Confidence in Women Leaders

I found this to be a very interesting article (http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/11/women_leaders_need_self-confidence.html) about the need for confident women in the workplace.  


The article discusses leadership gender stereotypes, and states that "Applied to leadership, gender role stereotypes suggest that female-stereotypical forms of leadership are interpersonally oriented and collaborative, whereas male-stereotypical forms of leadership are task oriented and dominating. To the extent that women who are leaders exhibit a masculine style, they amplify their role conflict and increase the chances of receiving unfairly negative evaluations."  This reflects the bullying in the workplace post, as women who try to take on the dominating leader role are often seen as bullies and receive negative feedback.  

Bullying in the Workplace?

Talking about bullying with my students encouraged me to do some research on leaders who are bullies.  Bully leaders exists everywhere, but especially in the workplace.  Many bosses and managers are bullies and use their powers to control others.  


Bully leaders have very skewed perceptions.  These people think they are being productive in situations trying to get people to work together and accomplish tasks, but they go about it in an authoritarian way.  Bully leaders are loud and bark orders at their workers.  Bully leaders must given all credit for great ideas, although the team behind the leader helped to research and develop the ideas.  


Workers respond quickly to this type of leadership, but in the worst way possible.  Morale declines, as does production.  People dread coming to work and do as little as possible to get through each task.  Because bullying is what superiors do, middle managers and lower managers also seem to adapt this style of leadership creating more animosity with workers.


As a business student and young professional, it is important for me never to adopt this leadership style as I know it will win me no friends in the workplace.  I think as a woman with the potential to be a manager or top executive, I must be careful how I handle certain situations.  Women are more likely to be terrible bosses than men because they are much more emotional in terms of dealing with people and situations.  


Want to learn more about bully leadership?  Click here:  http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Bully_Leaders.html


Here are some sterotypes of women bosses:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/10/24/worst-stereotypes-powerful-women-christine-lagarde-hillary-clinton/