Different Management Styles in terms of Gender in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example

1. Title Different management styles in terms of gender in Saudi Arabia 2. Research Statement The proposed research intends to deal with the gender specific differences in managerial behavior and envisages to does that by evaluating the extent to which these gender specific differences originate from the gender stereotypes. The research would not be about investigating the opinions and behavior of individual managers but would investigate enterprise level evidences from Saudi Arabia. 3. Research Rationale It is a fact that men and women differ across their social behavior. Moreover, there have been differences in the ways, our society wants them to exhibit their behavior in various socio-economic group. Further, the behavioral differences of these two also do not always match in across various contexts. An organization’s managerial setting is no exception to that. Various studies highlighting these behavioral differences in managerial context have been conducted. However, initially these studies were largely influenced by feminist scholars, and have found meager differences in the managerial behavior of male and female managers (Henning and Jardim, 1978). Some research while evaluating the stereotypical differences in gender roles has revealed that either because of nature or nurture, the social behavior of women is comparatively more caring oriented than that of men. It has also been indicated that women have comparatively more verbal and non-verbal communication abilities along with a comprehensive approach towards decision-making (Lippa, 2002). Applying these stereotypes to managerial behavior it can be contested that women are better at managing with a “transformational” approach, however, with high degree of mentorship for the work force they manage (Bass, 1974).Another dimension which can be highlighted here is that the studies that have been carries out are mostly revealing the individual traits rather than evaluating the enterprise wide behavioral orientation based on the gender differences. Thus there exists a gap wherein the proposed research would be throwing some light. Like any developing economy, Saudi Arabia has evolved as an important economic element of the global trade. Especially on the account of the fact that it possesses almost a quarter of all the known oil reserves in the world (Ray, 2005). As the managerial level interactions of global managers increase vis-à-vis Saudi culture, an understanding of cultural similarities and differences can facilitate cross-cultural communications and boundary spanning. In line with the global trend, Saudi Arabia too has seen a steady increase in the proportion of women at management. As such, the proposed research put forwards a unique prospect to pursue research on culturally derived Saudi managerial behaviors and to help understand, evaluate and then formalize a gender based strategy for management development for cross cultural interaction of Saudi Arabia with rest of the globe. Moreover, the proposed research would be more meaningful from the perspective that most of the studies that have been undertaken in this perspective have not used the context of Arab culture (Al-Jafary & HoUingsworth, 1983). 3.1. Research Questions Managerial behavior in itself is a complex parameter to evaluate. However, we can break it down into various dimensions which can then be evaluated to arrive at some understanding. One widespread dimension that can be used to analyze the gender based differences in managerial styles is the difference in orientation of their leadership style. This would be evaluated to know the difference in the behavior that men and women managers use to influence the actions of their employees. Hypothesis 1: In companies with more women managers, the subordinate’s work should be less strictly coupled to the prescribed description of the tasks they execute. Another dimension that can be evaluated to find the gender based differences in the managerial behavior is the way decisions are made. Managers, who take decision by building the consensus with the subordinates, qualify as democratic managers. On the contrast, there are autocratic managers, who unilaterally take decisions and then intimate the subordinates. Hypothesis 2: In companies with more women managers, the decision making process is more democratic. 4. Literature Review The facts that there has been gender based psychological differences in the social behavior of men and women, has been much discussed across plethora of studies. Further, it has also been thoroughly discussed that these behavioral differences are caused by genetic differences or by difference in the socialization of individuals. Moreover, there also have been emphasis on the difference between the actual and the expected gender based socio-economic behavior. Deliberation of the said mismatch is particularly significant in the context of managerial behavior, where feminine traits have time and again been stereotyped as “not good manager” traits. Various research conducted in past three decades (Schein, 1973; Brenner, Tomkiewicz and Schein, 1989; Powell, Butterfield and Parent, 2002), have found over and over again that professional managers are perceived as an effective manager if they possess managerial characteristics matching to the masculine stereotype. There has been much survey substantiation for the extent to which this gender based behavioral difference appears among the women and men managers at work. Earlier researches, which have been mainly influenced by feminist scholars, have revealed meager differences in the managerial styles of manager men and women, indicating that the real behavior of women at managerial profiles is strongly affected by managerial role models that seemed to claim for masculinity (Henning and Jardim, 1978). The failure to find the gender based differences in managerial behavior can partially be attributed to the selection process adopted to recruit managers in various organizations. As a matter of fact, the recruitment of middle level managers is taken care with a masculine role model in mind, a lot of women who by virtue of their stereotypical differences do not fit into it and hence are ruled out. Further, in context of the job hierarchy, women who determines to pursue a managerial career often adopts masculine manager paradigm to be seen and adjudged as productive managers (Lazear & Rosen, 1990). Various researches that have undertaken survey for the evaluation of managerial behavior at various organizational hierarchies, have revealed that there are qualitatively differences in the way men and women manger work. Ironically, these studies neither evaluated noteworthy differences nor they revealed steady differences in the gender based managerial behavior. In one of the meta-analysis of bulk of the studies in this context, it was found that women managers are inclined towards more participative and democratic way, while male managers tend to be more directive and autocratic (Eagly and Johnson, 1990). It did not substantiate the differences between male and female managers in their dependence on interpersonal relationships or task definition for their managerial styles. However, the female managers seem to score comparatively high in managerial style, which involves more intense interpersonal interactions to provide individualized mentoring to employees and to be a role model for the job. On the contrary, the study revealed that male managers scored comparatively high in managerial styles, which involved less proactive supervision and more delegation. In an analogous study, it was revealed that male and female managers do not generally differ in their organizational effectiveness (Eagly, Karau and Makhijani, 1995; Eagly, Johannesen & Schmidt, 2001). However, in a more recent work, which compared 900 pairs of male and female managers, having a similar profile within the same organization and evaluated various dimensions of their managerial styles and their organizational effectiveness (Kabacoff, 1998), has questioned the view that women managers adopt democratic way of managing the workforce. In a nutshell, various inferences that have been drawn based on the studies conducted over period of time are mixed in nature. However, it has also been predominantly concluded that in general, a women manager’s style is comparatively more people-oriented with a meager difference in managerial efficacy. 5. Research Methodology Overview Positivists believe that reality is stable and can be observed and described from an objective viewpoint, that is without interfering with the Phenomenon being studied. “Positivism has a long history and rich historical tradition. It is so embedded in our society that knowledge claims not grounded in positivist thought are simply dismissed as unscientific and therefore invalid” (Hirschheim, 1985). Interpretivism on the other hand, contends that only through subjective interpretation of and intervention in reality can that reality be fully understood and so the study of phenomena in their natural environment holds the key to the interpretivist philosophy. 5.1. Proposed Methodology This research effort would be guided by positivism (quantitative approach) and post-positivist (qualitative approach) and they would be examined accordingly. Both the qualitative and quantitative analysis is required because the data need to be gathered for appropriate and rational segregation which in turn needs judgemental and qualitative techniques for foolproof analysis. Table 1: Taxonomy of Research Methodologies; Source: Denscombe, 1999 5.2. Sampling This research study will critically evaluate the actual change initiative through the use of additional research and e-mail survey with involved managers in various companies spread across industries in Saudi Arabia. A non probability method would be used in this study which will include purposive sampling and convenience sampling (Denscombe, 1998). The sample frame would therefore be based out of many industries and across various managerial hierarchies. The sample would include participants in various organizations and occupations. The possible criterion for this sample would be that participants must have employed for at least five years, not necessarily with the same organization. Survey participants would be chosen using a snowball approach. Researcher would send an email to prospective participants with a link to an Internet-based survey. Prospective participants would be contacted using a personal address book. The survey email would include a brief statement about the research and a link to the survey. Recipients would be asked to pass the email on to individuals whom they know had worked for at least five years, regardless of position or length of time with any one organization. In order to elicit the possible high response rate, an on-line questionnaire method would be adopted. The email survey method would be selected primarily as the cost involved is relatively low, while data quality is also assured, and that also goes with the response rate and time (Sproull & Kiesler, 1986). The questionnaire would be framed by me based on the scope of the proposed research and would be broadly be open in nature (Downs & Adrian, 2004). The proposed method would be preferred due to the following reasons: Respondents are computer literate and highly informed professionals in the industry The degree of confidence that the right person would respond is high with the use of email. There is certainty that there will be no distortion to respondent’s responses The time taken to complete the collection of data would be rationalised with high level of follow-up With the email, it is possible to reach many more respondents 6. Technical Limitations One of the important limitations of the empirical strategy undertaken for the proposed research is that the managers’ decision making process may be restricted by organizational structures and policies. In general, it seems rational to assume that higher ratios of female managers would indicate the prevalent way of managerial behavior across the organization. However, higher ratios of women managers in any organization may not have any link with the higher ratio of theirs at senior management. It means that their different managerial style might be offset at the enterprise level context by their smaller ratio at senior management level. Such effects have ability to restrict the generalization of the evaluated claim obtained by the proposed the study. 7. Ethical issues In order to take care of the associated ethical practices which need to be practiced for the proposed research, the code of Human Research Ethics, published by the British Psychological Society is being read and would be adhered to. 8. Referencing Al-Jafary, A. and A. HoUingsworth, 1983, "An Exploratory Study of Management Practices in the Saudi Arabian Gulf Region, "Journal of International Business Studies Fall: 142-152. Assad, S. 2002. "Sociological Analysis of the Administrative System in Saudi Arabia: In Search of a Culturally Compatible Model." International Journal of Commerce and Management 12: 51-81. Bass, B.M. (1974): “An Introduction to Theories and Models of Leadership” in R.M. Stogdill (Ed.): Handbook of Leadership (pp. 37-55). New York: Free Press. Brenner, O.C., J. Tomkiewicz and V.E.Schein (1989): “The Relationship between Sex Role Stereotypes and Requisite Management Characteristics Revisited,” Academy of Management Journal, 32, pp.662-669. Butler, D., & Geis, F. (1990). Nonverbal affect responses to male and female leaders: Implications for leadership evaluations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 48–59. Carli, L. L. (1990). Gender, language and influence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 59, 941-951. Chapman, J. B. (1975). Comparison of Male and female leadership styles. Academy of Management Journal, 18, 645-650. Code of Human Research Ethics, The British Psychological Society, 2010 Copeland, C. L., Driskell, J. E., & Salas, E. (1995). Gender and reactions to dominance. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 10, 53-68. Deaux, K., & Major, M. (1987). Putting gender into context: An interactive model of gender-related behavior. Psychological Review, 94, 369-389. Denscombe, Martin (1999) The Good Research Guide for Small-Scale Social Research Projects, Open University Press Denscombe, Martin (1998) The Good Research Guide for small-scale social research projects. Boston. Allyn & Bacon. Donnell, S. M., & Hall, J. (1980). Men and women managers: A significant case of no significant difference. Organizational Dynamics, Spring, 60-77. Downs, C.W., & Adrian, A.D. (2004). Assessing organizational communication. New York: Guilford Press. Eagly, A.H. and B.T. Johnson (1990): “Gender and Leadership Style: A Meta-Analysis,” Psychological Bulletin, 108, pp. 233-256. Eagly, A.H. and M.C. Johannesen-Schmidt (2001): “The leadership Styles of Women and Men,” Journal of Social Issues, 57, pp.781-797. Eagly, A.H., S.J. Karau and M.G. Makhijani (1995): “Gender and the Effectiveness of Leaders: A Meta-Analysis, ” Psychological Bulletin, 117, pp. 125-145 Hearn, J. and W. Parkin (1987): Sex at Work: the power and Paradox of Organization Sexuality. Brighton: Weathsheaf Books. Henning, M. and A.Jardim (1978): The Managerial Woman. London: Marion Boyars. Hirschheim, R.. (1985). “Information Systems Epistemology: an Historical Perspective”, In Mumford, et al. 1985 . Research Methods in Information Systems: proceedings of the 1st IFIP 8.2 Conference, Manchester, Elsevier Science Publisher, North-Holland. Holmes, J., & Marra, M. (2004). Relational practice in the workplace: Women’s talk or gendered discourse? Language in Society, 33, 377-398. Kabacoff, R.I. (1998): Gender Differences in Organizational Leadership, Portland: Management Research Group (available at www.mrg.com, retrieved on 29th March 2012, 2300 hrs). Kanter, R. M. (1977): Men and women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Korabik, K. (1982). Sex-role orientation and leadership style. International Journal of Women's Studies, 5, 328-336. Lazear, E.P. and S. Rosen (1990): “Male-Female Wage Differentials in Job Ladders,” Journal of Labor Economics, vol 8(1), S106- S123. Lippa, R.A. (2002): Gender, Nature and Nurture. Mahwah: Erlbaum Loden, M. (1985): Feminine Leadership, or How to succeed in Business without Being One of the Boys. New York: Times Books. Madhi, S. and A. Barrientos. 2005. "Saudisation and Employment in Saudi Arabia." Career Development International 8: 70-78 Powell, G.N., D.A. Butterfield and J.D. Parent (2002): “Gender and Managerial Stereotypes: Have the Times Changed?” Journal of Management, vol 28, 177-193. Powell, G.N and L.M. Graves (2003): Women and Men in Management (3rd Edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage. Ray, R. 2005. "Extent of Saudi Reserves Debated." Knight Ridder Tribune BusinessNews November 1:1. Rosener, J. B. (1990): “Ways Women Lead” Harvard Business Review, 68/6, pp.119- 125. Schein, V.E. (1973): “The Relationship between Sex Role Stereotypes and Requisite Management Characteristics,” Journal of Applied Psychology, vol 57, 95-100. Sproull, L., & Kiesler, S. (1986). Reducing social context cues: Electronic mail in organizational communication. Management Science, 32, 1492-1512 Wajcman, J. (1996): “Desperately Seeking Differences: Is Management Style Gendered,” British Journal of Industrial Relations, vol 34(3), pp.333-349. Read More