Women and Leadership

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Women and Leadership
Leadership Theory and Practice, 3/e Peter G.
Northouse, Ph.D.
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Overview

• Women and Leadership Perspective
• Overview of Research Trends
• Can Women be leaders?
• Do female and male leaders differ in their
  behavior and
• effectiveness?
• Why do so few women reach the top?
• How Does the Women and Leadership Approach
  Work?

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Women and Leadership Approach Description
Perspective
The Gendered Workplace

• Gender (learned beliefs) - Has significant
  impact on the degree to which males and females
  are expected to
• Behave differently
• Be treated differently
• Be valued differently
• Implications of a two-category (male/female) set
• Cognitive distortions arise
• Implies those within each category are identical
• One category valued as superior to the other

• Gender affects assignment of organizational
  responsibilities and most decisions regarding
• Career progress
• Resources
• Salaries
• Power
• Authority
• Appropriate work behavior

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Overview of Research TrendsCan Women Be Leaders?
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Overview of Research TrendsCan Women be Leaders?
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Overview of Research TrendsCan Women be Leaders?
Government Leadership Positions
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Overview of Research TrendsCan Women be Leaders?
Women of Differing Racial Ethnic Backgrounds
Holding Top Management Positions
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Overview of Research TrendsCan Women be Leaders?
2001
Fortune 1000 Corporate Board Positions
18.1
2 178 positions
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8.4
Source Catalyst, 2002

• Primary Organizational Benefits in Developing and
  Promoting Women
• Enhanced Productivity
• Competitive Advantage
• Financial Performance

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Overview of Research TrendsDo Female and Male
Leaders Differ in Their Behavior and
Effectiveness?
Meta-Analyses/Literature Review Results Over a
15-Year Period

• 160 Studies of sex-related differences in
  leadership (Eagly Johnson, 1990)
• Women use a more participative or democratic
  style and a less autocratic or directive style
  than men
• Both men and women emphasized task accomplishment
  when organization dominated numerically by
  members of their own sex or leadership role is
  viewed as gender congruent
• 82 Studies measuring leader effectiveness (Eagly,
  Karau, Makhijani, 1995)
• No difference in overall effectiveness between
  male and female leaders

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Overview of Research TrendsDo Female and Male
Leaders Differ in Their Behavior and
Effectiveness?
Meta-Analyses/Literature Review Results Over a
15-Year Period

• Male and female leaders evaluated differently
  (e.g., Eagly, Makhijani, Klonsky, 1992 Dreher
  Cox, 1996)
• Impacts
• Management training
• Assignments
• Mentors
• Promotion
• Female and male leaders evaluated favorably when
  they used a democratic leadership style
  (stereotypically feminine)
• Females evaluated unfavorably when they used a
  directive or autocratic style (stereotypically
  male)
• Women were devalued when they worked in
  male-dominated environments and when the
  evaluators were men
• 82 Studies measuring leader effectiveness (Eagly,
  Karau, Makhijani, 1995)
• No difference in overall effectiveness between
  male and female leaders

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Overview of Research TrendsDo Female and Male
Leaders Differ in Their Behavior and
Effectiveness?
Meta-Analyses/Literature Review Results Over a
15-Year Period

• Conditions of effectiveness (Eagly et al., 1995)
• While overall effectiveness did not differ for
  male and female leaders, comparisons of leader
  effectiveness favored men more under three
  conditions
• In a male-dominated setting (particularly the
  military)
• When a high percentage of subordinates were male
• When the role was viewed as more congenial to men
  in terms of
• Self-assessed competence
• Interest
• Low requirements for cooperation with high
  requirements for control
• Effectiveness comparisons favored women to the
  extent these conditions were reversed
• With the exception of the military, womens
  effectiveness increased as they moved up the
  hierarchy and as cooperation rather than control
  was required

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Overview of Research TrendsDo Female and Male
Leaders Differ in Their Behavior and
Effectiveness?
Meta-Analyses/Literature Review Results Over a
15-Year Period

• Patterns of women leaders effectiveness (Micco,
  1996 Women May, 1997)
• Advanced Teamware, Inc., study of 915
  middle-senior level managers
• In 31 areas examined, women outperformed men in
  28 (i.e., conflict resolution, work quality,
  adaptation to change, productivity, idea
  generation, motivation of others)
• Men handled their frustration and coped with
  pressure better both groups scored equally on
  delegating authority
• Saville Holdworth study of 3,000 managers
• Women emphasized planning and organizing work and
  an empathic approach
• Women placed less emphasis on winning at all
  cost

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Overview of Research TrendsDo Female and Male
Leaders Differ in Their Behavior and
Effectiveness?
Meta-Analyses/Literature Review
Results CONCLUSIONS

• Women leaders are apt to be more participative
  and less autocratic, a pattern that is well
  suited to 21-century global organizations
• The range of behavior viewed as appropriate for
  women leaders is more restricted because of mens
  negative evaluation of women demonstrating
  stereotypically masculine behaviors
• Outside of the military, women were seen as more
  effective in middle management positions and in
  settings requiring cooperation with a balance of
  men and women

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Overview of Research TrendsWhy Do so Few Women
Reach the Top?
CEO Explanations

• Pipeline Theory - Women have not been in
  managerial positions long enough for natural
  career progression to occur (Heilman, 1997
  Ragins et al., 1998)
• Women lack general management or line experience
  (Ragins et al., 1998)
• Women themselves are the issue they are less
  suited to executive demands than men (Heilman,
  1997)
• Women are unavailable to fill executive positions
  because few are sufficiently qualified (Morrison,
  1992)
• Women lack self-confidence (Morris, 1998)

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Common Barriers to Womens Advancement The Glass
Ceiling
Organizational Barriers

• Higher standards of performance and effort
• Inhospitable corporate culture
• Promotion decisions based on homophily (gender
  similarity)
• Ignorance/inaction by male CEOs and silent
  majority male peers
• Imbalance of adequate recognition support with
  excessive difficulties
• Lack of definitive development opportunities

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Common Barriers to Womens Advancement The Glass
Ceiling
Interpersonal Barriers
Personal Barriers

• Male prejudice, stereotyping, preconceptions
• Lack of emotional and interpersonal support
• Exclusion from informal networks
• Lack of white male mentors

• Lack of political savvy
• Work-home conflict

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How Does the Women and Leadership Approach Work?

• Strengths
• Criticisms
• Application

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Strengths

• Understanding gender dynamics in leadership and
  uncovering and recognizing unconscious patterns
  and beliefs will foster workplace and societal
  improvements
• Considering the sex of leaders and employees can
  yield insights within the major leadership
  theoretical frameworks (e.g., contingency theory)
• Research on gender dynamics in leadership has
  contributed to broader conversations regarding
  what values are most important and what the good
  life really means in the U.S. society

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Criticisms

• A disadvantage of a singular focus on
  individuals sex is that it can become the only
  or primary attribute identifying them, rather
  than one of a myriad of attributes that influence
  their worldview and experience
• Research on sex and gender differences has
  fostered an implicit assumption that members of
  each category are identical in race, sexual
  orientation, age, etc.

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Application

• The research findings on women and leadership can
  be applied to a number of organizational issues
• Retention of talented women
• Developing effective leaders
• Barriers to womens advancement
• The findings on womens effectiveness and the
  choices required for advancement can inform women
  of what they need to do to develop as leaders
• The findings on gender dynamics in leadership can
  inform men of the subtle patterns enacted in the
  everyday workplace that impede fairness and
  excellence