Leadership in Organizations

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Depersonalization and stereotyping follow with any number of negative
outcomes, such as violence and war.
Criticism of social identity: theory oversimplifies group behaviour
Benefits of social identity theory
• It can help to understand rivalry between groups
• It can help to identify the pressures to conform to a particular way of behaving.
Women can be a positive contribution to an organization by being different from
existing paradigms (in the past).
Discussion about women as a leader. Some say that leaders should be men, others say
that women are better suited because their values, traits and abilities to inspire others
in a more sustainable, transformational way.
Labyrinth of leadership: two barriers for women which create a structure almost
impossible for women to navigate through:
- Women are communal in nature. They are seen as compassionate, concerned for
well-being of others, gentle and kind. Men are ‘agentic’ (assertive, control,
dominant). And they say that the traits of an agentic person, are the traits a
leader needs.
- Difficult for women, because if they act like a leader needs to act, they are
opposing what a woman should do (according to the theory).
Eagly & Karau (2002): a group will be judged by society by the degree to which a group
matches society’s expectations from them. (Women will not be viewed as leaders
because their communal attributes do not align with the ‘agentic’ requirements of
leadership.
Veccio (2002): claims of masculine or feminine advantage do not have the data to
support them.
Androgyny = both male and female characteristics.
Bolton and Humphreys (1977): men and women both have agentic and communal traits.
Also: research in the area of leadership often has been contaminated by a masculinity
bias in which the task leadership function is viewed as more important than the socialemotional
function.
Effective leaders are not specifically men or women, but an individual who can exhibit
both masculine and female behaviours in different situations.
Diversity and culture
• Different parts of the world view leadership different.
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