Men, women and the use of power: is it based on the person or the situation?

Abstract

Investigates whether leadership styles, particularly relating to the use of power and the sharing of goal information, differ between men and women in autocratic situations and whether such potential leadership model differences affect decision effectiveness. Reviews relevant research, and describes a subject‐blind experiment designed to favour an autocratic approach, involving 40 teams of US graduate business school students, who were given a limited time to complete a problem‐solving exercise using written correspondence as the only communication method. Finds that greater task‐information sharing behaviour existed where both leaders were female, and, surprisingly, that problem‐solving effectiveness was greater where the leader used a participative leadership style. Reveals no evidence that subordinates evaluated the competence of male and female leaders differently, but suggests that subordinates are happier to initiate correspondence where the leader is of the same gender. Discusses the implications of the findings, concluding that leadership styles are situation‐ rather than people‐based, and acknowledges certain limitations of the study.

Citation

Langford, M., Welch, O.J. and Welch, S.T. (1998), "Men, women and the use of power: is it based on the person or the situation?", Equal Opportunities International, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1108/02610159810785467