Contrastación de las hipótesis

Five of the participants were purposively selected, followed by snowball sampling. The original five participants were asked for referrals to other women who were currently working in the IT field and might be willing to participate in the study. All of the women interviewed are employed in middle to senior IT positions within their respective organizations. The participants worked in various positions such as IT security managers, IT project managers, applications managers, service desk managers, and IT operations managers. Most of the participants have been working in the IT environment for more than 10 years, except for three interviewees (6, 8 and 9) who have less than five years of service in an IT environment.

Table 4.2 shows an overview of the participants’ profiles.

Table 4.2: Tabled descriptions of the interviewees (Unit of Analysis) Participant Company Age

range

30 – 40 >10 IT Applications Manager Western Cape

P5. Educational

P15. Financial Service Provider

30 – 40 >10 IT Applications Manager Western Cape

Participant 1 – Is an IT Security Manager at Provincial Government of the Western Cape.

Her responsibilities include developing, maintaining, and monitoring compliance of all information security policies and procedures within the environment. She has more than 10 years of experience and training within the IT industry. She currently has a team of people reporting to her. She started her career at the entry level and advanced through the ranks to a senior manager position throughout the years.

Participant 2 – Is an IT Manager at an IT Service Provider company. She is accountable for the Managed Services/Outsource Division of the company in the Western Cape. Her responsibilities include retaining and growing existing business, acquiring new business, and coaching and managing the Management Support Team and Services Delivery Team members. She did not start off her career in the IT industry and only moved to IT later in her career.

Participant 3 – Is an IT Applications Manager in the IT department of a Parastatal in Gauteng region. Her responsibility involves the supervision of software applications within the business, planning the process of integrating applications, installation, upgrading, and daily maintenance of software applications. She did not start her career off in IT and only obtained her IT qualifications later on in life.

Participant 4 - Is an IT Applications Manager in the IT department of a Financial Service Provider. Her duties include supervision of personnel, maintenance of software applications, diagnostic and problem solving to achieve optimal application performance. She started off as a secretary and only took up a career in IT after several years. She is studying towards her BA degree and has no formal IT qualifications.

Participant 5 – Is an IT Faculty Research Coordinator at a Tertiary Institute in the Western Cape. She coordinates research and community engagement for the IT department's graduate and post graduate domains. She graduated with a degree IT and advanced through the ranks until she obtained a senior management position.

Participant 6 – Is an IT Project Manager at a Software development Company. Her role is to lead the project management team, communicate team goals and objectives, implement processes and methodologies, and ensure successful and profitable delivery of projects.She has very little experience in the IT field and did not go through the ranks, but was appointed into a management role from the start.

Participant 7 – Is a Senior IT Project Manager at an IT Services Provider Company. Part of her duties is to assist the sales staff with preparing proposals and cost estimates, manage resource allocation for projects, and ensure successful and profitable delivery of projects.

She has more than 10 years of experience and training within the IT industry and graduated with a degree in IT.

Participant 8 – Is an IT Recruitment Manager at a Software Development Company. Her responsibility is to ensure the company achieves their staffing objectives by recruiting and evaluating job candidates with the relevant IT skills, advising managers and managing intern programs. She has no IT qualification and has less than 5 years of experience in her field.

Participant 9 – Is a Service Desk Manager at an IT Service Provider company. Her responsibilities include the overseeing of requests, incidents, and problems. She manages and coordinates client queries, provides feedback, and do resource management. She has no IT qualifications, has very little experience in the IT field, and was appointed into a management position right at the beginning of her career.

Participant 10 – Is a Service Desk Manager at an IT Service Provider company. She is responsible for service level management, support to internal and external clients, resource management, and to see that the staff are meeting and exceeding expectations. She has a degree in IT and has many years of experience in the IT industry.

Participant 11 – Is an IT Services Manager for the Southern African Area at an international tobacco company. She oversees the delivery of services and technology internally. She establishes policies to ensure service performance, monitors employees, and evaluates customer feedback. Although she has a degree, it is not in the IT field. She has subsequently completed various IT diplomas and certifications. She has vast experience in IT and has advanced through the ranks to a senior manager position.

Participant 12 – Is an IT Service Delivery Manager for an International IT Service provider company. She is responsible for co-coordinating the delivery of services, ensuring good customer relationships, and acting as the bridge between the client and the operational delivery teams. She did not start her career off in IT, but went through the ranks and worked her way up to a senior management position.

Participant 13 – Is a Deputy Director in ICT at the Department of Public Administration in the Gauteng Region. She develops e-Government policies, provides input to the Public Service

Regulations and ICT Framework(s), coordinates the development of standards and frameworks, reviews existing legislation, and analyses the current policy environment. She holds a Law degree and specializes in IT law. She has many years of experience in the field.

Participant 14 – Is a Senior IT Project Manager in the IT department of a Financial Service Provider. She is responsible for the successful delivery of projects, planning and defining project scopes, activity planning, and resource planning. She did not start her career off in IT but only ventured into IT after a few years of working. She holds a degree in Education as well as Business Administration and later on in her IT career obtained a degree in IT. She worked her way up the ranks and has many years of experience in the IT field.

Participant 15 – Is an Applications Manager at a Financial Service Provider. Her responsibilities include the sign-off of changes and releases into pre-production environment, managing vendor teams, disaster recovery, capacity management, and to track and manage application through appropriate KPIs and measures. She worked in an IT environment for many years and has IT qualifications.