| Name: | Description: | Size: | Format: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.14 MB | Adobe PDF |
Authors
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Gender diversity in transformational leadership is proofed to help an organization’s
effectiveness at several levels. Yet, women remain a minority among leadership positions.
Besides other reasons leading to their comparably low representation, the topic of possible
differences in leadership styles between genders arises as a pertinent one for researchers.
This dissertation thus deals with the question of what differences possibly exist in the
interpersonal communication of female and male leaders in an organizational context. It is
of interest as well to analyse the concept of gender-mixed team leadership in order to
understand the effectiveness of interpersonal communication within transformational
organizations. Finally, it is examined the perspectives of leaders and non-leaders as far as
relevant aspects on leadership communication.
After reviewing existing research on the topic and establishing an adequate theoretical
setting, an online survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Tendencies in the
consideration of gender and interpersonal communication in transformational
organizations were analysed, followed by deepening the understanding of those outcomes
with the interviews.
The results show that male leaders often appear more direct and less close, whereas female
leaders tend to show a more empathic approach in their leadership communication. It
follows that female leaders hold a more relational approach while male leaders use
interpersonal communication more for informing and goal sharing. Gender-mixed team
leadership, hence, might represent a reasonable approach, allowing a complementary
leadership in suitable organizational circumstances. In what regards leader’s and nonleader’s perceptions of relevant communication aspects, no significant differences were
found. The research results show that a personal and empathic approach appears relevant
in enhancing trust and motivation in strong leader-follower relationship