Comparative Analysis Of Men'S And Women'S Leadership
Similarly, to men, women do portray great leadership effectiveness and leadership style. On the contrary, women often find it difficult to hold senior position or managerial roles in the organisation as many of these positions and roles are majority occupied by men. Statistics have shown the proportion of women holding a senior position or managerial roles globally is 22% and 39% of the organisations with no women holding any of these positions or roles (Dina Medland, 2016, Mar 7). However, in the recent years, these organisations learn to acknowledge that women do possess traits of being a great leader, but there is none of them in our company is occupied by women.
On 05 November 2016, Vivien Shiao from Business Times wrote an article titled “Why we don't like women bosses (and why it matters)”, claiming why people do not like women bosses and they are not suitable to be bosses. But in less time a year later, Lahle Wolfe from The Balance Careers authored another article titled “Do Men Make Better Bosses Than Women (No, and Here's Why.)”, on 30 October 2017, showing why women outstand men and women are better bosses than men. With these two articles, confusion arises among people to which is more reliable. After preliminary research and analysing of arguments and evidence by both authors, I proposed that the latter article is more reliable and persuasive than the former. Here’s why.
In Vivien Shiao’s article, she mentioned a couple of reasons why people dislike women bosses. She started her article by acknowledging that majority at the top are men, and she brings in an interesting fact by relating females’ unpredictable mood swings to Premenstrual Syndrome as humans are judgmental by nature (2016). Further, she added women are to possess female traits such as “nurturing, likeable and warm”, by supporting with an illustration pointed out by Lim Chai Leng, the director of Banking, Finance and Accounting as Randstad Singapore (2016). She then referenced to a Randstad survey, showing that close to 3/4 of women preferred working for male bosses (2016).
While, in Lahle Wolfe’s article, she argued that women are better bosses in certain aspects. In her article, she referenced to a Gallup study, stating that women outscored men on 11/12 engagement criteria used to compare how they engage with their subordinates (2017). And, she provided some clear statistics of engagement between bosses and subordinates of different genders to show that women are better in terms of engagement (2017). Later, she added a study conducted by Harvard Business Review mentioned that women are also better in leadership skills and competency as compared to men (2017; see also Zenger, J., & Folkman, J., 2012).
Firstly, the latter’s article seems more concrete and reliable as she uses a broad spectrum of sources such as Gallup, Forbes, and Harvard Business Review. Although the former also references to studies conducted by Randstad and Yale University, her article was less reliable when she used Hillary Clinton as a living example. Her article was posted when the US election was near the corner, this might imply that her views and statements about women bosses may be personal and one-sided.
Secondly, the former uses women associated attributes/characteristics and judgement that only applies to women to conclude that women do not make good bosses. Hence, this article does not persuade me. However, the latter uses the skills and abilities a leader should have to compare which gender is a better boss. Thus, when comparing both articles, the latter’s article is more persuasive.Thirdly, the former uses a large amount of Pathos technique which uses emotion to appeal to the reader and convince the audience. However, the latter uses Ethos and Logos technic to draft her article. This suggests that the former’s statements could be one-sided and bias as compared to the latter, where it is more reliable when not too much emotions are put into writing.
Lastly, the latter will offer a more reliable opinion as she has more than 8 years in writing on businesswomen and more than 25 years of personal experience in business development and management. However, the former started her journalist journey with Business Times in 2014. Given the fact that she has experience working in the related areas, her statements will be more relevant and coherent when comparing male and female bosses as compared to the former. Thus, by comparing the background and experience of both authors, the latter would be reliable due to her experience in these areas.Both articles convey the true facts which are applicable to all women. However, by comparing and analysing both articles and based on the assessment above, I am more inclined to believe Lahle Wolfe’s article is more reliable and persuasive that Vivien Shiao’s article.
