Leadership: Barriers & Styles

The Glass Ceiling The set of subtle barriers that are believed to prevent women and minorities from reaching the upper echelons of corporate America, government, and academia.

The Numbers According to the 2000 census, women represent 50.4% of the U.S. population and 46.5% of the labor force. However, women only represent 5.1% of the top-level executives.

Fortune Magazine 1995 Survey Results from Male & Female Middle & Top Managers 91% of women & 75% of men believed that the existence of a male-dominated corporate culture is the single most important barrier for women.

Fortune Magazine 1995 Survey Results from Male & Female Middle & Top Managers Other barriers cited by women: the exclusion of women from informal networks, a lack of female mentors, the existence of a glass ceiling, and management’s belief that women are less career oriented. Other barriers cited by men: the exclusion of women from informal networks, lack of female mentors, few female bosses as role models, and difficulties women have balancing paid work and family.

By not using all the potential of female employees, organizations lose in 2 ways. 1.They do not get the benefit of the talents and perspective that these women can contribute. 2.They get a poor return on the investment they made in these women, because many of them leave when they can not move up the executive ladder.

A 1991 Bipartisan Federal Glass Ceiling Commission recommended that CEOs 1.Demonstrate a genuine commitment to diversity by ensuring that all written & oral information disseminated emphasize it as a “core value”; 2.Link pay, promotions, and bonuses of managers to meeting goals of diversity; 3.Ensure that all qualified individuals have equal access and opportunity to compete for positions; 4.Expand searches for new employees to include individuals from “noncustomary” sources with varied backgrounds and experiences;

A 1991 Bipartisan Federal Glass Ceiling Commission recommended that CEOs 5.Establish mentoring programs to prepare minorities and women for senior positions; 6.Provide training to familiarize employees with the strengths and challenges of gender, racial, ethnic, and cultural differences; 7.Initiate policies that help employees to balance the dual demands of career and family; and 8.Encourage workers to participate in decision making and share information.

Leadership Theories (discussed in article by Appelbaum, Audet, & Miller)

Biology is Destiny Theories These theories are based on the premise that leadership ability is biologically determined, an inborn skill of men that is lacking in women. Research results do not support this approach. Some studies have found some gender differences in leadership style. However, other studies have found that there are more similarities than differences in the leadership abilities of men and women, and they are equally effective.

Gender Role Theories According to these theories, gender role is a better predictor of leadership potential than sex. There are 3 gender roles: male, female, & androgynous (a blend of male & female). Individuals with masculine or androgynous classifications are more likely to be identified as preferred leaders than individuals with feminine classifications.

The Feminine/Competency Bind Feminine behavior is often associated with incompetence. Competency is usually associated with masculine behavior. When women adopt masculine traits, they are seen as unfeminine.

Furthermore, the same behavior is often evaluated more positively when attributed to a male than a female. For example, what is considered strong for a man may be called domineering and overly aggressive for a woman.

Theories About Factors That Potentially Undermine Women’s Leadership Effectiveness 1.Women’s attitudes are often based on their traditional socialization to be docile or flexible. However, this attitude is frequently seen as incompetent and not leader-like. Also, when an individual’s mobility is blocked (as by the glass ceiling), the person becomes pessimistic and disengaged, whereas indications of opportunity foster optimism and engagement.

Theories About Factors That Potentially Undermine Women’s Leadership Effectiveness 2.Women’s self-confidence may be diminished by second-class treatment they receive in the leadership hierarchy. Self-confidence has been found to be an important component in predicting leadership potential.

Theories About Factors That Potentially Undermine Women’s Leadership Effectiveness 3.The Corporate Environment Opportunities for employment in male-dominated occupations have increased, but resistance to women’s presence has resulted in many women leaving these jobs. By disproportionately employing women in jobs that lack regular promotion procedures or less frequently implementing regular promotion procedures in women’s jobs, employers not only reduce women’s chances for promotion but encourage women to lose hope of being promoted.

Theories About Factors That Potentially Undermine Women’s Leadership Effectiveness 4.The Old Boy’s Network fosters solidarity between men but marginalizes, controls, and divides women. Male managers who often make decisions affecting the upward mobility of women have been found to perceive the characteristics needed for managerial success as being associated with those generally attributed to men. These perceptions can negatively affect women’s job placement, promotion, and access to development and training opportunities.

The style of leadership traditionally used by men is Command and Control. A style of leadership that has often been used by women is an Interactive Leadership Style. Theories about Gender Differences in Leadership Styles

The Interactive Leadership Style is based on characteristics that have been described as more feminine, such as 1.good communication skills (especially the ability to be good listener & to be empathetic), 2.good intermediary skills (for negotiation & conflict resolution), and 3. well-developed interpersonal skills & a soft approach to handling people.

The Interactive Leadership Style encourages participation shares power and information enhances other people’s self-worth gets people excited about their work.

Historically, … women have lacked both formal authority over others and control over resources. So they had to find other ways to accomplish their work. women were expected to be cooperative, supportive, understanding, gentle, and to provide service for people. The interactive leadership style seems to be a natural consequence.

Gender Differences Women are more likely to describe their jobs as “transformational,” getting subordinates to transform their own self-interest into the interest of the group through concern for a broader goal. Men are more likely to describe their jobs as “transactional,” a series of transactions with subordinates. They exchange rewards for services rendered or punishment for inadequate performance.

Women tend to see their power as coming from personal characteristics such as charisma, interpersonal skills, hard work, or personal contacts. Men tend to see their power as coming from their organizational position and formal authority.

Women tend to score higher in orientation towards production (strong pursuit of achievement, holding high expectations for self and others) and the attainment of results. Men tend to score higher on scales assessing an orientation towards strategic planning and organizational vision.

Women tend to score higher on people-oriented leadership skills. Men tend to score higher on business-oriented leadership skills.

Research findings support the ideas that 1.Women’s leadership styles, at the moment, do differ from men’s but men who are not comfortable with the traditional “command and control” style can learn and use the interactive style; 2. Women’s leadership styles are not less effective than men’s styles and they can be more effective in team-based consensually-driven organizations that are becoming more common; 3. Leadership style is based more on individual choice than on inherent gender predisposition; and 4. Leadership style differences may blur as gender- mixed management teams become more common.

Questions for the Future If women are underrepresented in senior management because of negative misperceptions of women’s abilities, how can these perceptions be corrected? How can leadership effectiveness training be modified to make the best use of differences in individual styles?