Women and Men in Leadership

A lot of attention has been paid to our increasingly diverse workplace. There are multiple differences including race, gender, generations, and thinking styles. Many historical events have occurred that have cleared the way to analyze these differences of men and women in the workplace. These gender differences are likely to exist in the way men and women influence, communicate, and lead. The male and female gender has always been viewed as two unique and different sets of people.

It is perceived that males and females have different styles when it comes to leadership. First, we will look at the leadership styles of men. Males have been known to have a transactional leadership style. Transactional leadership is when followers are motivated through a system of rewards and punishment. The leaders perspective of their “leader-to-follower” relationship is one of quid pro quo, or “this for that” (Bass, 1981). If the follower performs well, they will be rewarded and if the follower performs poorly, they will be punished. Transactional leaders set rules to increase the performance and productivity of their followers. The main focus of a transactional leader is to improve the overall organizational performance.

Male leaders tend to prefer a hierarchical structure. A hierarchical organization follows the layout of a pyramid. Each employee, aside from the CEO, is subordinate to someone else within the organization. Following this type of structure makes it clear for employees to understand the chain of command and line of authority. An advantage to using this structure is that employees will gain substantial experience and become very knowledgeable within their field of focus. As a result, the employee will become loyal to their organiza...

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Eagly, A., & Karau, S. (2002). Role Congruity Theory of Prejudice Toward Female Leaders. . Retrieved , from http://search.committee.module.rutgers.edu/pdf/Eagley_Role_Conguity_Theory.pdf