Women Issue in Corporate World: Leadership Behaviors, Strategies to the Top, and Challenges

When analyzing leadership characteristics and styles, there are considerable differences in gender characteristics that are identified. Men are considered to have “masculine” traits, such as being

Andersen, JA & Hansson, PH 2011,"At the end of the road? On differences between women and men in leadership behaviour", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 32 no. 5 pp. 428 – 441

Leadership - The perception of excellence in business leadership needs to be re-examined. This requires challenging the norms that determine leadership eligibility. Are there drivers that perpetuate a leadership incumbency that excludes females? What is the basis for these drivers?

One identified contributor to women's slower than expected assent into leadership is the persistence of assumptions and stereotypes that women are intrinsically "communal" or "dependent" and "passive", and therefore, lack the capacity to succeed as leaders. (National Academy of Sciences National Academy of Engineering Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, 2006 as cited by Isaac, Kaatz & Carnes, 2012).

The initial article presented three hypothesizes. The first hypothesis stated women would be extra transformational and less transactional in their style of leadership and extra emotionally intelligent. The next suggestion asserted that sex and emotional intelligence would predict transformational leadership while the final theory declared that scholars from feminine gender-amiable specialties would be further emotionally intelligent and transformational than learners from male gender-affable studies.

A factor that affects female leadership is prejudice. As Northouse (2016a) notes, stereotypes regarding gender are deep-rooted and difficult to change. Stereotyping can affect perceived future success at school or at work. Throughout history, most leaders have been male, so

Thesis statement: Leadership depends on the leader’s leadership style and there way of communicating ideas rather than the leader themselves. Both women and men believe in similar leadership styles however women prefer a more participative leadership approach.

Women have long been known to be more relationship-oriented, emotional, and tenderhearted and have embraced these characteristics to break down the decades of stereotypes that had previously hindered them from attaining positions of power. Some individuals believe these characteristics are perceived as flaws in leadership; however, today they can have a positive effect on relationships between female leaders and the population they serve. This will serve as my hypothesis for this paper. For example, one female president of a higher education institution believes showing emotion allows students to feel more connected to her (Vaughan, 1989, p. 24). They have proven

This journal seeks to discuss recent identifications and explanations of gender differences in leadership, behaviour & effectiveness in organizations. The models are reviewed based on their contribution and arguments, contextual issues of international and national as well, stereotype and perception of superior and subordinate roles are reviewed and discussed. Rational differences are reviewed and resolved in the context of gender in the perceptions of leadership effectiveness.

Women have to learn to stand up for what they think and be willing to put their ideas and thoughts on display (McLaughlin, 2013). This will lead to an inspired leadership role (McLaughlin, 2013). Once a women has her idea and takes responsibility for production of her idea she has to be able to stand up and grab notice for her role in the project (McLaughlin, 2013). While many women tend to be better at being part of a team they need to be able to accept praise and compliments without deflecting to others (McLaughlin, 2013).

To understand differences between male and female leaders, it perhaps is best to understand how these differences are perceived. The perception of an individual can greatly differ depending on the viewpoint of the observer. A subject who is both educated and articulate can be defined by an observer as a worthy and accomplished individual. The observer in this case has assigned positive qualities to describe the subject. The same educated and articulate individual can be defined as conceited and stuck-up by a second observer. The second observer has assigned negative qualities to describe the individual. Suppose an unbiased scientific study concludes the educated and articulate individual is in fact worthy, accomplished, yet conceited and stuck-up, how is this possible and what does this say about the perception of the observers? According to Ashleigh Shelby Rosette, assistant professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, perceptions can and do change within the context of executive business; “successful women may face changing stereotypes as they move up the corporate ladder” (Rosette, 2010). Rosette conducted a study in which she had students evaluate male and female CEO’s. Though female top executives and middle managers were viewed less favorably, at the CEO level they were viewed more favorably than their male counterparts.

In a Forbes article written by Glen Llopis, The Most Undervalued Leadership Traits of Women, Llopis, highlights his theories and opinions on each undervalued trait. Llopis provides specific details that make women effective leaders. The author predicates his assessment on women and leadership from his personal and professional experiences. Within the article, Llopis identifies six leadership traits that women naturally possess, which are undervalued:

More and more women are rising to the leadership challenge, even in some of the most male-dominated industries. The increase in the number of women attending college, the increasing number of women in the workplace or starting their own business has demonstrated to men who own businesses that women can be both managers and mothers, thus showing their male counterpart that women can in fact "do it all".

Gender and leadership? Leadership and gender? A journey through the landscape of theories start off by giving a statistical summary of percentages of women in higher echelon position in the workforce. With this information in the intro, the article quickly highlights the limited representation of women in exclusive positions in Fortune 500 companies. Next, the paper examines multiple theories why this problem exists in the workforce. The four theories examined are biology and sex; gender role; causal factors; and attitudinal drivers (Appelbaum et al, 2003, p. 44).

To cite this document: Dorothy Perrin Moore, Jamie L. Moore, Jamie W. Moore, (2011),"How women entrepreneurs lead and why they manage that way", Gender in Management: An International Journal, Vol. 26 Iss: 3 pp. 220 - 233 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17542411111130981 Downloaded on: 12-02-2013 References: This document contains references to 86 other documents Citations: This document has been cited by 3 other documents To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com This document has been downloaded 1526