Annotated bibliography on leadership and gender - Essay Example

?Running Head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Annotated Bibliography on Leadership and Gender Annotated Bibliography on Leadership and Gender Reference #1 Condren, T., Martin, B. N., & Hutchinson, S. (2006). What Does Emotional Intelligence and Gender Have to Do with Leadership Effectiveness .or Does It? Advancing Women in Leadership, 21(2), 10-27 Summary Beginning with the assumption that high Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is a quality found in most effective leaders, the researchers attempt to analyse data taken from participant responses to the QueenDom's Emotional Intelligence (EIQ) and the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) to evaluate perceived leadership effectiveness of principals in a American Midwestern school system. They then analyse whether there is a difference between the levels of EQ found in women as opposed to that found in men. Their finding confirmed that principals that scored a higher emotional Intelligence were perceived to be more effective leaders. Their findings also showed that women overall had higher Emotional Intelligence scores than men. Analysis and Evaluation As previously stated the researchers begin with the premise that higher level of Emotional Intelligence equates with better leadership skills. They first cite Sosik and Megerian (1999) as to the reason for this, which is that leaders with higher EQ’s pay more attention to their interpersonal skills and relationships. This brings a closer connection between leadership and staff. EQ leader pay less attention to the technical aspects and more to the human aspect of the business. This study uses a random sample of 32 participants (teachers), equally weighted male and female, to answer questions regarding the effectiveness of their leaders, in this case the principals of their schools. They believe that the best way to judge leadership effectiveness is by the ratings of those they lead, citing A Technical Report Issued by the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations produced by Cherniss and Goleman (1998) who state that evaluation of the so called “soft skills” of leaders has been rare, but that, “we now have the tools necessary to conduct rigorous evaluations of most training programs for social and emotional competence.” (Cherniss & Goleman,1998) These tools are the QueenDom's Emotional Intelligence (EIQ) and the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) which this study employed. The researches were seeking to find answers to three specific queries, 1) Is there a correlation between EQ and specific areas of leadership such as challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modelling the way, and encouraging the heart?; 2) Is there a connection between EQ and leadership effectives?; and 3) Does gender play a role in this relationship? Their findings indicate that EQ is regarded as an important component of leadership effectives as evaluated by those they interact with. They also found that women are usually viewed as having somewhat higher EQ’s than their male counterparts. These two results prompt them to make the statement that further efforts must be made to promote the training and encouragement of higher levels of EQ in leaders. Furthermore they state that seeing that there is a difference in gender regarding EQ, future training should take that into account. While their research is quite interesting they fall a bit short on exactly what they mean by the difference between men and women and the training of EQ. Certainly EQ is playing a larger role in this area, but they should have explained the gender difference a little more for study to have an impact. Reference #2 Okhakhume, A. S. (2008). Attitudes of Subordinates toward Women in Leadership Position. Gender & Behaviour, 6(2), 1785-1799. Summary This study takes place in Nigeria and concentrates on the bias of gender in that society, specifically in the area of employment and leadership as it regards women. The author states that in Nigeria the workplace has traditionally been regarded as the domain of men and women have to fight for their right to be there. It is a complex process which can often involve women emulating the traditional alpha male characteristics such as competition, aggressiveness and achievement in order to archive leadership status. This has been the touchstone for the feminist’s campaigns trying to address gender inequity in the workplace. The author notes that the government has made several laws to engender this process, but culturally women still face very challenging obstacles. The author cites several studies indicating that women are taught to be more submissive and soft spoken so are denied any insight into the leadership qualities that they might need in the business world. Analysis and Evaluation This study reviews a wide range of previous research in regards to testing the following four hypotheses: 1) that male subordinates will generally have negative attitude towards leaders more than female subordinates; 2) that subordinates with higher level of education will have a more positive attitude towards women leaders than their counterparts with lower educational levels; 3) that young subordinates will have negative attitude towards women leaders more than old subordinates; and 4) that Christian subordinates will have positive attitude toward women leaders than their Moslem counterparts. By re-evaluating the literature on the subject the author then preformed a t-test for independent sample and created a table with the following results: Hypothesis one was confirmed that male subordinates have more negative attitudes towards female leaders (t = 2.75; df= 220; p < 0.05); Hypothesis two was not confirmed and there was no statistically significant difference between education levels and positive or negative reactions towards female leaders (t = 0.03; df= 220; p > 0.05); Hypothesis three was confirmed that younger subordinates have more negative attitudes towards women that their older counterparts (t= 2.05; df=220; p 0.05). While this paper certainly restates the fact that women in Nigeria, and other similar culturally unique countries, have a much more difficult time overcoming prejudices against their gender, it also confirms that this is possibly not going to change any time soon. While the author notes that three out of the four hypotheses are confirmed, the second hypothesis regarding educational levels was not. The author downplays this finding by citing other studies that had confirmed this hypothesis in the past, but this writer believes the author has missed the point. The fact that education has not significantly improved the culture attitude towards women goes further to show how deeply ingrained it is. Furthermore, that the educational system is most certainly affected by these cultural beliefs since higher education, which should bring about greater awareness of these issues, is not doing so in Nigeria. References Cherniss, C., & Goleman, D. (1998, October). A technical report issued by the consortium for research on emotional intelligence in organizations. Retrieved June 14, 2011 from http://www.eiconsortium.org/reports/technical_report.html Condren, T., Martin, B. N., & Hutchinson, S. (2006). What Does Emotional Intelligence and Gender Have to Do with Leadership Effectiveness .or Does It? Advancing Women in Leadership, 21(2), 10-27 Okhakhume, A. S. (2008). Attitudes of Subordinates toward Women in Leadership Position. Gender & Behaviour, 6(2), 1785-1799. Read More