The leadership behaviour differences between male and female managers: A research on the group of managers in Turkey

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to analyse the leadership behaviour of male and female managers and if exists, to determine the dimensions of any differences between their leadership behaviour. In the first part, the definitions related to leadership concepts and the differences between leader and manager concepts were examined. The different views of leadership process in leadership theories and scales related to leadership behaviour models were explained. In the second part, first the concept of woman manager and historical development of working women in the World were discussed. The literature related to woman managers were examined and a general evaluation was given regarding working women and woman managers in Turkey in terms of social and economic factors. The factors affecting leadership behaviour of male and female managers and related studies were mentioned. In the last part of this study, in order to determine and compare leadership behaviour of man and woman managers, a study on the managers of Turkish banking sector was performed. Banking sector was chosen because of the need for having man and woman managers with comparative numbers and similar positions. Two new questionnaires were formed to determine and compare leadership behaviours and skills of man and woman managers based on Kabacoff s Leadership Effectiveness Analysis (LEA). The universe of the study was the managers working in the general directorates of three Turkish banks one public, two private, all having more than 100 branches. In the first questionnaire which consisted 38c statements leadership behaviour, it was asked from the managers to determine how much they show these behaviours. In the second questionnaire in which the leadership skills were evaluated, it was asked from the managers to compare man and woman managers in general on each of the performance dimensions and to determine which group they thought was generally dominant. Correlation and factor analyses between dimensions and components and reliability analysis related to both of the scales were done. As a result of these analyses, the differences between man and woman managers were found only on empathy and emotional control components of leadership behaviour but no significant difference was found related to the perception about leadership skills. viu