Impact of Female Leadership in Organizations

Aim, Objectives and Feasibility of the dissertation

Research Background

The concepts of leadership and gender have been extensively researched in the field of management (Yan et al. 2018) but despite this increased attention, women are still underrepresented in leadership positions (Saji 2016). Indeed, women even after attaining equal and even higher educational levels as compared to men make up about 50% of the workforce in most of the Western countries, and they still remain underrepresented in management positions (Bark et al. 2016). Some studies have shown that women are successful leaders and even perform better or equally as men in the same hierarchical positions (Alhadhrami 2018) but still women are not fully represented in leadership positions. A report by McKinsey (2019) shows that organisations with a significant share of female leaders outperform those that have male dominance in the management level, which underscores the need for companies to ensure women are well represented in the management. Firms in the oil and gas industry are known to struggle in attracting, retaining, and promoting women (McKinsey 2019), which implies that underrepresentation of women in management positions is a major problem in the oil and gas industry. Under this background, it is important to understand the factors behind the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles in the oil and gas industry, which will inform theory and guide practical interventions in the oil and gas industry in relation to gender and leadership. Previous research has established that the advancement of women in leadership is inhibited by external discrimination, which include higher performance standards (Wang et al. 2019), limited access to career development measures in companies (Şahin 2017), and the promotion of women to precarious management positions (Saint-Michel 2018). Such studies and others within the same line have provided important insights through which the uneven representation of men and women in leadership positions can be understood.

This study iterates on previous research by taking a motivational perspective on gender differences in leadership roles. In particular, the study draws from social structural and evolutionary theories to propose that men may have a strong motivation for power than women in the oil and gas industry, resulting in underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. The reasoning in this proposal is informed by three insights evident in literatures on leadership and gender differences: first, power is inherently associated with leadership (Schneider et al. 2016). Even though the leadership role is undergoing gradual change, power remains an essential element of guiding and leading people (Grint et al. 2016). Second, evolutionary and social structural perspectives argue for a difference in power motivation between men and women (Van Vugt and Grabo 2015). The convergence between these two different perspectives offers a solid theoretical rationale to expect gender differences in leadership. Third, research on power motivation reveals that power is malleable (Lisak and Erez 2015), and can be enhanced through training and modelling among other measures (Schneider et al. 2016). Although these three insights are evident in past research, no study or maybe very minimal have gone into the relations between power motivation, gender, and leadership; a contribution that this study will make.

Research Aim and Research Objectives

This study aims at understanding the reasons behind the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles from the motivational perspective. In order to attain this aim, the following objectives will guide the study

To explore the relationship between gender and power motivation

To find out if power motivation affects the relationship between gender and leadership

Feasibility

The targets for data collection in this study are employees (both in male and female in the managerial and subordinate level) in the uk oil and gas industry. please indicate the uk company you are going to collect data from and the relationship you have with this company and/or its employees. it is also good to indicate how you will contact this company in order to gain approval to collect data from its employees. i know you have a specific company that you consider most accessible to you therefore it is important to complete this section by proving you are able to collect data from employees in the selected company.

Literature Review

Gender differences in power motivation

Power motivation refers to the desire between different persons to influence others (Schuh et al. 2014). People that score high on power motivation have a strong desire to be in leadership positions. The idea to studying gender differences in power motivation as a factor contributing to the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions is not new. However, previous research on gender differences in power motivation has provided inconsistent findings: some studies have shown that men have higher scores in power motivation as compared to women while other studies have reported no differences between the scores of men and women (Bark et al. 2016). The outstanding reason for these conflicting findings is that most of the studies have relied on projective tests, which according to Schuh et al. (2014) do not meet the common psychometric standards (reliability and validity). In addition, projective measures are more of a less productive criteria in the leadership domain (Chong et al. 2017) than questionnaire scales, which justifies the need to conduct more studies on the topic. Previous studies have not examined whether gender differences in power motivation translate to gender differences in leadership. Against this background, this study aims at examining the links between power motivation, gender, and representation in leadership positions. The social structural perspective and evolutionary framework are essential in explaining the differences in power motivation. The social structural perspective focuses on the perceived relationship between gender roles and actual behaviour (Schuh et al. 2014). Extant research shows that gender roles differ considerably: for example, agentic attributes such as controlling, assertive, competitive and dominant are strongly linked to the male gender role while communal attributes such as empathic, supportive, and gentle and strongly associated with female gender role (Snaebjornsson et al. 2015). Recent research on leadership roles reveal that most leadership positions are defined in masculine terms despite the number of female attributes that has become an integral part of the leadership role (Bark et al. 2016). Successful leaders are normally expected to be assertive, competitive, and decisive, which are traditionally seen as male characteristics (Snaebjornsson et al. 2015), thus propagating the underrepresentation of women in leadership. Additionally, it is obvious that role-incongruent behaviour results in disapproval and social sanctions (Schuh et al. 2014), which implies that women who strive to attain leadership positions are more likely to experience role conflict as compared to their male counterparts. Besides the social structural perspective, gender differences can be explained from an evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary theories hold that human characteristics develop as people respond to the challenges they face during evolution (Van Vugt and Grabo 2015). From this perspective, gender differences stem from various adaptive problems that men and women encounter as they strive to survive and maximise their reproductive success (Van Vugt and Grabo 2015). According to the evolutionary view, men had to compete for female mating partners and in the process they developed assertive characteristics (Bark et al. 2016). On the other hand, the female mating success was determined by the ability for a woman to maintain supportive social networks and as a result women developed a stronger motivation to cooperate (Schuh et al. 2014). The effect of these characteristics on leadership is that men tend to be assertive while women tend to be cooperative. In support of this notion, there is consistent evidence showing that men and women differ in various traits, which may explain gender differences in leadership.

Power motivation and leadership

Extant literature shows that motivation is a fundamental driver of behaviour and therefore people that score high on power motivation find fulfilment in roles that allow them to be influential (Grint et al. 2016). In addition, they are highly represented in positions that offer incentives for influencing others and that is why they are highly interested in managerial positions (Schuh et al. 2014). Further, people with high motivation for power show greater persistence in pursuing leadership tasks (Bark et al. 2016). In light of these links between power motivation and the desire to be in leadership positions, it is plausible to expect people scoring high of power motivation will attain leadership positions.

Gender, power motivation, and leadership

As noted in the beginning of this paper, women are still underrepresented in leadership positions. Previous studies have shown that external obstacles such as discrimination have a significant role in the underrepresentation of women in power positions (Wang et al. 2019). Nonetheless, as discussed in the previous sections, influential theories (theories of power motivation, social structural theories, and evolutionary theories) consistently maintain that power motivation significantly affects the relation between gender and leadership. However, previous research has paid minimal attention to this relationship – despite the fact that power motivation is among the starting points for developing programmes to promote gender parity in leadership (Schuh et al. 2014). Therefore, this study expects that power motivation has a mediating role in the relationship between gender and leadership.

Research Methodology and Methods

Epistemological Stance

Epistemology is concerned with what is considered acceptable knowledge in a field of study. While the positivist paradigm works with observable social reality to produce law-like generalisations at the end, the interpretivist paradigm maintains that the social world is too complex to lend itself to theorising by definite laws (Saunders et al. 2016). This study adopts the interpretivist paradigm because leadership situations are complex and unique as they are functions of a particular set of circumstances and people coming together at a specific time. Therefore, the interpretivism stance will facilitate the collection of data that is appropriate for answering the research question.

Research Approach

This study adopts a qualitative approach and follows the inductive logic. In the inductive approach, a researcher collects data and develops theory as a result of data analysis while in the deductive approach; a researcher develops theory and hypotheses and designs a research strategy to test the hypothesis (Azungah 2018). The aim of this study is to understand the effect of gender on leadership in the oil and gas industry. The induction approach therefore means that the researcher would have to go to a specific oil and gas industry and interview a sample of the employees and their supervisors about the influence of power motivation on the relationship between gender and leadership. The purpose here would be to get a feel of what is going on in the industry so as to gain a better understanding of why women are underrepresented in leadership positions. After analysing the collected data, a theory will be formulated which could be that power motivation plays a mediating role in the relationship between gender and leadership.

Research Strategy

The case study research strategy is adopted for this study. A case study refers to a strategy of conducting research whereby the researcher empirically investigates a particular contemporary phenomenon within its real life context using multiple sources of evidence (Saunders et al. 2016). The choice for the case study strategy in this study is influenced by the desire to gain a rich understanding of the reasons why women are underrepresented in leadership positions in the oil and gas industry and in particular to find out if power motivation contributes to this problem.

Data collection

The data collection techniques adopted for this study are interviews and observations. Semi-structure interviews will be used whereby a list of themes and questions to be covered will be defined prior to conducting the actual interviews. Observation will also be made particularly on the occupational orientation of every study participant. The interview sessions will be audio-recorded and notes taken during the sessions. The researcher will also note down the observations made in every interview session. Every interview session is scheduled to last between 20 and 30 minutes.

Sample selection

The population of this study is all employees in the oil and gas industry but given time and financial constraints, all these persons cannot be contacted thus a sample has to be selected. 8 employees (4 in the management positions and 4 in the subordinate positions) both male and female (4 men and 4 women) will be selected for this study. The purposive sampling technique will be used in selecting the 8 employees given hat retaining employees in the oil and gas industry is a struggle for many companies. Nonetheless, the nature of this study requires that the participants have relevant experience, which implies that new recruits cannot be selected for this study: the 8 employees are required to have been working in the organisation for a minimum of 2 years.

Data Analysis

The audio-recorded interviews will be transcribed with emphasis placed on what is said and how it is said. After obtaining the transcripts, a summary of the key points that emerge from every interview session will be produced. This will be followed by categorising the data and unitising related categories. Based on the patterns within the data, the relationships between categories will be identified, which will result in development of testable propositions. The propositions will then be subjected to rigorous testing against the collected data whereby alternative explanations will be sought, which will result in development of valid and well-grounded conclusions.

Validity, Reliability, and Ethical Issues

While validity is concerned with whether research findings are really about what they appear to be about, reliability focuses on the extent to which the adopted data collection techniques and analysis procedures yield consistent findings (Noble and Smith 2015). To promote reliability, participant error will be controlled by choosing a neutral time when all employees are more likely to give consistent information. The interview sessions will be scheduled for Wednesdays between 11 am and 2 pm. Second, participant bias will be controlled by ensuring the anonymity of the respondents such that respondents in the subordinate level do not feel inclined to say what their supervisors would want them to say. Third, observer error will be controlled by introducing a high degree of structure to the interview schedule. The major threat to validity in this study is establishing whether the relationship between the variables is a casual relationship. This threat will be minimised by using interviews for data collection whereby the researcher will be able to clarify the research questions to the study participants. The ethical considerations in this study will relate to (1) privacy of the respondents, (2) voluntary nature of participation and freedom to withdraw at will, (3) informed consent, (4) maintaining confidentiality and anonymity of the participants and (5) ensuring the study does not cause pain, discomfort, embarrassment, or harm to the respondents.

References

Alhadhrami, A., Goby, V.P. and Al-Ansaari, Y., 2018. Women’s enactment of leadership in a heavily gender-marked Islamic context. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.

Azungah, T., 2018. Qualitative research: deductive and inductive approaches to data analysis. Qualitative Research Journal.

Bark, A.S.H., Escartín, J., Schuh, S.C. and van Dick, R., 2016. Who leads more and why? A mediation model from gender to leadership role occupancy. Journal of Business Ethics, 139(3), pp.473-483.

Grint, K., Jones, O.S., Holt, C. and Storey, J., 2016. What is leadership. The Routledge Companion to Leadership, p.3.

Noble, H. and Smith, J., 2015. Issues of validity and reliability in qualitative research. Evidence-based nursing, 18(2), pp.34-35.

Şahin, F., Gürbüz, S. and Şeşen, H., 2017. Leaders’ managerial assumptions and transformational leadership: the moderating role of gender. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.

Saint-Michel, S.E., 2018. Leader gender stereotypes and transformational leadership: Does leader sex make the difference?. M@ n@ gement, 21(3), pp.944-966.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A., 2016. Research methods for business students (Seventh). Nueva York: Pearson Education.

Schuh, S.C., Bark, A.S.H., Van Quaquebeke, N., Hossiep, R., Frieg, P. and Van Dick, R., 2014. Gender differences in leadership role occupancy: The mediating role of power motivation. Journal of Business Ethics, 120(3), pp.363-379.

Snaebjornsson, I.M., Edvardsson, I.R., Zydziunaite, V. and Vaiman, V., 2015. Cross-cultural leadership: Expectations on gendered leaders’ behavior. Sage Open, 5(2), p.2158244015579727.

Wang, J.C., Markóczy, L., Sun, S.L. and Peng, M.W., 2019. She’-EO compensation gap: A role congruity view. Journal of Business Ethics, 159(3), pp.745-760.

Yan, S., Wu, Y. and Zhang, G., 2018. The gender difference in leadership effectiveness and its Sino-US comparison. Chinese Management Studies.