Leadership, Gender and Sense‐making

Abstract

This article examines the nature of sense-making processes in teams and considers the extent to which leadership as a sense-making process is impacted by gender. We conducted an in-depth inquiry into the decisionmaking behaviour of two single-gender teams and a third, mixed gender team, as they worked together to produce gender-specific leadership schema in an experimental setting. Our research question was, 'To what extent is leadership as a sense-making process impacted by gender?' The article reports on the design, conduct and outcomes of this research project. We found that using a meeting as part of the research method created a specific instance of a gendered organizational context exerting a dominant and directive influence on individual and collective behaviour. The current trend toward team-based leadership is likely to involve more meetings with increasing numbers of women in senior positions. This suggests to us that men and women need to be alert to the possibility that the gendered nature of meetings may be acting as a barrier to the expression of feminine forms of leadership.

Leadership is not a dirty word: Exploring and embracing leadership in ECEC

“…Women, power and conflicts in ECEC Positional leadership is inherently linked to the exercise of power and the distribution of leadership can only be effective if there is power to impact change. Grisoni and Beeby (2007) articulate this clearly when they state:…”

Joining the Dark Side: Women in Management in the Dominican Republic

“…Regardless of the actual gender differences this highlights (see Grisoni and Beeby, 2007) while this viewpoint in itself cannot be taken to assess women's managerial suitability, it can be taken to be the justification for its assessment. In addition, this implied lack of suitability is linked to slow decision-making.…”

“…Interestingly, although the quality of decisions is not raised, it is the perceived effectiveness of the process that comes into question. Regardless of the actual gender differences this highlights (see Grisoni and Beeby, 2007) while this viewpoint in itself cannot be taken to assess women's managerial suitability, it can be taken to be the justification for its assessment.…”

A Narrative Approach to Pregnancy‐related Discrimination and Leader–follower Relationships

“…Indeed, the quality of leader–follower relationships can be related to many different outcomes, such as followers' intentions to stay in an organization or quit, and also to various measures of satisfaction (Gerstner and Day, 1997; Graen and Uhl‐Bien, 1995; Van Breuklen et al ., 2006). Moreover, it is argued that leadership is a reciprocal process of meaning‐making and the core component of leadership is sense‐making (Grisoni and Beeby, 2007). Thus, it is possible that the quality of dyadic leader–follower relationships also affects these processes.…”