Women – better leaders than men? In general and educational management it still “all depends”

The growing impact of women in the workforce has kept the leadership style of women on the research agenda. Reviews some of the current thinking on women and leadership, drawing on general and educational management literature. Particular attention is paid to management in education because of: the continued pressure on the higher educational sector generally to be publicly accountable that indicates a specific need for effective leadership; the fact that at the school level, leadership is a central theme in the literature on organizational improvement and educational reform; and education is a field numerically dominated by women, yet despite some evidence of a growing willingness of women to take up leadership positions in the field, educational leadership is still a male preserve. Concludes with a synopsis of some of the factors that may account for differences in leadership style.

[1]  S. J. Smits,et al.  The feminization of leadership , 1994 .

[2]  Francis J. Yammarino,et al.  Women and transformational and contingent reward leadership: A multiple-levels-of-analysis perspective. , 1997 .

[3]  Patricia A. Schmuck.  Women’s Place in Educational Administration: Past, Present, and Future , 1996 .

[4]  Clare Rigg,et al.  Gender, Diversity and Working Styles , 1994 .

[5]  G. Lyons,et al.  The Competent Head: A Job Analysis Of Headteachers' Tasks And Personality Factors , 1996 .

[6]  J. Bruce Tracey,et al.  The Relevance of Charisma for Transformational Leadership in Stable Organizations , 1999 .

[7]  E. Maccoby,et al.  The Psychology of Sex Differences , 1974 .

[8]  B. Bass,et al.  Superiors' evaluations and subordinates' perceptions of transformational and transactional leadership. , 1988 .

[9]  D. Cantor,et al.  Women in Power, The Secrets of Leadership , 1992 .

[10]  M. Jewell,et al.  Legislative Leadership in the American States , 1994 .

[11]  M. Coleman.  Women as Headteachers: Striking the Balance , 2003 .

[12]  C. Shakeshaft.  Women in Educational Administration , 1987 .

[13]  Daewoo Park,et al.  Gender role, decision style and leadership style , 1996 .

[14]  J. Moss,et al.  Gender, Leadership, and Vocational Education. , 1995 .

[15]  Gender Differences in the Relationship of Hall Directors' Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Achieving Styles. , 1991 .

[16]  B. Bass,et al.  Transformational Leadership: Beyond Initiation and Consideration , 1990 .

[17]  O. C. Brenner.  Relationship of education to sex, managerial status, and the managerial stereotype. , 1982 .

[18]  Virginia W. Cooper.  Homophily or the Queen Bee Syndrome , 1997 .

[19]  P. Ramsden.  Learning to lead in higher education , 1991 .

[20]  Allen C. Bluedorn,et al.  Men and Women of the Corporation , 1978 .

[21]  E. Schein.  Organizational Culture and Leadership , 1991 .

[22]  D. Campbell,et al.  Perceptions of appropriate leadership style: Participation versus consultation across two cultures , 1993 .

[23]  Thomas J. Sergiovanni.  Value-added leadership : how to get extraordinary performance in schools , 1990 .

[24]  Blair T. Johnson,et al.  Gender and Leadership Style: A Meta-Analysis , 1990 .

[25]  Tricia Vilkinas,et al.  COMPETENCES OF AUSTRALIAN WOMEN IN MANAGEMENT , 1993 .

[26]  G. Powell.  One More Time: Do Female and Male Managers Differ? , 1990 .

[27]  김종식.  동아시아 문화와 경영, Geert Hofstede, Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (Beverly Hills, CA:Sage Publications, 1980) ; and Cultures and Organizations : Software of the Mind (New York:McGraw-Hill, 1997) , 1999 .

[28]  Ronald J. Burke,et al.  Women in management : current research issues , 1994 .

[29]  Robert E. Quinn,et al.  Becoming a Master Manager: A Competency Framework , 1996 .

[30]  M. Reavley.  Who Needs Training: Women or Organisations? , 1989 .

[31]  J. Blackmore.  Troubling women : feminism, leadership, and educational change , 1999 .

[32]  P. Wright,et al.  Preferential selection and stereotypes: Effects on evaluation of female leader performance, subordinate goal commitment, and task performance , 1995 .

[33]  U. Sekaran,et al.  Gender considerations in school management: masculine and feminine leadership styles , 1987 .

[34]  P. Earley,et al.  Culture, self-identity, and work , 1993 .

[35]  J. B. Rosener.  Ways women lead. , 1990, Harvard business review.

[36]  L. L. Ronk.  Gender gaps within management. , 1993, Nursing management.

[37]  F. Schwartz,et al.  Management Women and the New Facts of Life , 1989 .

[38]  Sally Helgesen.  The female advantage : women's ways of leadership , 1990 .

[39]  M. Coleman.  The female secondary headteacher in England and Wales: leadership and management styles , 2000 .

[40]  Thomas J. Sergiovanni.  Leadership and Excellence in Schooling. , 1984 .

[41]  L. Atwater,et al.  The Transformational and Transactional Leadership of Men and Women , 1996 .

[42]  V. E. Schein.  Relationships between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics among female managers. , 1975, The Journal of applied psychology.

[43]  Ik-Whan G. Kwon,et al.  Leadership and power relationships based on culture and gender , 1998 .

[44]  Steven J. Karau,et al.  The Effect of Gender Role, Attitude toward Leadership, and Self-Confidence on Leader Emergence: Implications for Leadership Development. [and] Invited Reaction: Gender, Social Roles, and the Emergence of Leaders. , 1999 .

[45]  K. Kearns.  Institutional Accountability in Higher Education: A Strategic Approach , 1998 .

[46]  Robert R. Blake,et al.  The Managerial Grid: Key Orientations For Achieving Production Through People , 1972 .

[47]  C. Rosenthal.  A View of Their Own: Women's Committee Leadership Styles and State Legislatures , 1997 .

[48]  Michael D. Thompson.  Gender, Leadership Orientation, and Effectiveness: Testing the Theoretical Models of Bolman & Deal and Quinn , 2000 .

[49]  Marika Tiggemann,et al.  Gender differences in leadership style, job stress and mental health in male- and female-dominated industries , 1999 .

[50]  V. E. Schein.  The relationship between sex role stereotypes and requisite management characteristics. , 1973, The Journal of applied psychology.

[51]  Paula Johnson.  Women and Power: Toward a Theory of Effectiveness , 1976 .

[52]  Y. Cheng,et al.  Perceptions of women principals’ leadership and teachers’ work attitudes , 1997 .

[53]  M. Davidson,et al.  THINK MANAGER, THINK MALE , 1993 .

[54]  L. R. Hoffman,et al.  Management of Organizational Behavior. , 1970 .

[55]  Y. Cheng.  Principal's Leadership as a Critical Factor for School Performance: Evidence from Multi‐Levels of Primary Schools 1 , 1994 .

[56]  Joseph C. Burke,et al.  Meeting the Performance Funding Challenge: A Nine-State Comparative Analysis , 1998 .

[57]  Valerie Hall,et al.  Dancing on the Ceiling: A Study of Women Managers in Education , 1996 .

[58]  M. Coleman,et al.  Women in Educational Management in China: experience in Shaanxi Province , 1998 .

[59]  Karen J. Maher.  Gender-Related Stereotypes of Transformational and Transactional Leadership , 1997 .

[60]  B. Alimo‐Metcalfe.  An investigation of female and male constructs of leadership and empowerment , 1995 .

[61]  Vj Hall.  Women in Educational Management , 1993 .

[62]  J. Evetts.  Becoming a secondary headteacher , 1994 .

[63]  Karen Korabik,et al.  Should Women Managers Have to Act like Men , 1989 .

[64]  G. Hofstede,et al.  Culture′s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values , 1980 .

[65]  G. Powell,et al.  The “Good Manager”: Masculine or Androgynous? , 1979 .

[66]  Jennifer J. Deal,et al.  Perceptions of Female and Male Managers in the 1990s: Plus ça change . . . , 1998 .

[67]  H. Silins.  Effective Leadership for School Reform. , 1992 .

[68]  S. Valentine,et al.  Supervisor gender, leadership style, and perceived job design , 2000 .

[69]  G. Powell,et al.  Effect of group performance, leader sex, and rater sex on ratings of leader behavior. , 1981 .

[70]  S. Carless.  Gender Differences in Transformational Leadership: An Examination of Superior, Leader, and Subordinate Perspectives , 1998 .

[71]  J. Osland,et al.  A Comparative Study of Managerial Styles among Female Executives in Nicaragua and Costa Rica , 1998 .

[72]  B. Bass.  LEADERSHIP AND PERFORMANCE BEYOND EXPECTATIONS , 1985 .

[73]  V. Druskat.  Gender and leadership style: Transformational and transactional leadership in the Roman Catholic Church , 1994 .

[74]  Hope-Arlene Fennell.  Power in the principalship: four women’s experiences , 1999 .

[75]  U. Sekaran,et al.  Effects of supervisor's gender on American women's trust. , 1994, Journal of Social Psychology.

[76]  Victor H. Vroom,et al.  Sex differences in the incidence and evaluation of participative leader behavior. , 1982 .

[77]  Gary N. Powell,et al.  The "Good Manager" , 1989 .

[78]  Marilyn Loden.  Feminine leadership, or, How to succeed in business without being one of the boys , 1985 .

[79]  S. Bem.  The measurement of psychological androgyny. , 1974, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[80]  Katherine C. Naff,et al.  Gender Differences and Managerial Competencies , 1998 .

[81]  R. Stupak,et al.  Managing in the '90s: the androgynous manager , 1989 .

[82]  C. Riches,et al.  Human resource management in education , 1989 .

[83]  J. Pounder.  “New leadership” and university organisational effectiveness: exploring the relationship , 2001 .

[84]  Harsh K. Luthar.  Gender differences in evaluation of performance and leadership ability: Autocratic vs. democratic managers , 1996 .

[85]  G. Brandser.  Women ‐ the new heroes of the business world? , 1996 .

[86]  Jan Grant,et al.  Women as managers: What they can offer to organizations , 1988 .

[87]  K. Leithwood.  Leadership for School Restructuring , 1994 .

[88]  Jennifer P Colwill,et al.  Women, Leadership and Information Technology. The Impact of Women Leaders in Organizations and the Role in Integrating Information Technology with Corporate Strategy. , 1999 .

[89]  Kathryn M. Bartol,et al.  Sex effects in evaluating leaders. , 1976 .

[90]  C. Gibson.  An Investigation of Gender Differences in Leadership Across Four Countries , 1995 .

[91]  Brian J. Caldwell,et al.  Leading the self-managing school , 1992 .

[92]  Deanne N. Den Hartog,et al.  Transactional versus transformational leadership: An analysis of the MLQ. , 1997 .

[93]  A. Bryman.  Charisma And Leadership In Organizations , 1993 .

[94]  G. Yukl,et al.  Leadership in Organizations , 1981 .

[95]  A. Myers,et al.  Demographics and leadership philosophy: exploring gender differences , 1998 .

[96]  P. Maassen,et al.  Peer review en performance indicators : Quality assessment in British and Dutch higher education , 1990 .

[97]  Barbara R. Oates,et al.  Women′s leadership styles: a heuristic analysis , 1995 .