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Leadership can be defined as the process through which an individual guides and motivates a group towards the achievement of a common goal/s. Research has examined whether or not there are sex differences in leadership, and these differences can be seen from a relationship based or task based perspective. Until recently, leadership positions have predominantly been held by men and men were therefore stereotyped to be more effective leaders. Women were rarely seen in senior leadership positions leading to a lack of data on how they behave in such positions.〔as cited in Andersen, J. A. & Hansson, P. H. (2011). "At the end of the road? On differences between women and men in leadership behavior." ''Leadership and Organization Development Journal'', 32 (5), 428-441.〕 However, current research has found a change in trend and women have become more prevalent in the workforce over the past two decades, especially in management and leadership positions. The gender gap is decreasing and these stereotypes are changing as more women enter leadership roles. The data from the primary literature on this topic is inconclusive as the two main lines of research contradict one another, the first being that there are small, but nevertheless significant sex differences in leadership and the second being that gender does not have an effect on leadership. It is difficult to determine which line of research has more validity as there is no conclusive evidence that supports one more than the other. More research needs to be conducted as more women are entering into higher level leadership positions and as better research methodology becomes available. ==Studies that find gender differences== Alice Eagly, a frontrunner in the research on gender differences in leadership, found through multiple studies that differences between men and women are small and that the overlap is considerable. Nevertheless, these small differences have statistical significance in the way men and women are perceived in leadership roles and their effectiveness in such positions, as well as their leadership styles.〔Levy, P. (2010). ''Industrial organizational psychology: Understanding the workplace'' (3rd ed.). New York: NY: Worth Publishers, p. 372-373〕 In early studies, from the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was found that women adopted participative styles of leadership and were more transformational leaders than men who adopted more directive and transactional styles of leadership.〔〔 Women in management positions tended to place more emphasis on communication, cooperation, affiliation, and nurturing than men as well as having more communal qualities.〔 Communal leadership behaviors tend to be more open, fair, pleasant and persons in these roles show responsibility. According to these studies, men were seen to be more “agentic” and be more goal and task oriented. Agentic leaders tend to be more active, task oriented, independent and focused decision makers. One of the main questions that the research has raised is if being relationship oriented or task oriented correspond to sex differences in leadership, where, women are likely to be more relationship oriented and men are likely to be more task oriented. Recent studies conducted by Trinidad and Normure in 2005, Yukl in 2002, and a study conducted by Hagberg Consulting Group in 2000 found a similar trend the leadership behaviors of men and women . Specifically according to Yukl, women have a “feminine advantage” because they are “more adept at being inclusive, interpersonally sensitive, and nurturing."〔Levy, P. (2010). ''Industrial organizational psychology: Understanding the workplace'' (3rd ed.). New York: NY: Worth Publishers, p. 374〕 The study conducted by Hagberg Consulting Group also found women managers to be ranked higher in 42 out of 52 traits and skills measured, including teamwork, stability, motivation, recognizing trends, and acting on new ideas.〔Kinicki, A. & Williams, B. (2009). ''Management: A practical introduction'' (4th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin, p. 443〕 Women tend connect more with their group members by exhibiting behaviors such as smiling more, maintaining eye, and are more diplomatic with their comments (Forsyth, 2010). The differences between men and women may suggest evolutionary stressors that have contributed to the development of these relationship and task oriented tendencies between men and women.〔 Another explanation, proposed by Eagly and Carli (2007), attributes many of these findings not to average gender differences per se, but to a "selection effect" caused by gender bias and discrimination against women, whereby easier standards for men in attaining leadership positions as well as the fact that men make up the majority of executives results in a higher average of exceptionally skilled women than men in some leader roles.〔Eagly, A. & Carli, L. (2007). ''Through the labyrinth: the truth about how women become leaders.'' Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press., p. 130-131〕 Women tend to feel more excluded from career related and informal interactions with the senior management compared to men. In fact, the term "glass ceiling" can be used to describe the hindrance women face in career advancement to top management positions.〔 The tendency of men to dominate women in informal discussion groups has been observed in a number of scenarios including when both sexes were deemed to be androgynous, when group members were committed to equality of sexes, when women were more dispositionally dominant than men, and when both sexes were extroverted. Furthermore, it has been observed that the dispositionally dominant person is more likely to emerge as a leader in same-sex dyads, but in mixed-dyads, the dominant male is more likely to emerge as leader compared to a dominant female. A similar study conducted by the Management Research Group of 17,491 questionnaires found that out of common leadership competency areas surveyed, women were rated higher by their superiors in areas like credibility with management, future potential, insight, sensitivity, and working with diverse people. Men were ranked higher in business aptitude, financial understanding, and strategic planning, which the researchers note are seen to be critical to corporate advancement. No gender differences were found in competencies such as team performance, effective thinking, and willingness to listen and no differences were found in overall effectiveness. However, many of these studies on gender differences in leadership style rely on leader-only self-report data, which many leadership scholars describe as unreliable at best.〔Hamori-Ota, V. E. (2007) ''Gender differences in leadership style: Predictors of level of agreement between leader self-ratings and supervisory ratings, peer ratings, and ratings by direct reports.'' University of Michigan, pp 288.〕 These sex differences are only trends and may not be seen across all groups and situations. It would be very difficult to determine how men and women would behave once they become leaders. Additionally, though relationship orientation in women and agentic orientation in men has been observed in laboratory settings, they have not been seen in studies conducted in organizational settings 〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sex differences in leadership」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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