE

Please circle your answer based on the provided scale:

1 2 3 4 5

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither agree nor

disagree

Agree Strongly Agree

iii. OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH

1 The environment in this organization supports a balance between work and personal life.1 2 3 4 5

2

My manager understands the importance of maintaining a balance between work and personal

life.

1 2 3 4 5

3 I am able to choose between job and family obligations.1 2 3 4 5

4 The pace of the work in this organization enables me to do a good job. 1 2 3 4 5

5The amount of work I am asked to do is reasonable.

1 2 3 4 5

6 The organization has reasonable expectations of its employees. 1 2 3 4 5

7The company is flexible with respect to my family responsibilities. 1 2 3 4 5

8 Overall, I am satisfied with my career. 1 2 3 4 5

1 I have adequate opportunities for professional growth in this organization. 1 2 3 4 5

2 I receive the training I need to do my job well. 1 2 3 4 5

3 My manager is actively interested in my professional development and advancement 1 2 3 4 5

4 My manager encourages and supports my development. 1 2 3 4 5

5 I am encouraged to learn from my mistakes. 1 2 3 4 5

6 The policies for promotion and advancement are always fair. 1 2 3 4 5

7 I am given enough feedback on my performance. 1 2 3 4 5

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