Women as Transformational Leaders

Patriarchal issues, in which the women's role was to always take care of the family and pursue motherly duties have hampered women’s quest for ascendency to leadership positions, and more so in Africa. Yet, as the years and generations pass, women are just as capable to be a leader in big companies, yet due to past traditions they are still viewed as the caretaker of the family. The objective of the study was to presents in detail the attributes of the women trailblazers in higher education leadership in Kenya. A feminist approach problematizes the gendered relations in universities which research has pointed to inequalities in the distribution of resources and opportunities.This study is situated within the African Feminist theoretical framework because it is central to the fight against oppression of women in Africa and has granted women a platform to voice their concerns. The plank of African feminism postulates that, in many parts of Africa, women strive to bear and rear children in addition to having economic and political roles. This theory underpinned this study because African feminist perspective problematizes the blatant discrimination against women in all cadres, particularly in leadership levels across institutions. The study was qualitative in nature and was based on a census survey design. The research targeted 107 women in leadership ranks of principals, research centers’ directors, deans, and heads of departments, as well as deputy vice-chancellors and vice-chancellors across the 32 public universities.The results from the study are mainly based on a verbatim narrative of 18 women leaders in response to the research questions. Some of the 18 participants currently occupy senior leadership positions and small number of former leaders that have since completed their terms, retired or moved on to leadership positions outside the university. Overall the respondents are associated with 12 of the 32 public universities in Kenya. The study answered the research question: What is the defining attributes of the women in higher education leadership in Kenya? The study found that the attributes can be broadly categorized as leadership style and quest for identity, the right skillset, education, and training, activism and collaboration, reliance on role models and mentors, demonstration of ambition and standing out, and being an embodiment of spiritual values. The study concluded that it’s through the exposition of this attributes that the women in higher education leadership have been able to break the glass ceiling.

Purpose: Corporate innovation might be slowed by team creativity and other factors. When a company's team creativity is low, innovation suffers, impacting its market competitiveness and technological advancement. Low-creativity teams make more mistakes, slowing down the project and making it more difficult to achieve its goals. Teams who do not innovate will not be able to expand or compete. The impact of female entrepreneurs' leadership styles on team innovation has not been researched in China's education administration. This study will look at how the leadership styles of successful female business owners promote innovative teamwork. Theoretical framework: This study developed a theoretical model based on the constitutive theory of creativity, with transformational leadership, empowering leadership, authoritative leadership, and participative leadership as independent variables, entrepreneurial team creativity as the dependent variable, team psychological empowerment as the mediating variable, and the nature of the company's business as the moderating variable. Methodology: This research looks at how strong female leaders help Rise English Educational Organization. This study looks at how different female leadership styles affect group morale, effectiveness, and innovation. Research, Practical & Social implications: Through a review of existing literature and similar studies, this chapter outlines the theoretical model and related hypotheses of this study and provides a more specific direction for the accompanying empirical investigation. Female team leaders frequently place a high importance on effective communication and collaboration. They promote open dialogue, paying attention, and making valuable comments. These modes of communication make it easier for people to share ideas and collaborate, which is beneficial to team innovation. When their manager is a woman, team members who feel mentally encouraged are more inclined to think imaginatively, take the initiative, and help solve difficulties. Originality/value: This beneficial relationship between a woman's leadership style and the psychological freedom of the team can encourage team members to be more creative and imaginative. Team psychological strength can help explain the connection between how a woman leads and how creative her team is, but it is not the sole factor influencing team creativity. The objective of the business, the people on the team, and the tools available can all have an impact on team creativity.

Leadership plays an important role in shaping organizational performance, particularly within public sector institutions, where leadership styles significantly influence operational efficiency, employee satisfaction, and overall organizational performance. The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of different leadership styles on the performance of NASSIT. Specifically, it investigates how transformational and transactional leadership styles influence employee motivation, organizational culture, and overall service delivery within the public sector. The study used a mixed-methods approach, combining a survey of NASSIT employees to assess leadership styles and performance, with in-depth interviews of key managers to explore leadership dynamics. The data was analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics to identify reliability, correlations, and regression analysis as well as thematic analysis of interview responses. The study found that transformational leadership had a significant positive influence on employee motivation, job satisfaction, and overall organizational performance, while transactional leadership, although having a moderate impact, primarily focused on short-term performance outcomes and lacked the capacity to drive long-term improvements. The findings indicate that transformational leadership is the most effective style for enhancing performance in the public sector, particularly within organizations like NASSIT. It also highlights the need for public sector leaders to be proactive in adopting leadership styles that align with organizational goals to ensure sustained success. This research contributes to the existing literature on public sector leadership and provides practical recommendations for improving leadership effectiveness at NASSIT, with potential implications for similar institutions in other regions.

Male leaders are bound to show different features of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership. The study investigates to discover experimental proof on whether female leadership styles contrast or like male administration styles. The study intends to distinguish female leaders from male leaders on groundbreaking, conditional and free enterprise administration styles. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, dependent on Full Range Leadership Development Theory, was utilized to decide authority styles. The results identify those female leaders have more groundbreaking characteristics (with an average mean of 2.87 as compared to 2.83 for males). However, it was also found that in transactional and laissez-faire styles of leadership, male leaders have an edge over female leader.  The study highlights this characteristic supports them to overcome challenges when practicing their leadership styles. It’s also found to be important to fulfill women's gender gaps and fulfilling their needs to show their actual roles adjusted to their sexual orientation positions. It is recommended that women leaders should concentrate on different aspects and parameters of leadership style

PurposeThis paper aims to provide insights into the female transformational leadership behaviours within a socially dynamic environment. Research was conducted in the State of Qatar, a country that is going through a rapid social change.Design/methodology/approachThe research framework was based on the transformational leadership framework (TLF) initially proposed by Burns (1978) and further developed by Bass (1985). A respondent set, consisting of 25 Qatari female managers, was taken from the largest public university in the State of Qatar. In-depth interviews were the main source of collected data. The data were analysed using NVivo 11.FindingsPredominantly, Qatari female leadership behaviours were reflective of transformational leadership. In their dealings, Qatari female managers displayed motherly instincts, encouraged open communication, used relationship adaptations and used trust. From time to time, Qatari female managers displayed non-transformational leadership behaviours. This occasional leadership style switch was part of behavioural flexibility that was required in a mixed age, mixed gender, mixed experience and mixed nationalities work environment. The key reason for the change in transformational leadership approach came as a reaction to subordinates’ attitude. In particular, the male-dominated work environment required behavioural adjustments (such as being more assertive and autocratic) to deal with masculine subordinates.Research limitations/implicationsA range of respondent perceptions were related to defining leadership. There was some overlapping between the tested determinants. For example, idealised influence and individualised consideration shared a degree of similarity in terms of how they were perceived.Social implicationsSocially dynamic environment should be seen as an opportunity for female transformational leadership development. Social dynamism may result in an evolved TLF that could be more appropriate for Qatari organisations. Hence, experience and problem sharing between Qatari female managers may help in developing a socially and culturally fitting transformational leadership model.Originality/valueThe study presented a perspective of a socially dynamic environment where women were practicing transformational leadership primarily through behavioural flexibility and change management. The study suggests an extended version of TLF that would be more suitable for female leadership within a socially dynamic environment.

PurposeMeta‐analytic evidence exists that the numerical dominance of one gender group among employees can affect the behaviour of female and male leaders. The purpose of this paper is to hypothesis that leaders will show more transformational behaviour when they hold a minority status. Transformational behaviour might help to mitigate discrepancies between male leaders' gender and the feminine context, as well as between female leaders' gender and the masculine leadership role.Design/methodology/approachN1=455 team members answered questionnaires about their work satisfaction and their team leaders' transformational leadership, whilst N2=142 team leaders answered questions regarding their teams' goal fulfillment.FindingsFemale and male leaders are rated more transformational in economic sectors and working groups where they hold a minority status. The paper finds a positive interrelation between transformational leadership and followers' work satisfaction for male leaders, but not for female leaders.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research should compare female and male leaders from extremely gender‐typed economic sectors and from higher levels of the organisational hierarchy. This would provide evidence whether the findings could be generalised to other samples.Practical implicationsThe findings point to the potential advantage of being a high‐transformational male leader in female‐dominated contexts. Irrespective of the numerical dominance of one gender group, followers of low‐transformational female leaders are more satisfied than those of low‐transformational male leaders.Originality/valueThe paper uses sector‐level (gender‐typicality of economic sectors) as well as group‐level data (gender‐composition of working groups) to account for the numerical dominance of female and male employees.

Women are underrepresented in health care leadership positions. Organizational practices and culture play a key role in mitigating this disparity. To explore the experiences of women in leadership roles and inform how health care organizations can support the advancement of women into leadership. This qualitative study used a constructivist grounded theory approach applied over a 1-year period (May 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022) in a large private health care network in Australia. Women were eligible if they had been in leadership positions for more than 5 years. Purposive and theoretical sampling guided recruitment of 28 women, representing medical, nursing, and allied health specialties. Interviews lasted 1 hour, producing 500 pages of transcripts for analysis. The primary outcome was a model of organizational practices and conditions that advance women in health care leadership, extrapolated from the collective experiences of women in leadership. Key elements pertained to organizational patterns of interaction and group norms and behaviors that contributed toward women's experiences of career advancement. Overall, 28 women (23 [82%] White; 3 [11%] Southeast Asian) participated in the study, 10 (36%) of whom were in nursing, 9 (32%) of whom were in allied health, and 9 (32%) of whom were in medical disciplines. Organizational practices that advance women in health care leadership were highly dependent on conducive organizational culture enhancing women's credibility and capability as leaders. Four interrelated elements were identified that create the necessary conditions for an organizational culture to advance women in health care leadership, including (1) identifying and actively addressing systemic barriers, (2) challenging gendered assumptions and expectations of leadership behaviors, (3) providing mentorship to shape career opportunities, and (4) determining how these conditions all contribute toward raising women's credibility to enable internalizing a leadership identity. For women, advancing to leadership involved organizations moving away from ad hoc, inconsistent applications of gender equity practices and generating supportive practices that reinforced a workforce culture of credibility, collaboration, and continuous improvement to support women. In light of persisting inequity in health care leadership, women's experiences were captured in this qualitative study to identify organizational practices that support their advancement. Insights into factors that influence efficacy of these practices, including building a supportive culture and mentoring, are discussed. This research informs a National Health and Medical Research Council initiative with international collaborators to support organizations in advancing women in health care leadership.

This study explores the leadership role of women in da'wah with a focus on representation and transformational leadership. This study uses desk research methods to analyse relevant literature, with the aim of understanding how the representation of women in various forms of da'wah communication-such as lectures, writings, and social media-can influence people's perceptions of women's leadership capabilities. The research findings show that strong and positive representations of women in da'wah can change people's perceptions and open up opportunities for women to take on leadership roles. Key challenges faced in creating space for women's representation and leadership include persisting patriarchal norms, resistance from conservative parties, and limited access and resources. This analysis highlights that women's transformational leadership, characterised by a clear vision, attention to the individual, intellectual stimulation, and idealised influence, has great potential to bring about positive change in religious communities. The impact of this transformational leadership includes changing gender perceptions and stereotypes, increasing community participation, empowering individuals, and enhancing innovation and creativity. By addressing these challenges and supporting women's transformational leadership, religious communities can become more inclusive, just and dynamic. This research confirms the importance of strong representation and support for women in da'wah leadership to achieve significant social and cultural change.

This study examines whether the behaviors of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership are perceived as being more typical of female or male leaders. In a questionnaire study, 113 participants in Germany were asked to rate the probability of occurrence of a specific leadership behavior for male and female leaders, respectively. A diagnostic ratio for each leadership behavior allows the determination of the direction and degree of gender-specific evaluations. As predicted, transformational leadership is believed to be more typical of female leaders. Nevertheless, inspirational motivation and idealized influence attributed are rated as being gender neutral. For transactional leadership, contingent reward was perceived to be more typical of female leaders, whereas management by exception was rated as neutral. Contrary to expectation, laissez-faire was not perceived as more typical of male leaders, but rather as gender neutral. Implications regarding potential gender biases for selection, training, and performance appraisals of leaders are discussed.

Despite the progress American women have made in other arenas, they still remain underrepresented in top leadership positions in both the public and private sectors, thus contributing to their marginalized status in these domains. Although people do not expect to encounter women in positions of power, a solely cognitive process cannot fully account for the negative interpersonal characterizations and poor leadership evaluations (i.e., backlash) that female leaders disproportionately receive. Rather, recent evidence suggests that because female leaders are seen as gender norm deviants who threaten the gender status hierarchy, the backlash they encounter more likely constitutes a motivated process whereby perceivers’ negative evaluations stem from a desire to maintain the status quo (i.e., gender inequality). Here, we expand on this work by proposing that a desire to defend the gender hierarchy causes people to feel negative moral emotions when encountering powerful women who display dominance and/or agency which, in turn, causes backlash effects against such individuals. Study 1 finds that morally laden negative affect explains why evaluators penalize dominant female leaders, but not dominant male leaders. Studies 2 and 3 then manipulate this mediator via the use of use disgust primes. Given that embodied disgust amplifies moral judgment severity, we hypothesized that if moral emotions underlie gender backlash, enhanced feelings of disgust should result in harsher penalties for leaders in gender‐incongruent roles than those in gender‐congruent roles as only the former violate core gender norms that undermine the status quo. Indeed, compared to a neutral prime, disgust primes (taste in Study 2, visual in Study 3) resulted in lower leadership evaluations and liking of only the gender deviant targets. We discuss the implications of these findings for organizational interventions and female leaders’ impression management strategies.

Women in Anesthesiology Leadership: The Time is Now

This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of 10 retired female senior enlisted leaders assigned as first sergeant (1SG) and command sergeant major (CSM) in initial entry training (IET) to ascertain if their experiences shed light on the underrepresentation of female leaders in the basic combat training (BCT) environment. Data collection emphasized factors that led to success in the IET environment, as well as challenges and barriers they faced. The theoretical framework underpinning this study included the social role theory, which holds that the expectations for men and women are based on sex differences that regulate behaviour in an adult’s work and family life, and the role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders, which suggests women do not reach top-level positions because they are less capable than men and because women are judged more harshly when they are in leadership roles. Having to prove oneself, reaction to female leadership, family obligations, and fighting stereotypes emerged as barriers and challenges. Attributes needed for success in the IET BCT environment included Army values and toughness and tenacity. Coding of positions and male perception of female leaders emerged as barriers that preventfemales from attaining 1SG and CSM in the BCT environment. The findings support the social role theory and role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders. The results extend research on the representation of women in senior leadership positions because they illuminate female leaders in a nontraditional educational environment in the largest branch of the U.S. military. Keywords: women, leaders, U.S. Army, basic combat training, glass ceiling, women in leadership; leadership theories

Managers' leadership style has a substantial impact on employee and organizational outcomes. In the present study, we consider the role of leaders’ chronological age in predicting followers’ perceptions of their leadership style. Whereas ample research uncovers relationships between individuals’ age and how these individuals are perceived by others, little is known about how leaders’ chronological age impacts others’ perceptions of their style. Even less is known about how such relationships vary across cultures and industries. We conducted a meta‐analysis (164 unique studies; N = 397,456 observations) to explore these relationships, using the Full‐Range leadership model. We found that leader age was negatively related to perceptions of transformational and transactional leadership, and positively related to perceptions of passive leadership. Further, some of these effects varied on several cultural dimensions: The negative relationship between leader age and transformational leadership was weaker in collectivistic cultures, while the negative relationship with transactional leadership was stronger in high power distance cultures. Industry type also mattered: the relationship between leader age and both transformational and contingent reward leadership styles was amplified in the public sector. Lastly, perceptions of older leaders were more negative when ratings were provided by followers rather than the leaders themselves. Our findings offer both theoretical and practical implications for leading in an increasingly age‐diverse workforce, such as better informing the workforce of present age stereotypes and their imminent effect on organizations.

This study assessed the association between leadership styles and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) of teachers in government-aided primary schools in Sheema Municipality, Uganda. The study examined whether transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles had a significant impact on OCB. By employing a quantitative approach and correlational design, the study interrogated the predictive strength of leadership styles on OCB. The sample comprised 212 primary teachers who provided data through a self-administered questionnaire. Data were analysed quantitatively using descriptive statistics, correlation, and hierarchical regression analyses. Descriptive results revealed that while OCB of the teachers was high, the use of transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles by head teachers was moderate. At the preliminary level, correlation analysis revealed that while transformational and transactional leadership styles had a positive and significant relationship with OCB, laissez-faire leadership had a negative and insignificant relationship. At the confirmatory level, hierarchical regression revealed that while transformational and transactional leadership styles were positively significant predictors of OCB, laissez-faire leadership was a positive but insignificant predictor. Therefore, it was concluded that transformational leadership style is essential in fostering OCB, transactional leadership is imperative in enhancing OCB of employees, and laissez-faire leadership does not meaningfully predict OC. The study recommends that head teachers should practice transformational leadership to foster OCB, implement transactional leadership to promote OCB of teachers, and offer some laissez-faire leadership depending on contextual factors. The practical significance of this study is that it provides guidance to head teachers on how to implement different leadership styles to promote OCB of teachers.

The imperative for an ongoing review and comprehension of the challenges and methodologies for enhancing diversity and inclusion of women in senior leadership within higher education is well-documented. This study aims to illuminate the perspectives of Emirati women regarding their leadership trajectories, evaluating the effectiveness of current policies, the obstacles encountered, and strategies to advance women’s leadership in higher education. Utilizing a concurrent mixed-methods approach, we collected and analyzed both quantitative and qualitative data from 103 female Emirati leaders in higher education institutions across the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The findings reveal a prevailing sentiment among participants that policies intended to promote Emirati women’s inclusion in senior leadership roles are mostly ineffective. Key challenges identified include barriers to career progression, disparities in institutional support, and pervasive gender biases. However, participants also offered insights into potential strategies to enhance the inclusion of Emirati women in leadership positions, including leadership training programs, robust policy development, and initiatives to improve work–life balance, networking opportunities, and reward systems.