term paper gender difference in marketing styles

8/8/2019 Term Paper Gender Difference in Marketing Styles

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GENDER DIFFERENCE IN MARKETING

STYLES

MBA Term Paper

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

By

Ramesh kumar Bishnoi

Under the guidance of

Dr. (Mrs.). Swapna Patawari

Completed at

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

JAI NARAIN VYAS UNIVERSITY, JODHPUR


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DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

JAI NARAIN VYAS UNIVERSITY, JODHPUR

Certificate

This is to certify that Term Paper entitled

GENDER DIFFERENCE IN MARKETING STYLES

Is submitted by Mr. Ramesh kumar bishnoi of second semester in partial

fulfillment of MBA degree course. The student has sincerely completed the Term

Paper in our institute. This work was prepared under my guidance and supervision.

Date: 17/07/2010 Dr. (Mrs.) Swapna Patawari

Place: Jodhpur Department of Management Studies,

Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The hardest part is to gratefully acknowledge the help and advice given by umpteen

numbers of people, who in their own fields and ways helped in shaping of this project report.

It is impossible to grade anyone, but I would like to thanks anyone and everyone who

helped me to submit this report, however small the assistance, for it is the feeling that matters

and not the values.

I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude and ineptness towards Prof. Meeta Nihalani,

Head of Department, Department of Management Studies, JNVU, Jodhpur who put us on the

boat to row with our objectives.

My heart goes to my esteem guide, who helped me in conceiving and implementing the idea

of the project. I fall short of words to express profound gratitude to Dr. (Mrs.). Swapna

Patawari, J.N.V.U., who helped me in conceiving & implementing the idea of the project and

for sparing her valuable time to impart the information and directions which were required to

successfully complete the project. Her insights and inspiration has imparted energy and

enthusiasm in me. I am thankful to her for providing me interesting and challenging definition to

work upon which helped me think bigger and better.

The work like this are never done alone, there is always some natural power fromGOD & parents, coordinators & teachers, respondents who helped me in

completing the work. I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks and

deep gratitude to all those people who extended their wholehearted co-operation

and have helped me in completing this project successfully.

RAMESH KUMARBISHNOI

(MBA Semester II sem.)


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTERSCHEME:-

Acknowledgement-

CHAPTER: 1 EXUCATIVE SUMMARY

CHAPTER: 2 INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER: 2 MARKETING CONCEPT

CHAPTER: 3 BACKGROUND

CHAPTER: 4 DISSCUSION

LEADERSHIP STYLE

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

SALARIES

EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS

CHAPTER: 5 EDUCATION ATTAINMENTS

CHAPTER: 5 RESEARCH METHEDOLOGY

CHEPTER: 6 ANALYSES

CHAPTER: 7 RECOMMENDATIONS

CHAPTER: 8 CONCLUSIONS

CHAPTER: 9. QUESTIONNAIRE-

CHAPTER: 10. BIBLIOGRAPHY& REFENCES


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Executive Summary

The report is about identifying physical, historical, psychological, and perceptional

differences among men and women, and then applying it in business context. While doing it, it

was found that women are far more different from men in above described criteria. Women and

men have different roles to play in their personal and social lives. Men are, usually, considered

as financial earners and women as caretakers of domestic matters. These personal and social

roles also affect professional life, and this is the reason why men and women also differ in

business life. This is followed by some background information that tells how and why men and

women differ from each other. The difference is not new; it evolved with the evolution of these

two genders. From the very start of life, man was more aggressive as compared to woman, and

this aggressiveness caused man to work and woman to settle. From here, social roles were

segregated, and differences evolved. Women are more formal as compared to men. Women tend

to save more, while men are naturally careless about saving. Women are less wise as compared

to men in terms of spending money. Also, women are more formal about their dressing as

compared to men even for little occasions. Due to historical reasons, that created difference in

men and women personalities, women created a sense of inferiority in them. This sense of

inferiority speaks in most of their professional and social roles. Then men and women are

differentiated in business settings, which was the main focus of this report. Different dimensions

like leadership, entrepreneurship, Business communication styles, Salaries, and employment

conditions are considered while making this differentiation. Women leaders are usually less

successful as compared to male ones, because characteristics of a successful leader match more

with masculine characteristics.

Women are more likely to start feminine businesses such as boutique, beauty-parlor etc.

Women are less confident, more possessive, and good listeners, while practicing communication

in business, as compared to men. In general, men are getting higher compensations than women,

but it is not true if we go in detail. women are equal, in some slightly behind, and in some are

even ahead of men regarding salaries. Also women require special working conditions as

compared to those required by men. Hence, men and women are elementary part of life, and

cannot exist without each other. They depend on each other in their personal, social and

professional lives, so they have to understand the differences among each other, and should try to


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diminish these differences. It should not be a one-sided effort; rather both of them should

contribute positively in removing the above described differences or even try to eliminate the

negative impact of these differences.

INTRODUCTION:-


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This report is concerned with defining and comparing men and women roles regarding business.

It is a known fact that men and women really differ in a variety of aspects. Both of them have

different physiques, metal approach, behavior, physical appearance, etc. as compared to each

other. Having such great differences, still they have to interact with each other in their personal,

social, and professional life, and they are successfully handling this interaction. If we see two

dogs or any pair of animals sitting beside each other, then we will observe that they will not

remain in peace if they feel any differences. This is not the case, usually, with human beings.

They are more social, and have ability to understand and manage differences. Same is the case

with men and women issues. Despite of a lot of different characteristics, men and women are still

called as two wheels of life. It means that both of them are vital elements of worlds life. Now

it is also admitted fact that two different people behave differently in a given set of

circumstances, because human behavior is formed by his attitude, and attitude is a function of

characteristics. It means if two people differ in characteristics, their tendencies will also be

different. Now, as discussed above, men and women are also far

different from each other, and also behave differently when observed in a given scenario.

For e.g. response of a bunk call by a woman will likely to be different with that of a man.

Business is also a vital part of modern life, and we must know gender characteristics regarding

business in order to successfully conduct it. We should know that how to deal


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with a companys Purchase manager, how to impress boss, how to attract a companys marketing

manager to get advertisements, etc. Our behavior towards each of abovediscussed personnel will

be different if we consider their gender. It means, in business scenario, gender characteristics

really affect decisions, so it is important to consider gender characteristics of people while

making business plans and decisions.

Despite of their differences, both genders still have a lot of attraction for eachother. This

attraction also affects their professional interactions, and, by including this variable, men and

women relationship becomes more complex. Sometimes ego is also attached with their

relationship. Men, usually sitting and higher hierarchies of business, feel jealous of women

coming by them of going above them, and this is because of theego developed in mens minds.

Since very early times, man feels that he is the king of the life and women are just to serve him.

This thought is gone by time, but it still has its traces behind, and these are the traces of this

thought that develop such ego in mens minds, and he, usually, hinders the way of womans

progress in her professional life. Now, it is another variable, and things will become more

complex by including it indiscussion.

Men and women have different roles to play in society. In eastern countries, usually men are

responsible for earning livelihood, and women are just to take care of domestic matters. No

doubt, exceptions are there, but still tendency is as discussed above. In western countries, this

trend is diminishing by time, as women are also financially contributing a lot in running the

vehicle of a home, by offering their professional services to society, that is still absent in

majority of eastern countries. Women are also expected to take care of children, cleanliness of

home, cooking of food, shopping of grocery, etc. Women have these duties in their cart of

responsibilities whether they are living in Nigeria or USA. These different societal roles also

affect their roles in business. Women, Throughout the world, face a lot of difficulties in

managing business responsibilities along with their personal ones, so these difficulties change

their roles and expectations in business world as compared to those of men.


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to satisfy their stockholders, their employees, their suppliers, and their channel partners.

Communication

Goods/services

Money

Information


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THE MARKETING CONCEPT:-

The marketing concept is the philosophy that firms should analyze the needs of their customers

and then make decisions to satisfy those needs, better than the competition. Today most firms

have adopted the marketing concept, but this has not always been the case.

In 1776 in The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith wrote that the needs of producers should be

considered only with regard to meeting the needs of consumers. While this philosophy is

consistent with the marketing concept, it would not be adopted widely until nearly 200 years

later.

To better understand the marketing concept, it is worthwhile to put it in perspective by reviewing

other philosophies that once were predominant. While these alternative concepts prevailed

during different historical time frames, they are not restricted to those periods and are still

practiced by some firms today.

THE PRODUCTION CONCEPT:-

The production concept prevailed from the time of the industrial revolution until the early 1920's.

The production concept was the idea that a firm should focus on those products that it could

produce most efficiently and that the creation of a supply of low-cost products would in and of

itself creates the demand for the products. The key questions that a firm would ask before

producing a product were:

y Can we produce the product?y Can we produce enough of it?

At the time, the production concept worked fairly well because the goods that were produced

were largely those of basic necessity and there was a relatively high level of unfulfilled demand.

Virtually everything that could be produced was sold easily by a sales team whose job it was

simply to execute transactions at a price determined by the cost of production. The production

concept prevailed into the late 1920's.


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THE SALES CONCEPT:-

By the early 1930's however, mass production had become commonplace, competition had

increased, and there was little unfulfilled demand. Around this time, firms began to practice

the sales concept(or selling concept), under which companies not only would produce the

products, but also would try to convince customers to buy them through advertising and personal

selling. Before producing a product, the key questions were:

y Can we sell the product?y Can we charge enough for it?

The sales concept paid little attention to whether the product actually was needed; the goal

simply was to beat the competition to the sale with little regard to customer satisfaction.

Marketing was a function that was performed after the product was developed and produced, and

many people came to associate marketing with hard selling. Even today, many people use the

word "marketing" when they really mean sales.

After World War II, the variety of products increased and hard selling no longer could be relied

upon to generate sales. With increased discretionary income, customers could afford to be

selective and buy only those products that precisely met their changing needs, and these needs

were not immediately obvious. The key questions became:

y What do customers want?y Can we develop it while they still want it?y

How can we keep our customers satisfied?

In response to these discerning customers, firms began to adopt the marketing concept, which

involves:

y Focusing on customer needs before developing the producty Aligning all functions of the company to focus on those needsy Realizing a profit by successfully satisfying customer needs over the long-term

When firms first began to adopt the marketing concept, they typically set up separate marketing

departments whose objective it was to satisfy customer needs. Often these departments weresales departments with expanded responsibilities. While this expanded sales department structure

can be found in some companies today, many firms have structured themselves into marketing

organizations having a company-wide customer focus. Since the entire organization exists to

satisfy customer needs, nobody can neglect a customer issue by declaring it a "marketing

problem" - everybody must be concerned with customer satisfaction.


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The marketing concept relies upon marketing research to define market segments, their size, and

their needs. To satisfy those needs, the marketing team makes decisions about the controllable

parameters of the marketing mix.

Communication styles

Deborah Tannins studies found these gender differences in communication styles

(where men more generally refers tomasculine people, and women correspondingly refers

tofeminine people):

Men tend to talk more than women in public situations, but women tend to talk morethan men at home.

Women are more inclined to face each other and make eye contact when talking,while men are more likely to look away from each other.

Men tend to jump from topic to topic, but women tend to talk at length about onetopic.

When listening, women make more noises such as mm-hmm and uh-huh, whilemen are more likely to listen silently.

Women are inclined to express agreement and support, while men are more inclinedto debate.

The studies also reported that in general both genders communicated in similar ways.

Critics, including Suzette Haden Elgin, have suggested that Tannen's findings may apply

more to women of certain specific cultural and economic groups than to women in general.

Although it is widely believed that women speak far more words than men, this is actually

not the case.

Julia T. Wood [18] describes how "differences between gender cultures infuse

communication." These differences begin at childhood. Maltz and Borkers [20] research

showed that the games children play contribute to socializing children

intomasculine and feminine cultures. For example, girls playing house promotes personal

relationships, and playing house does not necessarily have fixed rules or objectives. Boys,

however, tended to play more competitive team sports with different goals and strategies.These differences as children make women operate from assumptions about communication

and use rules for communication that differ significantly from those endorsed by most men.

Wood produced the following theories regarding gender communication:

Misunderstandings stem from differing interaction styles


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Men and women have different ways of showing support, interest and caring Men and women often perceive the same message in different ways Women tend to see communication more as a way to connect and enhance the sense

of closeness in the relationship

Men see communication more as a way to accomplish objectives Women give more response cues and nonverbal cues to indicate interest and build a

relationship

Men use feedback to signal actual agreement and disagreement For women, "ums" "uh-huhs" and "yeses" simply mean they are showing interest and

being responsive

For men, these same responses indicate is agreement or disagreement with what isbeing communicated

For women, talking is the primary way to become closer to another person For men, shared goals and accomplishing tasks is the primary way to become close to

another person

Men are more likely to express caring by doing something concrete for or doingsomething together with another person

Women can avoid being hurt by men by realizing how men communicate caring Men can avoid being hurt by women by realizing how women communicate caring Women who want to express caring to men can do so more effectively by doing

something for them or doing something with them

Men who want to express caring to women can do so more effectively by verballycommunicating that they care

Men emphasize independence and are therefor less likely to ask for help inaccomplishing an objective

Men are much less likely to ask for directions when they are lost than women Men desire to maintain autonomy and to not appear weak or incompetent Women develop identity within relationships more than men Women seek out and welcome relationships with others more than men Men tend to think that relationships jeopardize their independence For women, relationships are a constant source of interest, attention and

communication

For men, relationships are not as central The term "Talking about us" means very different things to men and women


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Men feel that there is no need to talk about a relationship that is going well Women feel that a relationship is going well as long as they are talking about it Women can avoid being hurt by realizing that men don't necessarily feel the need to

talk about a relationship that is going well

Men can help improve communication in a relationship by applying the rules offeminine communication

Women can help improve communication in a relationship by applying the rules ofmasculine communication

Just as Western communication rules wouldn't necessarily apply in an Asian culture,masculine rules wouldn't necessarily apply in a feminine culture, and vice verse.

Finally, Wood describes how different genders can communicate to one another and

provides six suggestions to do so.

1. Individuals should suspendjudgment. When a person finds his or herselfconfused in a cross-gender conversation, he or she should resist the tendency to

judge and instead explore what is happening and how that person and their

partner might better understand each other.

2. Recognize the validity of different communication styles. Feminine tendencyto emphasize relationships, feelings and responsiveness does not reflect

inability to adhere to masculine rules for competing any more than masculine

stress on instrumental outcomes is a failure to follow feminine rules for

sensitivity to others. Wood says that it is inappropriate to apply a single

criterion - either masculine or feminine - to both genders' communication.

Instead, people must realize that different goals, priorities and standards

pertain to each.

3. Provide translation cues. Following the previous suggestions helps individualsrealize that men and women tend to learn different rules for interaction and that

it makes sense to think about helping the other gender translate your

communication. This is especially important because there is no reason why

one gender should automatically understand the rules that are not part of his or

her gender culture.

4. Seek translation cues. Interactions can also be improved by seeking translationcues from others. Taking constructive approaches to interactions can help

improve the opposite gender culture's reaction.


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5. Enlarge your own communication style. By studying other culture'scommunication we learn not only about other cultures, but also about

ourselves. Being open to learning and growing can enlarge one's own

communication skills by incorporating aspects of communication emphasized

in other cultures. According to Wood, individuals socialized into masculinity

could learn a great deal from feminine culture about how to support friends.

Likewise, feminine cultures could expand the ways they experience intimacy

by appreciating "closeness in doing" that is a masculine specialty.

6. Wood reiterates again, as her sixth suggestion, that individuals should suspendjudgment. This concept is incredibly important because judgment is such a part

of Western culture that it is difficult not to evaluate and critique others and

defend our own positions. While gender cultures are busy judging other gender

cultures and defending themselves, they are making no headway incommunicating effectively. So, suspending judgment is the first and last

principle for effective cross-gender communication.

[edit]Communication and sexual desire

Mets, et al.[21] explain that sexual desire is linked to emotions and communicative

expression. Communication is central in expressing sexual desire and "complicated

emotional states," and is also the "mechanism for negotiating the relationship

implications ofsexual activity and emotional meanings." Gender differences appear to

exist in communicating sexual desire.

For example, masculine people are generally perceived to be more interested in sex

than feminine people, and research suggests that masculine people are more likely than

feminine people to express their sexual interest. This can be attributed to masculine

people being less inhibited by social norms for expressing their desire, being more

aware of their sexual desire or succumbing to the expectation of their gender culture.

When feminine people employ tactics to show their sexual desire, they are typically

more indirect in nature.

Various studies show different communication strategies with a feminine personrefusing a masculine person's sexual interest. Some research, like that of

Murnen,[22] show that when feminine people offer refusals, the refusals are verbal and

typically direct. When masculine people do not comply with this refusal, feminine

people offer stronger and more direct refusals. However, research from Perper and

Weis showed that rejection includes acts of avoidance, creating distractions, making


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excuses, departure, hinting, arguments to delay, etc. These differences in refusal

communication techniques are just one example of the importance of communicative

competence for both masculine and feminine gender cultures.

Background

As discussed above, men are women are different in a lot of aspects. The focus of this report is to

identify and then apply these differences in business scenario, but we must know them in detail

before doing it, because, if someone wants to know different roles of different people, he must be

in knowledge of these differences first. In this part of the report, these differences will be

described in detail. I referred to a lot of websites to ascertain these differences, and I found a lot.

I got a lot of psychological stuff, but a funny one attracted me more that had deep psychological

logic in it. It was a community named as Fun Mansion. It has blogs, topics, discussions etc. It

had a topic titled as Battle of sexes. One of its members, Kay, contributed beautifully in it, and

I picked that contribution for here. Kay has given differences under certain headings. I have just

chosen a few headings and concept. Kay has given beautifully worded examples, so I did not

paraphrase these examples.

Names

Men and women also differ in calling names. Women tend to be more formal when they call

others by names. Women, even in a group of friends, call each other by perfect names that show

the formality in heir nature. In contrast to this, men usually call each other by casual names that

show causality or informality of their nature. For e.g. If Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara go

out for lunch, they will call each other Laurie, Linda, Elizabeth and Barbara. If Mark, Chris, Eric

and Tom go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla, Peanut-Head

and Scrappy.


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Eating out

It means that men tend to be more careless and generous while contributing in a bill or spending

money, and women are more conscious about spending money. Women precisely calculate the

amount of money to be spent; rather men are careless about it. It is

the part of the nature. Men feel pride or prestige in spending money in the group of friends, but,

usually, this is not the case with women. In short, men are careless about money and women are

not. For e.g. When the bill arrives, Mark, Chris, Eric and Tom will each throw in a $20, even

though it's only for $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually

admit they want change back. When the women get their bill, out comes the pocket calculators.

Money:

It differentiates men and women by the way they spend their money. Men will spend their

money when they need a thing. They will be even ready to pay more for it, but if they do not

need it, they will not even purchase it on discount. Women tend to purchase a thing on discount;

even they do not need it. They just purchase it because it is on discount. It shows that men,

usually, tend to spend their money more wisely as compared to women, but this is not a universal

truth, so exceptions are still present. For e.g. A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs. A woman

will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need, but it's on sale.

Dressing Up

Women dress up for even small occasions. Even they dress up to visit neighbors. But men rarely

dress up. They just dress up to go on marriages, meetings, funerals etc. It shows that men are less

conscious about their dressing and are only formal when required, but women are over-conscious

about their dressing. For e.g. A woman will dress up to go shopping, water the plants, empty the

garbage, answer the phone, read a book, and get the mail.A

man will dress up for weddings andfunerals. (Kay) Now lets focus on some psychological factors. First of all, the question comes

into mind that why this difference exists between men and women. The answer was given in a

web article titled as The bioelectrical difference between man and woman. This article, first

provides the reasons behind the differences, and then compares two genders. The difference in

status between man and woman all over the world arose from the fact that man considers himself


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the giver, the provider, whereas woman considers herself the recipient. But who said that the

receiver must necessarily be inferior? And if there were no one to receive, what use will there be

for the giver? And vice-versa: if there is no giver, of what use will be the receiver? There is

nothing superior and inferior in it. In fact, these two are complementary to each other and neither

is independent of the other. They are interdependent; they are tied to each other. These are not

two separate entities, but rather two sides of the same coin in which one gives and the other

receives. Normally however, the very concept of the giver raises a picture of superiority within

our minds. There is no reason why the receiver should be inferior. Many things are connected

with this, however, and the status of women has been accepted as second to men. Not only men

but also women have accepted this position. In fact, both are first in their respective places.

There is no second place. Now this concept has had extensive consequences in many areas and it

has permeated our entire civilization and culture. That is why man went hunting -- because he

was aggressive. And the woman sat at home waiting for him; she accepted him naturally. He

went to the fields, he harvested the crop, he worked in his shop, he flew airplanes, he went to the

moon, and he went out to do all these things because he was aggressive. The woman sat at home

waiting for him. She also did a great many things but was not aggressive; it was receptive. She

set up mans house, she gathered things together, and she kept everything in place. In all cultures

the principle of stability is due to women. If the women were not there man would have been a

wanderer, a vagabond; he could never set up a house. Man is never interested in saving. He

earns, and there the matter ends; he is no longer interested. He is eager and anxious as long as he

is fighting with the world, challenging the world; his attention is always turning to other places

for conquest. Whatever he brings there is someone else looking after it all, saving it all and this

individual has her own place, her own value. She is a complementary part of the whole situation,

but as she does not go out to earn, as she does not accumulate, as she does not create, it seemed

to her that she was lagging behind. This feeling entered even into very small things, and

everywhere she began to feel a sense of inferiority that is absolutely unfounded. This inferiority

brought evil results. As long as woman was uneducated she tolerated this inferiority, but now she

will not. In order to break this sense of inferiority she has gone about doing exactly what men do.

This will prove very detrimental to her. She can violate her basic personality, and this can have

destructive results deep within her psyche. Now she wants to be on a level with man, but she


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cannot be like a man completely. She will only succeed in making herself a second-rate man; she

cannot be a first-rate man. She can, if she chooses, make herself first rate in her womanhood.

Discussion

As men and women differ in a lot of aspects due to the history of their development, their

attitudes, behaviors, roles and expectations are also different when they enter into business field.

The difference is in their personalities and psychologies, and this difference is responsible for the

difference in their leadership style, entrepreneurship, employment conditions, salaries,

performance evaluations, business proposals, communication styles etc. Some of these

differences will be discussed in the later part of this report.

Leadership style

Leadership is one of the vital dimensions of business life and expertise. Leadership is all about

influencing a group of people so that they create a synergy and contribute to achieve a common

goal. Personality traits are very important while defining a leader and his leadership style, and

men and women, of course, have different personality traits most of the times. Susan

Vinnicombe, Director of the Centre for Developing Women Business Leaders, addresses this

issue as following

Leadership Style Differences

There are a number of differences in the leadership styles of business men and business women.

y Mens styles are characterized as being:task-oriented

autocratic

command-and-control

punishment-orientedy Womens styles are characterized as being:

team players

democratic

transformational

reward-oriented


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Ms. Eagley has found that prejudice toward female leadership styles restricts business womens

access to top leadership positions. The bias shows up when women are perceived as possessing

less leadership ability than equivalent men or when the same leadership behavior is evaluated

less favorably in a woman than a man. Understanding that social conditioning created these style

differences is a huge step to overcoming both communication and style gender gaps. The style

differences were built in long ago and do not represent conscious choices being made today!

Women do have different leadership styles from men. As Body shop, founderAnita Roddick

says: I run my company according to feminine principles principles of caring, making

intuitive decisions, not getting hung up on hierarchy, having a sense of work as being part of

your life, not separate from it; putting your labor where your love is, being responsible to the

world in how you use your profits; recognizing the bottom line should stay at the bottom.

The problem with actually mapping these differences is that the successful male managerial

stereotype is so strongly embedded in organizational life that female managers are pressured to

conform to it, thereby confusing research results.

Time after time in management development programmes at Cranfield, women managers

demonstrate their different working styles. Using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator male

managers consistently come out predominantly as Traditionalists (a mix of sensing and

judgmental). In contrast, female managers emerge as significantly more intuitive, combined

with either thinking as visionaries or feeling as catalysts. The natural strength of the visionary

is being strategic, while that of the catalyst is fostering higher productivity by personally

motivating people. The problem with letting males dominate organizations, as we do, is that

leadership style is narrowly defined.

Whilst women constitute 41% of the European workforce, they occupy only 10% of management

positions and represent a mere 1% of executive board members. Yet a recent survey on the most

admired boards of Britains top 100 companies showed that they have larger boards, more

women, more executive directors, their directors have more international experience and are

better educated. This is a powerful business argument for greater diversity in leadership.

Business Communication Style

A good business proposal can be rejected if not communicated properly, an application for

enhancement of pay can be perceived as greed if not written properly, and a casual compliment


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can be perceived as personal if the method of communication is not proper, so communication is

very important in business scenario. Kathleen Spring addresses this issue beautifully in her

article titled as Gender differences in Business communication.

No doubt, men and women have different psychologies, and these different psychologies

result in the shape of diverse communication styles. Usually, women are not considered as good

communicators as compared to men, but still exceptions are there. Men become more successful

in business as compared to women just because of these communication skills. Men are, usually

very confident communicators, and their words

show this confidence. In contrast, most of the times, women tend to use words that show

lack of confidence even when they are confident. Also women tend to be more possessive

as compared to men, as they are reluctant to stand in meetings and to offer someone to sit when

they are sitting. Men use good humorous and sports examples to make their point clear, while

women lack this ability, and fail to grab the interest of the audience most of

the times.

Everything is not negative about womens communication. Researches has shown that women

are very good listeners as compared to men. Men can only focus on one thing at a time, while

women can even notice that someone is interested in their dressing style when they are

attentively listening to someone else.

Entrepreneurship:-

Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new organizations, particularly new businesses

generally in response to identified opportunities (Entrepreneurship). Entrepreneurship is such art

that is highly associated with personal characteristics of the person practicing it. As men and

women also differ in personal characteristics, It is wise to say that their entrepreneurship

practices are also different.

Both males and females exhibit a low level of entrepreneurship knowledge. Females, however,

are more aware of their deficiencies in this knowledge area than are their male counterparts. Both

sexes believe that further education can correct the knowledge problem. Although very interested

in starting a business, females still are significantly less likely than males (62% vs. 72%) to want


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to start a business of their own. Both females and males overwhelmingly believe in the

importance of giving back to the communitywhich goes beyond providing jobs.

The findings of this study also suggest a significant paradox in the preentrepreneurial

characteristics of female and male youth. Whereas the majority of students aspire to start their

own businesses, they hold certain views that could be detrimental to entrepreneurial success. For

example, more than half of the youth sampled believe that price changes are objectionable

business responses to shifts in the cost of production or to changes in market demand. This

pattern of response, moreover, is significantly more apparent in females than in males.

Salaries

Men and women are, usually, involved, in different types of behaviors and attitudes at work, so it

is not surprising to witness a slight difference in the compensations they get for these business

services. A research has been done by Daniel E. Hecker regarding this issue. This research is

published under the title of Earnings of college graduates: Women compared with men. The

research findings are as following. Among college graduates aged 25 to 64, womens median

annual earnings were 73 percent of mens in 1993. When median earnings of women are

compared with those of men of a similar age and with similar levels of education, major fields of

study, and occupational characteristics, however, the earnings gap narrowed progressively,

although still spanning a wide range: in some cases, women earned nearly as much as, or evenmore than, men with the same characteristics, while in others, women earned much less. But a

question is still there, How much do women earn compared with men? The short answer to

this question is that there are many answers to it: in some fields of study and occupations women

do particularly well in relation to men, in others they do not fare so well, and in still others they

are in between.

Employment Conditions:-

Men and women have different roles to play in their social and personal lives, so it is easy to

understand that these roles affect their professional lives as well. Due to different roles and duties

in their personal lives, their demands regarding working conditions also differ. Usually men are

more comfortable in long working hours, unexpected meetings, overwhelming work-pressure,

and flexible timing issues as compared to women. This is because women have to pay a lot of


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other social and domestic responsibilities that is not the case with men. A research has been done

in European Union regarding gender differences in working conditions. It is published under the

title of Gender, jobs and working conditions in the European Union. The research addresses

the issue as following.

y The fundamental gender difference in working conditions is the fact that womencontinue to shoulder the main responsibility for running the home and looking after

children, even when employed full-time.

y There are major gender differences in working time patterns, especially in the volumeof hours worked: women are more likely to be in part-time work.

y Part-time jobs are segregated into a narrower range of occupations than full-time jobsand are typically lower-paid, more monotonous and with fewer opportunities for

advancement. However, there are some more positive dimensions to the working

conditions associated with part-time work: lower rates of exposure to physical, material

and ergonomic hazards, a less intense pace of work, and more compatibility with social

and family life.

y Both mens and women report that their work schedules tend to be compatible with theirfamily and social life when they have standard work schedules of daytime, weekday,

fixed hours and if they do not work long full-time hours.

y While there are gender differences in some aspects of working conditions there is not asystematic pattern in all the indicators investigated: many working conditions are more

closely related to occupational position (or sector) than to gender per se.

y When differences in mens and womens working conditions and occupational positionare controlled in the analysis, we found that women were more susceptible to work-

related ill-health than men.

y The key working condition that reduces the work-family compatibility of jobs for bothwomen and men is long and unsocial hours.

Educational Attainment

Womens educational attainment is also important as an indicator of womens economic

status. It also allows women to make better informed decisions about affairs in their own

household, their community and their nation. Gender differences in educational


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attainment are fairly small among economically advanced countries, but vary

considerable in across all countries. Illiteracy rates provides another useful measure of

educational attainment.

An important factor that contributes to low levels of educational attainment for both men

and women in the poorest countries is that large number of children do not even attend

school, because many of them are helping out at home while others are employed as

child labor.

Conclusion:-

Men and women are, truly, essential elements of human life on this planet called as Earth. Life

without each of them cannot be even imagined, but still it is also true that they are far more

different from each other in many aspects. They have to interact with each other even with these

differences, so a lot of problems occur during this interaction,

Whether this interaction is taking place in personal, social or professional scenario. For me, it is

one of the fastest growing problems of the world at the time and has to be addressed properly.

This problem also has its roots in business practices, as discussed in

the earlier part of the report. If we go back in history, men were dominantly handling almost all

the business of the world. Women entered into professional practices very late,

so it is quite easy to understand that difficulties arose at that time. These difficulties are growing,

as women are increasingly taking part in business. In order to remove these difficulties and solve

such problems, men and women both have to alter their attitudes and behaviors in business.

Usually, women are less successful in business as compared to men. This is because of above

discussed characteristics differences in these characteristics in business. Women leaders are not

as successful as male leaders are, as characteristics of successful leaders match with those of

men. I suggest women leaders to forget that they are women, when they enter into a leadership

role. They have to adopt characteristics of a successful leader regardless of the gendercharacteristics associated with them. Women also have less communication skills as compared to

men, when they enter into business communication. Women are less confident, more possessive,

less objective, and better listeners as compared to men. Women try to use confident words in

their communication. They should try to avoid unnecessary details to sound more objective.


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Women communications also lack proper citation and exemplification, so they should also work

on it. They should also, at least, try to hide their possessiveness.

In general, women are also getting fewer salaries as compared to men. But if we go into detail, in

some occupations they are even better than men regarding salaries. Also, women require special

working conditions, which usually increases cost for their employers or at least they are

perceived as costly. Women should try to accommodate with present working conditions as

much as possible.

References:-

Entrepreneurship. Wikipedia: The free encyclopedia. 10-01-2008.

Gender, jobs and working conditions in the European Union. European Foundation for

the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. 2002. Page 1-2

Hecker Daniel, Earnings of college graduates: Women compared with men. Monthly

Labor Review, March 1998. Page 62

Kay1605(member), difference between man and woman. Sep 2006. 08-01-2008.

http://www.funmansion.com/post/showthread.php?t=170

Kourilsky Marilyn and Walstad William, Entrepreneurship and female youth:

knowledge, attitudes, gender differences, and educational practices. 11 June 1998.

Journal of Business Venturing Volume 13, Issue 1, January 1998, Pages 77-88.

Spring Kathleen, Gender differences in Business communication. May 23,2001.

PrincetonInfo.com. 08-01-2008.

The Bioelectrical Difference Between Man And Woman. Yahoo Geocities. 08-01-

2008.

Vinnicombe Susan, The Debate: Do men and women have different leadership styles?.

Cranfield School of Management. Management Focus Issue 12 Summer 1999

term paper gender difference in marketing styles

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