TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................... 1 1.1 Overview ......................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem Statement ........................................................................... 2 1.3 Definition of Terms ........................................................................... 4 2.0 Literature Review on Leadership in Corporate Entrepreneurship .... 5 2.1 Gender Issues in Corporate Leadership .............................................. 5 2.2 Characteristics of Effective Leadership in Corporate Entrepreneurship.. 8 2.3 Male Vs. Female Corporate Leaders ................................................. 13 3.0 Discussion ........................................................................................ 20 4.0 Conclusion ....................................................................................... 23 References .............................................................................................. 24

1.0

Introduction

1.1

Overview

There have been many debates on the place and significant roles played by women in the workplace, especially in an entrepreneurial firm. Freeman and Varey (1997) stated that there is evidence to support the idea that there is a marked difference between male and female management values when it comes to business relations. According to Budworth and Mann (2010), academician views are that male and female leaders do not differ and they can be prepared and developed to become leaders in the same way. However, Carter and Cannon (1992) stated that there is a marked difference of management values with different gender.

Andersson and Tell (2009) stated that individual traits and characteristics influenced growth in small firms. These are like experience and education (Richbell et al., 2006; Gray and Mabey, 2005; Maes et al., 2005), achievement motivation, risk-taking propensity and preference for innovation (Stewart et al., 1999) and personal values (Kotey et al., 1997). According to Halikias and Panayotopoulou (2003), traits belonging to entrepreneurs are: risk1

taking, attitude, need for achievement, activity, tolerance of ambiguity, resistance to change, reflectiveness, impulsiveness, locus of control, and a motivation to create growth.

Female entrepreneurs also contribute to employment creation and economic growth as they set up business in different sectors, develop different products, pursue different goals and have different management and organizational solutions to business problems (OConnor, Hamouda and McKeon, 2006). Thus, the debate on who is the better leader in corporate entrepreneurship goes on male or female.

1.2

Problem Statement

Entrepreneurship has been linked with value creation because it has a significant impact on economic growth, continuous business renewal, and employment (Tang and Koveos, 2004). In

contemporary business, entrepreneurial firms are led by both men and women. The success of an entrepreneurial firm is closely related to the leadership quality of the entrepreneur running the firm. However, there are varying degrees of success in entrepreneurial

firms led by women or men, which resulted in the debate of who is the better leader, male or female, in the corporate entrepreneurship.

One of the most traditional debates on gender issues in leadership concerns whether leadership style differs among the two genders, as an expression of different psychological patterns (Vinnicombe and Kakabadse, 1999; Stanford et al., 1995). In earlier meta-analytic studies it was actually shown that the two genders are equally effective in leader roles (Eagly et al., 1995), but lab methodologies indicated that women tend to be more democratic and more focused on relationships than men (Eagly and Johnson, 1990).

Thus, this paper debates this stance, by looking at what past literatures say about the issue. This paper examines the gender issues in corporate leadership, the characteristics of an effective corporate leader and the male vs. female leadership styles and effectiveness. From these evidences, a discussion ensues to determine which notion is acceptable male or female as the better corporate leader.

1.3

Definition of Terms

There are several terms in this paper that needs to be defined and elaborated within the context of discussion. These are listed as follows: 1.3.1 Male and female leaders: Refers to gender-based leaders i.e. whether the corporate leader in the entrepreneurial organization is a male or a female. 1.3.2 Corporate entrepreneurship: Refers to organizations, most likely small and medium enterprises which are created or incorporated with entrepreneurial characteristics.

2.0

Literature Review on Leadership in Corporate Entrepreneurship 2.1 Gender Issues in Corporate Leadership

According to Freeman and Varey (1997), females are more anxious to develop group-based, consensus-driven ventures whereas males are keener towards leader-based ventures. Oliver (1996) explained that females measure their success qualitatively (personal

satisfaction, customer service ratings and additional employment) but males favor success measurement in a quantitative manner (market position, turnover and profitability).

Heath (1994) mentions that women emphasized on an open and flexible atmosphere and general ethos, reflected in their management style and use of open channels of communication, flexible systems and the establishment of good interpersonal relationships. Contrary, men perceive power over their subordinates which are embedded in the traditional powerful male boss role.

Freeman and Varey (1997) also stated that women prefer a democratic style of management but men go for authoritarian styles. According to Allen and Truman (1993), women tend to use a

transformational

management

approach

and

adopt

certain

management styles as listed below: loose hierarchy with a less-structured organization; co-operation and fluid style; less conscious of authority and status; a personal approach to customers and employees; caring, involvement and equality; open communication and access; taking satisfaction from developing others skills; and a team-based approach.

Table 1 below shows the gender differences in relation to management of business. This table was the result of a study on how men and women communicate, carried out over seven years with 25,000 participants. Gray (1992) found that there are such basic differences between the sexes on many criteria in how they communicate in the business environment. Heglesen (1990) stressed that it is commonly accepted that communication defines the style of leadership.

Table 1: Matrix o gender differences Criteria Defining self Making themselves better Feel motivation When they and empowerment needed language and figures) Giving and Difficult differentiate empathy pitied) asked Dont want help unless they ask Emotional needs Trust, acceptance, Caring, understanding, respect, devotion, approval, validation, reassurance appreciation, admiration, Source: Gray (1992) encouragement to Need reassurance that between they are wait behaving to be and correctly asked, offer it anyway wanted or not receiving support (facts information Ability results feel solve problem alone Men to Women achieve Through feelings and quality of relationships talk about they the feel

Retreat to security and Be with people and problems feel When cherished feelings

Use of common Use words to express Use words to express

sympathy (hate to be Dont

Dont offer help unless Give support whether

However, Govender and Bayat (1993) suggested that gender issues in organizational management should not be the focal point. Rather, both men and women can learn from each other styles and make the transition from one style of leadership to another for the sake of organizational success.

Also da Cunha and e Cunha (2002) stated that it is not gender that is the issue but rather the masculine and feminine perspectives of leadership. Chodorow (1978) explained that a masculine ethos corresponds to a worldview in which status and independence are important whereas the feminine perspective corresponds to a worldview where connection and intimacy is dominant. Fondas (1997) stated that the management has become more feminine as there have been major changes in organizational structure and the shift to customer-driven economy.

2.2

Characteristics of Entrepreneurship

Effective

Leadership

in

Corporate

The organizations of today are inclined towards a flatter and knowledge-intensive which are best managed through networking and trust, thus calling out for feminine leadership than though power and hierarchy (masculine leadership) (Da Cunha and e 8

Cunha, 2002). According to Rosener (1990), the call for diversity in organization favors the female advantage which implies the need for women managers to lead the corporate firm.

Heglesen (1990) also agreed that the talents, experiences, attitudes and skills that women brings with them are precisely those needed in the evolving post-industrial economy. Belenky et al. (1989) stated that women managers have a way of relating to people and ideas thus, can help to bridge the gap between demands of efficiency and the need to nurture people. Heglesen (1990) stated that contemporary organization prefer a web-type organizing structure where lines of authority is not clear. In fact, the integration of female values is already producing a more collaborative kind of leadership and changing the ideal of what constitutes strong leadership (Heglesen, 1990).

Storey and Strange (1992) noted that male entrepreneurs are more motivated by market factors compared to women whom place greater emphasis on non-market factors such as low staff turnover and strong customer relationship, of which, these two factors contribute to a sustainable organization.

According to Freeman and Varey (1999), communication competence is a control factor in organizational success that effective communication styles manifest themselves through

peoples personae, and that relationships between people constitute the structure and power distribution in a company.

Thus, Pfeffer (1992) commended that effective managers now have to campaign rather than coerce, communicate rather than mandate, and cooperate rather than dominate. Women who seem to be better in communication and interpersonal skills are able to improve the effectiveness of the organization.

Effective management strategies are seen to be closely linked to the ability to delegate (Carter and Cannon, 1992) and this bonding together into teams to amplify individual efforts needs communication as both an instrumental and a social tool. The investigation has shown t

According to the modern motivational theory, a successful company is achieved when the employees are appreciated, their contributions are acknowledged and highly valued, and that their quality of life is important to their employer (Freeman and Varey, 1999). Hudetz (1995) added that these motivational aspects can 10

also be achieved by empowering employees and providing open communication opportunities and involvement in decision making.

Although most literatures seem to favor women entrepreneurs as effective leaders, Farr-Wharton and Brunetto (2009) reminded that the very basis of being an entrepreneur must be to improve the productivity and value of the opportunity they are exploiting. According to Ardichvilli et al. (2003), there are three parts to the process of finding new opportunities: (i) Identifying potential business ideas (opportunity identification); (ii) Recognising the idea as an opportunity (opportunity recognition); and (iii)

Developing the opportunity (opportunity exploitation). Effective entrepreneurs must be able to identify and exploit a venture opportunity.

Farr-Wharton and Brunetto (2009) commented that women entrepreneurs tend to be less proactive in searching for new opportunities and are less likely to pursue an aggressive growth strategy. They are keener to seek opportunities to further continuity of the business (Brush, 1992; Verheul et al., 2002). This implies that they still need to learn about ideas that may potentially become venture opportunities; however, their aims may be more about

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achieving slow steady growth rather than fast expansion of the venture (Farr-Wharton and Brunetto, 2009).

OConnor et al. (2006) commented that established measures showed that small businesses owned by women exhibit more modest levels of performance than those owned by men. Carter et al. (2002) and Robichaud and McGraw (2003) also highlighted that female-owned firms are generally smaller and are more likely to be in the service sector as well as having slower growth compared to businesses owned by males (Rooney et al., 2003).

A great difference in business view indicates that male entrepreneurs focus on economic goals but female small business owners are inclined towards such aspects as personal enjoyment and the opportunity for self actualization (Brush, 1992; Buttner and Moore, 1997). Thus, intrinsic factors are more important to women than men (McGregor and Tweed, 2000; Kirkwood, 2003; Robichaud et al., 2005).

According to McGraw and Robichaud (1998) and Minniti et al. (2005), female business owners are more likely to have training and experience in fields other than business but having lesser experience

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and confidence when running a business (Legare and St-Cyr, 2000; SBS, 2001).

The UK Household Survey (2001) showed that more women were scared of getting into debt than men (as cited in Elliot et al., 2001). On the contrary, women tend to have lower incomes, prefer to work part-time, have perceptions of poor opportunities and report low self-efficacy (Zinger et al., 2005).

2.3

Male Vs. Female Corporate Leaders

There are many studies that found gender differences in leadership style (Heglesen, 1990; Hennig and Jardim, 1977; Rosner, 1990) although there are other studies which showed no difference (Bass, 1990; Dobbins and Platz, 1986; Donnell and Hall, 1980; Macoby and Jacklin, 1974).

According to Kolb (1991) and Shimanoff and Jenkins (1991), their research showed that there are more similarities than differences in the leadership behaviors of men and women and that they are equally effective. Nevertheless, Appelbaum, Audet and

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Millet (2003) stated that stereotypes keep on saying that women are less capable leaders than women.

Leadership in the twenty-first century seemed to suit women more rather than men (Eagly et al., 2003; Sinclair, 1995). However, when it comes to attainment of leadership positions, men are the better competitor compared to women (Eagly, 2007). For instance, in Canada, only 26 percent of senior leaders in 2006 are women, compared with 37 percent of leaders at other levels (Statistics Canada, 2006). Catalyst (2006) also reported that women hold only 7.9 percent of the highest corporate officer titles and make up only 5.2 percent of the top earners in Fortune 500 companies.

Applebaum et al. (2003) concluded that effective leadership is not exclusive domain of either gender but both can learn from each other. They also disagreed that womens styles are less effective ; in fact, they believed that women are more effective within the context of team-based, consensually-driven organizational structures that are becoming more prominent now.

However, Eagly et al. (2003) in their study showed that female leaders were more likely to engage in transformational leadership behaviours: a form of leadership found to be more effective 14

compared to other leadership styles. Transformational leadership is based on the personal values, belief and qualities of the leader rather than on an exchange process between the leaders and followers (Oshagbemi and Gill, 2003). Transformational leadership is concerned with the performance of followers and also with developing followers to their fullest potentials (Bass and Avolio, 1990). Dvir et al. (2002) stated that, .transformational leaders

exhibit charismatic behaviours, arouse inspirational motivation, provide intellectual stimulation and treat followers with individualized consideration.

Burns (1978) explained that transformational leadership is characterized by the ability to bring about significant change, not only in the organizations vision, strategy and culture but also in its products and technologies.

Heglesen (1990) stated that there are several characteristics of a female leader which can be of advantage such as heightened communication skills (especially the ability of a good listener and to be empathetic), advanced intermediary skills (for negotiation and conflict resolution), well-developed interpersonal skills and a soft approach to handling people (Stanford et al., 1995). Thus, female

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leadership traits tend to conform to structures of contemporary organizations.

Male leaders who are more likely transactional leaders usually employ technical and instrumental solution to employees problems (Oshagbemi and Gill, 2003). Male leaders often expect their subordinates to follow strictly-designed solutions and do not expect them to assume responsibility (Dvir et al, 2002).

Heglesen (1990) also stated that women are better at seeing the human side, quicker to cut through competitive distinction of hierarchy and ranking and impatient with cumbersome protocols. This implies that women leaders are better suited with the trend of lean organization of today.

Van der Boom (2003) added that women tend to focus on relationships, comfort with direct communication and diversity, refusal to compartmentalize skills, talents and lives, innate skepticism of hierarchy and, most importantly, desire to lead from the middle (and not from the top). These are key attributes of tomorrows leaders.

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Kabakoff (1999) reasoned that women managers are more results-oriented while men are more engaged in business analysis and strategic planning. Studies by the Hagberg Consulting Group (1998) found that female managers were rated higher than male managers in leadership and problem solving skills (Brokaw, 1999). In another study by a marketing consulting and research firm in the USA (Copernicus, 1998), men tend to make decisions without input from others. Female leaders were perceived to be more effective in building consensus before making the final decision. Also, women leaders were more thoughtful in their decision-making process and carefully examined many options before acting.

Another survey by Management Today Magazine (2000) showed than women are better at time management compared to men. Men were found to be insensitive with management traits such as being a know-it-all, losing sight of the truth, short-term thinking (not focusing on long-term goals, solutions and strategies), egocentric and aggressive behaviors. Patterson (1998) said that in a flattened organization, things are done through people which favor the kind of management styles belonging to women.

The management differences of men and women can be seen from Table 2 below. 17

Table 2: Managerial Differences of Gender

Cooper (1992) added that his research indicated that men tend to manage by punishment and women using reward management. He stated that women are more socialized due to their management of people and relationship at home and seem to have extended their skills in the workplace. Bass (1990) and Bass and Stogdill (1990, 1991) also stated that women are less likely to practice management-by-exception, intervening only when something goes wrong. Women are prone to temper criticism with positive feedback. Thus, women are better able to deal with employee relations in the organization. 18

Oshagbemi and Gill (2003) concluded that men are more directive and bureaucratic leaders and female are more collaborative and rational. In a crisis situation, Bartunek et al. (2000) explained that a democratic orientation that enables decision-making

processes based on the diversity of ideas, brainstorming and consensus increases cooperation. Thus, female leadership is more valuable in time of organizational crisis.

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3.0

Discussion

It becomes clear that there are a lot of articles which supported the notion of women being a better corporate leader in todays organization. However, there are arguments stemming from others which stated that gender is not the issue but the ability of the individual male or female to gather both feminine and masculine skills that are needed to lead the organization.

In my opinion, the notion of female leaders better than male leaders is not true. I prefer to acknowledge that the individual, regardless of male or female have to equip himself or herself with the characteristic traits of an effective corporate leader. Thus, both feminine and masculine leadership traits that make him or her, a transactional and transformational leader should be acquired by the individual leader.

The reengineering of business process, the emphasis of team work, effective communication and customer-driven approach seem to appeal to womens leadership styles thus implying that women are better leaders than men. However, we have to look at reality around us and see that entrepreneurial firms led by both male and female entrepreneurs are showing signs of success, thus requesting a closer scrutiny of what makes 20

it work. Surely, we cannot state that gender is the key determinant as male-led entrepreneurial firms also show success and productivity. At the same time, there are women-led entrepreneurial firms which also show success. Nevertheless, there are failed firms led by either male or female entrepreneurs. Thus, the success of the firm cannot truly lies in the gender issue of who is the better leader between these sexes.

The articles cited in this discussion paper merely highlighted that female leaders have greater advantages because by being a woman, they are already endowed with the natural traits of feminism. However, structural and systematic trainings and development programs can ensure that male counterparts can acquire some feminism traits. Thus,

entrepreneurial education comes into play.

Aaltio-Marjosola and Takala (2000) highlighted an important point about the essence of communication as the lifeblood of organizations. They stressed that effective communication is an essential reason for major organizational success. Ineffective communication, on the other hand, can lead to disaster. Communication is a complex process and not involved just about giving the right information. More importantly, the information must also reach the right decision makers, be clearly understood and believed, and be weighted correctly.

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I tend to agree with Freeman and Varey (1998) who stated that women behave in the way they do because it feels natural to them, but that men can behave in that way if it is shown to be beneficial. They also stated that women adopt more male approaches if they feel that in doing so they are likely to be more successful in attaining their stated goals.

It remains that the impact gender differences on communication and management styles, strategic decision making and ultimate business success are important to understand. Although researches have

acknowledged that this is true but there are a lot of arguments about female or male being the better corporate leader in the entrepreneurial perspective.

Studies have highlighted the reasons why more men are on the corporate ladder and why women are still not dominating as corporate leaders. It is more or less imbedded in the socio-cultural issues such as stereotyping, the psychological effect of modesty due to womens docile upbringing and mens aggressive upbringing but it definitely had nothing to do with the biological difference of being a man or a woman.

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4.0

Conclusion

The question, who is more effective leader male or female entrepreneur, sparked off some insightful information from various journal articles which dominantly favor women as the better leader. However, I believe that the argument of effective leadership based on gender is not valid as leaders are individuals with specific entrepreneurial traits and characteristics. The emergence of so many entrepreneurial schools and training institution suggest that these entrepreneurial traits and characteristics are not specifically bound to a certain gender but can be learned, assimilated and assumed as ones traits and characteristics.

Therefore, as a conclusion, I would like to restate that male and female entrepreneurs are equal effective leaders in the corporate world, provided they acquire the traits and characteristics that makes them the better leader in corporate entrepreneurship.

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