Women Leaders, Research Paper Example

I agree with the statement that we need not just a new generation of leadership but a new gender of leadership. This means that the challenges faced by organizations require leadership traits that are most often possessed by women leaders than men leaders. The corporate sector has traditionally preferred male leaders because of the assumption that women are indecisive, soft, and tend to be more relationship oriented than performance oriented as compared to men. But today’s organizations face unique challenges such as low employee morale due to lack of job security and uncertainty. It is certainly possible that the changing nature of the workplace calls for solutions to which women leaders are more suited than their male counterparts. For the organization to succeed, it’s important that the leaders do not only possess the ability to motivate their subordinates but also ensure their dedication to the future of the company as envisioned by the management.

A study by New Jersey-based management consulting firm, Caliper and London-based Aurora found that among other things, women leaders are more persuasive, more willing to take risks, more empathetic and flexible, have better interpersonal skills, better able to bring everyone on the same table, and better analyst of different situations (Lowen). Women also tend to be more democratic in their leadership style while men are mostly authoritarian. In today’s organizations, trust, teamwork, flexibility, and information sharing have become even more important and all of these changes create tremendous opportunities for women leaders (Puliaeva). According to Head of IBM’s Global Services Div., Douglas Elix, women think through decisions better than men, are more collaborative, and seek less personal glory (Business Week, 2000). It is clear that there are better times for women ahead because not only they are getting more college degrees than men, have increased participation in the workforce but also because their leadership styles are more effective in light of the changing reality of the corporate world.

References

Business Week. (2000, November 20). As Leaders, Women Rule. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_47/b3708145.htm

Lowen, L. (n.d.). Qualities of Women Leaders. Retrieved June 26, 2011, from http://womensissues.about.com/od/intheworkplace/a/WomenLeaders.htm

Puliaeva, K. (n.d.). Differences in Management: Do Male and Female Have Different Leadership Style? Retrieved June 26, 2011, from http://masters.donntu.edu.ua/publ2002/fem/puliaeva.pdf