1.

0 Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

The aim of this study is to relate the gender differences in management skills and leadership style
in education sector.

Gender differences are based on the concept of gender, which refers to socially defined
differences between men and women. By contrast, sexual differences can only be attributed
solely to biological differences between males and females. There is a growing recognition that
there are psychological differences between the genders that affect the way that males and
females think, communicate and behave. The number of women on the global labor market is
growing. Women from diverse ethnic and national origin are entering the workforce. The access
to education and the gained experience at work result in the increase in the number of women in
leading and management positions. This creates the need for redefining effective leaderships in
terms of gender, stereotyping and role expectations. (Stelter, 2002) These differences manifest
themselves in the playground, at school, at home and at work.

Skills management is the practice of understanding, developing and deploying people and their
skills. Well-implemented skills management should identify the skills that job roles require, the
skills of individual employees, and any gap between the two. (Beck, 2003). Leadership style is
the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. As
seen by the employees, it includes the total pattern of explicit and implicit actions performed by
their leader. (Newstrom, 1993 ) To develop new knowledge and skill requires a variety of
strategy for achieving effectiveness in organization. Educators that have enough management
skills and leadership styles will achieve effectiveness in their work.

Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values,
beliefs, and habits. Educational methods include storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and
directed research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators, but learners
may also educate themselves. (Dewey, 1944) Gender differences in education persist in the
United States even after several decades of intense scrutiny and policy. Education is like a dual-
edged sword. It has been a source of advancement, empowerment, and liberation for women, but
it has also reproduced gender inequalities (Smith, 2005)

Applying the understanding about management competence between genders in educational

leadership, we can define educational leadership competencies as the knowledge, skills and the
ethical values that an educators masters to accomplish management tasks.

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1.2 Problem statement

The study begins from the realization of strategic leadership is a critical issue relevant to school
leaders that has largely been overlooked. In comparison with other academic disciplines, strategy
is a young field. However, strategy as a field of research has grown substantially in scope and
influence over the last few decades. The effectiveness of leadership styles has long been a topic
of concern by both academic and practioners (Avolio, 1999). Recently, a group of scholars
examined whether types of leadership positions achieved by men and women are different
(Ashby, 2007). So, are there any related things between the skills and styles or strategy that
being used by male and female educators to differentiate their effectiveness in education sector?

This research is therefore being conducted to assess the effect of gender differences in
management skills and leadership styles in education sector.

1.3 Research objective

The main purpose of this study is to study about gender differences in management skills and
leadership styles in education sector. Specifically, the study will focus on these research
objectives:

RO1: To identify the gender differences in management skills and leadership styles in education
sector.

RO2: To study the strategy that being used by male and female educator perceived effective in
education sector.

1.4 Research questions

RQ1: What is the relationship in leadership styles and management skills between male and
female in education sector?

RQ2: What is the relationship between strategy made by both educators and the effectiveness in
management skills and leadership styles in education sector?

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1.5 Significance of study

The management styles and leadership skills increase the educator performance as it important to
improve students performance. Student evaluations are a common, if flawed, method for
faculty to receive feedback about their teaching. Research has shown that students evaluations
can be significantly influenced by the gender of their instructors. It is because the previous
research indicates that the strategy in management skills and leadership styles that has been made
by male and female educators is different. A suitable skills and strategy would lead to increases
of performance for both educators and also the students. After the identification of the
management skills and leaderships styles strategy made by both male and female educator, it can
give the new idea to overcome the circumstances in the future.

1.6 Research Hypothesis

Based on variables used in this research following hypothesis is generated:

H1: There is a positive relationship between male and female educators in management skills
and leadership styles in education sector.

H2: There is a positive relationship between strategy made by both educators and the
effectiveness in management skills and leadership styles in education sector.

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2.0 Literature Review

Throughout the study it has provided that the evidence of the existence of gender differences and
leadership styles. Additionally the analysis of the correlations between leadership styles and
management skills in education provide further confirmation of the superiority of the
transformational leadership style. To look into effect of gender differences on leadership styles
and management skills in education, the methods and standards of leadership styles and
management skills has to be studied to gain sufficient ground for study.

2.1. Dependent Variable:

2.1.1 Leadership Styles

The meaning of leadership is the leader(s) of a party or group. Yet true leadership is much
more than that. A leader can be the CEO of an organization, or a first year employee who leads
his or her team to success behind the scenes. A leader might lead through official authority and
power, yet just as often great leaders lead through inspiration, persuasion and personal
connections. Leadership is a key component of all organizations but its function and capacity are
getting more complicated with increased involvement in globalization and technology
development (Punnet, 2004). As the demand of knowledge-based enterprises rises, it is both
employees and managers responsibilities to enhance the success of workplace learning and
workforce development (C, 2012). Global leaders need to build their interpersonal skills to deal
with racial conflicts that have occurred and to develop individuals and groups in the workplace
(Byrd.M, 2007).

How to develop effective leaders with the skills needed to adequately deal with organizational
challenges has been a challenge for all organizations (Amagoh, 2009). Global leaders must be
equipped with the leadership skills required in the multicultural workplace. In other words,
important leadership components and significant global leadership skills need to be identified to
enhance international leaders competitiveness and performance efficiency. Therefore, the
purposes of this study sought to: (a) examine the new look of leadership in diverse workplace
development and cross-cultural management, (b) identify challenges for global leaders, and (c)
identify essential leadership skills for success as a global leader in this rapidly changing world.

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Leadership styles are also defined by combination of leadership behaviours (Costley, 2006)The
way a leader behaves in order to reach a goal or perform a function, determines which kind of
leadership behaviour leader adapts. On the other hand authors like (Fernandez, 2008)) define
leadership behaviours in the following way: task-oriented, relations-oriented and development-
oriented behaviour. He claims that all three types of leadership have positive relation with
federal employees perceptions of performance while second two have positive relation with
their job satisfaction.

The leadership trait theory was later criticized and the following theories emerged: leadership
styles, situational, contingency, path-goal, team leadership and other Leadership style and job
satisfaction theories (Beyer, 2012). Later on, mostly in the beginning of twentieth century more
leadership approaches have emerged, namely, servant, authentic, visionary, distributed, shared,
ethical, moral, etc. (Beyer, 2012). (Beyer, 2012) list 50 different leadership approaches that can
be found in the recent academic literature. However, she notices, that the recent concepts appear
to be more of a blending of ideas and concepts interrelated between and building upon each other
rather than singular theoretical frameworks. This paper focusses on the leadership style theory.
Leaders demonstrate particular leadership styles, the most common investigated are
transactional, transformational and laissez-faire styles (Webb, 2009) . However, the new styles of
leadership are constantly emerging. On the other hand, there is a lack of empirical research on
more than few leadership styles studied in the same context.

2.1.2 Management Skills

Many studies show that, management and leadership skills are a very important component of
leadership competencies. In the 21st Century, educational leaders need competencies that allow
them to manage 21st Century schools that are based on ICT. They are skills of planning,
instructional leadership, assessment, organizing and implementing plans, managing finance and
school infrastructure, communication, information management, skills of effective group
working, etc. (Ubben C.G, 2004).

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However, (Dreyfus, 1982) showed us a very important factor, in that skills are acquired by
dealing with things and situations. The same as noticed by (Tbuseva V.V., 1972)worked on
technical training and emphasized the importance of practicing on the learners in the real
situations. For example, students are asked to work in the repaired car services if they want to
develop skills for car repairing. In different countries, especially in the US, the master learners of
leadership programs have to spend a long internship and practicum in the schools to practice how
to lead a school. The internship takes place under strict observation and assessment of instructors
and the school principal or senior administrator.

(Bch, 2008) explains real situations or practicing environment here relate to the demonstration
schools where learners can come to watch the real tasks principals are doing or where they can
exercise their skills. The practicing environment may also relate to training facilities (video clips
that demonstrate management skills, TV programs with guidelines) that learners can use for their
study.

2.2. Independent Variable:

2.2.1Changing gender differences in educational attainment

Stock measures obviously take a longer time to reflect more recent changes in educational
attainment. However, the process of female dominance in educational attainment has been going
on for long enough so that it can be already seen in human capital stocks in many countries.

2.2.2 Gender differences in the choice of university major

Despite the fact that women are now in majority among students at the tertiary level, women still
choose different major subjects than men. However some studies on individual countries suggest
that gender differences in choices of major subjects at the tertiary level may be diminishing. Both
(Turner, 1999) and (Goldin C, 2006) show that the dissimilarity index of college majors in the
United States declined from close to 50 in 1970 to around 20 in 1994.

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2.2.4 Factors behind the emerging female dominance in educational attainment

Standard economics textbook model of human capital investment views rational individuals as
weighing the costs of additional education against the benefits from this investment. The costs of
human capital investment include direct monetary costs such as tuition fees and the forgone
labour market earnings during the time the individual is studying and indirect costs in the form of
effort that the individual has to exert in order to acquire human capital through education. Even
though education can yield some direct pleasure in the form of consumption value, the human
capital theory assumes that the most important benefits to the individual from education are the
direct labour market returns. Education should increase the productivity of individuals and
therefore lead to higher earnings.

2.2.5 Gender differences in returns to education

It is a documented fact that the returns to education, and to university education in particular,
have been increasing in most OECD countries since the early 1980s (Acemoglu, 2011) (Van
Reenen, 2011). In the light of the large returns, one would expect to see strong supply responses
in the form of increasing educational attainment. However, the evidence discussed in the
previous section suggested that this is only true for female educational attainment whereas male
educational attainment has only grown sluggishly or not at all. This has led many researchers to
speculate that the returns to investment in education are higher for women than for men.

2.2.6 Gender of the teachers, peer groups, and teaching practices

The fact that females are hugely overrepresented in teacher profession in most industrialized
countries has led many commentators to speculate that one of the sexes (which one it is depends
on the commentator) is discriminated against in assessment of students. The best available
evidence on this issue is mixed. There are some studies that hint at potential bias against boys. In
particular, (Lavy, 2008) finds that in Israeli high schools boys score higher grades in blind-tests
where the gender of the student is not revealed than in non-blind tests where the grader observes
the gender. This result would suggest that boys are discriminated against.

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Definitions of strategy

The practice and concept of strategy have many varied meanings, yet it remains closely related to
planning and planning models. (Fidler, 1989) wrote that the word was beginning to appear in
educational management literature in the 1990s, but it was not clearly defined and appeared to
mean little more than a general reference to the longer term. The word strategy is now applied
to almost every management activity to add misleading rhetorical weight (Beaver, 2000) This
had devalued and misrepresented the concept and is damaging to both theory and practice. In
addition, it has cast doubt over what constitutes strategy. (Tsiakkiros, 2002) draw attention to the
word strategy and its origin from the Greek word strategos, which means a general and the
leader of the army. This is arguably why much of the literature assigns strategy and strategy
development to an individual within an organization.

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3.0 Research Methodology

3.1 Research Design

This study will be conducted as qualitative analysis to find out the relationship between
independent and dependent variables.

The survey will be employ a set of questionnaire to gather the data which will then be analyzed,
results will be evaluated through percentage method of received questionnaire using SPSS.
Graphical presentation will be presented to interpret the data.

Essentially, there are two main variables, which are gender differences and strategy used
(independent variables) and management skills and leadership styles (dependent variables).

3.2 Framework

Independent Variable Dependent Variables

Gender Management
Differences skills
Strategy Used Leadership styles

3.3 Participation/Sample

This research study is done through purposive sampling. Selected 30 participants or educator
from both male and female working as a teacher in different subjects in Sekolah Kebangsaan
Muadzam Jaya. Data will be collected through surveys and a set of questionnaire.

3.4 Procedures / Techniques

Data will be gathered from schools teachers personally and treated each educator response as an
individual data source. The first part of questionnaire will consist of respondents demographic
characteristic such as age, gender, level of education and experience. The second part of the
questionnaires is regarding strategy used by the educators followed by the third of the
questionnaire measure the educators performance.

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4.0 Gantt Chart
Activity June July August
Week Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Subject Add & Drop
Week
Decide Research
Topic & Develop
Research Question &
Objectives
Draft Proposal &
Submit To Supervisor
Define Research
Approach
Draft Research
Strategy & Method
Develop
Questionnaire & Pilot
Test Questionnaire
Administer
Questionnaire
Enter Data into
Computer
Analyze Data
Draft Findings
Complete The Report
Submit The Report

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5.0 Resources

In this research, sources of the data can be obtained from primary data and secondary data.

5.1 Primary Data

Data observed or collected directly from first-hand experience. In this research, some examples
of sources of primary data are individuals, focus group, panels of respondents specifically set up
by the researcher and from whom opinions may be sought on specific issues from time to time,
or some unobtrusive sources.

In this research has shown that among the most useful of tools of conducting research with
human resources are questionnaires, interviews, and surveys. In this research a design of
questionnaires will be developed.

5.2 Secondary Data

Secondary data refers to data that was collected by someone other than the user, in other words,
its already exist. In this research, some examples of sources of secondary data are school
records or archives, government publications, sector analysis offered by media, websites, internet
and so on.

In this research also has shown that among useful tools for conducting research is a journal.
Online Database Uniten provides a lot of suitable journal that can make our research process
easier.

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6.0 References

Works Cited
Acemoglu, D. a. (2011). Handbook of Labor.

Amagoh, F. (2009). Management Decision.

Ashby, J. R. (2007). Legal work and the glass cliff: Evidence that women are preferentially selected to
lead problematic cases. Journal of Women and the Law.

Avolio, B. (1999). Building The Vital Forces In Organizations. Full Leadership Development .

Beaver, G. (2000). Strategic Change.

Beck, S. (2003). JOURNAL OF UNIVERSAL COMPUTER SCIENCE.

Beyer, B. (2012). International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation.

Bch, L. T. (2008). Training skills for school principals, Workshop proceedings Measures to enhance
quality of upgrading programs for principals in Vietnam,.

Byrd.M. (2007). Human Resource Development Quarterly.

C, H. (2012). International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management.

Costley, H. .. (2006). Understanding Behaviours for Effective Leadership.

Dewey, J. (1944). Democracy And Education . The Free Press.

Dreyfus, H. L. (1982). Phenomenology of Skill Acquisition as the basis for a Merleau-Pontian

Nonrepresentationalist Cognitive Science, Free Press,.

Fernandez. (2008). Public Performance & Management Review.

Fidler, B. a. (1989). Effective Local Management of Schools: A Strategic Approach, Longman.

Goldin C. (2006). The quiet revolution that transformed womens employment, education,.

Lavy, V. (. (2008). Journal of Public Economics,.

Newstrom, J. D. (1993 ). Human Behavior at Work. . Organizational Behavior.

Punnet, B. (2004). International perspectives on organizational behavior and human resource

management.

Smith, W. L. (2005). Gender Differences in the Academic Ethic and Academic Achievement. College
Student Journal.

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Stelter, N. Z. (2002). Current Social Issues and Future Organizational Implications. Gender Differences in
Leadership.

Tbuseva V.V. (1972). Psychology of labor training (skills, habits and labor conditions, (Education
Publisher, Hanoi).

Tsiakkiros, A. a. (2002). The International Journal of Educational Management.

Turner, S. E. (1999). The changing (unchanging) gender.

Ubben C.G, H. W. (2004). he principal Creative leadership for Excellent in schools, Peason.

Van Reenen, J. (2011). Wage inequality, technology and trade: 21st century evidence, Labour.

Webb, K. (2009). Christian Higher Education.

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