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Keywords Women, Management styles, Intuition, Cognition, Gender stereotypes, Women executives
Abstract Gender-centred perspectives of women managers and women in general characterise them as being more intuitive than male managers and men in general. Evidence for gender differences in cognitive style was sought by administering the Cognitive Style Index, a measure of intuition analysis, to three UK samples of managers and three UK samples of non-managers. Results indicate that there is no difference between female and mak managers in terms of intuitive orientation, that female non-managers are more analytical (less intuitive) than male non-managers and more analytical than femak managers. This lack of support for Stereotypie characterisation of women managers and women in general as being more intuitive than their male equivalents is discussed within the context of structural and gendered cultural perspectives on behaviour in organisations.
There is a widely-held view that successful managers are aggressive, forceful, competitive, self confident, independent and have a high need for control. Green and Cassell (1996) discuss this gender-centred perspective and suggest that women are seen to lack these qualities and are characterised as relatively submissive, nurturing, warm, kind and selfless. Loden (1985) also argues that women have a lower need for control and are more cooperative than men.
These gendered stereotypical differences embrace approaches to problem solving and decision making. Loden (1985) portrays male managers as unemotional and analytical problem solvers and suggests that women supplement this rational approach with intuition and empathy. In a study of sex stereotypes and leader behaviour, Brenner and Bromer (1981) report that men are described as being more analytical and logical and women as more intuitive. Green and Cassell (1996) refer to women managers as embodying what are perceived as the emotional, illogical and sexual aspects of organsations, compared with men who tend to symbolize gender-neutral rationality and decision making.
Sex differences have been cited as the reason why women are under-represented in management; they lack the qualities for success and therefore cannot perform as effectively as male managers. Even if these perceived differences are merely social constructions which fail to reflect reality they may still affect women's performance and career advancement by influencing their beliefs about self efficacy (Dickerson, 2000), their thinking about their own ability to compete with men...