Theories of Leadership of Women
The Women's "movement" became part of our daily discourse at the turn of the last century with the suffragists. It has always been the case that women have held power positions in society - but traditionally, this had been in a strictly limited role and scope within the power structure that had been a firmly held patriarchal system managed and supported by men, the Church, political office, and even other women. The course toward achieving mainstream leadership roles, and to an absolute lack of surprise to be working for a woman. Now, in 2007, when there is a very real chance of a woman becoming President, we are in a stage in our cultural and social development that can truly embrace the benefits of having women taking real leadership roles. Joyce Fletcher's work, Disappearing Acts: Gender, Power, and Relational Practice at Work, explores the trend of modern companies and organizations to claim an interest in hiring employees who will work as team-members, but often fail to actually recognize or even encourage teamwork. Her central point is that the elements necessary to forge a true teamwork-centric and supporting environment are actually counter to prevailing practices and are representative of the "feminine" side of life.
These two books succeed significantly in their purpose. Finally, in the third part of Coughlin's book, the essay by Sally Helgesen, "The Sustainable Advantage", is perhaps the most subtle of the essays in this part. Both works observe that competition does indeed improve production, but that rampant individualism that so pervades our business models also absolutely prevents a group of people from forming, enjoying, and being productive within a team. This invisibility affects their ability to rise within their work environment, it helps them to develop a feeling of frustration with the organization into which their effort is being poured without reciprocation, and makes it hard for the women to fully achieve the potential of their output. Relational practice was found to be the key to maintaining project continuity, empowering of fellow team-members, personal and group achievement, team creation and integrity, and meeting professional goals. One of the most significant aspects of her recommendations is to encourage employers to include a family or community related commitment as a requisite for promotion. Fletcher's focus is to simultaneously critique historical business practices that foster and reward only individual achievement rather than group performance. This will continue until enlightened leaders start to recognized that diversity is the key to success (not replacing men with women, or by removing the masculine structures, but b combining all of them). It means that they must trust that by giving up the male-style of strictly self-serving knowledge sharing, their jobs will be safe from those who would use shared knowledge to individual advantage. These structures are the masculine equivalent of feminine social gatherings - which may attribute to the difficulty in understanding that it is not the actual play of golf, the drink ordered, of the depth of your drive that is what makes the difference to a career within these contexts. Fletcher's work is primarily observational and scientific in nature. She observes that what happens on the golf course, in the sauna, over cocktails, or on the range is indeed a relationship-based structure. The second section of the book, "Paths of Power", the essays build upon the foundation established in the first section and act as a map on how to achieve power. Being invested in the future of the company and in the ability to believe in what the company stands for and its direction can either lead to dissatisfaction and frustration when the company does not match the individual's ideal just as it can energize and excite those with whom it "agrees". This, indeed, is a difficult but absolutely necessary step to realizing the power potential.
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Acceptance Essays
