Women in Business and Management - Research Paper Example

 Women in Business and Managemen Sr. No Topic Page 1 Abstract 3 2 Introduction 4 3 Literature Review 5 4 Methodology 7 5 Results 8 6 Discussion 9 7 Conclusion 10 8 Recommendations 10 9 References 11 ABSTRACT The research report basically analyses the difference between the theory and the actuality between the theories of leadership we study. One of the contemporary issues that are present in organizations today is seeing women in leadership. Women are stereotyped to be soft-hearted and unable to lead an organization. They are considered as secondary and one would always imagine a man to be a leader. Women are considered to be compassionate and this is termed as their strength, however, the common notion is that this personality trait doesn’t help them become a great leader. To gauge the truth in these notions, Miss Sandra Harding of James Cook University was interviewed for this research report. She is an immaculate leader of modern times and she has leaded her organization to success through one post or the other. Upon research it was found that her personality traits of compassion and empathy have been instrumental in making her a great leader. She never faced any stereotyping issues, majorly because the people that she works within are from the academics who have been great advocates of equality amongst both the genders. She considers teamwork as necessary to become a great leader; giving equal importance to all in such a situation. Also, she believes that without the support of a support system, either friends, or family, it is impossible to work as hard and give your full attention to work and related matters. Therefore, support is important as well. All in all, there are many similarities between the theories that we have studied and in the reality, however, women are now becoming empowered to become leaders and be good at it as well. INTRODUCTION Leadership is the process by which one individual influences others to accomplish desired goals. Within the business organization, the leadership process takes to form of a manager who influences subordinates to accomplish goals defined by top management. Leadership is a phenomenon which changes in a variety of ways when it comes to the gender which has occupied this responsibility. The women is a delicate being by nature, and taking such a powerful position, that of a leader demands a balancing act between these sensitivity and command. (Miller, 2010) The social structure that we live in is mainly dominated by men. And thus, when women occupy such a strong position, one in which many men would have to abide by what she says or where the final word will be hers, the phenomenon becomes complicated, and its dynamics change than what they were if a man had been a leader. This report focuses on the fairer sex taking on the role of a leader, and the changes then come in the perception, attitudes, and responses to the women when she is fulfilling her responsibilities. (Jean-Marie, 2009) A women leader has been interviewed for her management style, the responses that she gets, the perceptions that are created as soon as it is known that a women is leading the organization, and the comfort level that she is able to generate with the human resources she is leading. All these various factors are the issues that a women leader faces in her daily work life, and a change in the course of action and intellect has to be brought about in the mindsets of the masses to give more breathing space to the women leader. Therefore, the report also provides with the recommendations for how the women leader should lead for more successful management. LITERATURE REVIEW – LEADERSHIP There may be two different kinds of leadership in any organization: formal leaders and informal leaders. The two are not the same, yet both may exercise leadership behavior in influencing others. A formal leader is someone officially vested with organizational authority and power, and is generally given the title of supervisor, manager or executive. The amount of power is theoretically determined by the position occupied with the organization. An informal leader will not have a formal leadership title, but will exercise a leadership function.  Without organizational authority, assignment of power, position or even responsibility, an informal leader (by virtue of a personal attribute or superior performance) may influence others and act in leadership capacity. (Perriton, 2009) Women, usually have formal leadership roles in organizations, because on an informal level, hardly anyone would take their orders and decisions, especially men. And for a woman to travel the hierarchy to reach the leader position, it takes a long time and strenuous struggle. Research indicates that when people think of a leader, the first image that comes to their mind is that of a male. Moreover, since there is so much of incongruence between a women's sensitive nature and a leader's rigorous and commanding personality, people expect that if a woman is a leader, she has to be compassionate and soft spoken. And they are not accepted when they are not. They have to be friendly and pro-people if they want her workers to accept her. Moreover, it is also very generally known, but has not been verified from research, that women talk excessively. Thus, when women leaders are doing the talking, giving out orders or talking on the modus operandi for their next decisions, people usually filter out a lot of what they are saying, or they would never let it put an impact on themselves, even if she is speaking substance. (Gupta, 2009) Therefore, a woman has to face many prejudices against her when she is at the workplace, occupying that prime position of a leader. The biases will be present in many situations, as far as how she is received by her colleagues and other stakeholders, whether she is giving a speech or representing her company in public. The study of previous works tells that there are many leadership theories that govern the literature which has been written on this topic. Some of them are the style theory, the trait theory, the fiedler's contingency theory and the house's path –goal theory. Some of them are behavior-centered, while some are person-centered. Half of them will easily qualify for having a universal approach, while half stand good for a situation-specific approach. When it comes to a women leader, she will be more comfortable in adapting a person-centered theoretical approach, which is defined by the trait theory and the fielder’s contingency theory, because compassion is a trait which is expected from all women leaders, whether she is ready to offer it or not. (Valerio, 2009) THE WOMAN IN SPOTLIGHT - PROFESSOR SANDRA HARDING, PRESIDENT AND VICE-CHANCELLOR OF JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY The dynamic leader that has been chosen for interviewing and learning insights regarding women leadership is none other than Professor Sandra Harding. She is the President and Vice Chancellor of James Cook University, based in Tropical Australia. She has been instrumental is guiding the university towards its current position, assuming the role of a leader since January 2007. She has authored and co-authored a number of books and assumed a number of responsibilities in the past related to the organization. As the Dean of Faculty of Business, she was the one over-looking the international education policy, development of plan and executives, along with the management of various public venues held at the university. At the current position, she is on the board of directors of Universities in Australia, director of Townsville Enterprise Limited, Member of premier’s smart council, amongst many other positions. All in all, she has been a dynamic personality and has played a leading role in the development of the university and various other initiatives; perfect for the role model in today’s society (James Cook University, 2010). James Cook University, which is situated in Northern Queensland, Australia, is known for the quality of research and the flora and fauna in which the university is situated. It is a multi-campus institution with a number of campuses present, scattered across Australia as well as in Singapore. The organization recognizes the importance of having linkages with the local economy as instrumental in helping the economy of the region grow; therefore, they believe in making their students ready for the Australian economy and region so that they can become a positive contributor towards the economy of Australia (James Cook University About, 2010). METHODOLOGY Research methodology, is of prime importance in any sort of research that is conducted. The kind of methods which are used for research, depend upon the kind of information that is sought through it, the time and cost constraints etc. However, it is important for any research to use the right kind of method, to extract the right information for the research; otherwise the whole purpose of the research is lost. This is a qualitative research, where we are just investigating the difference between the theories that we have studied and the actual human behavior that too of a renowned personality; hence, the best way would be to conduct an interview. An interview can help us get firsthand knowledge regarding the experiences that the subject has had, allowing us to question further if something is unclear in the first response. The interviewer can also adapt the questions according the interviewee’s responses and thought processes, in order to extract more information. Any non-verbal communication that may be present in the form of nervousness, stress related to certain questions can also be gauged. Therefore, the interview would be perfect for such a research. RESULTS With the help of the interview, some very interesting facts came to the knowledge. A number of pointed questions were asked regarding her journey towards becoming the women of substance that she is today. According to her, in the field that she operates is that of academics. Therefore, the people here are being taught regarding equality and encouraged to practice such equality in all sorts of endeavors. Therefore, she didn’t feel any partial attitude from any of her colleagues at any point in time. In fact, the people she was working were very supportive of her success (Michele, 2008). Another important factor that Sandra Harding pointed to the presence of a support system as significant; be it the support of the family, friends of colleagues. When one is in the leadership position, there is bound to be a lot of hard work, effort and time put into the work to ensure the best quality of work. Without putting in the efforts and time, results can never pass the satisfactory mark. When it comes to workplace disagreements and squabbles over policy issues or administrative ones, Sandra feels that she has always been supportive of the different kinds of inputs put forward by the team, as every one of them provides a different angle towards the same picture, however, in positions where she has the authority, she tries to take the decision which is best for the situation. On teamwork, Sandra believes that team work is very important in today’s dynamic work environment. In team, people liberate their truest potential and are able to deliver their best. A well-matched team is the key towards better team work. She has been a compassionate leader, just like all women leaders are expected to be. She believes it provides her with an insight that her male counterparts are unable to identify. Being compassionate helps her to extract more performance from her colleagues as they feel more attached towards the cause, the leader and hence produce better performance. DISCUSSION The responses that have been gathered from the dynamic personality of Sandra Harding have revealed many traits of her personality that have taken her to great heights in her career. She has been empathetic towards the colleagues and takes everybody’s input from her team. She knows how to lead from the front. On asking her if she was a situational leader and not a born one, she stay neutral saying that in her opinion, she feels that the people who end up as leaders have been going through situations in their lifetimes that demand leadership from them. This develops the leadership traits in them, of confidence, leading and of having an opinion and a following. Therefore, she feels throughout her academics she had been leading in one way or the other that became evident later in her career where she now is leading a reputed organization of Australia. The responses that have been gathered from her reveal that she has been a situational leader, where she adapted her style of leadership according to the needs and requirements of the situation at hand. She has been fortunate to have her colleagues who have supported her progress up the ladder. The fact that she gives equal opportunity and importance to all members of her team is what makes her a great leader. Leadership is all about leading a bunch of leaders from the front. Therefore, by giving equal importance and footing, she enhances their self confidence, provides them with situations where they can prove themselves and they never let them down. This is an important trait that is usually missing in the other gender when it comes to leadership (Bass, 2010). CONCLUSION Concluding the research, it can be seen that there are numerous similarities between the theory and reality. She is situational leader, developed her traits as she saw herself in situations where she learned to lead and it later became a part of her life. She is compassionate with the sub-ordinates and colleagues and that’s what makes her popular and gives her a following. She believes in teamwork and is an excellent negotiator; this gives her all the basic qualities of being a successful leader. It is with the help of these qualities that she has reached the level of expertise and honor that she is on today. She believes education is an important asset that she has; it got her where she is today. RECOMMENDATIONS Although the mix of traits that are present in her are providing her with success as she moves from one successful position to another; there may be certain areas where she can still enhance her capabilities as a leader. She can use a little more aggressiveness in her behavior towards situations in order to make better decision in the situations that demand aggressiveness. Her nature doesn’t seem aggressive and that is something that will provide her with an extra edge to her personality as people associate aggressiveness to men and not to women. Otherwise, she is a complete leader and her quality of regarding other members as leaders makes her an exceptional leader in her class. REFERENCES Paludi, M. (2008) the Psychology of Women at Work. ABC-CLIO Andrews, R., Basom, M. (1999) Instructional Leadership: Are women principles better. Principal. Leadership Competencies. (2010) Harvard Business School Press Books [serial online]. July 2010;:1. Available from: Business Source Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 23, 2010 Müller R, Turner R. (2010)Leadership competency profiles of successful project managers. International Journal of Project Management [serial online]. July 2010;28(5):437-448. Available from: Business Source Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 23, 2010 Jean-Marie G, Williams V, Sherman S. 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