The effects of professional support systems on the careers of in-place women administrators

Abstract

The problem of this study is an investigation of the effects, if any, of the professional support systems for the careers of women educators. This research should contribute to an understanding of the interaction among women and the impact of such interaction, if any, on career achievement. Women who want to become administrators can utilize this new information concerning support systems. By understanding the role of mentors and the interaction of a network, women as mentors may gain some valuable information with which to prepare themselves for a career in administration. The researcher leaned upon the Glaser and Strauss book, The Discovery of Grounded Theory as a methodological basis of this study. Generating theory and making hypothesis provided the basis for generating new theory and constructing associated hypothesis. Glaser and Strauss put forth the idea that generating a theory from data means that hypothesis and concepts come from data and are systematically worked out in relation to the data during the process of research. Theory is a process and generated during the course of a study. In grounded theory research, data interpretations are seldom conclusive and the research process is seldom finished. The respondents felt that alliances and networks had not really aided their career aspirations. However, the respondents did report having depended on male mentors in the pursuance and attainment of their positions. Because womens’ networks and their impact on the careers of in-place administrators is such a new concept, a relatively unresearched topic, many questions are left unanswered and future studies could further examine the phenomena of womens’ networks. Based on this study women would be advised to develop a mentor relationship or form an alliance with a male network.