Female Leadership Styles For Female Leaders - 1216 Words

Traditional Leadership Styles Women are increasingly entering leadership roles traditionally occupied men. In fact, there has been a 75% increase in female business school graduates since 2001 (Goudreau, 2011). As a result, gender differences and their leadership styles has become a highly researched topic during the last decade. Importantly, women have different characteristics, traits, and values then men. In turn, they adopt leadership styles that capitalize on their strengths and are compatible with their natural qualities. Exploring prominent leadership theories and their application to female leaders will advance the effectiveness of women in leadership positions. Gender and Leadership Style As mentioned, men and women are†¦show more content†¦In turn, women are naturally suited for the transformational leadership style. In contrast, men are more likely to value power and authority (Druskat, 1994). Male leaders are comparatively more autocratic, competitive, and analytically focused (Druskat, 1994). They are also prone to manifest active management by exception and passive management by exception styles. Combined, these characteristics are important aspects of transactional leadership (Belasen Frank, 2012). Interestingly, although female leaders tend to be more transformational, they are significantly more engaged in the contingent reward that characterizes transactional behavior (Moore, 2012). Notably, these behavior comparisons emphasize behavioral tendencies relative to the opposite gender. It is important to recognize although men have qualities more suitable for the transactional leadership style, they too exhibit a variety of transformational leadership behaviors. Even though males have more attributes that contribute to the practice of transactional leadership, they can be (and often are) very effective transformational leaders. In contrast, women are typically not effective transactional leaders (Eagly, 2013). This could indicate that transformational leadership is a more gender-neutral style and transactional leadership is a masculine style of