Contemporary issues in

leadership
 Gender: do males and females lead differently?
Leading through Empowerment
What about followership?
National Culture As An Added Contingency Variable
Providing Team Leadership
Moral Dimension To Leadership
1.)Gender: do males and females lead differently?

Does the fact that the leader is a woman rather than a man matter?
Does it make a difference in the workplace?
Do women lead differently than men?
Are styles of leadership, leadership characteristics, types of interactions
with followers and peers different than for men in similar positions?
Does gender change the face of leadership?
Recognizing the large number of women currently in leadership positions,
questions of gender difference assume greater importance than in previous
years. What do we need to know about women and leadership to advance
our work successfully?
Does the fact that the leader is a woman rather
than a man matter?
Does it make a difference in the workplace?

those who do ascend do not behave significantly differently from men

in the same kinds of positions
Gender: do males and females lead differently?

Some studies have been able to discern differences in leadership style

and managerial behavior, but most have not (Studies have examined
male/female differences in three main types of managerial behaviour.
These are task accomplishment style, the interpersonal style,
decision-making style
These differences, however, have been observed only in men and
women subjects of laboratory experiments.
Differences disappear in studies where actual managers are
compared: most conclude that women do not behave differently from
men in the same or similar kind of leadership position
Are styles of leadership, leadership characteristics, types of
interactions with followers and peers different than for men in
similar positions?
According to Gary N. Powell's comprehensive study, Women and Men
in Management, both laboratory studies and observations of real
leaders, women tend to employ a more democratic, participative
style while men tend to take a more autocratic, directive approach
2.)Leading through Empowerment
According to Chip R. Bell and Bilijack R. Bell Empowerment is
insuring employees closest to a problem or need have the authority
to make judgments on how the problem is solved or the need met.
Empowerment does not mean unlimited license. it means responsible
freedom, It means thinking and acting more like an owner.
Organizations can no longer afford front-line people reluctant to use
their full capacity at work
Leaders dont GIVE power. Power already exists in the employee. The
job of the leader is to release power...that is, to remove the barriers
that keep employees from acting with power. Empowerment is a
partnership in focused energy and go the extra mile enthusiasm.
Barriers in Empowerment
Empowerment works when leaders examine the work environment
and to identify barriers getting in the way of responsible freedom.
barriers are
1. No Purpose. We all work smarter when we feel a part of an
important mission. We also make more responsible decisions on
behalf of the organization and the customer.
E.g. When asked, What are your doing, the apathetic bricklayer
stated the obvious...laying bricks. But, the committed bricklayer
answered, Im building a great cathedral.
Barriers in Empowerment
2.) Empowerment begins with error! Employees quickly learn if they
are empowered when they make a mistake. If the error is met with
rebuke, it sends a very different message than if the leader sees error
as an opportunity for learning and problem solving
The greater the trust, the greater the freedom; but, freedom comes
with responsibility. The leaders job is to coach employees to feel
more and more comfortable with more and more responsibility.
Barriers in Empowerment
3.) No Permission. Empowerment involves guidelines, not unlimited
license. The leader who says, Just go do whatever you think is best,
is probably demonstrating abdication, not empowerment. And, the
employee who assumes, I can do whatever I like, is demonstrating
rebelliousness, not empowerment. Flexibility is important since
customers want to be treated unique. But, flexibility has limits.
 4.)No Proficiency. Knowledge is power, said philosopher Francis
Bacon. Learning, not once but constantly, provides wisdom, not just
competence. And whereas competence promotes confidence,
wisdom fosters power. Building competence can involve gaining
information about the organization-long-range goals, strategies,
competitor information. Empowerment is earned through knowledge.
Early on theres frustration as employees want to start running
things and dont know what they dont know. The leader has to take
the time to grow employees . This takes openness so both parties
can ask questions, discuss issues and share thoughts. Unless its a
crisis, the employee needs the chance to work through issues and
learn from experience.
3.)What about followership?
follower as a key player in successful leadership.
Following cannot be understood without reference to leadership.
Effective followers make an active decision to contribute towards the
achievement of the goal and demonstrate enthusiasm, intelligence,
selfreliance and the ability to work with others in pursuit of the goal
, effective followers, given the necessary information and room to
move, can be trusted to take independent action to achieve a specific
objective
The intention of emphasizing the importance
of follower to the leadership process
Raise the profile of the follower and his/her interaction with the
leader to the point where the contributions of both the follower and
the leader are seen as integral to team success.
Assist followers to fully understood and accept their role in the
leadership process and to encourage them act in accordance with the
demands of that role.
Assist leaders to identify and implement management practices that
encourage and permit followers to act in ways that realise the full
potential of the role.
Emphasis the importance of both leaders and followers to the
achievement of shared objectives.
Strategies for Promoting Effective Following
(Adrian Walsh & Associates)
Adopt a management style based on the philosophy that successful
leadership is dependent on actions of the leader, followers and the quality
of their interaction.
Communicate this philosophy of leadership throughout the organisation.
Conduct training programs for all employees (including senior
management) to inform them of the concept and practice of effective
following.
Conduct training programs for managers, supervisors, team leaders to
educate them on how to encourage and manage effective followers.
Build effective following into performance reviews for all employees.
Reward and celebrate outstanding examples of effective following and
follower oriented leadership.
4.)National Culture As An Added Contingency
Variable
As the worlds economies are becoming increasingly integrated into
global trading relations, the need to understand cultural influences on
leadership has never been greater (House et al., 1999).
the increasing globalization of the research community has increased
the salience of culture as a potential boundary condition to our
leadership theories (Hanges, Lord, & Dickson, 2000).
The central issue in the study of leadership across different nations is
the question of universality versus cultural contingency of leadership
A culture-specific perspective reflects the view that the occurrence
and the effectiveness of certain leadership behaviors (as well as
constructs) is likely to be unique to a given culture.
 The culture-universal position, in contrast argues that certain leadership
constructs are comparable across cultures and that many universal
leadership behaviors do exist.
, following the review by Bass (1990) and with the emergence of the GLOBE
project (House, 1998), has the leadership research community begun to
realize that universal and culture-specific leadership behaviors and
constructs are not mutually exclusive categories, but can rather coexist in a
single culture at the same time
National Culture affects leadership style by way of the subordinates.
Leaders can not choose their styles at their will. They are constrained by
the cultural conditions that their subordinates have come to expect
5.) Providing Team Leadership
Janice Klein and Pamela Posey,(Harvard Business Review,
November/December 1986) has explained following twelve
leadership principles to keep in mind when playing the role of team
leader:
1.) Understand the Phases of Group Evolution
2.) Grow Leaders if You Want to Build Teams
3.) Provide Human Relations Training To Group Members
4.) Teams Need Continuous Support From Executives
5.) . Team Leadership Rule 5: Establish a Team Identity
 6.) Increase Cohesion
7.) Change Norms
8.) Define Roles and Responsibilities
9.) . Establish Group Processes
10.) Facilitate Meetings
11.) Leaders Use Communication Microroles
12.) Develop A Problem Solving Process