Analysis of leadership behavior differences between male and female executives: An application in healthcare sector

In today?s world, where rapid social, economic changes and innovations take place, organizations are obliged to adapt themselves to those changes and innovations in order to survive and compete in an increasingly competitive environment. Adapting to changes and innovations, applying them to organizations and keeping up with the global standards is only possible through executives who possess leadership skills. Leader is the person who leads the organization to success and future. In the last century, despite comprising half the population of the World and Turkey, women did not hold a significant portion of senior management positions when compared to men. Changes and innovations which take place nowadays supported women taking part in senior management. Leadership behavior differences between male and female executives are analyzed along with the concepts of leader, leadership and healthcare executive. In order to ascertain differences in leadership behavior between male and female executives the thesis employs a survey among the staff of Istanbul County Haseki Teaching and Research Hospital. The study shows that executives display leadership behavior at a considerable level. Moreover, in evaluation of leadership behavior of healthcare executives, significant correlations with variables other than executive?s education level; gender, age, marital status and number of subordinates are observed. It is ascertained that male and female executives display differences in leadership behavior and male executives show better leadership behaviors than female executives.Key Words: Leader, Leadership, Healthcare Executive