Unit 4 Discussion Board - Essay Example

Agree or Disagree I do not totally agree with the above ment. Though it is right that the changing dynamics of doing business demand that the organizations must look for the new and more active and agile leadership which has the vision and capability to look into the future and decide about how the future of the history take place. One also needs to understand that leadership in its essence a combination of different factors including the personal traits of the leaders however what makes a leader successful is his or her ability to create the associations with the followers.

Creating the sort of association with the followers probably derive all other associated activities with leadership. In this regard, it therefore not matter whether we need a new generation of leadership as well as new gender. As long as leadership can and should associate itself with the followers, there arises hardly a need to argue for a shift in the ways leadership is pursued and practiced. Though it has been argued that leadership has been viewed and studied with respect to the masculinity (-Metcalfe, 2002) however this is not the fact in its entirety.

It must be noted that almost all the leadership whether in the corporate world or in political world was masculine and it was probably because of this reason that the leadership has mostly being studied within that context.Gender related leadership and management traitsIn order to be an effective leader, there are various personal traits and qualities which a leader must have in order to be effective. These include from motivating the employees to making decisions of strategic nature. However, these traits are not gender specific in nature however there are certain attributes specific to both male and female leaders which both make them effective in their fields and leadership is largely gender neutral.

(Gedney, 1999). However historically the evolution of leadership theories started with the focus on the masculine characteristics of the leaders. The so called Great Man theories of 1930s and 1940s greatly emphasized on the personal characteristics of the leaders including their intelligence, personal charisma etc. The great man theories largely emphasized on the role of males into the leadership however that was an era where there were very few opportunities left for the women to participate into the mainstream economy.

Lack of opportunity was therefore the main reason behind the development of theoretical framework which were largely focusing on the masculine characteristics o f the leaders. This has historical connotations also because the earlier leaders were mainly males having strong military skills. It was because of this reason, that the leadership was associated with the physical dexterity as well as whim. It was because of this reason that the leadership was largely associated with the males.However, as discussed above, the later research and the participation of women into the mainstream economic activities suggested otherwise that leadership is not necessarily the domain of males but women can be as effective as leaders as males are.

Works CitedGedney, C. R. (1999). LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS AND GENDER. Retrieved April 13, 2008, from Air University: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/acsc/99-061.pdf.-Metcalfe, B. A. (2002). Leadership & Gender: A Masculine Past, A femisit future. Retrieved April 13, 2008, from http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk: http://www.womenandequalityunit.gov.uk/research/gender_research_forum/grf_papers_feb_june/cer_fin_gen_lea_pap.pdf