Gender Management & Emerging Practices in Leadership Development - Article Example

Gender Management & Emerging Practices in Leadership Development Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Lecturer Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 6th January, 2013. Abstract The review encompasses two articles which are separately. The first is about gender management. It talks about doing and behaving according to one’s gender. It gives the aspect that, there are people who have binary gender that is, they can behave as feminine or masculine depending on the situation. It concludes by giving the organization the duty to create a culture where it is going to teach and assist people to adopt and do their gender. The second one is talking about emerging practices in the leadership theories. It gives an outline of how the leadership theories and whether they are being used today and other emerging other theories. Introduction. The article is talking about gender and management research. The article is trying to bring about the rank of gender and implications that gender has in management. There is emphasis laid on doing the gender well. This means that one has to do and behave according to the way the biological sex determines. Individuals can perform exaggerated expressions about their gender. The article reviews the various ways in which gender is exhibited and tries to show whether gender can be undone (Park, Heilman& Hearns 2007 pp 237-247). The article looks at the implications of doing gender well and the corresponding implications of doing gender differently. It gives an insight of the theoretical ranking and presents the authors understanding about doing gender well versus doing gender differently for the purpose of research and practice. There are the example which is used to use to illustrate the above implications in entrepreneurship, female misogyny and queen Bee (west and Zimmerman 2007 pp 112-122). Doing gender well and doing gender differently. Two previous cited authors West and Zimmerman, in their work they try to distinguish sex category, sex and gender when trying to explain the concept of doing gender. They try to demonstrate how sex category is what intersects sex and gender. Sex is biological classification of people as male and females. Sex category is where one considered a certain sex according to the external marks of sex (Risman 2009 pp 81-84). This is done when the there is absence of information that can provide biological assistance. Individuals under this category are classified due to clothing, facial hair, and broadness of the shoulder among other categories. The relationship which should be defined between gender and sex category is one being recognized as belonging to certain sex category and doing what the culture expects of him. Gender is not what someone possesses but it is a process of interaction and activities that result to expressions of masculine or feminine natures (west and Zimmerman 2007 pp 112-122). Exaggerated expressions of doing gender. Individuals are said to belong to particular sex category due to their doing gender. Individuals who do occupations that in most cases in the context of the society are perceived as morally, socially and physically tainted are somehow said to exaggerate. In effect such persons are able to reposition their work and the worker is seen honorable (Risman 2009 pp81-84).These workers try to do gender well in order to show an outward positive picture. For instance, a butcher uses sharp objects and they work in very cold conditions. Such persons take the pride of being able to survive in such temperatures. The butcher will be seen as tougher than other men hence this is exaggeration of doing gender. In the case of women like the one who do dancing they pay attention to body outlook, their sexual looking bodies is quite exaggerating and but their services are demanded more when they dress as such and this shows that they are trying to do their gender (west and Zimmerman 2007 pp 112-122). Simultaneous and multiple expressions of feminity and masculinity. Gender binary do exist and very apparent for the women in management and also in leadership. For instance a dancer may have freedom and sexual exploration yet and are also moral enough to afford a partner (Risman 2009 pp 81-84). Implications for gender in entrepreneurship The definition of the word and the expectations from being the entrepreneur are all centered on the masculine gender. The linguistic explanations, expectations of the society and stereotypes do place entrepreneurship as masculine. For a woman to be thereby considered successful in entrepreneurial activities, she somehow has to do some of the male activities that is, has to do gender binary. Female entrepreneurial leaders have to try and practice masculine in order for them to exist among the men entrepreneurs thus they will be successful. They even participate in the men’s' sports like golf in the attempt to try and fit in both environments (Risman 2009 pp81-84). Research has shown women leaders distancing themselves from the traits of male entrepreneurial behaviors towards workers for example, being rational and ruthless. They are more nurturing and they thereby display feminine role. In the same situations the same women they still employ masculine traits. They at times can be ruthless and deal with employees with no the previously friendly and close relationship with the females. Female entrepreneurs do gender well by being gender binary that is, they play the role of women like being good wife and mother and masculine by taking risks and being ambitious while doing the business (west and Zimmerman 2007 pp 112-122). Queen bee and female misogyny These are used to show some hidden concept of gender. This aspect of queen bee is where women are the ones who are ready to do anything to the women in the organization who threaten her power. This is where women are in senior managerial ranks in an organization but they do not fulfill what the men and women expect as far as the gender is concerned or satisfy the needs of their family. Such women do dissociate themselves from their gender and they do contribute to the gender stereotyping of the fellow women (west and Zimmerman 2007 pp 112-122). One aspect that is hidden is individuals can exaggerate consciously or unconsciously on their own expressions of femininity or masculinity. A woman can be too feminine or exaggerate for her own personal gain. Female misogyny is the other hidden aspect where women in an organization have negative relations. Women in top ranks in the organization are not viewed well by other women. In the case of men they can be able to openly compete as well as support each other but the women do compete without assisting each other (Risman 2009 pp81-84). Conclusion The management and practitioners of any organization should therefore develop a good organizational culture. This will help in eliminating the cases of female misogyny sand the negative intra relations among women in an organization. They should develop it so as to encourage doing gender in a multiple manner hence offering more and good opportunity of doing the gender well. The culture is also vital in assisting men to learn about safety and effectiveness in their work and hence avoid gender exaggeration hence doing the gender appropriately (Risman 2009 pp81-84). Emerging Practices in Leadership Development Leadership is a process through which a person influences other persons in order for them through the combined effort they accomplish certain outlined goals and objectives in an organization. Leadership development encompasses interaction of different leaders and the environment in which they operate in their daily life. There are various theories of leadership and different approaches (Kang & Stewart 2007 pp 531-557). The one discussed are those that form the basis of leadership development. They include: First, Leader –member exchange theory .The theory stresses on the importance of the leader member relationship. Various relationships are studied and the outcome is considered to see if it is positive (Sudbrack & Trombley 2007 pp 251-260). There has not being sufficient evidence of the practical application of the model though there is a lot research which have been on this. Second one is situational leadership where certain skills are applied depending on the conditions of the work (Trehan 2007 pp 72-82). Researchers have argued that leadership requires being supportive, and providing the direction and this is done depending on the competence of the follower and also commitment required in the task. This approach is widely used in most companies because preferably it has been marketed enough. This has been done by the human resource consultancy firms. It is popular also due to its universal application across the variety of fields (Kang & Stewart 2007 pp 531-557). Third is transformational leadership. This gives rise to other three leadership behaviors: transactional leadership where there is exchange of certain favors between the follower and the leader. This is inform of reward for good achievement or punishment for failure to achieve (Trehan 2007 pp 72-82). There is transformational leadership, the leader and the followers create a connection that as result raises level of commitment and motivation to both leader and the followers. There is Laissez-faire where people are left on their own to manage. Transformational leadership dwells on the idea that the leader joins hand with others and makes good connections that leads to the rise in the level of commitment in the organization, motivation and morale to the followers and the leaders (Kang & Stewart 2007 pp 531-557). In transactional leadership motivation in the group is driven by ability in the leader to take and also give correct measures and rewards when and in the case an action is done. Transformational leadership has the trait of the followers being compelled to show response to their leaders influence. The leaders in this case assist the followers to see deep in and good sight of the task ahead. The leader treats them uniquely and shows them they are substantial and tries to feed them with the notion one as a leader has in mind. So far there is evidence which is outlining that the model is used in the leadership development industries and also in the leadership training. Fourth one is authentic leadership which is not yet fully in practice. It involves creating self awareness and also developing a self-regulated behavior which is positive on both followers and the leader. This ensures positive development. It dwells on the criteria of ethics, positive psychology, leadership and also organizational scholarship. The method is one of the latest developments and it is still in the process of validation (Sudbrack & Trombley 2007 pp 251-260). It traces the origin to the year 1990s, this was when consultants and also the psychologists were doing training and coaching. This led to high ethical standards which guided the decision making process and the behaviors of persons. Recent studies have shown that in the model there is relational transparency, balanced processing and internationalized moral perspective. Fifth is the servant leadership where the leader is also a part of the followers and they carry out the tasks together (Trehan 2007 pp 72-82). This dwells on the notion of distributing powers to the ones who are following a leader. The leaders are seen as serving their followers whom they are leading. This is a move meant to make and increase the capacity of the followers. This model has been employed by the not for profit organizations and programs. This approach has the support of internal human resource departments and also consulting organization (Kang & Stewart 2007 pp 531-557). There is also the promising development from the complexity theory. This theory emphasizes on hierarchy of leader- follower and their relationship. It also tries to define the role of the leader as far as developing directions and organizational values are concerned. It shows and depicts leadership as complex interactions and behaviors of various persons in an organization. The developers are interested in determining how interactions between persons in an organization lead to evolving of certain patterns which therefore lead to shaping of the organizational strategies (Sudbrack & Trombley 2007 pp 251-260). Leader assimilation is another theory. This type is facilitated by a practitioner who is either internal or external. The facilitator meets with the team which is being led, and gathers information about the current leader of the group. The facilitator trains and coaches the leader using the criteria gathered and organizes one on one forum of the leader with the followers and uses the feedback from the team as the topic (Kang & Stewart 2007 pp 531-557). To conclude the leadership model will always depend on case of application. Various models do exist as discussed and still there are others which are even being developed at current. Some of them are universal but the others cannot be applied everywhere (Sudbrack & Trombley 2007 pp 251-260).Every organization should try to come up and determine which model to apply where. Practitioners should try to integrate the models and come up with few methods that are applicable to different situations hence avoid the cases of so many models being in place. References Kang, D. & Stewart, J. (2007). Leader–member exchange (LMX) theory or leadership And HRD: Development of units and laws of interaction. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 28, 531-551. Sudbrack, B., & Trombley, S. (2007). Lost: A survival guide to leadership theory. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 9(2), 251-260. Trehan, K. (2007). Psychodynamic and critical perspectives on leadership development. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 9(1), 72-82. West, C. and Zimmerman, D.H. (2009), “Accounting for doing gender”, Gender & Society, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 112-122. Risman, B. (2009), “From doing to undoing: gender as we know it”, Gender & Society, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 81-84. Park-Stamm, E.J., Heilman, M.E. and Hearns, K.A. (2008), “Motivated to penalize: women’s Strategic rejection of successful women”, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 34 No. 2, pp. 237-247. Read More