“Gender differences are a principal patterning factor in all societies and in most of the activities which occur within them.” (Watson, 1995: 156) A manager is defined as “an individual who is in charge of a certain group of tasks, or a certain subset of a company. A manager often has a staff of people who report to him or her.” (Webfinance, 2014) It is a controversial issue that women or men have better leadership skills, since females seem to have a high education level these days. According to Early (2008), women hold 51 percent of degrees of bachelor and 45 percent of all advanced degrees. This essay will critique which gender makes a better manager, after first stating the characteristics of successful managers in management styles. It will analyse the differences between women and men managers. Finally, it will consider which gender makes a better manager.
Firstly, it is crucial to have some common characteristics in management styles to become a good manager. They can be expressed as organisation, communication, control, leadership and so on. Successful leaders are better to have large social networks, which relate to great communication skills, that can help them to build up close working relationships with consumers, employees and bosses (Goleman, 2004). Besides, having a well-organised structure of the company is always the key to success; so the managers need to have a structured and systematic working style (Wilson, 2010). Applying the right leadership styles is important to control the company better, good managers need to be decisive and assertive (Goleman, 2004). Furthermore, both male and female leaders have their strengths in leading teams . Men possess masculine traits such as aggressive, dominant and directive c...
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...tments in ASX 200 companies and 13 per cent of total director positions.” This reveals that there is an added focus on gender diversity (sherwin, 2014).
To summarise, this essay has examined different characteristics of management styles of men and women, provided an example of Austrialia and discussed which gender could make a better manager. Since the number of successful women managers is increasing steadily, this can show that they could make better managers than men. From the above information, women can success because of the determination to succeed as male managers have. This means not only men could make better managers, gender is not a factor to define this statement, but the ability and competency. Both women and men could be examined equally by their own personalities and potential instead of the bias and variety of judgmental opinions of gender roles.
According to Fiedler (cited in Bolden, Gosling, Marturano & Dennison, 2003)., there is no single characteristic or trait that will create a successful leadership style. Rather, he argues that situations actually shape a general leadership style of a manager. Bolden, Gosling, Marturano and Dennison (2003) have observed that within an environment with repetitive tasks, the most effective leadership style might be a directive one, while a participative leadership style might be required in a dynamic environment. Being an effective leader means to control important specific situations. Taking into account these situations, Fiedler presented three situational components that are considered essential for an effective leadership: leader-member relations, task-structure and position power.
Powell, G., Butterfield, D., and Bartol, K. (2008). Leader evaluations: A new female advantage? Gender in Management: An International Journal, 23, 156-174.
This research paper will take a symbolic interactionist perspective to contrast the different leadership prejudices of men and women in the workplace. The age-old debate of inequality for women in executive position will now be examined through online periodicals that show gender stereotypes in the workforce, different strategies men and women use to break the glass ceiling of the workplace, a focus on the interactions and reactions of a male Chief Executive Officer (CEO) versus a female CEO, leadership prejudices among women and women, and various studies regarding leadership of men and women. Because of stereotyping, very little focus is on men within the workplace. However, research shows that male workers face stereotyping as well as women. Therefore, a concentration on this matter will be focused within this paper. The paper concludes that both men and women face stereotypes that hinder, to some extent, their balance of work and family lives. Contrary to some stereotypes, women are proven to have just as powerful executive leadership qualities as men (Hackbarth, 2012).
Throughout 2016, many different people will claim they can lead America to greatness again just as they do each election year. This directs attention towards leadership, and most Americans simply trust that these potential candidates display leadership characteristics. Unfortunately, politicians don’t always exemplify leadership, and many Americans experience poor leaders daily such as dreadful bosses. Because of these commonplace experiences, leadership may not appear as a direct character trait. Adaptable communication, the ability to inspire, a clear passion, and professional attitudes all characterize a true leader.
This transactional leadership style appears to characterise leadership in tough manly traits, as it is renowned by ‘‘competitiveness, hierarchical authority and high control for the leader and analytical problem solving’’ (Klenke, 1993, p. 330) which is more distinctive of male behaviours. In contrast, women in general fit into a ‘‘feminine model of leadership build around cooperation, collaboration, lower control for the leader and problem solving based on feeling and rationality’’ (Klenke, 1993, p. 330). This style of leadership is closely aligned to transformational leadership with effective leaders being described as those who inspired their followers and enabled them to achieve the goals set by the organisation (Bass, 1985).
The report also highlights the implementation of gender diversity in various S&P Companies, Fortune 500 Companies and the patterns followed in various UK-based companies. Several academic findings have been also included to provide information about the trends that are likely to be developed in coming years. The cost-benefit analysis has also been included to identify the concerns that the organizations have to address. Lastly, the report highlights the various steps that the management and the leadership can take towards efficient and effective corporate governance.
Women are underrepresented in managerial (Adler 451) and executive level positions within organizations in the United States even today. Although females embody almost fifty percent of the workforce (Adler 451, they occupy only about thirty percent of all salaried positions, twenty percent of middle manager positions, and about five percent of executive level positions (Bell 65). At the current rate of increase in executive women, it will take until 2466 or over 450 years to reach equality with executive men.
Today, however, women have integrated themselves into every field of activity and every kind of industry smoothly and skillfully. Whether travelling twenty days of the month or accepting transfers, they are as performance-oriented, sincere, competent and persevering as their male counterparts, if not more. Their presence in the corporate world is now more a rule than an exception such that a feminist agenda and, in fact, any speci...
The reading assignment for this unit included reading several articles and one book in particular, The Female Advantage, by Sally Helgesen as an introduction into varying leadership styles. Leadership, as a honed craft is practiced continually in different ways and varying circumstances, no two individuals will have the same leadership style. Certain distinctive traits brought into the forum and on display for followers to observe. Some traits can be visible, clothing or skin color as examples, others, however, are not as visible such as upbringing or family situation. Each of these factors could play a role in the leadership style of a leader. One trait that the author of the book uses to distinguish leaders is gender. As much as men and women must be treated the fairly and equally, it cannot be denied that outside of the biological aspect, men and women are slightly different. Each gender brings a unique approach to leadership situations.
The argument for gender-diversity enhancing boardroom effectiveness and performance in listed companies has been made. The evidence herein is also very compelling. However, If gender-diversity is to enhance corporate governance in listed companies; then women appointees to directorship positions will be required to have suitable training, development, as well as experience. Furthermore, tokenism’ alone will not allow listed companies realize the tangible and intangible benefits of diversity, including gender diversity, in corporate governance.
In today’s competitive business environment, effective management plays a crucial role. The article Five Minds of a Manager by Jonathan Gosling and Henry Mintzberg, identify some important aspects of effective managers. According to the author, “The world of the manager is complicated and confusing.” Consequently, mangers need to think above ordinary employees. In particular, managers should, think global and act local, collaborate through competitions, be agents of change and maintain order. This paper provides a reflective review of the article Five Minds of a Manager by Jonathan Gosling and Henry Mintzberg.
Women managers’ perceptions of the successful manager are only slightly less conclusive. Unlike the women managers in the 1970s and 1980s not all female managers today sextype the successful manager as male; however, no one, male or female, ever identifies the successful manager as feminine. Male, and only to a slightly lesser extent, female, managers continue to describe successful managers as possessing masculine traits, such as self-confidence, competitiveness, decisiveness, aggressiveness and independence.
This is not about being nasty or nice – it is entirely about being achievement oriented by focusing on performance and organizational goals. Being achievement oriented, leaders have to recognize that they have to be mindful of and accountable for the choices they make because they are setting the model of what’s appropriate and inappropriate. Words matter, they are as much a form of expression for leaders as they are to poets, singers, and writers. According to Posner and Kouzes(p. 59) to be a leader, you got to awaken to the fact that you don’t have to copy someone else or follow a script and you don’t have to wear someone else’s style. Currently, there are an increasing number of women who are in leadership roles in the workplaces. It is a generally accepted as true that woman are supposed to use feminine ways of doing leadership. However, this is not always true. In some cases, women also use masculine ways of leadership. In this paper, Miranda Priestly illustrates how a female leader breaks traditional gender stereotypes and uses masculine leadership style.
Researches that support no gender differences in leadership skills, says female and male leaders lack internal validity as they are often over-reliant on narrative reviews or case studies (Bartol & Martin, 1986; Bass, 1981, 1990). Kanter (1977) argues that men nor women are different in the way they lead, instead adapts his/her leadership style to their situation and conforms to what is expected of them in the role given, ignoring their gender’s influence on their leadership style. However, researchers agree that gender differences in leadership styles do exist and that men often use a more task-oriented approach, while women, on average, rely on leadership style heavily based on quality of interpersonal relationships (Eagly & Johnson, 1990; Gray, 1992; Eagly, 1987; Eagly & Karau, 2002). Female leaders have also been described as taking a more “take care” leadership approach compared to the males’ “take charge” approach (Martell & DeSmet, 2001; Yukl, 1994; Hater & Bass, 1998). Researchers have also found that women tend to emerge as more transformational leaders while men are likely to use a transitional leadership approach (Bass & Avolio, 1994; Rosener,
Gender inequality is present in all aspects of human society, from culture, politics, and economic stand point to personal relationships. Gender inequality can be viewed as a major problem especially within the business world (Corporation, 2016). In the past, men are seen as leaders in all aspects. For example, men could work without any criticisms, they could participate in political issues and were given higher education. Women on the other hand, were given no political participation, criticized for working outside the household as they were responsible for chores such as takes care of their children, cooking or cleaning and given limited education compared to men. Although there are claims rights equality of women in 21st century and much has been written about it in the field of business (Player, 2013), but there is still a gap between male and female. This essay aims to explore the impact of gender inequality in business and will analyze the details in terms of the men are given high pay and specific jobs over women.