Difference between Transactional and

Transformational Leadership
July 21, 2015 By Surbhi S Leave a Comment

Leadership is a trait of influencing the

behaviour of individuals, in order to fulfil organizational objectives. A number
of leadership theories have been propounded by various management experts
considering behaviour, traits, nature, etc. namely, Authoritarian, Laissez-faire,
Transactional, Transformational, Paternalistic and
Democratic. Transactional Leadership or otherwise known
as management leadership, refers, to a leadership style which lays
emphasis on the transaction between leader and its subordinates.

On the other hand, Transformational Leadership is a type which becomes

are reasons for the transformation (change) in the subordinates. In this style,
the leader works with the subordinates to ascertain the desired change in the
organization.

Many people have trouble understanding the difference between transactional

and transformational leadership.
Content: Transactional Leadership Vs Transformational
Leadership
Comparison Chart

BASIS FOR TRANSACTIONAL TRANSFORMATIONAL

COMPARISON LEADERSHIP LEADERSHIP

Meaning A leadership style that employs A leadership style in which the leader
rewards and punishments for employs charisma and enthusiasm to
motivating followers is inspire his followers is
Transactional Leadership. Transformational Leadership.

Concept Leader lays emphasis on his Leader lays emphasis on the values,
relation with followers. ideals, morals and needs of the
followers.

Nature Reactive Proactive

Best suited for Settled Environment Turbulent Environment

Works for Developing the existing Changing the existing organizational

organizational culture. culture.

Style Bureaucratic Charismatic

How many leaders Only one More than One

are there in a
group?

Focused on Planning and Execution Innovation

Motivational tool Attracting followers by putting Stimulating followers by setting group

their own self interest in the interest as a priority.
first place.

Definition of Transactional Leadership

A leadership style whereby the objectives and goals are predefined and the
leader uses reward and punishment to motivate his followers is known as
Transactional Leadership. It focuses on improving the current situation of the
organisation by framing the steps and controlling the organisational activities.
The basic purpose of this type of leadership is to revamp the existing corporate
culture and to enhance current policies & procedures.

In 1947, the style was first proposed by Max Weber followed by Bernard Bass
in the year 1981.

In this leadership style, the leader uses his authority and responsibility as his
power as well as the style has a formal approach. Prize and penalties are the
two primary tools employed by the leader to inspire his subordinates i.e. if an
employee achieves the target within the stipulated time he is given initiative
for his work, whereas if the task is not completed within the required time,
then he will be penalised for the same.

Definition of Transformational Leadership

The style of leadership in which the leader uses his influencing power and
enthusiasm to motivate his followers to work for the benefit of the
organisation. Here, the leader seeks the requirement for a change in the
existing organisation culture, gives a vision to his subordinates, incorporates
mission and implement the change with the dedication of his followers.

In transformational leadership, the leader acts as a role model and as a

motivator too who offers vision, excitement, encouragement, morale
and satisfaction to the followers. The leader inspires his people to increase
their abilities and capabilities, build up self-confidence and promotes
innovation in the whole organisation.

James MacGregor Burns first proposed the concept of this leadership style in
the year 1978. The main idea of this leadership style is that both the superior
and subordinate work for lifting each other for improving their morale and
motivation.

Key Differences Between Transactional and

Transformational Leadership
The following are the major differences between transactional and
transformational leadership:

1. Transactional Leadership is a type of leadership whereby rewards and

punishment are used as a basis for initiating the followers.
Transformational Leadership is a leadership style in which the leader
uses his charisma and enthusiasm to influence his followers.
 2. In transactional leadership leader, is lays stress on his relationship with
followers. Conversely, in transformational leadership leader lays stress
on the values, beliefs and needs of his followers.
3. Transactional Leadership is reactive whereas Transformational
Leadership is proactive.
4. Transactional Leadership is best for a settled environment, but
Transformation is good for the turbulent environment.
5. Transactional Leadership works for improving the present conditions of
the organisation. On the other hand, Transformational Leadership
works for changing the present conditions of the organisation.
6. Transactional Leadership is bureaucratic while Transformational
Leadership is charismatic.
7. In Transactional Leadership, there is only one leader in a group. In
contrast to transformational leadership, in which there can be more
than one leader in a group.
8. Transactional Leadership is focussed towards planning and execution as
compared to transformational leadership which promoted innovation.

Conclusion

According to some researchers, transactional leadership is best while some

think that transformational leadership is better. So the debate is never ending,
for the two leadership styles. In my opinion, there is no standard leadership
style which is best suited to all the circumstances. So, an organisation should
not rely on a single leadership style. It must employ the requisite leadership
style as per its needs and prevalent conditions.

If you are searching for the best leadership style between transactional and
transformational leadership, then you will end up saying that both are having
its merits and demerits. It depends on the situation which leadership style will
be most appropriate to it.

Male Female
Structure Consideration
Transactional Transformational
Autocratic Participative
Instruction-giving Socio-expressive
Business-oriented People-oriented
Much contemporary thinking, however,
conceptualizes a feminine style of leadershi
Gender and Leadership? Leadership and... (PDF Download Available). Available from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235285425_Gender_and_Leadership_Leadership_a
nd_Gender_A_Journey_Through_the_Landscape_of_Theories [accessed Apr 14 2018].

1. Introduction
Leader is the central part of a company. No matter what kind of organization it is, the
activity of leading is very important. Leader style is also called manager style, which is
concerned with maintaining motivation, balancing interests and implementing
tactical plans. "An effective leader is someone who motivates a person or a group to
accomplish more than they would have otherwise accomplished without that leader's
involvement" (Gedney R., 1999). As a good leader, he or she should be visionary,
innovative, and has strategic and logical thinking. Good leadership style can help a
company to build and sustain a high performance structure.

When a baby is born, the first question people always ask is "is it a boy or a girl?" The
baby's gender determines what kind of characteristics he or she would have to some
extent. If the baby is a boy, he is more likely to be competitive, strong and tough in
the future. If the baby is a girl, she seems to be more careful, emotional, and patient
when she grows up. So according to different characteristics male and female
maintain, their leadership styles have many differences.

2. Different Genders' Leadership Styles

"Research presented by Dr. Pat Heim in her video, 'The Invisible Rules: Men, Women
and Teams,' indicates that each gender is a 'culture' in itself, raised with invisible rules
of conduct instinctively known to all adult members of that gender" (Norton D.,
1998). Male leader leans towards the traditional "command-and-control" style. They
are more likely to employ a transactional leadership.

"The transactional leadership style was first described by Max Weber in 1947 and
again by Bernard M. Bass in 1981" ("Transactional leadership", 2007). The style
"developed by Bass is based on the hypothesis that followers are motivated through
a system of rewards and punishment" ("Transactional leadership", 2007). Leaders
using this style view job performance as a series of transactions and they offer
rewards for services rendered or punishment for inadequate performance. This
means if the followers do something good for the organization, they will be
rewarded. On the contrary, if they do something wrong, they will be punished. The
only purpose of the follower is to carry out the wishes of the leader. In fact, this kind
of style may begin to form the very early leader-follower relationship. Male leaders
give the ideas to their followers that they can get better raises by following orders.
As for female leaders, they also use the transactional leadership style. But the study
found "they were more likely to focus on the rewards component of that style"
("Transactional leadership", 2007). On the other hand, male leaders prefer to focus on
the punishment aspects of that style.

A Harvard Business Review Report by Judyd B. Rosener on a leadership survey shows

that women are more likely to use transformational methods than male leaders. "The
study, based on responses from 456 executives--355 women and 101 men--found
that the women were also more likely to use what experts call a "transformational"
style, getting subordinates to transform their own self-interest into the goals of the
organization" (Nelton S., 1991). Transformational leaders are more interested in
working with people holistically, not just making deals.

Female leaders are tended to use this kind of "interactive" leadership style. They not
only encourage others' participation but also attempted to energize followers by
enhancing their sense of self-worth. They inspire and motivate employees while
allowing them some initiative and giving them the power to make decisions on their
own. Many women leaders believe that people perform best when they feel good
about themselves and their work. The leaders are opening access to information to
increase opportunities for continuous improvement.

But there are also some similarities among men and women managers. "An extensive
review of research suggests that similarities in leadership styles tend to outweigh the
differences. Because of career self-selection and organization selection, people who
choose careers in law enforcement or real estate have a lot in common. So do
individuals who choose managerial or supervisory roles" (David C., 2006).

In retrospect, for transactional leadership style, women always exceeded men when it
came to the positive aspects. Meanwhile, men always exceeded women when it came
to the negative attributes of the style. In another way to say, women always won
when it was good to win and men always won when it was bad to win. "Men are
strong and decisive. Women build bridges of empathy. Men get things done. Women
care more about the process"("Different leadership styles", 2007). The
transformational leadership style that women typically use makes them better than
men at negotiating. There are many communication strengths for female leaders:
they enhance team work, win the trust of the people they work with, and encourage
innovation. Male leaders also have many advantages: they tend to set strong
boundaries, assign clear responsibilities and weed out weak performers.

3. Male Leaders vs. Female Leaders, Which Make Better

Leaders
During a long period of time, men have been considered as possessing
characteristics that are better suited to management. However, as more and more
women are moving into management in recent years, some questions have arisen:
Whether women in fact bring a different style of management into organization? Are
women's ways of leading more effective than the traditional "command-and-control"
style? Which leadership style is better?

In 2005, a year-long study conducted by Caliper (a Princeton, New Jersey-based

management consulting firm), and Aurora (a London-based organization that
advances women), identified a number of characteristics that distinguish women
leaders from men when it comes to qualities of leadership: "Women leaders are more
assertive and persuasive, have a stronger need to get things done and are more
willing to take risks than male leaders....Women leaders were also found to be more
empathetic and flexible, as well as stronger in interpersonal skills than their male
counterparts....enabling them to read situations accurately and take information in
from all sides....These women leaders are able to bring others around to their point of
view....because they genuinely understand and care about where others are coming
from....so that the people they are leading feel more understood, supported and
valued" ("Women Leaders study", 2005).

The Caliper study findings are summarized into four specific statements about
women's leadership qualities: "Women leaders are more persuasive than their male
counterparts. When feeling the sting of rejection, women leaders learn from adversity
and carry on with an "I'll show you" attitude. Women leaders demonstrate an
inclusive, team-building leadership style of problem solving and decision making.
Women leaders are more likely to ignore rules and take risks" ("Women Leaders
study", 2005).

In the book Why the Best Man for the Job is a Woman: The Unique Female Qualities
of Leadership, the author Esther Wachs Book makes research on the careers of
fourteen top female executives - among them Meg Whitman, President and CEO of
eBay - to find out what makes them so successful. "What she discovers echoes the
Caliper study, including a willingness to reinvent the rules; an ability to sell their
visions; the determination to turn challenges into opportunities; and a focus on 'high
touch' in a high tech business world" (Lowen L.).

Women in both staff and line positions were more likely to be leader-style executives
than their male colleagues. "In 1998, women are just estimated to fill only 25% of
managerial positions in Germany, 28% in Switzerland, 33% in the UK and 43% in
Australia"(Maria G., 1999). But after several years, "women hold nearly one-third of all
federal white-collar supervisory jobs; their performance in the sales and hospitality
industries is exemplary, and their ascent into top management positions in large
companies has increased nearly 60 percent over the last decade. In both the UK and
Ireland, women represent more than 45 percent of the workforce" (Gurdal I., 2005).
Even though women make up a small fraction of CEOs at the largest corporations in
the world, their leadership style might actually be more effective than men's.

The challenges of the future for an organization is more focusing on concerning for
people, interpersonal skills, intuitive management, and creative problem solving.
These characteristics being touted as critical for future success are just the qualities
female leaders always have. So in some respects, it seems that female leadership
style would be more suitable for the development of an organization.

"In a position to shape a corporate culture, women business founders say the
companies they create are different from most of those headed by men" (Nelton S.,
1991). The structures that women establish seem to be flexible and these structures
can help to create more interactive environment for a company. "Since women also
tend to discuss problems more openly and utilize 'group-think' to seek solutions,
such solutions are often more acceptable to teams" (Gutiérrez M., 2008).

From the above we can see, female leaders are superior to male leaders in many
aspects. But this does not mean male leaders are not as good as female leaders.
Several studies on gender differences have found very little discrepancy between
men's and women's leadership qualities. Male leader can handle better on "taking
charge" while female leaders are better at "taking care". Since male leaders are more
"masculine", they are good at solving problems, delegating, and influencing
superiors. Female leaders are more "feminine", they are more likely to be supporting
and rewarding others, building team and consulting. Interestingly, some male leaders
are better at networking, which generally is seen as a "feminine" behavior. Some
female leaders are better than males at solving problems, an ability regarded as male
leadership style.

4. The Trend of Leadership Style

4.1 Feminine leadership style is growing

The general perception of business management before was a structure dominated
by males whose leadership style was hierarchical, tough, action-oriented, and even
autocratic. In most people's mind, the ideal leader should be regarded as an
independent, tough, individualistic hero. But today a new generation of women is
bringing to business a different style often described as more consensus-building,
more likely to encourage participation by others, more open and inclusive, and even
more caring than that of many males. As the researcher Judy Rosener points out:
"Now a second wave of women is making its way into top management, not by
adopting the style and habits that have proved successful for men but by drawing on
the skills and attitudes they developed from their shared experience as women"
(Nelton S., 1991).
Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro, the World YWCA Secretary General, says attitudes toward
leadership are changing, below is part of the speech: "There is a new growing
appreciation of...those traits that women use to keep families together and to
organize volunteers to unite and make change in the shared life of communities.
These newly admired leadership qualities of shared leadership; nurturance and doing
good for others are today not only sought after but also indeed needed to make a
difference in the world....A feminine way of leading includes helping the world to
understand and be principled about values that really matter" (Kanyoro M., 2006).

In today's society, domination as a leadership style is becoming less popular than

before. Studies show "an increasing number of business people are expressing
agreement--that women are especially suited to leadership. Moreover, according to
the studies, leadership based on greater openness and interaction with people is
especially suited to a contemporary work force whose members identify with such
traits far more than previous generations did" (Nelton S., 1991).

Today's work force is better-educated. Nowadays, more and more young

professional workers are joining into the organizations. They demand to participate
and contribute. In some cases, they have knowledge or talents their bosses don't
have. Normally, these kinds of workers are likely to respond more to interactive
leaders. So flexibility, teamwork, trust and information sharing are replacing rigid
structures, secrecy and control. Today's company requires leaders who not only are
risk takers, but also are capable of hearing the ideas of others and really give them
the power to use some of the ideas in changing business making them successful.
The best leaders listen, motivate and provide support to their people. Just like the
President of the nearly $500-million-a-year magazine group of Meredith Corp. James
Autry said: "We're going to be so short of workers by the end of the decade,
particularly knowledge workers and information-service workers, that companies that
try to manage in the old top-down, hierarchical, drill-sergeant way are just doomed"
(Nelton S., 1991).

In fact, there is always a faulty perception about management. People always think
soft management means the leader is sensitive, caring and supportive, and hard
management means the leader is tough and draw the lines. But actually, a lot of the
tough guy is really cowardly and ineffective management. Managers who take the
"hard" approach sometimes are hiding behind a shell rather than confronting their
own emotions and feelings as well as rather than confronting other people's loyalty
to them.

Many experts agree that women are more likely to have the ability to deal with the
complicated problems existed in the company. They are more active in building
networks, listening, resolving conflict, and getting people to work together. In
addition, women can help companies be more competitive because they see
business opportunities as a result of their own experience. Many female leaders have
the confidence that they can help company grow very well in an international market.
Although men still run the world, more and more people realize that it might be in
better shape if women were more often in charge. "While males account for the
majority of leadership positions, the influx of females into the workplace indicates
that the tide may soon be shifting" (David C., 2006).

Edward M. Moldt, who is the managing director of the Snider Entrepreneurial Center
at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, "says that the women's
approach is 'one that is right for the times'. Women can meet this challenge very
well, he suggests, because they are 'very comfortable with having to persuade
people, to encourage, to motivate,' while men are 'used to giving orders and having
them followed'" (Nelton S., 1991). Today's leadership is becoming more feminized
simply because it makes good business sense.

"Judith Hoy of Learning Systems, a New York consulting firm specializing in

management effectiveness, notes that female leadership traits can help companies
solve three major problems--the need for better customer service, the demand for
higher quality, and the need for leadership itself" (Nelton S., 1991). Gradually, many
male leaders start to use the so-called feminine tools of leadership without
embarrassment. "Being more male than male" is no longer effective for women
leaders on controlling a company. Women leaders have more opportunities to use
the styles that are more natural to them as individuals, whether "soft" or "tough."

"Women now make up more than half of all college students and about half of all
law and medical students" (David C., 2006). As never before, the world is seeking
capable women as being the female leader. It's happening most quickly on the
entrepreneurial side, as well as on the corporate side. A large growing pool of
women will have the chance to show their executive talent. According to the research
on Google, in United States, more than 4 million of women have already started at
the top by launching their own companies. In order to nurture the development of
women leaders, many companies encourage mentoring for women. They create
situations that facilitate informal, on-the-job advice for women. Some companies
also add women to board of directors.

4.2 Different leaderships blend together

Although there are many advantages by using feminine leadership style, smart
companies are making room for a diversity of styles, encouraging the development
of women leaders along with the men. Men tend to be more direct and goal-
oriented while women tend to be relationship-oriented and seek harmony.Men and
women can learn strengths from each other. Many women are combining the best of
the traditional styles, such as focus on performance, into their leadership style, while
men are adopting the so-called "soft" management approaches that women use
effectively. For the fortunate businesses, these different styles should be
complementary rather than confrontational.

Men and women managers can work comfortably together at the top, and they can
produce a synergism that gives the company it would not receive if two men or two
women were in those job. The capability to meld different leadership styles is
essential for organizations hoping to fully realize their potential.

"McArthur and Glen four years ago founded McArthur/Glen Group, a company that
develops and manages upscale outlet shopping centers throughout the country"
(Nelton S., 1991).McArthur sees herself fitting the female leadership mold, she is very
interactive-encouraging participation and trying to share power and information to
her employees. McArthur is willing to spend more time with employees to work out
problems, while Glen is more directive and more interested in the big picture. Glen is
65, and McArthur is 41. For McArthur, Glen is not only her working partner, but also
her mentor. McArthur's administrative assistant, Lorri Schoeni described them like a
zipper, fitting very nicely. Both McArthur and Glen love the mix and think it's great.

Regardless of what kind of method the leader uses, the important thing for the
leader is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the style they use most
frequently. To be effective in the workplace, the leader must also realize that
switching between different styles can make his or her company have better
performance.

Dilemma Faced by Female Leaders in Today's Society:

Stereotyping Leadership
When we talk about the two types of leadership -one is predominantly masculine
and the other is predominantly feminine, we would think about two different kinds of
figures: men in the military and on the playing field to train soldiers, and women in
the home to manage the house and nurture husbands and children. Since many
women have been married and have children, most of them spend higher average
hours of housework than men per week. The competitive pressure is growing higher
and higher in today's society, women have to strive to balance their professional
careers and family roles. Some people think female are not suitable for being leaders
because women always consider their family a lot and can not spend all efforts on
work. Women's inability of being leaders is not because they lack adequate
leadership characteristics, it is because they do not have time and energy.

"Widely shared gender stereotypes are in effect the "genetic code" of the gender
system, since they constitute the cultural rules or schemas by which people perceive
and enact gender difference and inequality" (Carli L., 2001).
Male and female management styles are distinct. In many cases, managerial
stereotypes fit with gender stereotypes. Both sexes agree to stereotypes of
participative-cooperative female and directive-aggressive male management styles.
Women are stereotyped as being better at feminine caretaking skills such as
supporting and rewarding. Men are perceived as having essentially masculine taking-
charge skills such as influencing superiors and delegating responsibility. But no
matter what leadership style female executives choose, they are more likely than men
to be perceived negatively. Female business leaders act consistent with gender
stereotypes are considered too soft. But if they go against gender stereotypes, they
are considered too tough. To explain these, when a female leader exhibit traditionally
valued leadership behaviors such as assertiveness, she tends to be seen as
competent but not personable or likable. If she adopts a more stereotypically
feminine style, people like it but not see it as having valued leadership skills. So there
is a double-bind dilemma for women in leadership: "Damned If You Do, Doomed If
You Don't" ("Study", 2007).

There is also another stereotype that dominates current corporate thinking: men are
better problem-solvers than women. "Since men far outnumber women in top
management positions - women make up less than 2 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500
and Fortune 1,000 CEOs - this may keep women at lower management and
professional positions" (David C., 2006).

The key components of interpersonal powers include problem solving, influencing

superiors, delegating responsibility and other take-charge types of skills. "Research
suggests that women robbed of this interpersonal power in a company must rely
more on their positional power and their place in the hierarchy of their organization.
As women rely on the formal authority of their positions for their influence base, they
comprise only approximately 16 percent of Fortune 500 corporate offices. Therefore,
their positional power is limited" (David C., 2006). Although women into executive
positions are offering diversity training, this will not be sufficient to eliminate the
stereotypes. Women have much further to go before they are fully accepted in senior
positions.

Gender stereotyping is very dangerous. Its effects can be devastating, potentially

undermining women's capacity to lead and posing serious challenges to women's
career advancements. This even leads to misrepresentation of the true talents of
women and contributes to the startling gap in business leadership.

In order to provide an environment that encourages equal opportunities for women's

advancement, companies need to take active steps to combat stereotyping by
instituting more rigorous and unambiguous evaluation processes, as well as
educating managers and executives about stereotyping. Women leaders
achievements should be showcased, especially those in male-dominated fields. An
overall company policy is to develop a gender-sensitive workplace, which strives to
enable women to participate equally in decision making and improve gender
equality. Companies should use objective criteria when evaluating an executive's
performance. With a supportive, equitable business culture, the company would
enjoy better financial results, improved market share and a growing, well-educated
segment of the workforce.

6. Suggestions for Good Leadership Style

Regardless of the size of the company, both men and women business leaders have
a lot they can teach one another about leadership, as well as the members of their
own sex. As they learn from one another, they can bring strengthened leadership
abilities to their companies. Here are some suggestions for good leadership styles.

6.1 Listen Carefully

For this point, women leaders tend to be better listeners than men. Listening is the
key because leaders can learn from the people who work for them by listening. If
followers know their leader is open, the leader even hears the downside directly.
Listening to others is a kind of way to gather information. It enables leaders to keep
making changes to improve the organization.

However, listening doesn't always mean agreement. Listening to a person doesn't

mean you should decide it in his or her way. Leaders should be good at filtering
useful information. Some leaders meet with a different group of 15 or more non-
managerial employees for round-table discussions every month. By talking with
those employees, leaders can get to know people at levels they might never see. The
purpose of the round-table discussion is communication, but a wise leader makes a
point of listening more than talking.

6.2 Being Decisive

"Decisiveness is defined as being 'characterized by firmness and decision'" ("Being
decisive", 2007). Being decisive doesn't mean having a closed mind or being
bullheaded. A good leader should know when to stop building consensus and
gathering information to make a decision. Decisiveness is an area that women could
probably learn something from men.

6.3 Be Willing to Express Your Emotions

This point goes for both men and women. Many male managers find that when they
stopped trying to bottle up all their emotions, they became a better leader. Female
leaders are often not as direct and honest as they should be, they are fear of crying
in order to avoid being thought soft.

Cry doesn't mean you are wimp. Leaders who cry for their employees' outstanding
performance or regret for their own leading mistakes convey that they care about
their employees and inspire excellence. It is not talked about management for and by
the wimps. In fact, it is about the most difficult management there is, a management
without emotional hiding places. If you are going to be on the leading edge of
management, you sometimes must be on the emotional edge as well.

6.4 Doesn't Let Your Ego Get in the Way

No matter you are a man or a woman, you have to learn that there is no room for
ego in leadership. Only one person can not make a company successful. Running an
organization it's a team effort and a team attitude. If something is good, both leader
and followers will all take credit. But if it is bad, they all take the blame. Leaders
should not be too proud of themselves and focus on making profit for their own,
since it will be found sooner or later and followers will not trust the leaders any more.
Don't be egotistical does not mean you can not get to the top if you want to. But
what the leader should make it clear is that the more people you try to take along
with you, the faster you'll get there and the longer you'll stay there.

6.5 Be Yourself
Don't try to force yourself into a certain style that's not natural to you, even if you
think it's expected of you. You can learn to draw on other leaders' styles, however, to
enrich your choice of tools. Leader should build on his or her strengths in terms of
the personality, and it basically comes down to what works best for him or her.

The chief of financial officer of Bull HN Information System Inc., Richstone, who
commanded a staff of 700 worldwide said before: "My feeling is that the women who
will do the best in the long run are the ones who are comfortable being themselves"
(Nelton S., 1991). Although female leaders are strong professionals, they should feel
secure enough to wear dresses instead of masculine-looking suits. Women leaders
can also keep a jar of candy in the office, which is regarded as a "typically female"
touch. Believe it or not, such little things can produce an environment of
communication and friendliness.

7. Does only sex determine the leadership style?

The leadership style is not just influenced by gender, the style also develop out of
personalities and life experiences. Each leader has a predominant style, but the other
aspects of leadership must also be present as tools to use. "It is up to the leaders of
business to affirm the humanitarians values that women are associated with but that
men also can (and do) express if they are not made to feel embarrassed about
showing them. And those qualities of toughness and drive that many men are made
to feel comfortable with should be prized in women who wish to express them when
they are appropriate. The category is 'people', not 'men and women'" (Nelton S.,
1991).

For many successful male and female leaders, their partners (have different gender)
are linked by neither marriage nor romance. Men and women in senior management
all work for long hours and are motivated by the desire for achievement and intrinsic
enjoyment of work. "Young and Gartner firmly believe that leadership style has
nothing to do with one's sex. The founders of Gartner & Young, a small law firm that
represents major corporations in labor matters, they agree that Gartner is more likely
to be the consensus builder while Young is more likely to take the command
approach" (Nelton S., 1991).

Leadership style is also determined by the types of operations executives run. If the
leader oversees design and production, he seems to be more low-key than the other
one who is responsible for sales, marketing, and finance. The second leader needs to
be more intense and aggressive so as to increase the performance of apartments
which he or she charges. If leaders' responsibilities require more structure, they
should be more strict and rigid. On the contrary, if they need to deal with creative
people, they should be more fluid, spontaneous, and flexible. From a get-
somebody's-attention standpoint, it is beneficial for the leaders to be direct, no
nonsense, and get on the table what they want.

8. Conclusion
In retrospect, males tended to be more task-oriented; females tended to be more
relationship-oriented. Women tend to employ a more democratic, participative style
while men tend to take a more autocratic, directive approach. Self-selection and
adaptation are factors common to female leadership, while delegation and
controlling are factors common to male leadership. Female leaders are more likely to
be supporting and rewarding others, building team and consulting. Male leaders are
better at solving problems, delegating, and influencing superiors.

Human flexibility combined with cultural experiences allows men and women the
ability to do more or less what they choose versus being locked into stereotypical
behaviors. For example, men are capable, although maybe not comfortable, working
within organizations currently identified with women's styles. Also, women can and
do adapt to military leadership styles when required. Although there are lots of
differences between male and female leaders, they can still successfully work
together, to communicate effectively, and contribute equally to the work place.
Nowadays, more and more leaders become introspective but decisive, caring yet
competent. Companies seem to understand giving the chances to a variety of leaders
to grow and shine is good for business. All in all, whether a style is "masculine" or
"feminine", the best leadership style depends on the organization. A nontraditional
leadership style can be effective in organizations that accept it. The most competitive
organizations will take leaders wherever they find them, no matter what sex they are.
That's not only the essence of capitalism, but also the law of survival of the fittest.

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