Dissertation Information for Paula Greenfield Washington NAME: - Paula Greenfield Washington
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Women's Studies
SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (1995)
ADVISORS: - Elizabeth Fox-Genovese
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Jeffrey Sonnenfeld - Irene Browne
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Charismatic Leadership, Gender and Corporate Culture: A Study of Chief Executive Officers and their Senior Management Teams
Abstract: This project investigates whether evidence is available in support of theories of gender difference in leadership styles over theories of gender similarities. It examines both between gender comparisons and within gender comparisons with respect to measuring the effectiveness of several key attributes identified as differentiating effective leadership. The overall goal of this research is theory-generating: to begin the development of an integrated model for the study of gender and leadership which incorporates gender difference as well as gender similarities. Hopefully, such an integrated model can help to change the assumptions and conceptual framework of current gender-based leadership research.
This study of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and their senior management teams uses gender as a basic theoretical category. Data for the study was taken from a Charismatic Leadership Survey which was given to senior management team members and their corresponding CEOs in seventy-one companies. Eighty-five percent of the CEOs were male and fifteen percent were female. Five attributes of charismatic leadership were measured by the survey: Personal Dynamism, High Expectations, Risk-Taking (three traditional "masculine" attributes), and Recognition and Concern and Trusted Model (two traditional "feminine" attributes). The third data base came from a survey of the Human Resource Departments of the same companies. This survey provided the information to divide the companies into four categories of corporate culture based on a typology of career systems theory.
The overall research conclusion from this project is that effective male and female CEOs possess individual combinations of both the "masculine" and "feminine" attributes across cultures and in varying strengths. Evidence of gender difference was not supported over evidence of gender similarity; rather, both gender-based attributes as well as structural factors appear to combine in the strongest charismatic styles. The critical, and optimistic, conclusion from this research directly challenges the view of gender-based leadership difference. Future research should be able to build on the preliminary findings of this project in an effort to more fully understand the interactive process between gender and corporate culture with respect to effective leadership.
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