Organizational Behavior (Stephen Robbins)

of a continuing relationship—trying hard to make the
other party a winner in his or her own and others’ eyes.
Although it’s interesting to see how men’s and
women’s leadership styles differ, a more important ques-
tion is whether they differ in effectiveness. Although
some researchers have shown that men and women
tend to be equally effective as leaders,^94 an increasing
number of studies have shown that women executives,
when rated by their peers, employees, and bosses, score
higher than their male counterparts in a wide variety
of measures, including getting extra effort from subor-
dinates and overall effectiveness in leading. Subordinates
also report more satisfaction with the leadership given
by women.^95 See Exhibit 8-11 for a scorecard on where
female managers do better, based on a summary of five
studies. Why these differences? One possible explanation
is that in today’s organizations, flexibility, teamwork
and partnering, trust, and information sharing are rap-
idly replacing rigid structures, competitive individualism,
control, and secrecy. In these types of workplaces, effec-
tive managers must use more social and interpersonal
behaviours. They must listen, motivate, and provide
support to their people. They must inspire and influ-
ence rather than control. Women seem to do those
things better than men.^96

What Are the Challenges of Online Leadership?

Organizations are facing more telecommuting by employees, more contracting out,
more mergers, and increasing globalization. Students often take courses online. It is
becoming more common, then, that the person doing the leading is not necessarily in
the same building, let alone the same organization or country, as the person being led.

Chapter 8Leadership 281

Emmie Wong Leung, founder and CEO of International Paper Industries

(IPI) of North Vancouver, which collects, processes, and sells waste paper

to offshore buyers, has been exporting to the United States, Hong Kong,

Japan, China, the Philippines, India, and Indonesia for more than 20

years. She says: “I think an old-boys’ network operates all over the world,

but you can get them to accept you.”

None of the five studies set out to find gender differences. They stumbled on them while

compiling and analyzing performance evaluations.

Skill (Each check mark denotes which group

scored higher on the respective studies.)

* In one study, women’s and men’s scores in these categories were statistically even.

MEN WOMEN

Motivating others

Fostering communication

Producing high quality work

Strategic planning

Listening to others

Analyzing issues

*

*

*

Data: Hagberg Consulting Group, Management Research Group, Lawrence A. Pfaff, Personnel Decisions

International Inc., Advanced Teamware Inc.

EXHIBIT 8-11 Where Female Managers Do Better: A Scorecard

Source:R. Sharpe, “As Leaders, Women Rule,” BusinessWeek,November 20, 2000, p. 75. Reprinted by

permission of Business Week.