International Business 13th Edition by Donald Ball,Michael Geringer,Michael Minor ,Jeanne McNett

تمرين 4

Are Women Appropriate for Global Leadership Positions?
The World Bank has stated that a core development objective is to achieve gender equality and full participation of women in business, particularly in developing nations. Despite this, as noted by Adler, a most of the research on leadership has focused on men, with only a minor portion dealing with the potential of women as leaders. Research has continued to show unevenness in terms of the level of participation of women in leadership roles, particularly as reflected in numbers of women leaders in business. Although women occupy more than 51 percent of the managerial and professional positions in U.S. organizations, there are few females in the top tier of corporate leadership. b Women CEOs such as Indra Nooyi at PepsiCo or Cynthia Carroll at Anglo American represent a very small minority of the leadership in publicly held corporations. Instead, most of the women who serve as CEOs have either started their own firms or have taken over the leadership of a family business. In a study involving 942 companies from the Fortune 1000, it was discovered that almost half of the companies had no women in their top executive ranks. Only 7 percent of the firms had more than two women executives and less than 3 percent had more than three women in top executive positions. c Only 14.4 percent of executive officer positions in Fortune 500 companies were filled by women in 2010, and only 15.7 percent of the positions on corporate boards. d Data such as these suggest that growth in the number of female CEOs in the United States may be constrained in the near future, given the limited quantity of women in the executive pipeline.
Research has shown that women and men differ in terms of their typical leadership styles. For example, women tend to view leadership as an opportunity to empower their subordinates and enhance their potential to excel; men tend to see their leadership position as a chance for exerting control over their subordinates. e Adler argues for an increased level of women in global leadership positions, due in part to research suggesting that traits and qualities typically associated with women are consistent with those linked to effective global leadership. f For example, she found that global leaders who were women:
• Came from diverse backgrounds, with no predictable pattern associated with their route to leadership positions.
• Were not selected for leadership positions only by women-friendly companies or countries.
• Symbolized hope, change, and unity through their selection as leaders, particularly in light of their position as outsiders who were going against the odds, thereby suggesting the potential for organizational or societal change.
• Were driven to achieve success based on vision, rather than desire for hierarchical status.
• Relied upon broad-based, popular support or support directly from the marketplace, instead of traditional, hierarchy-based structural or party support.
• Pursued paths to power that involved lateral transfers within their organizations, instead of the more traditional path up the hierarchy that was common among men.
• Leveraged the enhanced visibility that they received due to their status as women or as "the first woman." This special status meant that they received more attention from the media than did men, and they were able to use this visibility as a platform to enhance their position and performance.
Consistent with Adler's work, other research has found that women tend to have a leadership style that is more participative, interactional, and relational, with greater levels of emotional intelligence and empathy, than is the case for men. g These are attributes that have been suggested as being better suited for leadership performance within a global context. Women have also been found to attribute greater importance to the areas of social responsibility, inclusion and diversity, and global skills-and women were believed to be better prepared in these areas as well-than was the case for men. h Women have also been found to use leadership styles that are more participative or democratic and less directive or autocratic than the leadership styles used by men. i
The research findings presented in this Global Debate suggest that perhaps women might be better suited for the challenges associated with global leadership positions than might be the case for men. Yet how could such a possibility be true, given the small number of women occupying executive leadership positions?