Women's Leadership Potential in the 21st Century Discussed at IFUW Conference

IFUW CONFERENCE 15-21 August 2013 Kadir Has University, stanbul FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. John C. Maxwell FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

MY PROPOSITION Women have a strong potential for leadership in handling the problems and meeting the demands of humankind in the wake of the 21st century. (Potential is a power not fully actualized yet) So I contend that Women possess underutilized leadership skills or abilities which would effectively meet the need for a new leadership paradigm if they cooperatively act with a fresh gender awareness. FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

TOPICS OF DISCUSSION A contemporary understanding of leadership Critical global problems facing world leadership The new leadership paradigm required Empirical evidence about women s leadership Transformational leadership My own observations about women s leadership Some suggestions FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

A CONTEMPORARY UNDERSTANDING OF LEADERSHIP In Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies leadership is defined as: the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members (House et al., 2004, p. 56). FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

A CONTEMPORARY UNDERSTANDING OF LEADERSHIP Badloni (2000) has simply used the first letters of leader to define the significant characteristics of contemporary leadership: Listening and learning from others, Energising the organisation, Acting for the benefit of everyone, Development of themselves and others, Empowerment of others to lead and Recognition of achievement FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

CRITICAL GLOBAL PROBLEMS FACING WORLD LEADERSHIP Worldwide environmental pollution and global warming Growing world population Famine, poverty and hunger in underdeveloped countries Related social and political unrest, regional wars Pressures of migration to richer countries Growing inequalities of income and living standards between the rich and poor Consequences of global economic crises on various countries and systems Ethnic and religious conflicts Aging population FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

PROBLEMS TO BE ADDRESSED At the institutional level Actualizing the visionary and missionary objectives of organisations, Coping with severe competition for resources and /or customers from national or international institutions Activating the potential talents of people in order to increase innovation and organizational performance Creating shared values, trust, motivation, cooperation and integrity among the human resources of the organisation. FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

THE NEW LEADERSHIP PARADIGM Considering environmental consequences of human action Taking responsibility for disadvantaged people Being accountable for resources under control Promoting universal ethical and spiritual human values Creation of shared vision and values activating the trust, commitment and potential talents of followers Developing a leadership role dedicated to serving the needs of others Open, supportive and emphatic communication with people Empowerment of employees instead of centralizing power FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE ON WOMEN S LEADERSHIP Women exhibited a more participative or democratic style, and men exhibited a more directive, autocratic style (Eagly and Johnson, 1990). Women as a group compared to men are described as friendly, pleasant, interested in other people, expressive and socially sensitive (Eagly and Johnson, 1990, p. 235). Women were found to emerge as social leaders more frequently than men . engaged more often in leadership behaviour which showed agreement with other members and solidarity of views (Eagly and Karau,1991) FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE ON WOMEN S LEADERSHIP Women scored higher on emotional intelligence tests than men (Mayer, Caruso and Salovey, 1999). Women in management roles exhibit feminised leader behaviours (Omar and Davidson, 2001, p. 40). Females score higher on the transformational leadership scale compared to males (Mandell and Pherwani, 2003). Today s organisations require more talented employees and these are increasingly found to be women (Burke and Cooper, 2004). FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP Transformational leadership, as a new style built around characteristics such as caring, concern for others, and nurturing is needed in contemporary organisations. Transformational leadership, more so than transactional leadership, is linked to leadership effectiveness. The attributes of transformational leadership are closely aligned to feminine characteristics compared to masculine characteristics. The linking of effective leadership to transformational leadership has been confirmed in a meta-analysis of 45 studies ( Eagly et al. 2003). FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE ON WOMEN S LEADERSHIP Recent research concludes that women are better suited than men to serve as leaders in the ways required in the global economy (Powell and Graves, 2003, p. 153). It is evident that women possess the qualities of a transformational leader, and it is these qualities that are believed to be required in today s organisations, which are flatter and less hierarchical in structure (Jogulu & Wood, 2006). FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

MY OWN OBSERVATIONS ABOUT WOMENS LEADERSHIP More women are holding leadership positions in NGO s fighting for human cause Women have a greater tendency to abide by universal ethical and spiritual human values Women can more easily take on the servant manager role needed by new type of organizations The nurturing nature of women make them better trustees for human and material resources Women are less likely to secure information for the sake of personal power FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

MY OWN OBSERVATIONS ABOUT WOMENS LEADERSHIP The emphatic powers of women make them better handlers of information and communication Women perform better in the roles of facilitating, mentoring, coaching or simply delegating the goals of the organisation. Women are less inclined to stick to hierarchy and more inclined to work in teams And women all over the world are actively contributing to social movements against oppression, environmental destruction, injustice etc. FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

WOMAN IN BLACK STANDING IN FRONT OF WATER PUMPED FROM THE POLICE VEHICLES IN TAKSIM GEZI PARK RESISTANCE FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

WOMAN IN BLACK STANDING IN FRONT OF WATER PUMPED FROM THE POLICE VEHICLES IN TAKSIM GEZI PARK RESISTANCE FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

WOMAN IN BLACK STANDING IN FRONT OF WATER PUMPED FROM THE POLICE VEHICLES IN TAKSIM GEZI PARK RESISTANCE FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

WOMAN IN RED STANDING IN FRONT OF WATER PUMPED FROM THE POLICE VEHICLES IN TAKSIM GEZI PARK RESISTANCE FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

MOTHERS FORMING CHAIN OF PEACE TO PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN TAKSIM GEZI PARK RESISTANCE FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

MOTHERS FORMING CHAIN OF PEACE TO PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN TAKSIM GEZI PARK RESISTANCE FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

MOTHERS FORMING CHAIN OF PEACE TO PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN TAKSIM GEZI PARK RESISTANCE FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

MOTHERS FORMING CHAIN OF PEACE TO PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN TAKSIM GEZI PARK RESISTANCE FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

MY OWN OBSERVATIONS ABOUT WOMENS LEADERSHIP Nevertheless For well known historical, social and political reasons women are discarded from management positions and can not fully utilize their leadership potential In many situations women seem to lack sufficient gender awareness to act in support of women who are nominated for leadership/management positions And women do not effectively cooperate with each other to develop women s leadership FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

SOME SUGGESTIONS As women, we need to develop our gender awareness to provide support to each other in assuming leadership positions. Gender awareness will help us in formulating the appropriate means for fighting obstacles to women s leadership SO Let us complain less about gender inequality and do more in encouraging, facilitating and supporting each other in assuming leadership roles FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

REFERENCES Baldoni, J. (2000) 180 ways to walk the lead er ship talk: The how to hand book for lead ers at all lev els. TX: Per formance Systems Corporation. Burke, R.J. and Cooper, C.L. (2004), Leading in Turbulent Times: Managing in the New World of Work, Blackwell Publishing, Malden, MA. Eagly, A.H. and Karau, S.J. (1991), Gender and the emergence of leaders: a meta analysis ,Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 60 No. 5, pp. 685-710. Eagly, A.H. and Johnson, B.T. (1990), Gender and leadership style: a meta analysis ,Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 108 No. 2, pp. 233-56. Eagly, A.H., Johannesen-Schmidt, M.C. and Van Engen, M.L. (2003), Transformational, transactional and Laissez-Faire leadership styles: a meta-analysis comparing women and men , Psychological Bulletin, American Psychological Association, Vol. 129 No. 4, pp. 569-91. House, R., Hanges, P., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P., and Gupta, V. (2004), Culture, Leadership, and Organizations The GLOBE study of 62 Societies, Sage Publications Inc., Beverly Hills, CA. FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

REFERENCES Jogulu, U. D. , Wood G. J. (2006) The role of leadership theory in raising the profile of women in management , Equal Opportunities International, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 236-250. Mandell, B., Pherwani, S. (2003) Relation ship between emotional intelligence and transformational lead er ship style: A gen der comparison. Journal of Business and Psychology, 17(3), pp.387-401. Mayer, Caruso and Salovey, 1999. Porterfield, J., Kleiner B. H. (2005) A New Era: Women and Lead er ship , Equal Opportunities International, Volume 24 Number 5/6, 49- 56. Powell, G.N. and Graves, L.M. (2003), Leading People , Women and Men in Management, 3rd ed., Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 133-56. Omar, A. and Davidson, M.J. (2001), Women in management: a comparative cross-cultural overview , International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 8 No. 3/4, pp. 35-67. FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY

FULYA SARVAN, AKDENIZ UNIVERSITY