Women in leadership are hard to come by due to the subconscious and conscious bias from individuals in powerful leadership roles. Unfortunately it manifests itself from a number of different places when a woman trying to climb up the corporate ladder, According to Business insider report it says that women only hold about. 30, or 6% of CEO  Positions at S&P 500 companies (Gillette & Madison 2020). Another survey was taken across companies who had more than 13 million people, this year held more CEO from 2015-2019 with about a 15% point increase in the number of companies who had at least three women in their C-Suite. The article also states that women are underrepresented at entry level, not only at the top tiers of management, where even women of color are also even more underrepresented with only about 5% of presidents or Vice Presidents being people of color (Gillette & Madison 2020).

According to our lesson “Schein found that bias in sex role stereotypes created problems for women moving up through managerial roles, and that being a manager was defined by attributes thought of masculine” (PSU W.C L13 2016). Although these are considered very outdated ideas and were considered conscious decisions at the time, modernization of the corporate world has changed the environment and who can be considered someone in a management position, but oftentimes women are looked after due to unconscious bias (Gillette & Madison 2020) brought on by stereotypical gender norms stemming from individuals succeeding in the corporate lifestyle. The lesson pointed out a good problem with the ideas surrounding gender roles “women should not act like men. If women leaders act like men, they are perceived negatively because they are not acting in ways consistent with their gender role. However, if women act too much like women they are not seen as effective enough leaders” (PSU W.C L13 2016). The lesson suggests that there is no happy medium for women to follow in order to be successful in the corporate environment and due to the gender roles that are placed upon them it makes it nearly impossible to succeed.

Northouse (2013) gave us three reasons as to why few women reach top executive positions. Those being that they have not been in managerial positions long enough for them to naturally progress to the tops of organizations, that they lack general managerial experience, and women are less suited to executive demands, are not qualified for these positions, and lack self-confidence. Well first of all I think that with all of these obstacles in their way and what it seems like everyone at the top wanting them to fail I am pretty sure I would lack self-confidence as well.

As I said in my discussion post, this seems like a vicious cycle set up from the individuals who do not want people not like them to succeed, Northouse (2013) says that a reason there are few women in managerial positions are due to lack of management experience, well in order to obtain experience one must be able to obtain a spot in order to learn the information and soak up all the knowledge available to them. On top of that Northouse (2013) explains that women have not been in managerial positions long enough for them to naturally progress to the tops of organizations, well in order for this to happen a woman has to be offered a position in the seat as a managerial or leadership role. This is not a problem at the top that needs to be addressed, it needs to be reworked from the bottom up, get more women into leadership roles from the beginning so they are able to gain the experience, and be in the position for a period of time, and by keeping them in this position for a period of time it crumbles Northouse’s third reason of not being qualified for the position and the lack of self-confidence.

Besides the viscous cycle based upon Northouse (2013) application of why women aren’t in high level positions. In addition to the glass ceiling and social issues stopping women from getting ahead, there are also barriers. Barries are conditions and practices that put women at a disadvantage (PSU W.C 2016 L13)- if they were not disadvantaged enough already. They are expected to seem if the job comes easily to them instead of struggling at all and it considered negative if they put in more effort due to higher standards of performance, also there is the idea of preferences for gender similarity where people of high positions of power want and or prefer to work with people who look and act similarly to them, which makes it insanely difficult for a person of color or women to break the mold of what a corporate executive is.

Gender Prejudice is another problem facing women in the workplace. The idea presents around the idea that “many people believe that a good manager/leader is masculine. This preconception still operates today, although it has decreased in the last 30 years” (PSU W.C 2016 L13). Prejudice is defined as a preconceived judgement or opinion (Merrimack-Webster) but that’s just the idea, its preconceived- not detailing any truth behind the idea. With the idea of the gender prejudice needs to be broken by the by cycle and with more women CEO’s and people in corporate America it helps break down these gender prejudices where it can show others in the environment that women can be successful in high positions of power. The other kind of personal barrier that sets up women to fail is the idea of the work form home conflict “women are often left to care for the children, or non-work responsibilities. Often this means that women need to take time away from work” (PSU W.C 2016 L13). Although these are cultural standards it does not mean that it has to be the case and should not be taken into consideration while finding a candidate for a job. I even take into consideration my own personal upbringing where my mom worked a typical 9-5 and my dad was a firefighter so he would work 24 hours and have 3 days off, breaking the traditional molds because my dad was the one cooking dinner, cleaning, carpooling because he had a much more flexible schedule than my mother did. That’s all these instances are, molds; they are not rules where if broken one will get in trouble.

 

References

 

Gillett, Rachel. “Gender Bias Could Make It Harder for Women to Become CEO, According to

Recent Study.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 17 Apr. 2020,

www.businessinsider.com/why-women-almost-never-become-ceo-2016-9.

 

Pennsylvania State University (2020). Leadership in work. Module 13: Introduction to Leadership and Diversity. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075467/modules/items/30110534

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7^th Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Regardless of any political opinion it is important to notate how interesting of a leader Donald Trump is. He is an individual with an immense amount of power and influence, which we studied in lesson seven of this class. In the lesson we define power as “the capacity to produce effects on others (House, 1984), or the potential to influence others (Bass, 1990)” (PSU, WC, 2016, L.7). While many consider the words power and influence as interchangeable with influence which is defined as “the change in a target agent’s attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors as a result of influence tactics” (PSU, WC, 2016, L7). The ideas of power and influence especially in such a high position of power.

An important aspect to look at in this reflection of power and influence is that of Influence tactics “person’s actual behaviors designed to change another person’s attitudes, beliefs, values, or behaviors” (PSU W,C 2016, L.7). As anyone not living under a rock during this presidency and election cycle has noticed how the divide of the country has seem to grow every year with Donald Trump as president. That is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact. With nearly every state in this election, especially in battleground states proves the point with each of the states voting nearly 50/50 proving there is a split decision with not one side having majority over the other. I believe that the cause of this divide is due to Donald Trump’s power and influence that he has over the country and his supporters.

Donald Trump has shown an abundance of traits from the dark triad we learned about in the Trait approach in lesson 2. The dark side of personality can unfortunately, also prove to be influential in the terms of leadership. A prediction- although without scientific data is extremely high in the dark personality trait of narcissism, and fear of failure (PSU W, C 2016, L.2). I think that his high level of narcissism which is defined as “leaders who are overly-self-confident, self-centered, and extremely ambitious. They overestimate their abilities have a strong sense of entitlement, and often hold others in contempt” (PSU W, C, 2016 L.2).  His over confidence and extreme ambition has been seen as very desirable by his supporters trickling down from himself to his supporters which is why you have seen multiple reporting on major Trump Parades, and the insane amount of individuals attending his rally parties because he is using what is typically seen as bad personality traits to something seen as desirable by his supporters and his power and influence is seen as very influential as been shown by his supporters.

I think that his fear of failure has been his downfall throughout his presidency. It has been categorized as a dark side personality trait defined as “leaders who dread being criticized” (PSU W.C 2016 L.2) and I think his fear has been shown as labeling others who criticize him as a use of this trait, examples like sleepy Joe (Joe Biden), Crooked Hillary (Hillary Clinton), Sloppy Steve (Steve Bannon), and crazy Megyn (Megyn Kelly). Which has been shown to lose a lot of support due to these negative personality traits really showing.

His influence is crippling the integrity of the election process in the United States. His constant tweets about the democrats stealing the election, and citing voter fraud by counting all mail in votes have been absorbed by his followers and are threating civil unrest if he is not re-elected due to his statements of fraudulent activity.

Like I have said, regardless of any political stance, anyone can really see the pride that Trump supporters have due to the immense power and influence that Donald Trump has upon his followers. Somehow he has turned dark traits seen as typically unfavorable, now being more favorable is just another example of the kind of influence he has over his supporters and proves he has a major power over them.

 

References

 

Pennsylvania State University (2020). Leadership in work. Module 2: Trait Approach. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2035467/modules/items/30110513

 

Pennsylvania State University (2020). Leadership in work. Module 7: Power and Influence  Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075457/modules/items/30110513

After the first presidential debate I feel like this was a perfect opportunity to highlight the importance of leadership style in something that is so important such as a presidential election. The way that a candidate carries themselves is a perfect insight into who they are as a person as you can see values that you share with your ideal candidate. Debates like these are the perfect opportunity to see your choices in a neutral environment to see their personality traits, and behaviors which I think valuing certain aspects and seeing them in your candidate of choice are the instances on how individuals get people to vote for them. I think that using the debate to highlight the importance of the trait applications we learned from earlier in the semester is a great real-life example on how people value these traits and aline them to their own preferences.

I think that it is safe to say that if you watched the debate, or at least have seen clips of it then you know how ridiculous  both candidates acted and how scary it is that Americans have to decide between one of these “clowns” or “stupid” people. All political opinions and views aside, we attempt to boil down the debate into the 10 traits we have from Stogdil. These traits include the drive for responsibility and task completion, vigor and persistence in pursuit of goals, venturesomeness and originality in problem solving, drive to exercise imitative in social situations, self-confidence and sense of personal identity, willingness to accept consequences, readiness to absorb interpersonal stress, willingness to tolerate frustration and delay, ability to influence  other persons behavior, capacity to structure social interaction systems to the purpose at hand (PSU W.C 2020 L2).

I think that based on these traits by Stogdil both of these gentleman have shown traits from that debate, especially Trump in the “vigor for persistence in pursuit of goals” (PSU W.C 2020 L2) with the idea of the main goal of getting his own thoughts and opinions out and into the public arena. I think that Joe Biden showed a perfect example of the trait “willingness to tolerate frustration and delay” as he was constantly getting talked over and was unable to finish statements repeatedly.

All the traits on his list are supposed to be traits ones exemplified by great leaders, which being a candidate for the President of the United States I could not think of a greater position for a leader. Being the President of the United States is the biggest role of leadership in the world.

Another important aspect of the personality aspect of this lesson was the five factor model of personality which is conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness to experience, and extraversion (PSU WC 2020 O2). It is very safe to say that each of these candidates exemplify all of these traits. Trump I would personally say that he is low in conscientiousness, low in agreeableness, high in neuroticism, low in openness to experience, and high in extraversion. On the other hand Joe Biden I would personally say is high in conscientiousness, low in agreeableness, low in neuroticism, high in openness to experience, and high in extraversion. All of these traits are shown in those on the road to high leadership roles.

There are also traits that could be considered negative as apart of the dark side of personality and I believe that a lot of Trumps’ personality stems from the dark side of personality such as the argumentative aspect, interpersonal insensitivity, narcissism, fear of failure, and I would say he is not as high in the impulsivity section (PSU W.C 2020 L2). Although these are considered “negative” he has found a way to swing the vote of the people to convince them that these dark personality traits are actually strong and valued in a leader. What are your thoughts?

 

 

Sources:

 

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2016). PSYCH 485 Lesson 2: Emotional and Social Intelligence. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075467/modules/items/30110379

Great leaders always leave their mark on the world with people remembering their messages, motivations, and ideas years after they have passed. This is exactly the legacy of Martin Luther King or MLK. Martin left his legacy all over the United States, he still has buildings, monuments, streets, named after himself because of the impact he made and because of the leader he was. He exemplified a multitude of the traits we have learned from this week’s lesson such as drive, honesty and integrity, and a desire to lead (PSU W.C 2020 L2). Due to these exemplified characteristics his lasting impressions are still relative today although leaving us fifty-two years ago.

The first trait mentioned above that MLK exemplified his actions of was his drive. He had total commitment to his cause, his most notable speech “I have a dream” is still recited today and is one of the most notable and powerful speeches in United States history. He was a voice for so many people when they did not have one, he was the leader of a movement with an entire population of the United States behind him. He served as the catalyst for the civil rights in 1964. He led a social movement unlike any before, and his drive was the reason is had the lasting impressions that it has today. Even though his life was constantly threatened, and he put himself at risk every day and every time he gave a speech, he still put that behind himself and led a group of people and changed the world.

Another example of an excellent leader which we have explored in this week’s lesson was that of honesty and integrity which was another trait that MLK had shown numerously throughout his life. He was true to his intentions and never hid or dismissed any of his thoughts in fear of putting his own life at risk. “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation” was a quote from his speech at the Washington Monument in front of two hundred and fifty thousand people. He was not scared that vocalizing his wants for equality could hurt him, instead he was honest and stayed true to his beliefs which is a quality of an excellent leader.

Finally, the third trait I believe he exemplified of a tremendous leader was a desire to lead. Obviously, he had an immense desire to lead. He stood in front of hundreds of thousands of people to speak of an issue that was only preached about in front of small communities. As said before, he was the face of the entire movement. It was because of him that our whole world changed, and it was because of his desire to lead and change the world for his children, and his grandchildren. Without his desire to lead our world could look a lot different. He was a truly magnificent leader.

Overall Martin Luther King will be remembered forever, whether it was for his bravery, courage, or persistence he will be forever the one who changed the United States for the better. His leaderships style will also be remembered forever, he has shown an abundance of qualities of a great leader, more than highlighted in this blog post.

 

Sources:

 

Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7^th Edition. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2016). PSYCH 485 Lesson 2: Emotional and Social Intelligence. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2075467/modules/items/30110379

Toren, Adam. “3 Important Leadership Lessons From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.” Entrepreneur, 20 Jan. 2020, www.entrepreneur.com/article/230958.