Gender

The “Glass Ceiling”.  What is it and why does it exist?  The Yukl text describes the glass ceiling as the strong tendency to favor men over women in filling high level leadership positions (Yukl, 2013).  It is my opinion that this concept is very true however; very unfortunate.  I think that organizations should take a page from the popular TV show The Voice when hiring personnel to these high level positions.  They could sanitize the resumes and do interviews with voice altering software to ensure no biases are being made based on sex alone.  The Yukl text also discusses the theory of male advantage.  It talks about how throughout the twentieth century these beliefs about males being better suited for leadership and management roles and more qualified.  The thought was that men had better traits and were more skilled in these areas than women.  These theories also went into what was at the time perceived to be male and female roles (strong and demanding for men, caring and nurturing for women).  My thought is that if we remove these perceptions and make the decision to hire personnel on their qualifications and interviews minus the gender stereotypes and biases than we can alleviate this glass ceiling effect.  The Rosabeth Kanter Video (2010) discusses the way women in the workforce are treated differently.  It goes into the area of pay and compensation which I feel is still a big problem in the United States.  It is very surprising to me that in 2016 we are still discussing this.  Why is it if the work is the same and it is getting done the same way we would pay one group of people less than another?  Ms. Kanter discusses a few reasons for this pay difference but I think the one that sums up this issue is that people just don’t think women can negotiate as much or that they don’t think as much of women.    They Yukl text and the video both make some good points about this and I agree with them.  To begin the Rosabeth Kanter video she discusses how this type of discrimination takes place because people are comfortable in their respective peer group (Kanter, 2010).  Men prefer to work with and hire men and the same for women.  She also discusses women and the exclusion from networks and their ability to get in to these types of networks.  This helps explain why it is so hard for women to even get their feet in the door.  The Yukl text discusses how stereotypes play a major role in the gender biases.  Most people believe that women can’t handle the rigor of senior level leadership.  There is also the bias of family which effects women in the work place.  Why is it ok for the man to be away from the family working 80 hours a week but not the woman?  Many people feel that the woman should be at home taking care of family and not working.  This is a major reason there is such a gender gap and discrimination. 

 

Kanter, R. (2010). Women, Ambition and (Still) the Pay Gap. [Video file]. Retrieved from:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhquUOlBuOY&feature=youtu.be&t=5s

Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organization (8^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice Hall.

Self-Awareness

A511.7.3.RB – Self-Awareness

As a career Air Force member I have been held to a particular set of core values.  These core values are integrity, service before self and excellence in all we do.  While these set the backbone for all Air Force personnel do there is much more to that to be a good leader.  The military is a very hierarchal approach to leadership.  Personnel within the structure earn rank and with that rank comes authority and responsibility.  For me however, it is not just about rank.  Obviously within my role and authority I could very easily tell personnel under me what to do and how to do it.  However, I believe that if you can build a good team and instill camaraderie within the ranks that people will want to work for me.  The article from this week’s reading material Getting Personal on the Topic of Leadership discusses how several different leaders within their respective area do things (Goffee & Jones, 2006).  The article discusses how these different leaders know and show enough of themselves to win over their followers. It also discusses how leaders develop a close understanding of their differences and use these differences to become attractive to others.  The Yukl text discusses the idea of servant leadership and how you as a leader should help others accomplish shared goals and objectives (Yukl, 2013).  As a servant leader you must help your followers develop and understand their roles and further understand how they fit into and help the organization succeed.  In review of all the readings this week I would define my style of leadership and personal core value as a teacher.  I have always enjoyed teaching others and helping them get better.  I really enjoyed helping the new Airmen who would PCS into the organization.  I always used the mentality of the more I taught them to do the less I would have to do.  Not necessarily as a laziness mentality but more of a delegation and supervisory standpoint.  The Yukl text states that some of the benefit of this style of leadership are increased trust and loyalty of followers, an increase in referent power which makes it easier to influence subordinates, and an overall better leader-follower relationship (Yukl, 2013).  While this approach has not always worked for me the majority of time I was supervising and leading individuals it was beneficial.  It created relationships where followers did not mind working for me because they did not feel like they were working for me they felt like they were working with me.  They also knew I would teach them all the things they needed to know to be successful and I felt they worked harder and more inspired for it.     

 

Goffee, R., & Jones, G. (2006).  Getting personal on the Topic of Leadership. Human Resource

Management International Digest. 14 (4). Pp.32-34.

 Yukl, G. (2013). Leadership in Organization (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Prentice Hall.