Leadership

PSYCH 485 blog

Emotional intelligence and why women are headed to the top.

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grant-thornton-women-leadership-worldwideWomen in Leadership Roles (2012): Image source: BusinessInsider.com

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According to Northouse (2012), emotional intelligence is one way to assess the influence of traits on leadership. Emotional intelligence involves the interplay between our thinking and emotions; specifically, the ability for one to perceive and use emotions to express, facilitate thinking, understand, and reason (Northouse, 2012, p.27). There has been much debate about emotional intelligence and its significance on leadership. Northouse (2012) points out several researchers such as, Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso (2000) , who see a weak link between emotional intelligence and leadership. An article, The future of work, Times Magazine (2009) breathed new life into this debate. As one of the “10 ways your job will change”, Shipman and Kay (2009) write explicitly about why women will rule business in the future and how emotional intelligence plays a role.

Catalyst, a workplace research group found Fortune 500 companies with the most women in senior management, had a higher return on equities- by more than a third (Shipley & Kay, 2012). This provides pretty convincing evidence that women are making a change in the future of business, and for the better. When exploring why this is so, what makes women leaders so special? Shipley and Kay (2009) found one of those factors to be emotional intelligence. CMI (Chartered Management Institute, UK) predicts women will be moving rapidly up the chain of command with their emotional intelligence skills in high demand (Shipley & Kay).

What does this all mean? For one, that emotional intelligence is an important tool that can be used to assess how traits are influencing leadership. This has been shown in many studies unexpectedly, such as Catalyst’s study mentioned earlier. Catalyst set out to look at the positive correlation between company success and women employees, however unintentionally linking the traits women have to their success in the corporate world.The idea that women tend to be more nurturing, and too in touch with their feelings, in other words more emotionally intelligent than men, have now become a powerful tool in the corporate world, specifically, in leadership. Emotional intelligence is making a splash in the future of leadership and we have women to thank for it.

Written by: Mai Dolinh

Sources:

Kay, Claire Shipman and Katty. “The Future of Work.” Time. Time Inc., 14 May 2009. Web. 06 Sept. 2014. retrieved from http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article
/0%2C28804%2C1898024_1898023_1898078%2C00.html.

Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and practice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Parenting: Servant Leadership, No Doubt!

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Being a parent is one of the simplest ways to illustrate servant leadership. As a parent, putting my children first, helping them to grow, and prosper is at the forefront of my leadership style. A parent’s way of leading their child through life varies, just as leadership in an organization varies. My house IS my organization. I joke that I am the CFO while my husband retains CEO status. This organization (my home) is run with more elements of servant leadership than any other leadership style. Raising my children, my own desires have not just been pushed aside but I am happy and desire it to be this way. My goal and mission in this crazy thing they call parenthood is that at the end of my children’s adolescence, they will be ready, willing, and able to carry on as independent adults that are productive parts of society. By choosing servant leadership as the catalyst to my parenting, the context and culture in our home (organization), my attributes as the parent (leader), and my children’s (follower’s) receptivity all play a role in the success we share together. The behaviors I display as a servant leader produce outcomes today and will produce outcomes in my children’s lives down the road.
Servant leaders place their followers first, empower them, and help to develop them to their fullest potential. Robert Greenleaf (1970) developed the theory of servant leadership. Others, including Graham (1991), Spears (2002), Russell and Stone (2002), and Patterson (2003), have further developed the theory. Spears (2002) sorted Greenleaf’s writings and produced a list of 10 characteristics that characterize servant leaders. They are: Listening, Empathy, Healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, building community (Northouse, 2013). Russell and Stone (2002) produced a model of servant leadership that displays attributes, functional characteristics, and accompanying characteristics (Northouse, 2013). Patterson (2003) developed a model based on values that specify building blocks for the ethical behavior displayed by servant leaders (Northouse, 2013). Another model is based on Liden, Wayne, Zhao, and Henderson (2008) that makes use of three factors (Northouse, 2013). This model shows antecedent conditions, servant behaviors, and leadership outcomes in an effort to make sense of the intensely complex theory of servant leadership (Northouse, 2013).
The behaviors in the model of servant leadership can be seen when evaluating my leadership as a parent. The conceptualization I possess for my children is a future as ready, willing, and productive adults. For emotional healing, who is the first person many people want when they need a shoulder to lean on or cry on? Correct. Their mom. There is never a time that I am not available when my children need someone. In order to help my children grow and succeed, I spend at least an hour each day reading, writing, and practicing other skills they are developing in school. Their participation in after school activities is also important. Development in social areas of their lives and commitment to other organizations foster community ties. Teaching my children to use manners and do “the right thing in the right way” (Northouse, 2013, p. 229) is an ongoing process and behavior practice that I value highly. In order for my children to behave in a way that will be productive and respectful in the future, I aim to continually perform acts of kindness and make rational decisions based on the truth even if the truth is hard to deal with instead of taking the easy way or making decisions based on emotions. Within my home, many decisions are made as a family. I feel that with my children participating in decisions, large and small, they have a sense of control to their lives. Realistically, they do not have complete control, they are only children. However, by asking their opinions and eliciting conversations among us, their sense of unity with the family is heightened and continuing to develop. The culture in our home is conducive to their growth. The goal is for their adult selves to perform contributing acts as respectable adults in the community.
The 10 characteristics compiled from Greenleaf’s writings by Spears (2002) blend with the leader behaviors found in Liden, et al (2008)’s model. These characteristics, listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community, further compound to demonstrate the pure devotion servant leaders have to their followers. In my case, each day of my life is spent in the commitment to my children, serving to develop their growth in a positive way.
The outcome of my parenting, my servant leadership, varies from day to day. My children are growing into young adults before my eyes. In moments I am aware of the way this organization (my home) is the breeding ground. As I watch my daughter make homemade cards and decorate Easter eggs for the elderly across the street. As I see my son go out of his way to help another boy clean up a spilled bottle of water, while other children simply walk by, makes me see the goal of developing them into decent people is being realized, little by little.
While being a parent, the servant leadership behaviors I display cover the models presented. Combining the culture and context of my home with my behaviors as a parent, leads to outcomes consistent with the servant leadership models. Servant leadership as applied to parenting was never a question to me. As a parent, many things are uncertain. However, the commitment I have to their upbringing, the positive influence I choose to pursue for their benefit is never a question. I am a servant to their lives, for now and always.

References
Northouse, Peter G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Sixth Edition. Sage Publications

Have the Glass Ceilings Been Broken?

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The proverbial glass ceiling (a term introduced by two Wall Street Reporters) exists for many reasons within our corporations.  However, has the path of self-made female entrepreneurs created an environment where there are no ceilings at all?

Many women have experienced pitfalls when it comes to growing within their company.  Women only occupy less than 3% of CEO roles, but occupy over 51% of management roles (Northouse 2013).  That statistic shows what has been known as a leadership labyrinth for many women.  The labyrinth not only represents the glass ceiling, but many obstacles that women face when trying to move up the ranks.  Some of the items brought up in the leadership labyrinth were:

  1. Human Capital – Women don’t always have the same education or work experience that would warrant putting them in a role about their male counterpart
  2. Gender Differences – Women who have Transformational Leadership styles tend to not be viewed as effective as men because they will succumb to pressures outside of work
  3. Prejudice – Gender Stereotypes that women should be masculine to be leaders, but not too manly.

To overcome these issues to move within and out of the labyrinth, women have created their own paths.  Trailblazing self-made paths that have the recognition from Forbes magazine, these women are ultimate leaders.  Billionaires such as Oprah Winfrey created a television empire that included T.V. and organic brands, as well as an academy for girls (Forbes.com) That all-girl academy will help spawn future self-made women to continue to move past that glass ceiling. Although Oprah was the only Billionaire female to crack the list, there have been 25 others since then making their mark in the areas of retail, construction, real estate and healthcare.  Billionaires such as Spanx creator, Sarah Blakely, became the youngest self-made female billionaire in 2012 when her reinvention of the girdle reached unprecedented success (Kroll 2013).

There is an obvious gap between women and men when it comes to positions of leadership and the glass ceilings still remain. There is no limit to the ability of the entrepreneurs who can create organizations where more women can hold leadership positions in order to open up the pipeline for promotions and opportunities. The gap is slowly moving in a positive direction just as it is for diversity in the workplace (Northouse 2013).  Therefore, women will continue to work hard to obtain the positions they deserve.

 

Kroll, Lisa (2013), Self-Made Female Billionaires, Forbes.com, Retrieved on July 4, 2013 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2013/03/06/the-rarer-sex-the-self-made-women-billionaries-of-2013/

 

2010 Forbes.com LLC: Forbes 400 Richest Americans: Retrieved on July 4, 2013 from http://www.forbes.com/profile/oprah-winfrey/

 

Northouse, Peter G. – Leadership: Theory and Practice Sixth Edition (2013) Sage Publications

 

 

Gender Stereotyping and Women in Leadership Roles

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     Gender stereotyping affects women’s path to leadership, in various ways.  The most demonstrative way stereotyping of this nature affects occupations and professions is through the way in which it limits women for opportunities for greater income potential, promotions and higher more respected statuses in the work place.   Because women are stereotypically portrayed as more committed to their traditionally domestic responsibilities than their vocational responsibilities, they are sometimes overlooked for consideration when applying for work. Their male counterparts are a more attractive option, given the also traditionally stereotyped greater commitment to their jobs versus home life (Dubeck and Borman, 1996).

     The double standard women are faced with as they aspire to greatness in leadership roles makes it difficult as well.  They are supposed to exhibit “manly” attributes or skills as leaders, but as a gender, they are pressured to be feminine and “womanly” (Northouse, 2013).  Because of this pressure to live in the stereotyped world of gender, women are less likely seen as top runners for leadership roles.  They are deemed ineffective in leadership roles (PSYCH 485, 2013).

     Women are further challenged in the world of leadership because, historically, they have also had less opportunity for training, which would increase their level of skill (Northouse, 2013).  This is in part, due to organizations that expressly exclude women from free or company paid training.  Men, however, are not excluded and do not have to pay out of their own pockets.  Women are generally lumped in to care-giver and/or service related vocational roles. It is assumed that they should pay for their own training to advance themselves.  Because of the stereotype that women are more likely to obtain these types of jobs due to their domestic natures, they are limited in training opportunities, job advancement and the potential for higher incomes and promotions (Dubeck and Borman, 1996).

     The greedy institution concept of professional work; namely the occupation of law makes it harder for women to portray themselves as “committed”.  The long and demanding hours required for this type of work put pressures on women who already have gender role conflicts.  This is to say that women are seen as less likely to succeed or to be less committed to their professions because of the socially prescribed gender roles as family care takers as their main priorities (Dubeck and Borman, 1996).  The concept of the mommy track is noted in our lesson’s readings.  The mommy track is the path women often choose which favors their role as domestic caretakers because that’s the role that society has prescribed for them (Northouse, 2013).

     Despite statistics showing a greater number of women with higher education, women are still not showing up in the numbers when it comes to stats in leadership positions in our nation’s elite and powerful corporations (Northouse, 2013).  All of these issues noted above, have been part of a term called “the glass ceiling” (Northouse, 2013); a term that reflects ascension into leader roles, up to a certain point but no further.  A more recent term called the “leadership labyrinth”, coined by researcher Eagly, suggests that the term glass ceiling is not wholly fitting because it infers that “everyone has equal access to lower positions until all women hit this single, invisible, and impassable barrier” (Northouse, 2013, p. 353).  Rather, Eagly likes the labyrinth philosophy because it reflects “challenges all along the way, not just near the top” (Northouse, 2013, p. 353), for women versus men.

  There have been and no doubt will continue to be, fine examples of women who continue to press the envelope and set the bar ever higher for other women in leadership roles.   Despite the historical, gender-riddled challenges women have had to face, I like this story of a women who pushed her envelope and followed her dream to become a world-renowned lady pioneer of her time:

Amelia Earhart

(Retrieved from http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html).

     No stranger to disapproval or doubt, this tomboy turned world-renowned aviation history maker defied all manner of conventional female behavior.  Her name?  You guessed it, Amelia Earhart!  Amelia Mary Earhart to be precise.  As a young girl, Amelia started early, defying the stereotypes for women in the workplace.  She kept newspaper clippings of other women who were working in male-dominated fields, such as the film making industry, engineering, law, advertising and many others.  These women inspired her.  She realized as a young adult in her 20’s, after taking a ride in an airplane with a local pilot, that she was destined to fly!  She defied all stereotypes and gender roles about what women were supposed to be.  For herself at least, she redefined her gender roles and sought a life in the air where she would inevitably receive the high honor of becoming the first female aviator to fly the Atlantic.  She received huge amounts of recognition and praise, not the least of which came from then president Calvin Coolidge. 

     Amelia’s dedication and perseverance in pursuit of her dreams separates her out in history of one of the bravest, most accomplished women of all time.  Certainly she wasn’t a seeker of the typical life, as she sought to conquer any obstacles (financial and otherwise) and follow the dreams that many deemed inappropriate for a women to seek.  It’s not that she didn’t follow traditional avenues in pursuit of education and employment at first.  She graduated high school, attended a finishing school in Philadelphia but left in her second year to work as a nurse’s aide in a military hospital during WWI.  She attended college too and took a job as a social worker.  It was during this time in her life that she decided to pursue flying lessons and just 6 months after she did, she’d saved enough money to buy her very own plane!  The rest, as they say, is history!

     I believe Amelia’s desire to seek a nontraditional occupation or status in life (because flying wasn’t necessarily her occupation but her passion), was innate.  I believe she just was the way she was.  Perhaps her parents encouraged her to be all that she can be and never tried to fit her into a traditional mold and thus grew up knowing that she didn’t have to feel stuck in the gendering stereotypes that so many others felt trapped by.  However, to say that she didn’t struggle with many adverse and opposing forces and prejudices would be untrue.  In fact she did, but she broke the mold and in turn showed the world, that….women can fly!

References:

Dubeck, P.  and Borman,  K. (1996).  Women and Work:  A Handbook.  Rutgers University Press.

Family of Amelia Earhart.  Biography. Retrieved from http://www.ameliaearhart.com/about/bio.html).

Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice (6th edition). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

Penn State World Campus (2012). PSYCH 485 Lesson 13:  Leadership and Diversity.  Retrieved from: https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/su13/psych485/001/content/13_lesson/03_page.html, on July 1, 2013.

Young Female CEOs breaking stereotypes

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Even today, women in leadership positions face many challenges related to their gender. There are many existing stereotypes that continue to haunt successful women.   Even though “… women occupy more then half of all management and professional positions … (Northouse, 2013, p.356)” they still face criticism and hurdles on their way to executive leadership roles.
Recently Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer faced harsh criticism for eliminating telework at the company. Removing the ability to telework is in opposition to a growing trend. Her reasoning is sound and based on solid evidence and stands in opposition to the stereotype that “… women take care and men take charge (Northouse, 2013, p.358)”. 
Mayer researched Virtual Private Network (VPN) logs that indicate the frequency and length of time that remote employees connect to the Yahoo corporate network from remote locations such as home. The logs indicated that employees were not connecting through the VPN enough to be “… contributing to Yahoo as a company (Dunn, 2013)”. Yahoo is facing tough challenges and Mayer states “To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home. We need to be one Yahoo!, and that starts with physically being together (Goudreau, 2013)”.
Even though the decision was based on sound reasoning and evidence many criticized her decision and suggested that as a recent mother she should be more understanding of the need for work-life balance and how telework is beneficial. Many of the articles are quick to point out that Mayer was five-months pregnant when she took over the company as well as being the youngest, and one of the very few, CEOs of a fortune 500 company (Goudreau, 2013).
Her decision faced comments in the press relating to how women are viewed as leaders. Traditional stereotypes would indicate that a woman would be more nurturing and lenient to their employees. This decision is in opposition to “… presumed gender difference in commitment to employment and motivation to lead (Northouse, 2013, p.358)”.  In addition “… women are stereotyped with communal characteristics such as concern for others, sensitivity, warmth, helpfulness, and nurturance (Northouse, 2013, p.358)”. The decision to end telework was a bold leadership move contrary to gender stereotypes facing women.
References 
Dunn, J. (2013, April 4). Yahoo CEO Mayer Checked VPN Logs Before Banning Home Working. CIO.com. Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/729681/Yahoo_CEO_Mayer_Checked_VPN_Logs_Before_Banning_Home_Working
Goudreau, J. (2013, February 25). Back To the Stone Age? New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Bans Working From Home. Forbes.com. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/02/25/back-to-the-stone-age-new-yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-bans-working-from-home/
Northouse, P.G. (2013).  Leadership: Theory and Practice.  Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
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