Leadership and women

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Leadership theories and women
Bass, 1990, explains that the word ‘‘leadership’’ was initially used to explain political influence and control of the British Parliament in the 1800s. He further elaborates that leadership was based on heritage and appointment and used to take place often in Anglo-Saxon countries (Bass, 1990, p. 11). Katz and Kahn, 1966, p.334 expands that leadership is to acknowledge the skill to influence others on organisational relevance. Michener et al. (1990) described leadership ‘‘as a process that takes place in groups in which one member influences and controls the behaviour of the other members towards some common goal’’ (cited in Denmark, 1993, p. 343), signifying that the control of employees was a required aspect of effective leadership. The assumption therefore is that if someone is to lead, he should extend beyond influence. This comprises motivation and helping others to accomplish the goals of the organisation.

The Great Man theory of leadership assumed that personal attributes of a great man determined the course of history (Denmark, 1993). The great man was thought to have distinctive and exceptional features and traits that distinguished him from his followers (Bass, 1990). Only very few people were thought to have such abilities, which were believed to be inherent, in other words, leaders were born with these qualities (Denmark, 1993).
During this time, women were not taken into account as possible leaders. The name given to sum up this theory illustrates that women were not professed as leaders in any capacity, and even research on leadership during this period related exclusively to males. It is therefore proposed that the Great Man theory has not ascribed something towards raising the profil...

... middle of paper ...

...ational leadership styles into contemporary leadership theory provided a platform for observing gender differences in leadership styles.

This transactional leadership style appears to characterise leadership in tough manly traits, as it is renowned by ‘‘competitiveness, hierarchical authority and high control for the leader and analytical problem solving’’ (Klenke, 1993, p. 330) which is more distinctive of male behaviours. In contrast, women in general fit into a ‘‘feminine model of leadership build around cooperation, collaboration, lower control for the leader and problem solving based on feeling and rationality’’ (Klenke, 1993, p. 330). This style of leadership is closely aligned to transformational leadership with effective leaders being described as those who inspired their followers and enabled them to achieve the goals set by the organisation (Bass, 1985).

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