The Recalcitrant Director at Byte, Inc.:

KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN

‘Female leadership for a sustainable European Management Model (EMM)’
Literature study Sophie van Eupen

Elsy Van Roy, Staff worker Gelijke Kansen Tel. : + 3216325610 Fax : [phone] E-mail : [e-mail] http://www.kuleuven.be/diversiteit/cgkd

Introduction………………………………………………………..………………………..……….………….………………... 3 The glass ceiling is broken…………………………………..…………………………..…………………..….…………… 4 A (business) case for women………………………………..…………………………………………..…….……………. 6 Pitfalls of female leadership…………………………………..………………….……………..……..………….………… 8 Successful leadership skills…………………………………….……………………………….……………………….… 13 Leadership styles…………………………………………………………………………………..……………………..…... 16 Recognition of a specific female leadership style?……………………………..………………………………. 20 Female (transformational) leadership for a sustainable European Management Model…….. 23 Conclusion…………………………………………………….………………………………….………………………….... 24 References…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 25

Introduction

Recent years have seen an increasing focus on female leadership. Women have made substantial gains in the workplace, and it appears the glass ceiling has been broken. Despite this positive evolution, the number of female leaders is surprisingly low. In the fifty largest publicly traded corporations in each nation in the European Union, women hold only 11 per cent of the top executive positions and account for only 4 per cent of the CEOs and presidents of boards of directors.

This study focuses on female leadership for the sake of a sustainable European Management Model. Eurocadres wishes to develop a European model of female leadership and to incorporate this model into the European Management Model. We have therefore studied the literature on female leadership over recent decades. In the first section, we discuss the current status of female leadership. In the second section, we discuss the importance of gender diversity in business.

References: Alvesson, M., Billing, Y. D. (1992). Gender and organization: towards a differentiated understanding. Organization Studies, Vol. 13 No.12, 73-103. Ely, R. J. The Power in Demography: Women’s Social Constructions of Gender Identity at Work. Academy of Management Journal 38 (1995):589-634. Eurocadres (1997). Building a European Management Model. Eurocadres (2002). Responsible European Management: The European Management Model as best practice for corporate social responsibility. Eurocadres (2004). Responsible European Management: Skills, Methods and Stakeholder Management. Federal Glass Ceiling Commission (1995). Good for business: making full use of the nation’s human capital: A fact-finding report of the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Fiedler, F. E. (1967). A theory of Leadership Effectiveness. New York: McGraw-Hill. Hymowitz, C. & Schellhardt, T. D. (1986). The Glass Ceiling: Why women can’t seem to break the invisible barrier that blocks them from the top jobs. The Wall Street Journal, pp. D1, D4. Judge, T. A. & Bono, J. E. (2000). Five-Factor Model of Personality and Transformational Leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(5):751-765. Kaminsky, M. & Yakura, E. K. (2008). Women’s Union leadership: closing the gap. The Journal of Labor and Society, 11(4):459-475. Kanter, R. M. (1977). Men and Women of The Corporation. New York: Basic Books. van Engen, M. L., & Willemsen, T. M. (2004). Sex and leadership styles: A meta-analysis of research published in the 1990s. Psychological Reports, 94, 3-18.