International Leadership and Management Discussion Paper

Introduction

Organisational success is dependent on leadership. However, culture influences leadership, which explains the various methods corporations use (Ahmed et al., 2016). Women’s leadership in organisations varies among nations due to culture, gender stereotypes, and leadership style. Appelbaum, D’Antico, and Daoussis’ paper “Women as Leaders: The More Things Change, the More It Is the Same Thing” explores the relationship between leadership and gender in the Western world beyond examining men and women’s leadership inequalities. It also sets the stage for future research on women’s leadership, challenges, and solutions. In this perspective, women’s accomplishment in leadership is primarily based on their objective and relational competence.

Critical Analysis and Discussion

The literature has historically defined feminine and masculine leadership qualities, but current research indicates that today’s leaders may have begun to adopt both gender-linked attributes to become great leaders. Women’s advancement in senior leadership positions, as well as opinions of their aptitude to fill these roles, are heavily impacted by culture and circumstance. Appelbaum et al. (2019) state that leadership’s most important aspects are culture, gender stereotypes, and individual and interpersonal levels. It is critical to recognise that these characteristics influence leadership in many ways. Culture impacts women’s leadership because it shapes society’s opinion of women’s leadership. According to Appelbaum et al. (2019), gender roles and attitudes in enterprises are impacted by cultural context. As a result, it implies that culture affects society’s leadership opinion (Eklund et al., 2017). According to the authors, women were seen as caretakers in certain cultures, making it harder for them to seek leadership positions in businesses since they were supposed to remain at home caring for their families.

Culture is one of the essential variables highlighted in this research that significantly impacts leadership. Culture significantly impacts how people see gender and, by extension, leadership. Consequently, there is minimal bias in the appointment of executives in nations where egalitarianism is strongly advocated. It is increasingly problematic for women to contend on an equivalent footing against men for the same leadership positions when there is a considerable gender discrepancy owing to cultural variation. Some cultures believe that a woman’s responsibilities are limited to her family and raising children. Other cultures lay such substantial domineering duties on males to the extent that they are dissatisfied with taking commands from women. Consequently, women’s perceptions, judgments, and leadership positions are influenced differently (Eisner, 2013). Similarly, the authors assert that the leadership styles adopted by certain leaders are influenced by their gender. Sensitivity and tenderness, for example, are often seen as feminine qualities associated with poor administration in settings where women hold fewer positions of power than men. The authors show that I n spite of these prejudices, women are excellent leaders and are more empathetic and trustworthy than their male counterparts.  International Leadership and Management Discussion Paper

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Additionally, the authors establish that gender stereotypes and preconceptions have impacted leadership. For example, women’s roles as wives and mothers are emphasised in certain regions, limiting their access to leadership and corporate ranks. So, since women are perceived as housewives and mothers rather than leaders, they find it harder to take leadership roles in organisations like start-ups (Appelbaum et al., 2019). Gender stereotypes can contribute to discrimination against women in leadership roles. Seeing them in masculine positions implies that they are entering the realm of masculinity. According to the research, only 24 women (4.8 percent) were in Fortune 500 companies in 2018. Women’s presence on Fortune Global 100 companies’ executive committees has improved, but in 2017, women held only 22% of these executive committee roles in the Americas. Behavioral theory conflicts with this evidence. According to behavioural theory, leaders’ actions and behaviours are more important than their traits or qualities. Good leadership is said to be the result of several learned skills. Intelligent women are thus excluded from positions of power, even though their sexual traits warrant their exclusion.

The authors claim that in contemporary businesses, women frequently put in more effort than their male counterparts to obtain the same leadership results. According to the findings, evaluating women in leadership and management roles is very subjective. Due to the vague guidelines in the assessment techniques, there is an indication that leadership judgments have been distorted, bigoted, and prejudiced. Bias against women plays a role in the lack of female corporate executives, according to some researchers. In addition, research has revealed that the family issue must be considered; the notion of motherhood puts women at an additional handicap (Appelbaum et al., 2019). Organizations target all women of reproductive age, regardless of whether or not they want to have a family. International Leadership and Management Discussion Paper  While some women choose to put their professional development on wait to devote more time with their families, others find balancing family and work difficult. Traditional and cultural concerns regarding unequal duties for child, parent, and household care have been sluggish to change despite the rise in the number of families with two working parents, impeding the professional growth of women (Eden & Forquer, 2017). In the United States, women are 4-6 per cent more likely than males to have bachelor’s degrees, but women are up to 10% less likely to be employed full-time within these same generations.

Lessons from International Leadership and Recommendations

I have learned that various elements form or influence leadership. According to this module, some elements that impact leadership include a willingness and determination to work hard, want to improve leadership abilities and knowledge, a desire to have role models, gender inequities, and culture. As a result, the researchers concluded that, although women’s leadership has lately been recognised as critical, the growth of women’s leadership at the worldwide level is being disregarded. Fundamentally, cultural diversity has been identified as one of the barriers impeding women’s progress toward global leadership. After reading the module article, I realised that cultural variety creates a clear gender divide, making it more difficult for women to compete equally with males for the same international leadership roles. Most societies assume that a woman’s only responsibility at home is to be a caretaker. Other societies impose so many dominating obligations on males than men are dissatisfied with taking commands from women. As a result, this has various effects on women’s views, assessments, and, ultimately, their international leadership positions.

I learned that society’s culture in this module impacts that leadership. Consequently, understanding society’s culture is essential before applying a certain leadership model. According to the contingency theory, no one approach or administration model can be used in all situations. A leader must choose the best course of action while considering all possible variables that might affect the situation. The examination of the culture would assist the management in determining the method to take when dealing with disputes in the organisation. The second point is that promoting equality inside the organisation is critical. According to the report, this is because women encounter more significant hurdles in succeeding in their jobs than males (Appelbaum et al., 2019). As a result, when equality is implemented, everyone in the business has the same potential to grow in their careers. Finally, organisations should promote diversity and inclusiveness (Koland, 2015). Leaders should foster diversity by encouraging personnel from other cultures to work together. Leaders can also emphasise inclusion by ensuring that no employee feels excluded.

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Conclusion

The paper presents an informative perspective on the relationship between gender and leadership in Western society. The study yielded some conflicting results when comparing the effectiveness of male and female leadership. Numerous studies show that one leadership style has the most effect, but which sex has greater success as a leader remains unclear. Gender biases persist in our society and considerably influence the selection of leaders, as recent events have shown. Despite this, accepting same-sex couples and gender fluidity redefines society’s norms, so gender stereotypes are changing. In many societies, males had greater authority and influence because of their better social status. It has become more important to address the issues of gender and gender roles (regardless of sexual identity) because of recent changes. A review of current studies found that people are equally effective in leadership roles; nevertheless, the difficulty women have in proving their competence and trustworthiness makes it more difficult for them to compete with men for these positions.

The behavioural modification women must undergo to obtain a leadership position remains challenging. The cost versus reward for women in the workplace to achieve executive positions seems relatively significant. There are now too few women in top positions for female persuasion to be self-sustaining. A business-level strategic plan seems to be the long-term solution for cultural transformation, with financial incentives as the primary motivator for the shift. Attempting to modify culture, on the other hand, is very difficult and often fails, according to research and real-world case studies.

References

Ahmed, Zakeer & Nawaz, Allah & Khan, Irfan. (2016). Leadership Theories and Styles: A Literature Review. Journal of Resources Development and Management. 16.

Appelbaum, S., D’antico, V., Daoussis, C., & Molson, J. (2019, August). Women as Leaders The More Things Change, the More It’s the Same Thing. ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354376665_Women_as_Leaders_The_More_Things_Change_the_More_It’s_the_Same_Thing

Eden, L, Forquer, S., (2017). Culture and context matter: gender in international business and management, Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, 24(2), pp.194-210.

Eisner, S. (2013). Leadership: Gender and executive style. S.A.M. Advanced Management Journal, 78(1), pp. 26-41.

Eklund, K., Barry, E. and Grunberg, N. (2017). Gender Differences in Different Contexts. Intech, pp.129-143. https://dx.doi.org/10.5772/65457.

Koland, D.F. (2015). A New Game: Shifting the Leadership Culture to Close the Gender Gap in Corporate America. Ph.D. University of St. Thomas (Minnesota). International Leadership and Management Discussion Paper