Ethnography

Ethnography: Women in the work force

Central Question: why do men dominate the work force when dealing with most car dealerships in Oklahoma, especially Norman?

Research Design: My research group in class deals with women and the work force, the one major issue I want to research is why women work behind the men, why women aren’t the bosses or the manager. Women in the car dealership field are always the ones behind the scenes; they are the ones who work the payroll and all the accounting aspects while the men run the sales out front. My research will be focused on why women don’t work more in the front rather in the back part of the dealership.

Methodology: The first thing I am going to do to answer my question is to observe a car dealership in Norman on the Mile. My first step is to sit back and watch how things are ran during hours of operation, I am going to observe what kind of jobs men do there and what kind of job women do there. The busiest day for a car dealership is a Saturday and I believe observing on a Saturday will tell the truth how dealerships are run.

Interview Questions:

#1. First off, what made you apply for a job at a car dealership?

#2. Is this job different that any other job you have had in the past?

#3. Seeing how car dealerships work, does it bother you that not many women are involved with how most of the dealership is ran?

#4. A followed up to the question before, do you face any disadvantages or advantages being women and working at a dealership?

#5. Lastly what is one thing that dealerships can do to help get women involved with the sales aspect of a dealership, and do you think it would help dealerships or hurt them?

Field Notes:
· As I observed a car dealership the first thing I noticed is that more than majority of the people that work their were men in there upper 30’s were the car sales men
· The mangers who ran the sales department were men in there upper 40 and 50’s.
· The General Sales Manager and Owner were also male and a little bit older than the Managers.
· As I looked around the only women that work out from in the dealership were the receptionist and one woman in the internet department.
· Now as I observed more the only women I rarely ever saw consisted of 7-8 women who worked in the back dealing with the paper side of the dealership.

Now as for the two women I interview they were the only few women who worked in this field. It was very interesting to see what these two particular women thought about the field they worked in.

Katie: Question #1: Honestly I took a job in this field because I was recruited by the General Manger to try a position in this field. He believed that with a couple fresh faces that were women would really help most people feel more relaxed because people do have a stereo type of car salesmen, and that is they are “sleezy”

Katie: Question #2: Yes this is very, very, very, different than any other job because I have only waited tables and have never been in sales

Katie: Question #3: When I first started I was a little bit confused because not a lot of women do work up front in the sales part like I do, as I started working more and more I could see that yes even though I am a women men do handle situations such as car sales a little bit better than women do. I myself as a women get scared or become a little bit timid when customers get upset about a bad car deal and I usually turn to my sales manger who is a male to help calm the situation and let him be the bearer of bad news, I hate being that person.

Katie: Question #4- yes, very much. The one advantage I get over male salesmen is the fact people like dealing with me because I am a friendlier face than most salesmen that customers meet. Customers feel like they can be themselves around me and I like that because I can be myself and it makes the car deal a lot easier than most. The big disadvantage I deal with being a woman in this field is that people tend to take advantage of because I am too nice. People thing they can just tell me what they want and I can get it for them because I can’t take no for an answer.

Katie: Question #5- The one thing that car dealerships can do is to welcome female sales people with open arms because it is really easy to get discouraged in this field.

Write-Up:

My ethnography was based on the field that at car dealerships are mostly ran by men and women are not a big factor in this field. I have worked at a car dealership before and I have noticed that most employees there are males and males tend to be more dominant when it comes to car sales. Lucky for me I worked with a couple of women who were in sales and really took pride in what they did. I liked seeing how males and females approached this field in many different ways. Another cool thing my manager was a women and she was one of the best managers at the dealership and her being a women never affected her in one way.

Sources:

Katie Wilson-Sales Department 405-364-2000. AutoMax Hyundai and Subaru

Anne Maxwell-Sales Manage 405-364-2000. AutoMax Hyundai and Subaru