Female Leadership

                After reading what Yukl has to say about gender-based discrimination and listening to the HBR video with Rosabeth Moss Kanter I have come to the conclusion that both of them feel the same way. I think that in this world most of can agree that it has not been equal for women, although I feel that things have been getting better. Women are constantly challenged with the effects of the glass ceiling, the glass ceiling is as Rosabeth describes an imaginary line that women cannot get past when reaching for the top positions in companies.  

            The cause for this glass ceiling is usually the cause of many factors, Yukl gave about 10 reasons that might be the cause of the glass ceiling. Some reasons included where, “Higher standards of performance for women than for men, lack of strong efforts to gain access to leadership positions, etc. (Yukl, 2013). What Yukl and Rosabeth both said where the main cause for a glass ceiling was that they both agreed that many women were being held back from those top positions because of the difficulties created by competing family demands.

            Many times women are put on the back burner for promotions because of all the commitment which is required of those top position jobs. Those top position jobs many times require someone that is available 24/7, someone who can dedicate most of their lives to these jobs is what is sometimes required. The demanding nature of the job can sometimes get in the way of even starting a family, men are usually able to start families even after they are in their 40’s and they have established a successful career. For women this is not so easy women are physically not capable of even having children after a certain age or it becomes a high risk to start a family around that age.

            In some countries like China even by the age of 30 women whom are not married because of their careers are looked down on, “That’s right: in China, if you're 30, female and single, you’re considered well and truly on the shelf” (forbes). This is a huge burden for many women who are on their way to becoming future CEO’s, I have to agree with Yukl and Rosabeth’s point when it comes to the glass ceiling being caused due to the demanding nature of the job. It has been a long a hard road for women to get equal treatment but I do see that things are changing.

For the women that are able to make sacrifice’s the opportunity is out there; It has been proven on many occasions that many women are on the rise. We can find women taking many leadership positions in many different countries in the world. We see women leaders in government, business, education, and even the law; women leaders are on the rise and it is great to see people making way for great female leaders to rise to the top.  

Reference:

- Yukl, G. A. (2013). Leadership in organizations. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

- Keenlyside, S. (2012, July 30). You Do Not Want to Be a Single Lady Over 28 in China. . Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://www.businessinsider.com/you-do-not-want-to-be-a-single-woman-over-28-in-china-2012-7

Leadership Style

                This week for my blog I have to write about what separates me from other people as a leader. I find this challenging, I feel like I do not know what my style is yet. Is it because I am twenty nine years old or should I already know what type of leader I am supposed to be. After reading Goffee and Jones article on “Getting personal on the topic of leadership”, I feel like the people which they talked about did not know what their style was at first either. Their style was something so natural, it was just who they were and then the people who studied them called it a style.

                To be aware of myself I would have to study myself and my leadership style. I would like to think that I am a very relaxed person, I do not believe in scolding other adults, at the same time I would never hold back from telling people the truth or giving them constructive criticism. I think that if I was to be studied as a leader people might say that I have a “niceness” to me, just like people would say that Bill Gates has a “geekiness” to him.

                Being nice works for me, I have always noticed that when I am in a leadership role I treat people with respect and I make them feel like their opinion counts. I make people feel useful by having them feel like they are helping me directly when doing their work. People like to help me because they see that I respect them; they do not want to let me down. I have seen over controlling leaders that treat their employees with little respect, I have always felt that this leads to rebellious behavior. Most people can only be pushed around for so long until they begin to become rebellious.

                I think that as a leader we have to have a bond with our team, many times bossing people around does not work; especially when working with well qualified and educated people. I see that I am the type of person that enjoys an “authentic leadership” style of doing things around the work place. “Aspects of authentic leadership include positive leader values, leader self-awareness, and a trusting relationship with followers” (Yukl, 2013). I hope that my leadership style can someday be as effective as a Bill Gates but I guess that only time will tell where this style of leadership can take me.

 

Reference-

-          Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in organizations (8^th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

 

Creating Meaning at Work

Now, reflect on what you have read and viewed and what it means when we say that leaders must create a “cause” or "meaning." Relate this to the theory of leading change. Use examples and apply the work of others where necessary.

 

            First and foremost I must say that the first thing I did when I finished reading the article “Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating Meaning at Work” was I printed it off and put it in my book so that I do not lose it. This is what leadership is all about in my opinion; a leader is the guiding force which can bring the best out of their team. I think that this article was very insightful for any aspiring leader or manager, these are the types of tips which people looking to make a difference at work crave for.

 Throughout this class we have talked about companies having a “why”; a reason to do what they do. A company has to have a thirst and a hunger for which ever goal they are chasing, rather it be for financial purposes or work that might change the world for the better. When we have meaning or a cause at work we are working towards something that is much bigger than ourselves; “This is a call to action. It is the step that ingrains your core values in your day-to-day life. It gives you meaning and reason to do the jobs you do” (Entrepreneur).  When we as leaders create a meaning for our employees at work we can grow strengths which we might not have realized that we are capable of through values like integrity, leadership, and finding a love for what we do.

I Look at companies like “Toms shoes” for example; this company has found a love for what they do while “killing two birds with one stone”. Toms has the slogan of “one for one”, what they are doing is for every item you buy someone in need receives some sort of help from the company. The company has many different positive stories posted on their website; they have helped millions of people in very poor countries be able to have shoes and not have to walk around bare foot. The way I see it this company is making huge amounts of profit and at the same time they are finding a cause in their work. Toms co. is helping people on so many different levels, not only are they putting shoes on the feet of many needy adults and children but they are also opening up factories and creating Jobs in countries like Haiti and other countries with similar economic struggles.

I can see why a company like Toms is striving in so many different ways, the leaders at Toms have found a way to create meaning and cause in the work that they do. By finding a cause in their work they are “promoting positive work environments through attention to characteristics like humility, selflessness, order and, openness” (HBR Blog). I think that we can all learn from many companies which have followed this path.

As I mentioned before, I found it particularly important to print this article out (Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating Meaning at Work) and “put it in my back pocket” because I know that I will use these seven drivers in the future. Team building activities like this can bring a huge amount of success to a company, anytime we take a step back and examine ourselves we can open up a new world of creativity and ideas. Many of these drivers remind me of brainstorming, when a team brainstorms they take some time to stop and think about how things can be done better. I feel that the world we live in is too fast paced and not enough time is being taken to see how we can do things better. When we stop to look for a cause or meaning in what we do I think that success is inevitable.

References:

- Held, L. (2014, March 29). 7 Steps to Find Meaning in Your Work. . Retrieved July 9, 2014, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/232638

- Ulrich, D. (2010, June 2). Getting Beyond Engagement to Creating Meaning at Work. . Retrieved July 9, 2014, from http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/06/getting-beyond-engagement-to-c/

 

Remote Transformational leadership

What was the point of the research?

Remote transformational leadership, this article was about the research done on three different types of leadership, leadership communications, and to broaden our understanding of remote transformational leadership. The point of this research is to find out which method would work the best for a business. Research like this is essential for a business to find out what types of methods work best and which methods should be avoided in general.

Another point which was made during this research is the effects of face to face leadership versus, leadership which is done via email. This is also an important factor to look into because too many times people can get lost when their leadership is not within direct contact. I would compare it to the amount of self-discipline it takes to complete online schooling compared to in-seat classes. This is an important point which is being made because of the way that technologies and businesses are moving forward very quickly in today’s day and age.

What were the hypotheses?

                The hypothesis which were stated found that there were communication problems among team members using computer-mediated communications, and that there were higher recorded inaccuracies in the computer-mediated teams than in the teams that met face-to-face.

What was the research method used?

                The research method which was used is a laboratory-based investigation. As the article states the use of laboratory-based procedure is the most appropriate way to study a topic when it is in the early stages of research and the questions focus on internal validity

Were the results supportive of the research goals?

                I would like to say that after reading the article it is evident that the results were supportive of the research goals. With this research we were able to the see that employees had a much more positive reaction form an intellectually stimulating email. If the employees received an email with very little intellectually stimulating material then the results were not very good at all. This is consistent with the research done suggesting that both intellectual stimulation and charisma resulted in improved task performance.  

Of what value was the research?

                I feel that this research has a huge value for companies that want to know how to succeed. All too often managers and leaders feel that they have to be overly aggressive with employees; or as it was put in this research leaders can have a style of “management by exception”.  Management by exception is a very negative way to handle your employees and I feel that this does not help a company. Far too many times I have felt the negative effects of a boss and I feel that it lingers and looms over my head; it feels as though the negativity has a snow ball effect.

                On the flip side you have a leadership style known as “transformational leadership” which can positively motivate an employee which is feeling down, and make them begin to believe that they can do good work. When a leader shows faith in an employee it also makes that person not want to let down their leader. These are all important factors which should be considered when we are sending out emails to our employees. We have to really think about what is being said so that we can make our team as proficient as possible.