Running head: GENDER LEADERSHIP STYLES

Literature Review of Gender Differences in Leadership Styles

Ametta Roe

Siena Heights University

Research and Professional Writing in Leadership

Professor Loughran

September 30, 2016

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN LEADERSHIP STYLES

What is leadership today? Leadership is made up of several aspects to be considered a

good leader. Leaders are people that have formal positions in organizations like education,

government, and politics. Leaders take an idea and create a team of people to help execute this

idea into something greater. Leaders provide guidance, positive attitudes, communication and

encouragement to accomplish a goal. Good leaders are open to learning new things, agreeable,

open to change and creative thinkers. Although, all people have a different way of teaching

others, does gender of a leader affect leadership styles?

Outline

How does gender influence leadership styles?

Sub questions:

1.What is the most common differences in men and women's leadership styles?

2. How would creating a more diverse workplace benefit both men and women?

3. How does cultural background and training programs influence each genders style?

Leadership

Literature Review

Leadership is influencing others actions. For example, a great leader influences followers

positively by encouraging one to go after their goals and telling them they will do great things.

An example of a great leader is affecting his or her followers in a positive and influential way.

Most leaders have great personality traits, great communication skills, and value their followers.
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 3

These are characteristics that a good leader should demonstrate. Communicating goals, the main

objective, the outcome expected of a specific task while valuing time, work demonstrated to

achieve and options for career advancement are all attributes of a great leader. However, there is

a discrepancy about the gender role of leaders and the differences in leadership styles. There are

three main leadership styles, transformational, transactional and laissez-faire.

Leadership Styles

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership style is the most effective today (Leban & Zulauf, 2004, p.

556). Transformational leaders tend to engage more in a positive outcome by giving more effort

with the work they are satisfied with doing (Gill, 2014c). Creating a future oriented leader role

rather than a present oriented role by inspiring followers commitment and creativity and

establishing oneself as a role model gaining followers trust and confidence (Eagly & Carli, 2003,

p. 815). Leaders create an environment for followers to take ownership of their work by

understanding strengths and weaknesses so they can be placed in a position to maximize their

performance level. Transformational leadership style is preferred in most leadership roles today;

however, women are more aligned with this style than men due to women being more

democratic and interpersonally oriented (Eagly & Schmidt, 2001, p. 786). Women also have

created a reward program for behavior to praise their followers (Eagly & Carli, 2003, p. 817).

Transformational leadership focuses on changing the criteria of a workplace to influence

followers and making the world a better place, rather than focusing on out-of-date processes and

individual performance as transactional leaders do (Gill, 2014c).

Transactional Leadership
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 4

Transactional leadership style is more direct in organizations and based on existing

structure (Gill, 2014b). Male leaders are typically just that, task oriented and autocratic, which

explains why they are transactional leaders (Eagly & Schmidt, 2001, p. 786). The style of these

types of leaders are more commonly used in the Military and larger corporations. Further

research documented on leadership styles done by Eagly and Schmidt suggest men pay attention

to followers problems and mistakes, waited until problems were severe before attempting to

solve them and were absent and uninvolved in critical times (Eagly & Schmidt, 2001, p. 793).

Unlike the transformational leadership style that is more suited for creative individuals who seek

to influence its followers rather than direct them (Gill, 2014b).

Laissez-Faire Leadership Style

The last leadership style still considered at the top of the list of leaders today is laissez-

faire. Laissez-Faire style of leadership men are also more likely to entertain. Laissez-Faire

leadership style pertains to leaders who let followers do as they please as long as they are

meeting goals and getting the job done that needs to be done (Gill, 2014a). Although, some

people disagree with leaders acting this way in a leadership role, this is a way for leaders to stand

out of the way and let followers be responsible for completing work how they prefer rather than

creating strict procedures to follow (Eagly & Carli, 2003, p. 815).

Leadership Roles/Culture of Genders

Women and Men in the Workplace

In recent years, the subject of gender in leadership roles has been at the top of the list

researched. Why? Historically, women were prohibited from becoming such leaders, creating an

issue and assumption men were more educated and suited for leadership positions. Until recently,
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 5

people began to question the assumption of men being leaders and started to research the idea of

women taking over leadership roles. Men have dominated leadership in the past and society

needs to realize there are gender differences in leadership continued from the past. Although this

subject is most recently being researched, there is still an issue with the number of women in the

workforce compared to the number of women in leadership positions. However, from the study

done by LeanIn and McKinsey reported in 2016, Twenty-one percent of men do not want to be a

top executive because it is not consistent with who they are as a person, while almost a third of

men who aspire to reach the top do not think they will make it because they lack the typical

style of a top executive (Sandburg, 2015, p. 10).

Culture of Women & Men

Consequently, this has led to several other concerns for women around the world as well.

Women have been neglected to become leaders and this poses the question Does gender affect

leadership style? There is personal issues women face not getting the same chance as men in

leadership roles. Globally women have always been held responsible for more chores and

responsibilities in their home lives, causing a double burden on most women; becoming more of

an issue outside of the United States. Women in other countries are working just as hard to earn

leadership roles, but do not have the same support as women in the United States. Historically,

this was a large part of womens lives in earlier years. Women were stay at home mothers

cleaning, cooking and tending to family needs rather than playing any part in leadership roles,

working in organizations or making a difference in society. Mothers began to raise their young

daughters, leading them to believe that was their role and how it would be for the rest of their

lives. According to a study done by LeanIn and Mckinsey, research shows women in leadership

roles are seven times more likely than men to bear the majority of home duties (Waller, 2016).
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 6

Men were raised to take care of their families by earning money to put food on the table, fix

things around the house and tend to animal needs. For example, The US Bureau of Labor

Statistics reported in 2008, women accounted for more than half of all workers within several

industry sectors: financial activities, education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and

other services. However, women were substantially underrepresented (relative to their share of

total employment) in agriculture, mining, construction, manufacturing, and transportation and

utilities (Women in the Labor Force, 2009). Putting a burden on women but has lowered

womens self confidence communicating and with personal abilities and talents. As an example,

research amongst MBA women shows that while the majority of women consider themselves

equally capable as their co-workers, the majority of men consider themselves more capable than

their co-workers (Eagly, 2003). Male dominance has created higher ranked individuals in an

organization to interpret females way of communicating as being negative and uneducated

(Eagly & Carli, 2003, p. 809).

Diversity in the Workplace

Gender Diversity

Furthermore, companies overall are struggling to put their commitment to gender

diversity into practice and employees are not viewing it as a personal priority (Sandburg, 2016,

p. 19). Gender diversity was certainly not a huge issue in the past but recently people of both

genders have begun to fight and argue womens rights in the workplace; especially with less

recognition, input and opportunity. One of the main reasons is because the higher you look up in

a company the fewer women you see. A study between a partnership of LeanIn.org and

McKinsey & Company based on 4.6 million people that shared data and 34,000 employees that
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 7

completed a survey based on HR practices (Sandburg, 2016, p. 2). Women in the workplace

today struggle to gain promotions from base line employees to management, and are less likely

to be promoted into senior positions (Sandburg, 2016, p. 12).

Commitment to Improving

Gender Diversity is a continued issue that several companies are committed to and is

currently at an all time high, however companies are struggling to put their commitment into

practice and several employees are not on board (Sandburg, 2016, p. 3). To solve this problem

and treat it like the issue it has become, organizations need to start with improving

communication, train more frequently, and work harder on improving results. Starting with these

few steps will help to increase the number of women in leadership roles in businesses around the

world. A study done in 2014 by Harvard Business Review did a survey on 60 major corporations,

325,000 women were in entry level positions, 150,000 in middle management, and only 7,000

had made it to Vice President, Senior Vice President, or CEO (Women in the Workplace: A

Research Roundup, 2014). Compared to todays results have not changed as much as they should

have, entry level positions for women calculated at 46% and men 54%, manager roles 37%

women and 63% men, senior management 33% women and 67% men, Vice President 29%

women and 71% men, Senior Vice President 24% women and 76% men, and CEO 19% women

and 81% men (Waller, 2016, The Pipeline Problem, para.1). Also, one in five senior executives

is a woman in the United States (Sandburg, 2016, p. 10). Unlike men, women are less likely to

think they have an equal opportunity for growth and development in the workplace.

Unfortunately, this is not from attrition because both male and female employees are leaving at

the same rate (Sandburg, 2016, p. 1). A study from 2013 by Harvard Business Review reported

that 90% of women are leaving employers due to workplace problems (Women in the
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 8

Workplace: A Research Roundup, 2014). According to the Mckinsey and LeanIn study recently

completed, women receive fewer challenging assignments, less training and fewer development

opportunities as men (Waller, 2016). Gender equality is as good for businesses as it is for

individuals. Diverse teams and companies produce better results and higher revenue and profits,

which lead to more opportunity for everyone, not just women or men (Sandburg, 2016).

Training Programs

Training Now

Individuals looking to become great leaders show they have character and the initiative to

learn new skills. Training programs are put in place for those that want to be there and have the

right mind set in learning new leadership skills, rather than wasting money sending someone

who is not fully engaged in learning. In 2015 alone, American companies spent enormous

amounts of money on employee training and education, $160 billion in the United States and

close to $356 billion globally. For the most part, companies are not getting the return on

investment they are looking for and information from training sessions is not leading to better

performance within organizations, but making people result to their old ways. The attitude of an

individual is what will help companies profit when sending people to training sessions. Having

an open mind to learning and development is a huge accomplishment when experimenting with

organizational change (Beer & Schrader, 2015).

Training Outlook

Roles, responsibilities, and relationships within an organization create organizational

structure, while processes, leadership styles, and cultural backgrounds help internally within an

organization. Jenny Dearborn Chief Learning Officer at SAP a well known training company
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 9

has designed a new training session designed for women to help make them more visible within

an organization. About 400 women a year participate in a 12 month course, meeting online

monthly to hear guest speakers, receiving homework and action assignments such as making on

camera presentations (Waller, 2016, Test of Commitment, para. 3). If procedures and the

systems people follow do not ever change, training is not important. Training will only be

beneficial and organizations will only start to experience positive change if companies have these

six recommendations in place ahead of time. Making sure senior teams and leaders are clearly

defining values and showing direction to followers, gathering followers feedback and

recommendations for improvements to overcome barriers to strategy execution and learning

(Beer & Schrader, 2015).

Benefits of Training

Analyzing departments in depth and encouraging employees to express their opinion and

bridge gaps in processes creates a positive environment, making everyone feel their opinion is

valuable. Today, more men than women say they interact with senior leaders about work at least

once a week. Cindy Gallop, chairwoman of the U.S Branch of advertising firm Bartle Bogle

Hegarty learned to be very forceful in meetings after 30 years experience. When someone cuts

me off, I keep talking and ask they wait until I am finished (Waller, 2016). The number of

employees in a corporation today and the number of big corporations out there, they need to be

more focused on the accountability of their executives. The study completed in 2016 by LeanIn

and McKinsey reported, Only 40 percent of companies report that they hold their senior leaders

accountable for performance against gender diversity metrics, and employees are even less likely

to see this in practice: only 32 percent of employees report that senior leaders are regularly held

accountable, and nine percent report that managers are recognized for progress on gender
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 10

diversity (Sandburg, 2016, p. 24). Leading to a much bigger issue within corporations for

women causing diversity in womens pay scale compared to men. Furthermore, 91% of

companies track gender representation by level, only 58% track salary differences by gender was

reported by LeanIn and McKinsey 2016 study. A recent interview in 2015 with Marc Benioff

(2015), CEO of salesforce.com commenting on pay for men and women to be critical, he states

their top women are paid a lot more than their top men, because if you have a top woman they

are worth a lot more since there are not that many (p. 1)

Differences in Wages

Pay scale

Pay scale of women has been an issue since the time women began working due to

shorter hours and fewer weeks worked per year compared to men (Blau & Kahn, 2000, p. 76).

Although in the early 1900s women were not permitted in management roles, at this time less

than one in five managers were women, at this time women were employed in administration and

clerical work, which then were low paid roles (Blau & Kahn,2000, p. 79).

Wage structure then was based on the array of prices determined for labor market skills and

women tend to accumulate less labor market experience than men. Further, because women

anticipate shorter and more dis-continuous work lives, they have lower incentives to invest in

market-oriented formal education and on-the job training, and their resulting smaller human

capital investments will lower their earnings relative to those of men (Blau & Kahn, 2000, p.

80). The amount of house duties women were entertained with then as well would limit the

amount of hours and energy women had to put into labored work. However the pay scale for

women today compared to men still has not drastically increased or made a huge change over
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 11

time. Are women still being paid less than men because they do not work as many hours? Are

part time? Or because of home responsibilities they entertain? In 2015 women working full time

in the United States were being paid just about 80% of what men were being paid working full

time. While the number has increased slowly over the years from 2014 to 2015 the increase was

only one percent and the change in percentage has not been a drastic one since 2007 (Miller,

2015).

Womens Outlook on Pay

Women finally have taken a stand and attempted to better themselves through education

and working to be in leader roles explain why this percentage increased drastically from the early

years until 2007. Earlier years pay gap between men and women from 1960 to 2015 was

expected to be the same at year 2059; however, at the current one percent change from 2014 to

2015, women are not expected to reach the same pay scale as men until 2152 (Miller, 2015). The

pay scale of women in general compared to men of course is a huge issue but this is an even

bigger issue with women of different races. A study in 2015 done by The American Association

of University Women reported, compared to salary information for white male workers, Asian

American womens salaries show the smallest gender pay gap, at 85 percent of white mens

earnings. The gap was largest for Hispanic and Latina women, who were paid only 54 percent of

what white men were paid in 2015 (Miller, 2015, A Closer Look at the Numbers by Race,

para. 3). Furthermore, as you can tell the gap in pay scale from men to women is huge.

Companies more often need to look into auditing salaries and address any issues they see, and

women that are taking a huge pay cut compared to men in the same roles, negotiating pay is a

start to closing this gap and balancing out the pay scale.
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 12

Expectation for Women in the Future

Creating more diverse leadership roles throughout organizations around the world and

adding more women to upper management will increase profit (Lublin, 2016). A recent study of

21,980 firms in 91 countries by the Peterson Institute for International Economics reported,

profitable firms where women represent 30% of leaders saw a 15% increase in one measure of

gross profit, researchers estimated (Lublin, 2016, Women and Profits, para. 1). Recently men

and women have been negotiating more at a steady rate; however more women that negotiate are

being penalized for it (Sandburg, 2016, p. 12). The study done by LeanIn and Mckinsey in 2016

reported, women are 30 percent more likely than men who negotiate to receive feedback that

they are intimidating, too aggressive, or bossy and 67 percent more likely than women

who do not negotiate to receive the same negative feedback (Sandburg, 2016, p. 12). Correcting

the issue of gender diversity in the workplace will not only make employees think employers are

successful with equal opportunities, also employees will create more time for work and be more

engaged in meeting deadlines and holding themselves responsible for completing tasks to the

best of their ability.

Conclusion

Summary

Gender diversity and the styles they use in teaching and guiding followers are both

important in every day success of an organization. Throughout this literature review the main

areas of each have been addressed and still today there are several parts of leadership that are a

concern in organizations. Based on the results of a survey of more than 34,000 employees from

thirty-nine companies, women face a workplace skewed in favor of men and a steeper
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 13

path to leadership (Sandburg, 2016). Creating gender equality overall in leadership roles and

making both men and women be prepared for the same opportunities is a giant step in a positive

direction.

Research

Research on this topic beginning in the late 1800s to the early 1900s until today has

narrowed down the main problematic topics of why leadership roles have become such a diverse

subject. Although this has been a topic studied for over 17 years, this is still a topic to be

researched. Research indicates establishing a process to attack the negative impact gender

diversity has on organizations will increase profitability and employee retention.

Outlook for Concern

In turn this will decrease the differences in leadership roles and create gender equality

throughout organizations. However, organizations need to set the parameters for who is

responsible and take action in moving forward to a more diverse and equal workplace.
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 14

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