Administrator gender differences in conflict management style

Gender Disparities in Managerial Styles

Gender disparities have been one of the most popular themes in recent decades. The fundamental topic raised is if there is a difference in management styles used by the two genders and, if so, what their interaction is. Despite the fact that women outnumber males in the modern world, there are extremely few women in senior managerial positions worldwide. According to empirical studies, disparities in managerial styles have contributed to the absence of top management jobs (Blackburn, 2012). As a result, this paper examines gender variations in managerial styles and provides a synthesis of a huge volume of literature on the subject. A brief review on the manner in which women are perceived in management and underlying impact of sex-role generalizations are discussed in this paper. The perception of the dynamic thinking concerning gender differences will also be discussed in detail.

The Influence of Traditional Leadership Norms

Due to the firm entrenchment of the traditional leadership norms, it has been difficult to change the perception of the leadership and management roles. In the society most top managerial staffs in several organizations are men. Even in the past, women had limited roles to play in management. From this phenomenon, the leadership was generalized to imply maleness. The notion that leadership is equivalent to maleness is profoundly rooted in both the human language and thinking. Top managers are usually described with “dominant”, “competitive”, or “aggressive” adjectives attributed to masculinity (Blackburn, 2012). Any female who rise in leadership is normally considered as man-like.

Stereotypes and Challenges for Women in Leadership

The female gender role stereotype paints women as warmer emotionally and less competent than their male counterparts. However, the stereotype of the effective manager corresponds the male stereotypes of lack of emotional warmth, competence, and toughness. The aforementioned stereotypes are substantially biased against women and hence present a big problem for the women who try to lead in most organizations. Intrinsically, these stereotypes are just ideal and therefore they are not true reflections of reality. O’Connor (2010) pointed out that better performance of a manager is measured by improved returns, better success, and perpetual growth.

Gender Diversity and its Impact on Managerial Styles

Historically, leadership was perceived to be largely inborn. An idea of women in leadership was considered to be absolutely alien. Additionally, the leadership style of an individual was also dependent on the different operational settings of a leader. Therefore different managerial styles are suited for different roles and different settings. Gender diversity in any set up has both positive and adverse effect on the management of any organization. The econometric studies carried out showed that when controlling and regulating the characteristics of the individual firm, the corporation’s profits may be adversely affected in the process (Duerst-Lahti & Kelly, 2015). Conversely, gender diversity may impact an organization positively through varied inventions and innovativeness (Sogra, 2014). Women are perceived to be a voice of action since they have different informational resources as well as their interaction improves the innovativeness and relationships in the organizational teams.

Attitudes and Values in Managerial Styles

Moreover, the values and the attitude of a leader, as well as the link to act in their leadership positions for the good of the public, are relative to gender differences. Their psychology helps us to comprehend their motivations and goals they intend to achieve as good managers. Empirical studies have shown that women emphasize more on the social values of universalism and benevolence as opposed to men. Universalism entails tolerance, appreciation, understanding, and protecting the people’s welfare while benevolence entails preservation and enhancement of people’s welfare.

Behavioral Differences and Leadership Styles

Males and females exhibit different behaviors in their way of thinking, acting and evaluating or analyzing an aspect that is presumed to effect the managerial style they apply. Such distinctive thoughts of both genders result into a great pool of ideas that can be implemented in the organization and improve its existing situations. Therefore incorporating a managerial style with gender diversity in an organization is a sure way of bettering the success of the organization (Duerst-Lahti & Kelly, 2015). Further surveys have shown that women support social values that benefit the public and promote the welfare of everyone. Additionally, they endorse social policies, socially compassionate as well as moral practices that espouse the organized religion, the family, and the marriage.

Gender as Determinant of Managerial Styles

The differences in attitude and values as portrayed by the two genders affect the managerial styles and leadership. For instance, in legislative bodies, the women have a high likelihood of advocating for changes that favor the children, women, and families at large than the men. Therefore, they enact policies for the benefit of the entire society. Additionally, ethical attitudes are very crucial in management. Sogra (2014), in his research, pointed out that women are keener on ensuring ethical business practices are followed in the organization than men. Therefore they play a great role in curbing the malpractices in an organization. On the other hand, men oversee the overall performance of the organization without paying attention to petty details which may be building elements towards the organization’s success. From the influential perspective, women are seen to portray participative or democratic managerial style, while men exhibit autocratic or directive managerial style (Sogra, 2014). The participative styles incorporate expectations and rewards, and inspiration.

Managerial Styles are Situational

Other researchers have proved that gender differences do not define the managerial styles (Duerst-Lahti & Kelly, 2015). Contrarily, the managerial styles are perceived to be highly situational and their effectiveness is dependent on the external and internal environments. Contingency theories show that the effectiveness of a leader results from the interaction of the situation and behavior of the leader. The manner in which a leader responds to a particular situation is what determines his or her effectiveness. Both men and women in leadership exhibit same amounts of people-oriented and task-oriented behavior irrespective of their gender. Therefore, gender cannot be considered as the key determinant of the conventional managerial styles. However, the gender stereotyping which has been deeply rooted in the society and difficult to eliminate is the main factor that hinders this perception. The stereotypes about femininity and masculinity undermine the leadership credibility (Blackburn, 2012).

Conclusion

In conclusion, there exists a number of similarities and differences in the managerial tactic that men and women in leadership exhibit. Whereas men are portrayed to be autocratic leaders, the women are presented as democratic leaders. These and many other gender diversity discussed in the paper have both positive and negative impacts in the corporate world. The implications of the participative styles of women leaders are that they spread the public good due to their universalistic, compassionate, benevolent, and ethical nature. Further gender diversity is a very powerful tool in management since it promotes innovativeness and inventions. Also, the attitudes and values that each gender possess contribute to the implementation and enhancement of various ideas that yields to better success of the organization.

References

Duerst-Lahti, G., & Kelly, R. M. (2015). Gender power, leadership, and governance. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.

O’Connor, K. (2010). Gender and women’s leadership: A reference handbook. Los Angeles: SAGE reference.

Blackburn, H. C. (2012). Administrator gender differences in conflict management style and the relationship to school culture.

Sogra, K. J. (2014). The impact of gender differences on the conflict management styles of managers in Bangladesh: An analysis. Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.