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. In the book, Sally Helgesen cites the “Feminine Principles” brought forth by Anita Roddick, who is the founder of The Body Shop as basic principles that could help to distinguish, or rather help to further define men and women leaders. The principles include, caring, making intuitive decisions, not getting hung up on hierarchy, having a sense of work being part of your life, putting labor where your love is, being responsible to the world and knowing that the bottom line should not be the only driving factor. These are the principles that encompass the “feminine principles” within the context of the text. While these principles are broad, they are not exclusive to women, however, women in general exhibit these qualities in more pounced ways than men. Women, as a whole, tend to be more co... ... middle of paper ... ...where simply ending in "the black" is the goal. Out of all her successes, there is not a component that needs any significant changes or anything that personally I could see doing differently. In fact, what would be fascinating is to have this book updated, and now follow these leaders in the age of smart phone, email, skype, instant messenger and the Ipad. Curious as to see how modern technology would interface on a daily basis with the leadership style of modern women leaders. How does having instant communication at one’s hip enable or inhibit a moder day leader? In the past, subordinates would have more autonomy in their work because they may not be able to get in touch with their superior, now this barrier has been broke. Are leaders more engaged or more micromanaging? These are all questions that would be fascinating to research after reading this book.
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreIn relation to leadership and women, historically women who wanted to seek leadership roles were often seen projecting the traditional masculine model of leadership. This model means to be rational, unemotional and analytic. It also, means in order to succeed traditionally women needed to look and act like a man to be taken seriously in leadership positions. Women in the past often dressed up in suits and ties and anything feminine was seen as an internal “weakness”. To be a leader in power meant to exude confidence in masculinity and shy away from anything remotely girly. As opposed, to the feminine model which casts power as focused on connection and harmony instead of power over something, someone. This power can be skilled through collective gain or physical attractiveness (Kruse 22).
Powell, G., Butterfield, D., and Bartol, K. (2008). Leader evaluations: A new female advantage? Gender in Management: An International Journal, 23, 156-174.
The gap between men and women produce three important concepts that reason the difference. First is the discussion of the better leader- men or women? It has been studied that women approach their followers with an interactive style with the encouragement of sharing power and information with others, participation, and self-worthiness to others. On the other hand, men have a consistency to be more task-oriented in their leadership styles and emerge in short-term conditions. The simple claim that women are just different than men, can be argued with the idea that men have effective traits for leadership. Women are less likely to negotiate and as a leader, this leads to lack of communication. And as discussed, leadership’s main ingredient is communication. Without it, nothing gets across to followers, and nothing is reciprocated to leaders. As a leadership position becomes larger and larger, (such as a CEO’s leadership position) there are fewer and fewer women holding these positions. The biggest question is why? Generally, females and males share the leadership values, work equally as hard to accomplish their goals, and react accordingly. Society plays a huge role in the gender gap. Some jobs aren’t even offered to women because of their gender and women
Walker, Henry A., Barbara C. Ilardi, Anne M. McMahon, and Mary L. Fennell. "Gender, Interaction, and Leadership." Social Psychology Quarterly. V59 n3 p255, 1996.
It has maintained a primary structure of male dominance. It presents the concerns of equality and a resistance to eventual progression. Since the late 1840 's the start of women 's movement to gain respect and value within American society. They have proven to be an essential element in societal progression. The importance of women in these positions includes differing leadership styles and even to act as the grounding moral reminders for young military men
Tamerius, K. (1995). Sex, Gender, and Leadership in the Representation of Women. In G. Duerst-Lahti & R. M. Kelly (Eds.), Gender, Power, Leadership, and Governance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
...evere emotions, so not do it for dominance, but for reasons such as love, children, or family. Carol Shakeshaft, a writer specializing in gender differences in educational administration, describes the female mentality as: "emphasizing power with, rather than power over, others." She theorizes that women, in general, perform better in leadership positions, because they are more person oriented, and adopt a more democratic leadership style. To settle arguments, women rely more on negotiation than competition or physical violence. Had females been on the island, they would have practised more community involvement, equality, and inclusiveness.
402). Our gender differences and leadership styles can work in our favor and against us; I think it is contradicting, in the way we send mixed messages, while a lot of people, especially in the modernized Western world do accept a female to control the household and does it well, yet; at the workplace females are perceived as being too emotionally consumed to get a task completed. By nature, and nurture, each gender in most cases acts differently; this could be because of our biological hormones and way each gender is raised, apparently, it is not so nowadays. The problem is should we keep letting it slide by being bias or is there something that can be done to encourage and promote gender equality and respect for one another that goes beyond the responsibilities society requires of each
In discussions of women’s rights, one controversial issue has been women in positions of leadership. On the one hand, Goldberg argues that women should be in more positions of power. On the other hand, Pynchon opposes women in power. Others even believe that women can’t lead. My own view is that more women should be placed into positions of power.
The different leadership styles of men and women was discussed. Women prefer democratic and participative styles while men preferred autocratic styles (Landy & Conte, 2013, p. 508). Women can tend to be more interpersonal where men are more focused on tasks versus worrying about how their staff
Wilson, Marie C. Closing the Leadership Gap Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World. New York: Viking Adult, 2004. Print
The most prominent cause indicated by the literature for women’s leadership gap is the gender stereotype. A stereotype is a prejudice as a simplified description about their qualities and characteristics applied to every person in some category (Gray, 2010). Hence, gender stereotypes are simplified descriptions regarding the attributes of men and women. These can be divided into two groups: descriptive and prescriptive gender stereotypes. Descriptive gender stereotypes portray what women and men are like, whereas prescriptive gender stereotypes portray what women and men should be like (Heilman, 2012).
Women are not new to facing challenges and coming across barriers that limit or stall their progression within organizations and landing leadership opportunities. Women Rising explains to us how persistent gender bias often times disrupts the learning process at the heart of becoming a leader. The research shows that the process for women to be leaders is much more difficult than it is for men (Women Rising). The want and motivation to lead are attacked from the moment women realize that it is in them, due to these gender biases being in place. An example of a bias that is often noticed would be: behavior that is considered assertive in men will often times be perceived as an aggressive behavior in women, and thus denigrated rather than rewarded (Women Rising). In most cultures and societies, there are specific gender roles that are ascribed to either men or women. Men must be assertive, women must be submissive. Men must be decisive, women must be caring. These double binds are direct hinders to
Throughout the first semester we did a group project. My group and I struggled interviewing a professor because it would be an excited, fun and educational videos. From the very beginning, there were some obstacles standing between us and reaching our goal. We had to set up meetings with our career field. During this time it was hard trying to set similar times where you and the professor could schedule an interview together. Once we got that settled down we came to another obstacle with getting the cameras. When we started to record they found out that the way we were approaching this project was not what we were trying to accomplish. As a result, we changed our project completely. We started interviewing older leadership minors and asking them what they did and how it has changed their lives.
Today, women are entering the leadership sphere, which is mainly occupied by men. Many women leaders believe that people perform best when they feel good about themselves and their work. An effective leader creates results, reaches goals and deadlines, and quickly recognizes vision and objectives with high level of quality and productivity. To accomplish these, a leader should have special qualities like able to motivate others, specific and technical skill set, clear sense of purpose, mission, clear goals, focus and commitment. Over the years, women have proven themselves to be successful leaders as men. For instance, Oprah Winfrey, one of the most successful and famous African-American women in history to have made a huge impact and difference