Abstract
Evaluation of scholarly information along with the employee and manager interviews has demonstrated that despite the fact that men and women have different leadership styles, leadership patterns, and behaviors their leadership performance is comparable. Analysis of women’s leadership styles has suggested that they tend to lead as effectively as men being both interpersonally oriented and fully task-oriented. The only significant difference identified is that women lead in a more democratic style but they require a more formal attitude to the completion of the task by the subordinates than men.
Introduction
The contemporary business world knows many examples of brilliant leaders of both male and female gender. However, the question of whether men and women lead differently and with different results remains controversial. The following paper aims to conduct the research based on the scholarly findings and interview analysis to make conclusions as to the gender-based leadership patterns and differences.
Research
Analysis of women leadership styles conducted by Fry (2015) has suggested that women tend to lead as effectively as men being both interpersonally oriented and fully task-oriented. This is especially the case for the millennial generation (Fry, 2015). According to Fry (2015), “millennials continue to close the gender gap”. Fry (2015) narrates the examples of effective female leaders who managed to achieve great success in their career building and have proved that women’s leadership patterns are 100% working in the contemporary context. However, the author noted that men are still in a more favorable situation as for the opportunity of leadership career building because for a woman, “it is virtually impossible to ascend the career ladder, be married and have children and take care of oneself” (Fry, 2015, p. 11).
Cellar, Sidle, Goudy, and O’Brien (2001) supported this finding by stating that women tend to perform as effectively as men but they utilize a more democratic approach to leadership encouraging their subordinates’ participation in the working process facilitation and task development. Crites, Dickson, and Lorenz (2015) contribute to this aspect understanding by stating that although women have proven themselves as effective leaders during the past decades and their leader styles are effective in today’s business situation, gender stereotypes continue to impact their professional weight in society. People continue to believe in females’ leadership styles inferiority (Crites et al., 2015). Nevertheless, analysis of effectiveness indexes of female leaders has demonstrated that they are as skilled in the task orientation and task completion as their colleagues of male gender (Crites et al., 2015).
Evaluation of the article “When a man asks for help, he’s considered a less competent leader, study says” by Allen (2015) shows that female leadership styles engage more team members to participate in the task achievement process because women tend to be support-looking naturally. This is not the case for the male leaders since psychologically the subordinates tend to view men as independent and self-sufficient leaders capable of solving any issue on their own (Allen, 2015).
Another interesting perspective on the differences between male and female leadership styles is suggested by Nowack (2015). This researcher believes that women have appeared in a more advantageous situation today in terms of their leadership style effectiveness than men. This change has taken place because “to manage in today’s complex, rapidly changing and global environment, leaders need to behave in ways that ensure that employees are fully engaged and involved given today’s entrepreneurial mindset” (Nowack, 2015, para. 21).
Echoing the findings of the researchers mentioned above, Nowack (2015) states that women are more democratic leaders capable of empowering and inspiring their subordinates. This is the peculiarity of their leadership approach that helps them to be extremely effective in today’s business situation. Robbins and Coulter (2014) support Nowack’s position by stating that female leaders are capable of building the shared vision, provide a positive influence, lead with the help of the personal example, support their team members emotionally, and utilize individual approach helping to unleash the inner potential of every employee.
Employee Interview Results
Employee interview results have demonstrated the common tendency to believe that women are more strict and resolute in their leadership styles. They tend to act more aggressively to achieve what they want.
In addition, the interviewees tend to consider women more formal in their leadership style, while they state that men can act less formally and may behave as if they are “bros”. Moreover, respondents stated that they think that women are working hard to prove that they can be good leaders despite their gender.
Interestingly, male and female respondents have a different vision of gender leadership styles in general. This peculiarity can be explained by the psychological peculiarities defining the values and interests of the different genders representatives. However, all of them agree that both men and women can be excellent leaders, and the ability to lead in a brilliant way depends not on someone’s gender but on personality, inner qualities, and proficiency.
Manager Interview Results
Manager interview results have demonstrated similar trends with the employee interview results. In particular, the respondents have stated that women tend to be more serious in terms of their leadership role realization, while men can be frivolous. In particular, one of the interviewed managers stated that “men lead with a tone that makes you feel less than they are and many times I felt in the working world they would not do what they are asking you to do.” This person has also contributed by emphasizing on a curious tendency of both male and female gender leaders to compete with a person in the office of the same gender when one confronts the leader. The outcome of such competition is the toxic atmosphere formation in the collective body of workers.
Another aspect the interviewees have noted is that women’s leadership style is more emotional. Females tend to take everything emotionally and personally. They are more willing to celebrate equality in the team of workers and strive to lead with their example.
Analysis of responses provided by the managers of both genders suggested that women tended to notice more details in female leadership showing constant women’s efforts to prove their leadership capability equally with men. Similar to employee respondents, managers have admitted that outstanding leadership is not a matter of gender but of the person’s own skills, capabilities, and inner potential.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be noted that the evaluation of scholarly information along with the employee and manager interviews has shown that although men and women have different leadership styles and demonstrate different leadership patterns and behaviors their leader performance is equally effective. Women leadership styles analysis has shown that women tend to lead as effectively as men being both interpersonally oriented and task-oriented. The only significant difference identified is that women lead in a more democratic style.
References
Allen, F. E. (2015). When a man asks for help, he’s considered a less competent leader, study says. Forbes. Web.
Cellar, D. F., Sidle, S., Goudy, K., & O’Brien, D. (2001). Effects of leader style, leader sex, and subordinate personality on leader evaluations and future subordinate motivation. Journal of Business & Psychology, 16(1), 61-62.
Crites, S. N., Dickson, K. E., & Lorenz, A. (2015). Nurturing gender stereotypes in the face of experience: a study of leader gender, leadership style, and satisfaction. Journal Of Organizational Culture, Communications & Conflict, 19(1), 1-23.
Fry, M. (2015). Are millennials minding the gap? (cover story). Njbiz, 28(12), 10-11.
Nowack, K. M. (2015). Do men and women lead differently? Talent Management.
Robbins, S. P., & Coulter, M. K. (2014). Management (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.