Correlation of Gender-Related Values of Independence and Relationship and Leadership Orientation
Correlation of Gender-Related Values of Independence and Relationship and Leadership Orientation
Correlation of Gender-Related Values of Independence and Relationship and Leadership Orientation
ABSTRACT. This study compares the relationship and Becker, 1983; Powell and Butterfield, 1989).
between the moral reasoning modes and leadership They face more barriers to obtaining mentors
orientation of males versus females, and managers than m e n (Kray, 1985; Hunt and Michael, 1983;
versus engineers/scientists. A questionnaire developed Noe, 1988; Ragins, 1989). Empirical evidence
by Worthley (1987) was used to measure the degree reveals low representation of w o m e n in manage-
of each participant's respective independence and
ment (see Auster, 1988; Hartmann, 1987; Kanter,
justice, and relationships and caring moral reasoning
1977). At present fewer than two percent o f
modes. Leadership orientation values and attitudes
were measured using the Fiedler and Chemers (1984) w o m e n managers reach the top management
Least Preferred Coworker Scale. level positions o f chief executive officer, presi-
The results suggest that, although males differ from dent, or senior vice president (Brenner et al.,
female in their dominant moral reasoning modes, 1989; Dipboye, 1987).
managers are not distinguishable from the engi- Attitudes toward sex-role appropriateness of
neers/scientists they manage in terms of their moral occupations, women's anticipated career choices,
reasoning mode or Least Preferred Coworker score. career pioneers, masculinity vs. femininity,
intrinsic vs. extrinsic job rewards, time of choice,
and predictors of choice are the key elements in
One of the major trends in the United States is this decisional process for w o m e n (Gutek and
an increase in women's labor force participation Nieva, 1979). W o m e n making career choices,
(Kanter, 1978). However, w o m e n face many therefore, need to know both what they desire
gender-related obstacles to advancement (Ragins and what they can expect from their jobs in order
and Sundstrom, 1989; Vertz, 1985; Ohlott et al., to form realistic expectations in order to prevent
1994). Woman managers face unequal demands ultimate disappointment (Nieva and Gutek,
on personal time and lack o f organizational 1979).
power caused by gender-related low-status jobs Traditionally, w o m e n managers have been
(Bielby and Baron, 1986; McCarthy, 1986; Olson viewed by both sexes as the antithesis of the
desirable leader personality, but research on men
and w o m e n actually occupying leadership posi-
Clarence E. Butz is a Professor of Management in the tions denies this stereotypic view. Sex discrimi-
School of Business and Management at Azusa Pacific nation theory focuses on the attitudes and
University, California. Dr. Butz's teaching areas include behaviors of managers who deny w o m e n equal
general management, organizational behavior, and access to career opportunities and rewards
business ethics. (Drazin and Auster, 1987; Schwartz, 1989;
Phillip V. Lewis is Dean of the School of Business and
Schwartz, 1992). However, gender discrimina-
Management at Azusa Pacific University. He is the
author of Organizational Communication (Gorsuch tion theory does not explain research findings
Scarisbrich, 1996) and "Bank Ethics: An Exploratory suggesting favorable effects of females in the work
Study of Ethical Behaviors and Perceptions in Small, environment (Gerhart and Milkovich, 1989;
Local Banks" (Journal of Business Ethics, 11: Megdal and Ransom, 1985; Tsui and Gutek,
197-205, 1992). 1984; Rosener, 1990). Research, in general,
reports that men and women managers are similar Kohlberg, 1981; Pleck and Brannon, 1978;
in leadership ability, subordinate satisfactions, Pratt et al., 1988; Walker, 1984, 1986) as well as
performance, competition, and problem solving, among gender differences in moral development
and they are equally motivated and enthusiastic (Alexander, 1980; Bem, 1974; Donnenberg and
in their careers (Chusmir and Durand, 1988). Hoffman, 1988; Epstein, 1984; Feather and Said,
Morrison, et al. (1987) reported " . . . executive 1983; Johnston, 1985; Langdale, 1983; Lipman-
women may be virtually identical to executive Blumen, 1984; Lyons and Murphy, 1982; Sayer,
men psychologically, intellectually, and emotion- 1987; Zur et al., 1985). In addition, much has
ally" (p. 54). Loden (1985) noted that concern been written regarding moral development and
for people, interpersonal skills, intuitive man- moral reasoning (see Gilligan, 1982; Kohlberg,
agement, and creative problem solving are pre- 1981).
dictive of the effectiveness that is sought in This study, specifically, will assess the correla-
managers. Women managers may be better tion between how engineers/scientists and
prepared to use these tools for decision making managers make moral judgments concerning
than their male counterparts. dilemmas that involve scientific values and human
Using sex-linked styles of initiating structure values. It will then assess the correlation of these
(males) and consideration (female), Nieva (1978) gender-related values to the leadership orienta-
reported that subordinates reacted negatively to tion of engineers/scientists and managers in the
female leaders, reflecting perceived lack of female study. If the values of independence and rela-
power, while being supportive of most sex-role tionship can be identified as gender-related and
congruency. Power differences for both anatomy linked to the values most desirable in managers,
and mastery are common and may account for then enlightened counseling may result to help
the negative reactions to female leaders because women make more accurate career choices for
they are not allowed to function effectively. themselves in management positions.
Other studies reported that substantial differences
in motivation, job characteristics, and job satis-
faction between managers and nonmanagers Methods
occur within and between genders (Chusmir and
This study attempts to replicate the findings of
Hood, 1988).
previous studies that females are oriented more
The purpose of this study, in general, is to
toward relationships and caring than are males,
determine if significant differences exist between:
and that males are oriented more toward inde-
(1) sex and gender differences among men
pendence and justice than females (see Gilligan,
and women in management and engineering/
1982; Lyons, 1983; Langdale, 1983; Johnston,
science, (2) gender-related values and leadership
1985; Derry, 1987; and Worthley, 1987). It
orientation, and (3) moral development and
specifically is concerned with the ways managers
moral reasoning orientations. The literature
and engineers/scientists differ based on their
provides a great deal of information about
concern for people, concern for task, or both (see
women in engineering and science (Auster, 1984;
Lewin et aI., 1939; Likert, 1961, 1967; Kerr et
Auster and Auster, 1981; Bachtold and Werner,
al., 1974; Kanter, 1976; Chusmir, 1986; Kelley,
1972; Fausto-Sterling, 1981; Keller, 1987;
1987). To explore these relationships more fully,
MacCorquodale, 1983; Raymond and Benbow,
five hypotheses are formulated that relate
1984; Worthley, 1987) and about women in
sex/gender and job to two measures of moral
management (Derry, 1987; Eastler, 1987; Gutek
reasoning mode orientation (Gilligan, 1982;
and Larwood, 1987; Kanter, 1976; Koberg and
Kohlberg, 1981), and one measure of leadership
Chusmir, 1987). Similarly, the literature suggests
orientation (Fiedler and Chemers, 1984).
significant correlations among sex differences in
moral development (Austin, 1975; Auster and 1. Whereas females are expected to show
Auster, 1978; Blake, 1985; Blake and Cohen, higher relationships and caring ratings than
1984; Frieze, 1974; Gilligan, 1977, 1982; males, males are expected to show higher
Gender, Relationship, and Leadership 1143
independence and justice ratings than with various scenarios that depict a scientific
females. research dilemma requiring a moral decision
2. Whereas managers are expected to show (Worthley, 1987). Each subject was asked to
higher relationships and caring ratings than respond to each question in each scenario as he
engineers/scientists, and engineers/scien- or she feels about the moral dilemma presented,
tists are expected to show higher indepen- based on individual moral values.
dence and justice ratings than managers, The science values measurement scenarios
the ratings for the managers are not comprised six problems that are faced by scien-
expected to differ. tists in today's society, each of which presents a
3. For engineers/scientists, males are expected moral dilemma to be resolved. After each
to rate independence and justice signifi- scenario, each subject was asked to respond to six
cantly higher than relationships and caring, questions relative to the moral dilemma presented
but females are not expected to signifi- in the scenario. The range o f responses was from
cantly differ in their ratings o f indepen- 1 (Very Unimportant) to 7 (Very Important).
dence and justice vs. relationships and Three of the six questions were phrased in terms
caring. On the other hand, for managers, of Kohlberg-related (KOHL) responses of inde-
females are expected to rate relationships pendence and .justice. The other three questions
and caring significantly higher than were phrased in terms of Gilligan-related (GILL)
independence and justice, but males are responses of relationship and caring. The lead-
expected to have higher independence and ership orientation data were gathered through
justice scores than relationships and caring the use of a self-evaluation questionnaire. Each
scores. subject in the study was asked to complete a
4. A positive correlation is predicted between questionnaire that set forth a list of 18 leader
leadership orientation scores and the values and attitudes in an organizational envi-
Gilligan moral reasoning mode score. ronment that is taken from Fiedler and Chemers'
However, no significant correlation is pre- Least Preferred Coworker Scale (LPC). The
dicted between the leadership orientation range of LPC scores could range from a low of
scores and the Kohlberg moral reasoning 18 to a high of 144.
m o d e scores. Likewise, both moral rea-
soning mode scores are predicted to be
uncorrelated. Results
5. Leadership orientation scores are predicted
to be higher for managers than for engi- The major results concerning the five hypotheses
neers/scientists and higher for females than follow. The general results for each measure are
for males. presented in Table I.
The moral reasoning mode data were gathered
through the use of a segmented questionnaire
TABLE I
Results for each measure in the study
Female (30) Male (32) Female (27) Male (26) All (115)
Hypothesis 1
6.0
M
e 5.5 4.82
Hypothesis 1 tested the replicability of prior a
n 5.0
studies and used a 2 (males vs. females) x 2 4.34 Engineers/
S 4.5 Scientists
(KOHL vs. GILL) MANOVA with a significant c
o 4.0 4.77
interaction predicted. Moral reasoning mode r 4.07 Managers
e 3.5
(GILL or KOHL) was a within,subjects variable,
3.0
while s e x / g e n d e r was a between-subjects I I
GILL
variable. There was a significant main effect of KOHL
TABLE II
General results from the correlation matrix
Female (30) Male (32) Female (27) Male (26) All (115)
Table III
LPC scores as a function of gender, job and median Gill/Kohl scores
Managers Engineers/Scientists
Low GILL/Low KOHL 59.4 (8) 58.0 (13) 63.0 (5) 58.0 (10)
Low GILL/High KOHL 80.0 (3) 63.6 (7) 72.5 (4) 55.4 (7)
High GILL/Low KOHL 68.5 (9) 60.5 (4) 53.7 (6) 61.0 (2)
High GILL/High KOHL 57.9 (10) 58.8 (8) 69.0 (12) 70.9 (7)
included in each sub-groups, are shown in soning m o d e o f males and females. This study
Table III. Although not significant in this study, has further shown that there is a significant cor-
the low G I L L / h i g h K O H L p h e n o m e n o n o f relation b e t w e e n the GILL and K O H L moral
females revealed in the study is interesting and reasoning m o d e scores. There are, however, no
could provide the basis for further research. significant differences in the moral reasoning
modes o f engineers/scientists and managers or
their L P C scores. (These findings may have
Hypothesis 5 resulted from a bias in the measuring instruments
to solicit GILL-type responses, as evidenced by
Hypothesis 5 was tested with a 2 (males vs. the fact that all participants appeared to score
females) x 2 (managers vs. engineers/scientists) higher o n the GILL score than on the K O H L
M A N O V A , with the L P C score as the depen- score. T h e possibility also exists, however, that
dent variable and significant main effects pre- it could be a reflection o f the heavily engi-
dicted. N o n e o f the results from this analysis, neering-oriented environment o f the study site.)
shown in Figure 5, were significant. T h e LPC Regardless, recognizing the difference between
scores for the managers did not differ from those males' and females' moral reasoning modes is
for the engineers/scientists, and the LPC scores i m p o r t a n t because (1) the results may be con-
for males and females did not differ. Therefore, nected with existing research data on leadership
Hypothesis 5 was not supported. effectiveness comprising leadership orientation
(values and attitudes) and situational specifics, and
(2) the more we can learn about h u m a n resources
Conclusion and h o w people learn and behave, the m o r e
proficient we can b e c o m e in the recruitment and
T h e results o f this study indicate that there are
training o f organizational members. Given this
significant differences in the GILL moral rea-
broadened perspective, (3) it is conceivable that
organizations could then utilize these data on
75
gender-related values to predict the ultimate
70 effectiveness o f these individuals as managers.
65.0 Females
63.7
65
60 63.7 Males
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