I am obsessed with 'Masc'

MGMT 635 Leadership Term Paper, Jim Bo

‘Masculinity’ as a Leadership Characteristic and “The Diva Factor” in Female Leaders

(1) Part One: Briefly describe the theory of interest.
I was interested in the Trait approach in the studies of leadership characteristics, particularly in the frequency of the “Masculinity” trait applied to leaders that appeared in Mann’s studies, and also studies done by Lord, DeVader and Alliger. When I read the table of various trait studies in the Northouse text I thought, “What about female leaders? According to these studies, does a good female leader have to be masculine?”

According to Table 2.1, Studies of Leadership Traits and Characteristics on page 18 of Peter G. Northouse’s “Leadership: Theory and Practice” (3rd Ed.), the “Masculinity” characteristic appears on three of the five trait studies shown. Some characteristics appear once or twice, while others (Intelligence, for example) appear just as frequently. The summary of the Trait Approach is that there is a broad array of traits that define leadership that sometimes depend on the situation, or the perception of what leadership characteristics should be. One person will become a leader in everyday situations, while another will shine during a crisis. Other strengths of the approach say that there is almost a century of research to back it up, and that we should use traits as benchmarks to guide leadership efforts. The downside of the Trait approach is that the list of leadership characteristics is hard to define, does not always take situation into account, and that the “most important” leadership traits are highly subjective in nature. That said, the chapter suggests that these major characteristics include: intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability.

(2) Part Two: Propose an extension to the theory. Come up with some theoretical extension not already in the theory. This can be a new proposition, application in a new situation, the addition of a variable to the theory -- whatever extension you want to make.

If, according to Mann, Lord, DeVader and Alliger, a good leader often displays masculinity, then women must have a hard time becoming a leader. However, history has produced quite a few female leaders that were effective, beloved and notorious. But did they all show masculine characteristics in their leadership styles? Could a good female leader take a feminine, or matronly approach to her duties as leader? Or is there another as yet undiscovered trait that women possess but men cannot?

Mother Theresa certainly owned the feminine title in her tireless efforts towards charity for the poor. While her requests for financial assistance towards her charitable projects were polite and respectful, she was clear in her demands: “Give until it hurts,” she would cheerfully suggest when asked how much one should give. Her words were simple and determined, and could be summarized in a Nike sportsgear advertisement: “Just Do It,” - and be like God. She was most remembered for her purity of spirit, best identified as the ‘integrity’ characteristic, in addition to being determined in her leadership efforts.

Margaret Thatcher is known to possess all of the major leadership traits, but is also known for being a tough cookie. “She was the pilot, the navigator, the bombardier, and on occasion she was the tail-gunner as well," said Robert Worcester. One journalist stated that Thatcher, like many female leaders he interviewed, often went over the top in their efforts to display toughness and other masculine characteristics.

Indira Gandhi was most remembered as ambitious, dominant and often contentious. She launched the campaign of East Pakistan/Bangladesh and supervised India’s nuclear program. It is said she ruled with an iron fist, and during her term she turned out to be strong willed, authoritarian, and even despotic in a culture that is ambivalent toward women, but by all means patriarchal. During her time as a leader she experienced personal struggles but came out of them with true grit and steely nerves. Her most notorious leadership characteristics were clearly self-confidence and determination.

The late former governor of Texas, Ann Richards, was known for her sharp wit and folksy speaking style (intelligence, sociability characteristics). She was a Democratic governor at a time when the state was increasingly Republican. She is remembered as a truly genuine person - what you saw is what you got (integrity). And like Indira Gandhi, she too experienced personal trauma on her path to leadership with a divorce and struggle with alcohol.

Hillary Clinton is widely known to be determined and brilliant, but also went through personal struggles along the way to her current position, proving to be cool in the face of a tawdry political scandal. But Clinton, like Ghandi and Richards, seemed to be able to turn these negative life experiences into political capital and kept moving onward.

I would like to propose a “Diva Factor” in the development of some female leaders, or at least the public perception of what is required of good female leader. There may be a perception that their strength must be based on some kind of situational trial by fire, a phoenix effect that legitimizes their credibility towards future greatness. This Diva Factor could be explained as a synergistic combination of three leadership characteristics: self-confidence, determination and integrity, that ultimately progresses to the ability to lead well, or the perception that they have “paid their dues and come out on top.”

(3) Part Three: Describe a real-life situation in which your theoretical extension applies. Briefly discuss the situation, and apply your theoretical extension to it.

Female leaders are freer to be more feminine than leaders before them in today’s political climate. In the case of Hillary Clinton and Germany's Angela Merkel, they are largely able to overlook their own femininity as irrelevant to the policies they champion and the positions they seek. The two are not commonly perceived to overcompensate with butch language or manly mannerisms.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi even emphasizes the maternal qualities of her leadership over a House of Representatives in which men outnumber women 364 to 71. She is a wealthy San Franciscan who grew up in a Baltimore political family and now has reached the highest elected post of any American woman.

Today Pelosi is able to be feminine, perceived to be confident and determined, but must her integrity as a leader be proven through the Diva Factor? It may take tragedy or personal humiliation along the way, but perhaps that is what may be required to move forward in her role as leader.