Essay: Is gender diversity the key to a company success?

Is gender diversity the key to a company success? With the increasing number of women gaining considerable amount of success in top leadership positions, I can see why the Human Resource Director is interested in getting more women into the senior roles. The 2 articles that you have given me have clashing opinions on whether women make a better leader. Shiao’s viewpoint is that women do not make good leaders due to their emotions and the lack of respect for women at top leadership positions. Conversely, Wolfe believes that men and women are both equally capable of becoming great leaders. Although both articles are well written, Wolfe’s article is much preferable for the various department heads. Shiao’s arguments are one-dimensional compared to Wolfe’s arguments which are well supported with evidence. The authors’ credentials further substantiate the fact that Wolfe’s article is more appealing.
First of all, does the leaders’ humility affect employees’ productivity at work? Shiao argues that women are seen in a different light compared to men, as employees expect “women bosses to be nurturing, likeable and warm” (Shiao, 2016). Therefore, once they “exhibit traits such as dominance, people get uncomfortable” (Shiao, 2016). Personally, to be an effective and respectable leader, one can never be too nice. The key to becoming a great leader is the right balance between humility and productivity.
To further rebut on Shiao’s argument, it is natural for employees to feel uncomfortable under an authoritative boss regardless of his or her gender. Great leaders are those who keep their employees on their toes. “To stay successful in today economy, one has to get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.” (Stark, n.d). The fact is that even if a team led by a woman is not working together amicably but is constantly churning out good results, the women is deemed to have led her team well. Therefore, Shiao’s argument where employees’ perception of their female bosses affect productivity, is flawed.
Wolfe, on the other hand, states that women can perform as well as men in leadership position and this is well supported by third party sources. Wolfe states that, “the highest level of engagement was associated with being female both for bosses and workers” (Wolfe, 2017). Women are able to create a comfortable environment where employees are able to thrive and perform at their highest efficiency due to effective communication. “According to Gallup’s data, 41% of female managers are engaged at work, compared to 35% of male managers” (Wolfe, 2017).
This is further substantiated by Joe Folkman where he conducted a survey on his company and found out that women scored higher than men in 13 out of the 16 leadership competencies (Mejia, 2017). Some examples of these leadership competencies are the ability the build relationship, the drive for results and the ability to communicate powerfully (Mejia, 2017). Obama, one of the greatest leaders, also stated that “women seem to have a better capacity than men do, partly because of their socialization.” (Mejia, 2017). All in all, these evidences show that Wolfe’s claim was unbiased and align well with 3rd party sources.
Lastly, the authors’ credentials are also essential in determining which article is more reliable. Vivien Shiao graduated with a Bachelor of Social Sciences, Sociology where sociology is known to be study of human social relationships (LinkedIn, 2018). Therefore, Shiao’s article focused on the impact of an unhealthy work environment. She assumed that women make bad leaders because they are unable to gain the respect of their employees which is untrue. Furthermore, Shiao is mainly a journalist without any business background. Therefore, she has limited exposure dealing with women leaders, which makes her claim further debatable.
In contrast, Lahle Wolfe has more than 25 years of experience in small business development and she owns a marketing company (Wolfe, n.d). She has also helped establish sole proprietorships, corporations and is therefore, very qualified in writing about women’s leadership in a business environment. Hence, in determining whether women are the better leaders, I would lean towards Wolfe’s article.
The idea that men is far more superior than women is an outdated thinking. It is an inherent issue that there is a lack of women in leadership positions. Both articles present differing point of view on the idea of having a woman as a leader. Personally, I am leaning towards Wolfe’s article as the argument presented is supported by concrete evidence and Wolfe herself is exposed to the corporate world for over 20 years. At the end of the day, a good leader is determined by his or her ability to motivate others and lead others, not by his or her gender.