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Describes the findings from two recent UK studies which investigated female and male constructs of leadership qualities. Very different models emerged. The women′s descriptors related directly to notions of transformational leadership, and the men′s to transactional leadership. The implications for assessment practices are considered, as is the concept of empowerment, which is central to the notion of transformational leadership and fast becoming the organizational “buzz” word. Less obvious, and of particular concern, are the observations that empowerment, like so many other values, is a gendered concept, and that beneath its attractive humanistic guise may be hidden a more sinister interpretation.

Bradford Scholars -how to deposit your paper Overview Copyright check• Check if your publisher allows submission to a repository.• Use the Sherpa RoMEO database if you are not sure about your publisher's position or email openaccess@bradford.ac.uk.

The paper presents evidence of: the validity of a new leadership instrument; the differential relationship between leadership quality and staff attitudes to work and their sense of wellbeing at work; and a predictive relationship between leadership quality and organizational performance.