Final Lit Rev
Final Lit Rev
Ametta Roe
Professor Loughran
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
Outline
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
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).
followers and making the world a better place, rather than focusing on out-of-date processes and
Transactional Leadership
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 4
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
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
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
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
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
Gender Diversity
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
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
Training Outlook
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
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).
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
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
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
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
References
Beer, M., Finnstrom, M., & Schrader, D. (2015, October 08). Why leadership training fails-and
https://hbr.org/2016/10/why-leadership-training-fails-and-what-to-do-about-it
Benioff: Equal pay for men and women is critical. (2015, September 30). The Wall Street
pay-for-men-and-women-is-critical/99331169-9C31-4615-88A2-2649D8D24A84.html
Blau, F., & Kahn, L. (2000). Gender differences in pay. The Journal of Economic
Eagly, A., & Carli, L. (2003, September 5). The female leadership advantage: An evaluation of
doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2003.09.004.
http://academics.wellesley.edu/Psychology/Psych/Faculty/Carli/FemaleLeadershipAdvant
age.pdf
Eagly, A., & Johannesen-Schmidt, M. (2001). The leadership styles of women and men. Journal
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/0022-4537.00241/abstract
http://prevetteresearch.net/wp-content/uploads/image/leadership/management/Gender
%20Differences%20in%20Leadership.pdf
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 15
Gill, E. (2014(a), November 24). What is Laissez-Faire Leadership? How Autonomy Can Drive
Success. St. Thomas University Online. Retrieved September 21, 2016, from
http://online.stu.edu/laissez-faire-leadership/
Gill, E. (2014(b), November 24). What is Transactional Leadership? How Autonomy Can Drive
Success. St. Thomas University Online. Retrieved September 21, 2016, from
http://online.stu.edu/transactional-leadership/
Gill, E. (2014(c), November 24). What is Transformational Leadership? How Autonomy Can
Drive Success. St. Thomas University Online. Retrieved September 21, 2016, from
http://online.stu.edu/transformational-leadership/
Leban, W., Zulauf, C., (2004),"Linking emotional intelligence abilities and transformational
leadership styles", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 25 Iss 7 pp.
Lublin, J. S. (2016, September 27). How companies are different when more women are in
power. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 29, 2016, from
http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-companies-are-different-when-more-women-are-in-
power-1474963802
Miller, K. (2015). The simple truth about the gender pay gap (Fall 2016). The American
http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/
Sandberg, S. (2016, September 27). Sheryl Sandberg: Women Are Leaning In-but They Face
Pushback. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 27, 2016, from
http://www.wsj.com/articles/sheryl-sandberg-women-are-leaning-inbut-they-face-
pushback-1474963980
Gender Differences in Leadership Styles 16
Women in the Workplace: A Research Roundup. (2014, September 31). Harvard Business
workplace-a-research-roundup
Waller, N. (2016, September 27). How men and women see the workplace differently. The Wall
and-women-see-the-workplace-differently/
Women in the Labor Force: A Databook (2009 Edition). (n.d.). United States Department of
http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-intro-2009.htm