Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

MAN LEADER VS WOMAN LEADER

ABSTRACT

This review article reveals that men are generally more

influential than women, although the gender difference
depends on several moderators. Relative to men, women are
particularly less influential when using dominant forms of
communication, whereas the male advantage in influence is
reduced in domains that are traditionally associated with the
female role and in group settings in which more than one
woman or girl is present. Males in particular resist influence by
women and girls more than females do, especially when
influence

agents

employ

highly

competent

styles

of

communication. Resistance to competent women can be

reduced, however, when women temper their competence
with displays of communality and warmth.

Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

TABLE OF CONTENT

Content

Page

Background of Issues

Literature Supporting Issues

2-3

Literature Not Supporting Issues

Discussion

5 - 17

Conclusion

18 - 20

Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

Bibligraphy

21 - 23

Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

BACKGROUND OF THE ISSUE

In todays world, the most crucial challenge is determining of

who will be the leader to the future. Whether you like it or not,
it always an issue in our life:Leadership based on gender. Who
is better in leadership? Man or female? This is the common
thing that can be discussed throughout the century. Many
researcher has been doing on this topic in order to prove
which gender that shows the best quality in terms of corporate
leader. There are pros and cons between the genders of who
is more effective and qualify in being a leader. It is because
both man and woman have different traits and personality in
psychologically and scientifically. We have different unique
leader in this world. For example, Donald Trump become idol
in business for man and Oprah Winfrey in the entertainment
industries. The propose of this assignment is studying the facts
and achievement by both man and woman in leadership area
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

and how well they are in the area opposing each other.

Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

LITERATURE SUPPORTING ISSUE

According to researchers, most research they worked on are
based on their focus to the difference of genders and how
likely the genders influence people. Factual, there are varieties
in this same topic being discussed over and over again.
Unintentionally, this had been devoted how can genders
effecting his or her ability to influence others; hence their
ability in practicing effective management in organization as
well as it is related to career advancement and increment in
salaries.

In most situation, women often given lower levels of managing

and status compare to men, based on power of expertise and
authority. It is simply because of the nature of human being
that both genders are different to each other because of the
natural habits and behaviors. Women often being stereotyped
as always be the persons who do care taking and lower status
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

roles and men often being responsible of doing higher status

of job. Therefor men are expected to behave more effective
than woman; and women to behave more communally
compare to men.

In addition, the behavior of most human that is stereotyping

the genders leads to mens leadership behaviors and to
penalties against women whose behavior is too insufficiently
communal. As a consequence, people assume that men are
more capable and efficient than women are, that women are
softer and incapable than men are, that men are dominant
against woman.

It is resulting to people assumption to men level of influence

that is higher than women. Women influence is consider as
conditional depending on how the influence is being used. Not
only that, the treatment given to gender depends on the
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

relative power of interactions and conditions that beneficial to

female authority and expertise that suppose to be reduced the
difference, which means circumstances that highlight gender
as a status behavior should increase it.
LITERATURE NOT SUPPORTING ISSUE

However, eventhough male are popularly known as better

leaders, there are some legendary women successfully proof to
the world that women, too, can lead. The first famous female
leader is Saint Catherine of Siena (born 23rd of 25 children).
She was a scholastic philosopher and theologian. She received
no education and at age seven decided to become a lay
member of the Dominican.

Secondly, Eva Peron (Evita). She was First Lady of Argentina

from 1946 until her death in 1952. During her time as wife of
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

President Juan Peron, she has became more powerful within

the Pro-Peronist trade unions. Eventually, she founded the
charitable Eva Pern Foundation, and the nations first largescale female political party, the Female Peronist Party.

DISCUSSION

Gender Differences in Exerting Influence

Even though the studies being done had proof that women
factually are less likely to be influential than men, the
differences in genders depending on the relationships and the
behavior showed by the influence agent. Particularly, the
difference between genders are considered as individuals way
of interaction; the opposing agents competencies, dominance,
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

and communality.

Factors Moderating Gender Differences in Influence

Based on influential states theory, how far a gender can effect
on the other gender is related to the salience of gender as a
status characteristic. Women always being assumed as having
lower status compare to men which is obviously highlighted in
relationship between men and women. As a consequent, the
women relative disadvantage in influencing men would very
likely be fondest in their interactions with men. Not only that,
male way of resisting to female influence is very likely to
support male power of dominating the women. The most
reasonable prediction, thus, is that men may show more
resisting behavior to female influence than women would. Yes,
of course, relating to the different of gender as a status
behavior, the precise context of the relationship, the converse
style that being practiced by the influence agents, and the
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

power of the research design, the possibilities of the gender

differences are being reveal is very low and almost impossible.
In fact, a few studies have proof no logic interactions against
the genders of the candidate and the gender of the influence
agent on social influence. Undeniable, when gender of subjects
that are affecting are found, with unique exceptions, they
reveal that men resist female influence more than women do.

In a study, candidates listened to an recording of a male or

female expert who showed a public speaking advocating
nontraditional gender roles; the result shockingly revealed that
women were equally persuaded by male and female experts,
but men were less persuaded by a woman than by a man. Not
only that, the other experimental study on adults confirms
that, with a male audience, women exert less influence than
men do.

Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

It is undoubtedly that men exert greater influence than women

and capable to resist womens influence compare to how
women do because of the better dominant power that men
possess in group communication. Mens dominant power
benefit is being mirrored in research on the influence of solo
men versus solo women in group decisions. In these studies,
women resulted exerting more influence over among staffs in
balanced groups than in groups in that indicate women were in
the minority, and men in the minority reported showing more
influence over fellow workers than minority women did. The
reason why does appearing in a minority reveal an valid
disadvantage for females, but an advantage for males?
Minority status are likely to highlight gender stereotypes and
act greater gender-stereotypical behavior. It is, resulted as the
quantity of task contributions of individual men members
increases as the proportion of men in a group goes down,
which is the quantity of task contributions of female members
increases as the proportion of women in a group goes up. It is
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

possible because task contributions are likely to facilitate

influence, especially for males, the massive amount of task
contributions of males in the minority apparently to be
consider as influence, which is the relative silence of minority
females involved with theirs. The existence of other same-sex
group members may motivate women and girls and encourage
their involvement. It is also likely to change the nature of the
communication, as well as the behaviors being shown by
males, it is because so that the members show more mutual
support and understanding. In essence, then, when females
are in the majority, the male advantage is somewhat undercut
by the opportunity for women to serve as allies to one another
and by the greater communality of the interaction.

Communication Style Used by Influence Agent

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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

Competence. Research has often focused on the importance of

task competence in affecting social influence. Competence can
be conveyed through objective success at a task or through
status cues, such as rapid speech with few verbal hesitations
and stumbles, communicating directly and avoiding indirect or
mitigated forms of speech, and making task contributions.
Because competent influence agents are typically more
credible than those who are less competent, competence
should be associated with increased influence for both men
and women.

Still, task competence may be of particular importance to the

effectiveness of women influence agents, because research on
descriptive gender stereotypes indicates that people perceive
women to be less expert and knowledge- able except in
situations that favor female expertise and less qualified as
managers than men are. Moreover, research indicates that a
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

different standard exists in the evaluation of the performance

of men and women. Because less is expected of women than
of men, the minimum standard for performance is set lower for
women, and the standard for high competence is set higher
than it is for men. In order to be considered as able as a man,
a woman must show clear evidence that her performance is
superior to his, just as with girls in interactions with boys.
Unfortunately, this places extra demands on women and girls
to show exceptional competence in order to be taken seriously
as leaders and influence agents.

Although the existence of a double standard for performance

suggests

that dis- playing

competence

would facilitate

womens influence more than mens, there is limited evidence

that

women

benefit

more

than

competence.

12

men

from

exhibiting

Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

Because women possess less diffuse status and legitimate

authority than men, regardless of a womans competence, she
is more likely to be perceived as lacking the right to influence
or lead others than a man would be perceived to be.
Consequently, a mans success in influencing others may
depend much less on the way he communicates than a
womans does. The effects of communication style on influence
may also depend on the gender of the recipient of influence
attempts. As already noted, men resist female influence more
than women do. Men may feel more threatened than women
by competent and assertive speech in women and may
therefore be more resistant to competent women than women
are. Although men often resist a competent woman, they are
less resistant when they have the opportunity to gain money
or other benefits by making a well informed decision.

Dominance. Dominant behavior, which has been characterized

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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

as controlling, threatening, forceful, and agonistic, involves

negative forms of influence. These include direct disagreement
and verbal or nonverbal cues for aggression or threat, such as
interruptions, speaking in a loud voice, pointing at others, and
having a stern expression. Although dominance has not
typically been considered an effective method of inducing
influence, researchers have argued that people are more
tolerant of dominant behaviors in high-status than low-status
individuals and in men than in women. According to descriptive
gender stereotypes, women are expected to show greater
warmth and nurturance than men do, whereas men are
expected to show higher levels of competitiveness and
aggressiveness.

Moreover, given the social roles to which men and women are
assigned in society, dominant behavior, such as aggression
and competitiveness, is prescriptively more congruent with the
male than the female role. In general, then, neither men nor
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

women should be particularly influential when exhibiting

dominant behavior, but women may be particularly disliked
and ineffective as influence agents when they engage in such
behavior.

Both men and women dislike a woman who disagrees with

them more than a man who does so and, as a consequence,
are less persuaded by her. In face to face discussions of
gender-neutral topics, direct disagreement by a woman is
actually more likely to evoke overt expressions of hostility or
tension than the same behavior by a man, and compared with
male speakers, women speakers who communicate in the
same threatening or aversive manner exert less influence over
their audience.

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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

Maintaining a high degree of visual dominance, which involves

showing relatively higher amounts of eye gaze while speaking
than while listening and is associated with status and
authority, reduces womens like-ability and influence but can
actually increase mens influence. Further, this pattern of
particular resistance to female dominance has also been found
in studies involving young children; teachers of infants and
toddlers ignore the negative influence attempts of girls more
than the negative assertions of boys.
Because women lack status and possess relatively low levels of
legitimate and expert power, they are penalized and rejected
when they do not adhere to the prescription for warmth and
communality. Women who attempt to influence others while
communicating a desire for personal gain or to enhance their
own status are likely to be unsuccessful. Instead, people are
likely to show greater receptiveness to female influence by a
woman who is collaborative and communal and whose goals
appear to focus more on helping others achieve their goals
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

than on her own benefit.

Research confirms that womens influence depends on their

communicating in a communal style that shows a lack of selfinterest. Communal behaviors include verbal and nonverbal
behaviors, such as smiling, expressing agreement, and
showing support of others or explicitly stating that one is
motivated to help or benefit others. People dislike women who
fail to show communal behavior and show self-interest instead.
For example, self-promotion is viewed as less acceptable in
women than in men and less acceptable in women than is
modesty.

In addition, self-promoting women are generally less influential

and seen as less like-able than modest women, even though
women who self-promote are perceived as more competent
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

and confident than those who do not. In group interactions,

women who exhibit communal behaviors exert greater
influence than women who do not, whereas men exert equal
influence over other group members, regardless of how
communally they behave.

Men, in particular, respond unfavorably to women who

communicate self- interest rather than friendliness, warmth,
and other communal characteristics. But even male resistance
to the influence of competent women is tempered when
women are able to combine competence with warmth. Women
who use rapid, unhesitating, and clear language, which is
associated with competence, are less persuasive than men
who communicate in the same way; however, women who
combine these competence cues with cues for warmth, such as
smiling and nodding, are as persuasive as their male
counterparts and more persuasive than women who show
mere competence.
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

In general, communality facilitates liking; people like both men

and women who show warmth and agreeableness. Because
being warm and like-able is prescriptive for women, however,
but not for men, likableness is associated with social influence
for women more than it is for men. In other words, a man can
influence others even when they do not particularly like him,
but a woman must be like-able to be influential.

Gender Bias of Task

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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

Because people generally consider women to be less expert

than men, women should be at a disadvantage in genderneutral contexts, in which without overwhelming evidence of a
womans superiority at the task, men would be presumed to be
more competent and would therefore be more influential. The
male advantage in influence should be even greater in
contexts that are stereo-typically masculine or that are
explicitly described as favoring male expertise. On the other
hand, women should be more influential than men in contexts
that are considered stereo-typically feminine, for under such
conditions women would be presumed to be more expert and
would also have more legitimate authority than men.

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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

CONCLUSION
Why do people resist womens influence? First, to be effective,
influence agents should be perceived as competent, and
people typically perceive men to have higher levels of
competence than women have, unless there is very clear
evidence of female superiority. As a result, gender differences
in social influence occur even when there are no objective
differences in the behaviors or performance of male and
female influence agents. Consequently, when a task is stereo
typically feminine, males defer to females and females resist
male influence.

Second, it is men more than women who resist female

influence. Men have greater legitimacy and authority than
women do, and women who show a desire to influence others
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

threaten mens power advantage. Male resistance to female

influence parallels research findings on reactions to male and
female leaders. Women are less likely to link managerial skill to
gender or to denigrate the accomplishments of other women.
The gender effect on influence, then, is not primarily due to
behavioral differences between males and females but appears
to be due to resistance to female influence, especially by
males. Because men particularly resist the influence of a
competent woman, unless they are likely to somehow benefit
from her competence, one way to overcome male resistance
would be to remind men of the potential benefit and value to
them of womens contributions.

In general, behavior that is consistent with prescriptive gender

role norms is more influential than behavior that violates those
norms. Fulfilling prescriptive norms appears, however, to be
more crucial for women than for men. Men are often influential
even when they do not adhere to traditional gender role
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

norms, perhaps because being influential is, in itself, more

congruent with the traditional male gender role than with the
female gender role. In general, people allow men much
greater behavioral latitude than they allow women, and a
mans likableness and influence depend much less on his
communication style than do a womans. In the same way, the
behavior of female influence agents receives greater scrutiny
than that of males. Research on evaluation of leaders confirms
this double standard. Women who lead in an autocratic
manner receive less favorable evaluations than women who
lead in a democratic manner; although men receive equally
favorable evaluations regardless of their use of an autocratic or
democratic style. Women leaders, like women in general, must
lead in a way that conveys communality or risk being
perceived as illegitimate. In fact, research on gender
differences in social and task behaviors both in ad-hoc groups
and among leaders indicates that women do show higher
levels of social-communal behavior than men, whereas men
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Organisational Behavior - Who makes the better leader; Man or Woman?

show higher levels of task behavior. Such behavior, particularly

in interactions with men, may be a pragmatic means by which
women can reduce resistance to their influence and thereby
achieve greater legitimacy as leaders.

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