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The self-perception of fem ale leaders’ professional developm ent
in selected M ichigan higher education institutions
Kwak-Kwon, Samgeun, Ph.D.
Michigan State University, 1991

Copyright © 1991 by K wak-K w on, Sam geun. All rights reserved.

UMI

300 N. Zeeb Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48106

THE SELF-PERCEPTION OF
FEMALE LEADERS' PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN SELECTED
MICHIGAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

By

Samgeun Kwak-Kwon

A Dissertation

Submitted to
Michigan State University
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

College of Education
1991

ABSTRACT
THE SELF-PERCEPTION OF
FEMALE LEADERS' PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN SELECTED
MICHIGAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
By
Samgeun Kwak-Kwon
The purpose of the study was to describe how
leaders
their

female

perceive their competencies and the uniqueness of
professional

development.

A

gender-sensitive

perspective was considered from an integration of areas of the
new psychology of women and professional development in higher
education institutions.

I focused on the learning experiences

in women's leadership development,

through the process

of

person-situation interaction.
The

subjects

of

this

study

included

13

women

administrators in public-supported universities in positions
of associate provost,

assistant to president,

or academic

dean; they were women who appeared in the 1990 edition of the
Michigan Education Directory and were recoxiuiienueu by their
colleagues.

The

methods

of

this

study

were

open-ended

interviews, written follow-up questions, and document analysis
such as participants' vitae, articles, speeches, and written
documents.

By

interpreted

the

using

ongoing

collected

data

data

analysis
and

method,

presented

I

them

qualitatively using the respondents' own words and terms.
The uniqueness of female academic leaders was discovered
in terms of mentoring, networking, and working collaboratively
rather than competitively with people.

Also differences among

Kwak-Kwon
female academic leaders were identified according to their
role and exposure to women's studies.
The academic deans perceived people-related competencies
as most critical for their professional development, while the
central administrators perceived intellectual versatility as
most

critical.

The

major

resources

for

learning

such

competencies were networking, work experiences, participating
in conferences/workshops, self-directed reading, personal life
experiences, and graduate training.
perceived differences

Some of the participants

in the ways they received help from

their male mentors and female mentors.

And depending upon the

way they perceived the relationships with their mentors the
female

leaders

responded

differently

in

developing

their

subsequent mentee relationships.
The

female

identified

as

leaders'
a

unique

gender

specific

advantage

for

experience

their

was

leadership

development in terms of cooperative human skills rather than
competition.

Perceptions of women's professional development

differed among the participants,

and three types of female

leaders were identified in viewing female uniqueness:

(1)

rejecting gender-difference; (2) observing gender-difference;
and (3) claiming female-uniqueness as an advantage.

However,

their shared professional values were identified as honesty,
trust, integrity, harmony, relationships, and equity/fairness.

Copyright by
Samgeun Kwak-Kwon
1991

Dedicated to
My father, Young-11 Kwak, M.D.
and
my mother, B. Soon Lee-Kwak
who provided the sane childhood environment
that made this dream possible to me.
and
my mother-in-law, M. Sook Ryou-Kwon
who supported and believed in me.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I owe a very special debt to the research participants
who

are

female

Institutions.

leaders

in

Michigan

Higher

Education

I could not have accomplished this research

project without their input on my study.
Among

the many

others who gave time

and thought to

contribute to my study, I want especially to thank:
Dr. Howard Hickey, chairperson of the guidance committee
and co-director of my dissertation,
training

who gave me

academic

in the area of his expertise and experiences

leadership
assistance

and
during

organizational
each

step

of

culture.
the

His

in

constant

research process

has

contributed significantly to my research.
Dr. Lynn Paine, co-director of the dissertation, whose
support was crucial to my research from a feminist perspective
with constructive criticism in the area of women's studies,
sociology of education, and ethnographic research method.
Dr. James Snoddy, member of the guidance committee, who
treated my work with seriousness and respect by providing
constructive

critiques

on

the

research

methodology

and

research conclusions.
Dr. Richard Gardner, committee member, who helped me by
offering intelligent suggestions and generous guidance during
my graduate study and especially in the proposal stage of the
research.
vi

Dr.

Robert

Floden,

professor

research and graduate studies,
opportunity

to

gain

academic

and

associate

dean

for

who provided me with the
training

through

holding

a

research assistantship during my graduate work at the National
Center for Research on Teacher Education (NCRTE).
Diane Smith, whose time and skills were invaluable as she
edited my draft of the manuscript and the final edition of my
dissertation as well as her friendship.
Sincere appreciation is also extended to my family.
I wish to thank my daughters, Min-A and Min-Young,

for

their patience, understanding, and encouragement.
Finally, with much love, I wish especially to thank to my
wonderful husband, Dr. D. B. Kwon, who instilled in me a sense
of vision and balance between family and professional life by
providing me with endless support, friendship, and humor in my
life.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF T A B L E S .........................................

xi

CHAPTER
I.

THE STUDY
1
Introduction .....................................
Statement of the Problem .........................
3
.........................
5
Rationale for the Study
Purposes of the Study
...........................
9
Research Questions ...............................
11
Limit a t i o n s .......................................... 12
Definition of T e r m s .................................. 13
Summary and O v e r v i e w ................................ 16

II.

REVIEW OF RELATED L I T E R A T U R E ....................... 17
Research on Female Leadership .....................
17
Leadership Competencies in Higher Education
Institutions
...............................
24
Female Leaders' Learning in the Workplace
. . . .
29
The Uniqueness of Female Leaders' Professional
D e v e l o p m e n t .................................... 36
Conceptual Framework .............................
42
Summary
............................................ 43

III. METHODOLOGY

........................................ 45

Introduction ......................................
45
Methodological Framework .........................
47
S u b j e c t s ............................................ 49
Data Collection Method ...........................
49
The Pilot S t u d y ................................ 50
The First Round: Interviews .................
51
The Second Round: Follow-Up Questions
. . . .
53
Nature of D o c u m e n t s ............................ 55
Data Analysis
...................................... 56
Summary
............................................ 58
IV.

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OFDATA: FEMALE LEADERS'
PERCEIVED COMPETENCIES AND UNIQUENESS
. . . .

59

................................ 59
Introduction . . .
Demographic Information
.........................
60
viii

Page
Critical Competencies
...........................
64
Female Leaders' Learning .........................
78
The Resources of Learning: How They
Learned
.................................. 78
Learning Experiences: What They
Learned
..................................96
Female Leaders' Uniqueness ........................ 115
Advantages of Being a W o m a n .................. 115
Disadvantages of Being a Woman .............. 123
Personal Strengths as a Leader
............ 130
Personal Weaknesses as a Leader ............. 133
Uniqueness of Being Women ................... 137
........................................... 141
Summary
V.

Discussions, Conclusions, Implications,
and R e f l e c t i o n s ...............................142
Introduction ...................................... 142
Discussions
....................................... 143
....................................... 156
Conclusions
Implications for Future Study
................... 160
....................................... 163
Reflections

APPENDICES

....................................

168

A.

Research Permit Letter from the Michigan State
University Committee on Research
Involving Human Subjects (UCRIHS) . . . . 168

B.

Letter I to the Participants: An Invitation
to the S t u d y .............................169

C.

Letter II to the Participants: Request for
Interviewee's Background Information . . 170

D.

Explanation of the Study/Consent Form

E.

The First Round: Interview Questions .........

F.

Letter III to the Participants: Request for
Follow-Up Responses ...................... 173

G.

The Second Round: Follow-Up Questions
(An Example: B r o w n ) ...................... 174

H.

Letter IV to the Participants: A Reminder of
the F o l l o w - U p .............................176

. . . .

BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................
ix

171
172

177

LIST OF TABLES
Table
1-1

Page
Stages of Research on Women
in Administration ...........................

8

II-l

Contemporary Stereotypes of Women and Men
.................................... 22
as Leaders

IV-1

Demographic D a t a ................................. 62

IV—2

Critical Competencies

IV-3

The Resources of L e a r n i n g ......................... 79

IV-4

Professional Affiliations ......................

IV-5

A List of Recent R e a d i n g s ......................... 90

IV—6

Learning Experiences through
Leadership Position .........................

.........................

66

86

98

IV-7

The Mentors of the Female L e a d e r s ................103

IV—8

How Do Mentors H e l p ? ............................ 106

IV-9

Benefits of Participating in
Conferences/Workshops .......................

112

IV-10

Advantages of Being a W o m a n ...................... 116

IV-11

Disadvantages of Being a W o m a n .................. 124

IV-12

Personal Strengths as a L e a d e r .................. 131

IV-13

Personal Weaknesses as a L e a d e r ............

x

134

CHAPTER I
THE STUDY
Introduction
Women administrators in top and middle managerial ranks
are

still

marginalized

in

higher

education

institutions

despite affirmative action in the United States.

Whereas the

conservative organizational culture has not shown improved
reception

of

women

administrators

in

higher

education

institutions, research studies on organization and leadership
do tend to show shifts in terms of gender-sensitivity.
Two

major

shifts

have

occurred

in

the

contemporary

thinking about leadership studies that I referred to for this
study.

The

first

shift

arises

from

such

critiques

of

traditional views of leadership in organizations as (1) the
perception of the top-down direct exercise of power, which is
in the same scholarly tradition as the

'Grand Theory'; (2)

personal traits theory which emphasizes the inborn talents of
leaders rather than interaction between person and situation.
Contemporary leadership researchers in this first shift view
leadership from more humanistic perspectives which emphasize
the need for shared values, trust, and collaborative efforts
between

leaders

continuous

and

learning

constituents
and

development

situation.
1

and
of

which
leaders

emphasize
in

the

2

The second shift involves a change in feminist theories.
Over

the

past

two

decades,

feminist

theorists

have

increasingly moved away from attempts to attain equality by
calling attention to similarities between males and females,
toward a celebration of gender differences.
How

do

leadership?

those

shifts

affect

the

study

of

Studies on leadership development,

female

gender and

organization, and a new approach to the psychology of women
have

meaningful

leadership

implications

for

the

study

of

from a gender-sensitive perspective.

female
However,

those areas of study were rarely combined in the study of
female

leaders

in

higher

education

institutions.

Women

leaders have been a focus of attention in terms of their
increasing

numbers

and

their

successful

accomplishments.

Also, the situation of female leaders has changed in the past
10-20 years.

New features in the women's movement, in higher

education, and in the organizations in Michigan in 1990s might
have influenced women leaders in academe.

Yet the female

leaders' professional development has not been unveiled in
higher education institutions.
This

study explores the

self-perceptions

female leaders' professional development.

of academic

I examine the issue

by emphasizing adult learning from a perspective of personsituation interaction and the new psychology of women in the
feminist tradition.

Statement of the Problem
Leadership

researchers

have

struggled

to

define

the

concept of leadership and identify leaders' characteristics.
In the past, leadership roles and research studies on leaders
focused primarily on male participants and on their personal
traits.

The bias of these researchers is evident in their

narrowness of perspective in dealing with leadership issues;
that is, not including female participants.
The conception of leadership has changed continuously.
It

has

changed

from

a

concept

of

power,

influence,

and

authority to an empowerment, transformational, or visionary
concept.

Jago

(1982)

defines

acceptance or noncoercive
recently

conceptualized

leadership

influence.

as

of

others

"transforming,"

"transformational,"
Ulrich,

1986),

nonpatriarchical
Some

&

or

and

as

Nanus,

"feminist,"

noncompetitive

tend

to

pay

of

capable

of

1978),

as

(Burns,

1985),

or proactive and visionary

and

researchers

(Bennis

terms

Leadership has been

engaging persons in a common enterprise
"empowering"

in

or

values

attention

(Cameron

grounded
(Loden,
to

as
&
in

1985).

the

unique

characteristics of female leaders in defining the concept of
leadership.
broadened,

Even

though the concepts

of

leadership have

the lack of understanding of female leaders or

misunderstanding

of

female

leadership

style

are

still

prevalent since the nature of female leadership in higher
education

institutions

remain

unanalyzed

from

a

feminist

4
perspective.

Feminist research or "women's studies" in the

social sciences is reported to be closer to the humanistic,
value-oriented category.
Women are typically excluded in organizational studies,
in psychology and in social science areas.

The invisibility

of women

of the

in all disciplines was

the one

criticisms in early stages (Glazer, 1977).

feminist

Few studies have

sought to analyze the relationship of gender to organizational
behavior.

More

misunderstanding

serious

problems

women

resulting

of

are

caused

from

by

the

inappropriately

expanding or misusing the research results which were designed
for men.

Among the major current arguments that feminist

criticism directs at social science is that it concentrates on
the

"distortion

and

experience"(Westkott,
organizational
oriented

misinterpretation

1979).

studies

perspective,

Mills

have

been

which

"at

of

women's

contends that various

conducted
best

from

treats

a

male-

aspects

of

organizational behavior as typifying men and women alike and
worst,

treat women

as

peripheral

to

organizational

life"

(1988, p. 351).
In the past two decades, women leaders have been studied
by

some

researchers

interested

primarily

in

the

area

business management and a few in school administration.

of

Those

researchers contributed to unveiling women's underrepresenta­
tion and the barriers to women's advancement to higher levels
of administrative positions

compared to male

counterparts

5

(Biklen, 1980; Moore, 1984? Schmuck, 1976? Shakeshaft, 1985).
The main theme of these studies

is how to achieve equity

between the sexes by abolishing barriers or by conducting some
equity strategies.

The standard was male, and females' traits

were thought to be unacceptable and needing to be changed
toward the standard male criteria.
This study assumed that different approaches are needed
to

understand

female

leadership,

since

women's

emotions,

personal relationships, and learning experiences differ from
those of their male counterparts, thus the techniques they are
using differ from men.

When considering the term "leadership

development" as a dynamic of the interaction between person
and situation from a dialectical perspective,
undergo

different

processes

in

experiencing

women might
personal

and

professional development in higher education institutions.
This issue needs to be investigated.

Rationale for the Study
Historically, the status of women in academe and in the
scientific research society was

seen as

inferior.

In an

earlier period when the essential quality of the scientific
mind was defined as analytic ability, women were thought to be
unintellectual, deficient in reasoning ability, and warm and
sensual.

Only men were the producers of scientific knowledge.

Against this tradition, Jessie Bernard (1979) describes the
construction of knowledge as "the construction of the male

6

world"

(p. 268).

She pointed out that knowledge has been

overwhelmingly male

in subject matter,

methods, and in interpretations.

in assumptions,

in

To use Marxist terminology,

men control the means of scientific production; women produce
surplus value. In this perspective, it is necessary to study
"women's studies" as a separate branch of knowledge to acquire
those means of producing knowledge (McCormack, 1981).
The trends

of

scientific research are changing.

As

McCormack (1981) points out, at present when the history of
science

is being rewritten

in terms

of creative,

Kuhnian

paradigmatic leaps, the brilliant scientific mind is described
differently:

"a

type

of

concentration

that

is

intuitive, a bit frivolous, if not, wayward" (p. 2).

loose,
Along

with this transitional change, it has been recognized that
women's invisibility in social science does not necessarily
mean women's natural inferiority.
Gross

and

Trask

(1976)

argue

that

sociologists

had

largely ignored how "the gender of managers of organizations
might influence their operation and the careers of incumbents
of these positions themselves"

(p. 2) .

Also Gouldner had

suggested the importance of gender issues in his appraisal of
the sociological literature on organizational functioning:
Many sociologists who study factories, offices,
schools, or mental hospitals take little note of
the fact that the organizational role-players
invariably have a gender around which is built a
latent social identity. One does not have to be
Freudian to insist that sex makes a difference,
even for organizational behavior. (Gouldner, 1959,
p. 412)

7

It is necessary to investigate how gender interrelates with an
organization's operation and professional development.
Shakeshaft (1989) presents six stages in the evolution of
research on women in administration as shown in Table i-l.
The first stage documents the lack of women in positions of
administration.
"exceptional"

The

women.

second

stage

identifies

The third stage

"famous"

or

investigates women's

place in schools from the framework of women as disadvantaged
or

subordinate

leaders?"

and

examines

"why

are

there

so

few women

Research on "Exceptional Women" focuses on personal

qualities,

early experience,

and family backgrounds as the

determinants of accomplishment.
that success

It may reinforce the belief

is solely the product of individual ability,

determination or effort.

Under this framework, women managers

have been described as overemotional and as lacking leadership
qualities or the requisite interpersonal style (Crawford and
Marecek,
men

1989).

can be

Any observed differences between women and

interpreted

as evidence of

female deficiency.

Therefore, the notion of female leadership development can not
make any sense,
style.

The

since the standard is the male leadership

uniqueness

of

females

was

veiled

by

women

themselves who tried to act like male leaders.
At stage 4, women are finally studied on their own terms
and

the

female world

is

documented.

Stage

existing theories in educational administration.

5 challenges
For example,

the notion that facts exist apart from values, thus making it

possible to obtain "value-free" knowledge, is disputed.

In

the fourth framework, female leaders might be studied from a
gender-sensitive perspective and the uniqueness of females
would be evaluated in women's own terms.

But little study has

been done from this perspective.

Table I-l Stages of Research on Women in Administration
(Modified from Shakeshaft,1989, p. 13).
Stage

Questions

1. The lack of women
(Absence of women
documented)

How many women are in
school administration?
What positions?

surveys

2. Identifying "famous"
or "exceptional" women
(Search for women who
have been or are
administrators)

What are the
characteristics of the
women leaders?

surveys

3. Women as
disadvantaged
or subordinate

Why so few women
leaders in schools?

4. Women studied on
their own terms

How do women describe
their experiences and
lives?

5. Women as
challenge
to theory

How must theory change
to include women's
experience?

6. Transformation
of theory

What are theories of
human behavior in
organizations?

Stage
women's

6 transforms

and

men's

theory

experiences

Approach

so that we
together.

surveys
experimental
and quasiexperimental
survey/
interview/
observation
Analysis
of theories/
methods as
appropriate
A range of
approaches

can understand
Producing

an

inclusive vision of human experience based on differences and
diversity, rather than sameness and generalizations, will be

the goal at this level.
conceptual

As shown in Table 1-1, there is a

difference between women

leaders

from studying

problems of women and the study of the uniqueness of women
from a gender-sensitive perspective.
In the past, a number of studies on female leaders in
business and education have focussed on stages 1, 2, and 3 in
Shakeshaft's categories.

Female leaders need to be examined

from a new perspective using their own terms which encompass
the

psychology

of

women

and

leadership development areas.

the

uniqueness

of

female

The research approach would

need to be changed.
This

present

study,

which

had

been

started

from

an

assumption that women and men have different experiences and
will

respond to the organizational

situation differently,

investigates female leaders from a perspective of women's own
views

on

personal

and professional

education institutions.
information

in

development

in higher

This investigation will provide rich

studying

women

administrators.

Also,

by

studying women leaders on their own terms from the gendersensitive

perspective,

this

study

will

contribute

to

describing women's unique learning experience and transforming
the framework by challenging the existing mainstream studies
of male-centered social science.

Purposes of the Study
This study explores women leaders' experiences in higher

10

education

administration;

that

is what

do

female

leaders

perceive to be their competencies and uniqueness for their
professional development?
learning experiences

How do women leaders describe their

in the organization?

There are some

outstanding studies on women and organizations among feminist
social scientists (Brabeck, 1989; Kanter, 1977; Feldberg and
Glenn, 1979; MacKinnon, 1979; Izraeli, 1983; Ferguson, 1984;
Martin, 1985) and on the psychology of women (Gilligan, 1982;
Nyon,

1984;

Miller,

Belenky,

1986).

together

in

a

Clinchy,

Goldberger,

& Tarule,

1986;

But the new knowledge has not been brought
systematic

feminist

theory

from

a

gender-

sensitive view in dealing with leadership development.
Most behavioral scientists agree that both personal and
situational characteristics influence behavior.

Even though

organization researchers have developed interactional models,
many

have

overemphasized

either

personal

or

situational

components, and most have failed to consider the effects that
persons

have

on

situations

(Chatman,

1989).

In

gender

studies, for example, Ranter's (1977) study opened a new era
in viewing women's lower status in organizational hierarchy by
identifying structural factors instead of individual factors.
But her study failed to illuminate women's real experience in
organizations by neglecting to look at a person's potential to
influence her environment from a psychological perspective of
women and the interactions of persons and situations.

Also

Gilligan's (1982) prominent study, which suggests that women

11

and men have different ethics in their ways of making moral
judgments, strongly focuses on persons from a psychological
perspective and neglects situational influence on persons and
its interactional effect.
This study explored the learning experiences of female
leaders by investigating self-perceived competencies and the
uniqueness

of

female

leaders'

professional

development

in

academe, since their experience is different from their male
counterparts, as some feminist theorists have discussed. The
main purposes of this study were first, to explore what female
leaders

perceive

as

the major

critical

competencies

they

needed for their professional development in higher education
institutions;

second,

to

investigate

how

female

leaders

perceive they acquired the competencies they needed for their
profession; and third, to examine what female leaders perceive
as their unique qualities as women that helped or hindered
their professional development.

Research Questions
The main question of this study was "What are the selfperception

of

female

leaders'

higher education institutions?"

professional

development

in

There were three subsidiary

questions to investigate the main question:

Research Question 1:
major

competencies

What do female leaders perceive as the
they

needed

for

their

professional

12

development in higher education institution?

Research Question 2 ; How do the female leaders perceive they
acquired the competencies they needed for their profession?
What are the learning resources and what are the learning
experiences?

Research Question 3 ; What do female leaders perceive as their
characteristics of
their

"being female"

professional

development

that helped or hindered
in

higher

education

institution, and how?

Limitations

My

study

professional
insights

describes

development,

women's
the

perceptions

findings

of

provide

important

into the experience of a select group of

leaders.

The

generalized,

findings

however,

of

and this

this

study

qualitative

should
study

their

female
not

be

strongly

implies that women's learning experiences differ from those of
men.

Further research on women in other states and countries

would contribute to the body of knowledge on female leaders'
development in higher education institutions.
The

findings are based on data I gathered concerning

female leaders' individual professional development and their
perceptions of it,

rather than observing that development

13

myself over an extended period of time.
though

I

focused

on

indepth

Therefore,

understanding

of

the

even

female

leaders, the scheduled first-round interview, the follow-up
questions,

and document analysis have limitations in fully

understanding the reality of their personal and professional
life.

Definition of Terms
Academic administrator. The individual who has direct
responsibility for the management of instruction, curriculum,
or

any

academic

programs

within

the

institution

(Green,

1988a).
Academic dean. The individual in charge of faculties and
schools and thus ultimately academic programs.

The person

directly underneath the central administrators and to whom
departmental administrators are responsible.

In some small

institutions, the terms "academic dean" and "academic vicepresident" are synonymous.
Affirmative action.
agency

"efforts to

A term that covers governmental

get universities to

analyze their own

employment situation, examine the available pool of qualified
women and minority group members,

broaden their personnel

search procedures to encompass previously excluded groups, and
set reasonable hiring goals" (Abramson, 1975, p. 96).
Disadvantages.
individual

and

Those

within

the

factors

operating

organization

that

within
serve

the
as

14

hinderances to the professional development of women in an
institution.
Competencies. "The quality or state of being functionally
adequate or having sufficient knowledge, judgment, skill, or
strength

(as

for

a

particular

duty

or

in

a

particular

respect): range of ability or capability" (Webster's Third New
International Dictionary. 1976, p. 463).
Advantages.

Benefits

that

help

the

professional

development of an individual in the organization.
Gender Sensitive Perspective. Gender-sensitivity is an
approach which considers sex as a socially important variable.
In a research component from this perspective, interpretation
of sex differences and the different social positions of the
sexes are taken into account (Eichler, 1988).
Mentor. A support person. "A wise and trusted teacher."
One who will teach a skill or provide the necessary knowledge
to perform a particular task.

A mentor has an apprentice, a

learner. A mentor may or may not be able to influence one's
career

and

need

not

have

any

particular

clout

in

the

organization (Josefowitz, 1980).
"Old bov" network. Originating in Britain, the term "old
boy" referred to an alumnus of a preparatory school or public
school. The "old boy network" refers to the bonds, the upperclass kinship, established among British public school boys.
These bonds were

"supposed to operate throughout

life

in

social and, particularly, in business and professional life"

15

(Shur, 1980, p. 173).

As used today, the term refers to the

male network of support and information sharing.
Organizational

culture.

Norms,

rules,

values,

and

beliefs "that are shared by members of an organization, that
operate unconsciously, and that define in a basic 'taken-forgranted'

fashion an organization's view of itself and its

environment" (Schein, 1985, p. 6).
Professional
experiences

of

development.

"people with

A

series

substantial

of

professional

native

gifts

for

leadership" in achieving what is in them to achieve and in
developing

"what

is

naturally

there

cultivation" (Gardner, 1987, p. 3).

but

in

need

of

In this study, leadership

development represents professional development which includes
learning

experience

professional

in

activities,

the

profession,

leadership

participation

practice,

and

in

career

advancement as well as the improvement of managerial skills.
Sex-role stereotype. "Displaying or adopting all or most
of the behaviors traditionally associated with one's sex role,
as delineated by one's culture"
819).

In other words,

beliefs

concerning

(Unger & Denmark,

1975, p.

it refers to widely held,

cultural

appropriate

male

and

female

behavior.

(Terborg, 1977)
Socialization. "The processes

through which

a person

acquires the thought and behavior patterns of his culture"
(Unger & Denmark, 1975, p. 819).

16

Summary and Overview
This study explores the self-perceived competencies and
uniqueness

of

female

leaders'

professional

Chapter I is an introduction to the study.

development.

In this chapter I

outlined a recent trend in the study of female leadership and
presented the purpose of this study from a gender-sensitive
perspective which integrates the new psychology of women and
the new approach of female leadership development.

There is

a conceptual difference between the traditional approach of
leadership study, which identified problems and successes of
female leaders and the gender sensitive approach of exploring
the uniqueness of female leaders' process of learning.

The

rationale for this study and the importance of investigating
the professional development process of female leaders
women's own term have been described.

in

The research questions

and definition of terms were stated.
A review of literature related to the study is included
in

Chapter

II.

Chapter

III

contains

framework and the data collection method.
the

presentation

and

analysis

of

the

methodological

Chapter IV includes

data,

and

Chapter

V

illustrates discussions, conclusions, implications for future
study, and reflections.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

To explore the competencies

and uniqueness of

female

leaders' professional development, I reviewed literature from
four areas pertinent to this study:
Leadership,

(a) Research on Female

(b) Leadership Competencies in Higher Education

Institutions,

(c) Female Leaders' Learning in the Workplace,

and

Uniqueness

(d)

The

Development.

of

Female

Leaders'

Professional

Based on the review of related literature,

I

developed the conceptual framework of the study.

Research on Female Leadership
There is debate about whether the leadership styles of
women

and

men

are

really

different.

Some

quantitative

research studies deny any difference between male and female
leaders,

while

some

other,

qualitative

studies,

differences between male and female leaders.

show

In this section,

research studies on female leadership in business, education,
and social service organizations will be discussed in order to
identify

the meaningful

characteristics

of

female

leaders

based on the research of several scholars.
Some

research

results

suggest women
17

and men

are not

18

different in their leadership styles.

Schein (1988) points

out, from a review of leadership research studies, that the
differences within each sex are greater than the differences
between the sexes.

That is, the differences among women (or

men), considering variations in background, experience, and so
on, are greater than the differences between women in general
and men in general.

Morrison, White, and Van Velsor (1987)

investigated leadership differences at the Center for Creative
Leadership.

Based on their own data as well as other research

reports, they concluded that "as individuals, executive women
and

men

seem

to

intellectually,
statistical

be

and

data,

virtually

identical

emotionally"

they

argue

(p.

that

psychologically,

85) .

there

Using
are

no

those
gender

differences as a group in leadership style.
Few

recent

writers

have

advocated

the

existence

of

biologically based sex differences that affect the capability
of women versus men to manage effectively.

Instead,

writers

socialization

focus

on

differences

in

the

early

most

experiences of females and males that set up expectations for
participation in the work force.

Several typologies have been

offered to describe

styles:

leadership

(1)

Lewin

and his

associates (1984) discussed autocratic and democratic leaders,
(2) Fiedler (1978) distinguished between task-oriented versus
relationship-oriented leaders,

(3) The Ohio State Leadership

Group (Stogdill, 1974) discussed the dimensions of initiating
structure versus consideration.

Among these typologies, all

19

three models focus on two different dimensions: leaders' work
orientation and leaders' concern for constituents.

Therefore,

the three typologies can be discussed in terms of whether they
are work-oriented or person-oriented.

Leaders who marked high

in "initiating structure" or task-oriented are work-oriented,
but

high

in

concerned

"consideration"

for

their

or

relationship-oriented

constituents.

Fleishman

and

are

Peters

offered the following definitions.
Initiating structure reflects the extent to which
an individual is likely to define and structure
role
and those
of
subordinates
toward goal
attainment. Consideration reflects the extent to
which
an
individual
is likely to have
job
relationships
characterized
by
mutual
trust,
respect for subordinates' ideas, and consideration
of their feelings. (1962, p. 130)
Generally,

leaders vary in two critical types of leaders'

behavior, initiating structure and consideration.

Initiating

structure refers to the extent to which the manager initiates
activity,
done.

organizes it, and defines the way work is to be

Consideration behavior, on the other hand, refers to

the extent to which the manager exhibits concern

for the

welfare

studies

of

group

members

(Powell,

1988).

The

mentioned to this point in the chapter do not clearly state
how gender is considered as a factor influential to leaders'
orientation.
Naisbitt and Aburdene (1990) contend in "Megatrends 2000"
that to a great extent future leadership will come from women.
They believe that female leadership will be the desirable
leadership style in the future, because the dominant principle

20

of organization has shifted; since the principle of business
has

shifted

from

management

managers should be changed.
supported
future?

by

the

to

leadership,

the

role

of

Will female leadership style be

main-stream

of

academic

society

in

the

Naisbitt and Aburdene (1990) argue a leadership trend

from order giver to facilitator as follows:
Today we are replacing the manager as order giver
with the manager as teacher, facilitator, and
coach. The order giver has all the answers and
tells everyone what to do; the facilitator knows
how to draw the answers out of those who know them
best— the people doing the job.
The leader as
facilitator asks questions, guides a group to
consensus, uses information to demonstrate the need
for action, (p. 227)
Nevertheless, there is an argument that men and women who
make their own way up the organizational ladder do not really
differ from each other as much as our sex-role stereotypes
would predict they should.

Colwill (1982) suggests that the

person who can tailor leadership style to fit a situation—
sometimes manifesting masculine traits, sometimes manifesting
feminine traits— will be the most successful in the long run.
Also

Powell

(1988)

nontraditional

indicates

that

women

who

career of manager have needs,

pursue

the

motives,

and

values similar to those of men who pursue managerial careers.
He

found

dimensions

that

sex differences

of behavior,

consideration.

such

are
as

evident

initiating

in global

structure

and

Rather, he concluded that sex differences in

specific behaviors are more evident,
poorly

not

performing

subordinates,

such as responses to

influence

strategies,

and

21

accessibility to others that support the influence of gender
stereotypes.

For example, direct observations of managers at

all levels in one study revealed that female managers were
twice

as

accessible to

(Josefowitz, 1980).

others

as their male

counterparts

Criteria for accessibility included open

and closed office door policies, use of secretaries to screen
out potential interruptions, and encouragement of telephoning
at home on evenings and weekends.

The sex difference in

accessibility is worthy of note in my study.
There

is some evidence from a range of aspects that

female leaders differ from their male counterparts.

Heller

(1982) points out from her study in business settings that the
current value of the masculine management ethic,
emotionally detached,
confused and changing.

objective,

and assertive,

which is

is clearly

Heller's study includes 65 male and

female leaders from business, education, and social service
organizations.

From Heller's interviews, two sets of images

emerged: one set of negative stereotypes of the female and of
the male leader, and another set of positive images.

Women

were described as being too focused on people and emotionally
demonstrative;
inaccessible.

men

were

seen

as

being

too

remote

and

Both men and women were criticized for being

too authoritarian and aggressive; however, this quality was
attributed to men more often than to women.
study,

In Heller's

women and men were seen as leaders with distinctly

different characteristics (Table II-l).

22

Table II-l Contemporary Stereotypes of Women and Hen as
Leaders (Modified from Heller, 1982, p. 10).
Negative Images
Men

Women

Too focused on procedures
Remote, inaccessible
Authoritarian, aggressive
Sexist

Too focused on people
Emotionally demonstrative
Not assertive

Positive Images
Men

Women

Relaxed, humorous
Separate work and
social roles
Think categorically
Work independently

More humane
Open, friendly
Egalitarian
Efficient and organized

Levine describes male administrators as task-oriented and
offers

a

comment

from

a

veteran

administrator

who

was

interviewed:
Many men seem to be so task-oriented that they
ignore the human interaction or feelings of
persons.
Many
operate
from
a
hierarchical
structure,
passing on decisions or placating
individuals rather than involving persons
in
cooperative decision making. (1989, p. 120)
Shakeshaft (1989) investigated the leadership styles of
men and women in school administration by reviewing existing
research studies.

A number of studies have documented that in

verbal discourse, women are more likely than men to express
courtesy,

gratitude,

respect,

and appreciation.

Women show

23

respect

for

their

audience

through

listening,

echoing,

summarizing, polite speech, and nonantagonistic responses. In
decision-making styles,
that

women

are

a number of researchers have found

perceived

participatory than are men.

as

being

more

democratic

and

Also, Neuse (1978) documents that

women are less committed to the formal hierarchy and are more
willing to submerge displays of personal power in an effort to
get others to participate in the decision-making process.
Studies of women and men find that women approach the
resolution or management of conflict somewhat differently than
men.

Shakeshaft (1989) cites the studies of Bendelow (1983)

and Hughes and Robertson (1980) and argues that women are more
likely

to

withdraw

strategies,
often.

from

conflict

or

use

collaborative

whereas males use authoritarian responses more

She notes that women have been evaluated as more

effective at resolving conflict among staff members and in
using conflict reduction techniques more often than men.
Loden

(1985)

reports

that male managers

prefer

Also

resolving

conflicts by competition and avoidance, with compromise their
third preferred
managers

prefer

option.

In contrast,

collaboration

and

she argues,
accommodation

female
with

compromise as their third preferred option.
Gender differences seems to have a consistent effect on
interpersonal perception.
that

"females

perceived

Kohn and Fidler (1961) suggested
significant

persons

in

their

environment in a less differentiated and in a more favorable

24

manner than did males" (p. 162).

Female characteristics might

affect the ways in which they behave and thus their leadership
style.
By comparing men and women, the studies reviewed above
contributed to unveiling the styles of female leadership as a
product.
learning

But

experiences

development.
deserve

few studies explore
as

Women

exploration

a

process

leaders'
from

Rather then comparing the

female

a

unique

in

leaders'

their

learning

gender-sensitive

unique

professional
experiences
perspective.

leadership styles of males

and

females simply in the limited sense of career advancement (as
traditional studies have done), my study focuses on unveiling
the uniqueness of female leaders' professional development in
a broader sense, that is, including learning experiences in
the

profession,

participation

in

professional

activities,

leadership practice, and career advancement.

Leadership Competencies in Higher Education Institutions
Bennis and Nanus (1985) define "leading" as "influencing,
guiding

in

direction,

course,

action,

opinion"

(p.

21).

Effective leaders are often described as individuals of great
personal

strength who

are

"visionaries"

or

"pathfinders."

Mayhew (1979) distinguishes between management and leadership
as follows:
Management means bringing all relevant information
together concerning an issue, reflecting on it in
rational ways, and making judgments and plans about
issues....
Administrative
leadership
is
the

25

presence of an enlightened vision of what an
institution is and can become and the ability to
persuade others to accept the vision, (pp. 74-75)
Argyris and Cyert (1980) differentiate between management and
leadership focusing on resources.

They define management as

the art of allocating resources within the organization in a
manner

designed

to

reach

the

goals

of

the

organization,

whereas they see leadership as "the art of stimulating the
human resources" within the organization (p. 63).
to them,
being

According

it is possible to be an effective manager without

an

effective

leader.

But

higher

education

administrators have roles both as leaders and as managers.
Kerr

and

Gade

point

out

in

"The

Many

Lives

of

Academic

Presidents: Time, Place, and Character" that the predominant
type of president is and has been over time the managerial
leader who is concerned with the efficient pursuit of what is
already being done.
Managerial leaders are contrasted with "pathfinding
leaders" who are the visionaries, the agents of
change,
and are concerned with the long-run
effectiveness of the total organization as opposed
to the short-run effectiveness and the performance
of tasks. (Kerr and Gade cited by Green, 1988b, p.
31 )
Higher
exercise

of

education

provides

leadership.

Higher

conceptualized

the

enterprise

bureaucracies,

as

hierarchies,

political democracies

a

(Green,

unique

education

in many
as

context

scholars

different

municipalities,

1988a).

for

the
have

ways:

as

and

as

Administration in a

higher education institution is unique, as indicated by Cohen

26

and March
anarchy."

(1974)
Green

who

named

(1988a)

the

university

identifies

some

an

"organized

limitations

of

leadership in academe, such as the constraints of external
regulation, traditions of faculty autonomy, shared governance,
devaluation of overt exercise of power,
decision

making.

Therefore,

as

and decentralized
Green

indicates,

administrators have neither the heroic powers that derive from
a hierarchical and homogeneous organization,

nor are they

obviously powerless since they have legitimate power.
The exercise of leadership involves power.
from many sources:

Power derives

from threats and punishments

(coercive

power), from the ability to bestow recognition or rewards
(reward power), from the acceptance of the group (legitimate
power), from knowledge and expertise (expert power), and from
the administration of the followers (referent or charismatic
power)

(French and Raven, 1959).

Among these types of power,

leaders in higher education institutions must rely heavily on
legitimate power, which depends on shared values and goals.
Legitimate power depends on the acceptance of the followers
(Green, 1988a), and it is maintained by the degree to which
the group continues to adhere to "the common and unifying
bonds that produced the legitimate leader in the first place"
(Fisher, 1984, p. 63).
Compared to industrial managers, leaders in academe spend
more time on their own, working on activities that last longer
(Oshagbemi, 1988).

Academic leaders are the living symbol of

27

their institutions.

They embody the values and aspirations of

the college and its constituents, who project onto them their
hopes and goals.
leadership.

Symbolism might be an eternal aspect of

Gardner

(1986)

identifies nine tasks that are

eternal functions of leadership: envisioning goals, affirming
values,

motivating,

managing,

achieving

workable

unity,

explaining, serving as a symbol, representing the group, and
renewing.
Green

(1988b)

educational

emphasizes

leaders:

Whereas

changes

formerly

in

the

they

role

presided

of
over

growth and a seemingly unlimited future for higher education,
they now must assume the role of

"fund-raiser,

financial

manager, and politician” to obtain scarce resources and use
them wisely

(p.

32) .

Also he added a role

for academic

leaders as team builders, since academics are trained as "solo
flyers," as scholars, researchers, and even teachers.

Green

identified the skills required to lead a team as conflict
resolution, communications, the ability to process and screen
information, and the effective use of symbolic power.
Cleveland
current

(1985)

information

describes
society

effective
as

leaders

in

the

"get-it-all-together"

generalists, characterized by their breadth, by their ability
to

see

connections,

and by their

ability

integrate relevant bits of information.
only the

cognitive

skills

of

an

to

extract

and

He does not emphasize

intelligent person.

He

expands the ability to process information wisely and make

28

good judgments, and speaks to intellectual curiosity, interest
in other people,

and the willingness to take risks.

He

emphasized that the education of men and women to manage
complexity should be an important function in a society in
which complexity is growing faster than anything else.
In

addition

to

the general

competencies

as

leaders,

administrators in academe are in need of specific skills for
their leadership practice.

McDade

(1987)

identified most

frequently developmental needs of administrators in higher
education

institutions.

Those

needs

include

speaking

publicly, delegating, working with boards, planning, acquiring
resources, working with governments, budgeting time, financial
management/control,

developing

conducting

meetings,

negotiating

and

framing

cultivating

resolving

programs

and

support,

constituency

conflict,

policies,

analyzing

motivating

measuring

and

data,

support,
personnel,
evaluating

programs, and establishing marketing strategy (McDade, 1987).
Hodgkinson

(1978)

points out that many administrators

tend to devote most of their time to management issues, those
problems which are more routine, definitive, programmatic, and
susceptible to quantitative methods.

Therefore, the difficult

administrative issues, those "aspects dealing more with the
formulation of purpose, the value laden issues and the human
component

of

organizations"

are

generally

neglected

in

practice (p. 5).
Managerial concerns have been the focus of the need for

29

management development for administrators In higher education.
Also,

the

actually

majority
only

Leaders

the

examined

whose

institutions

of

subjects

environment

will

studies

is

increasingly

on

who

leadership

were

rapidly
reflect

male

leaders.

changing,
the

skills

whose

diversity

and

fragmentation of society, will need different qualities and
skills.

However,

few studies examine those competencies.

Therefore, it is necessary to examine what competencies female
leaders

perceive

they

needed

for

their

professional

development in higher education institutions.

In my study,

those competencies are investigated by interviewing female
leaders.

Female Leaders1 Learning in the Workplace
Researchers in management and leadership have generally
neglected issues regarding the socialization of leaders and
managers.

Managers and leaders learn continuously from their

job commitment.
their

mistakes.

executive

must

For example, administrators can learn from
One

of

the

most

master

is

that

of

difficult
allowing

a

lessons

subordinate

manager to learn by being permitted to make mistakes.
one

of

the

ingredients

in

fostering

the

growth

subordinate in the organization (Highman, 1985).

an

That is
of

a

Similarly,

the research on college and university leadership has paid
little attention to leadership development because it focuses
largely

on

the

end

product

rather

than

on

the

process

30

(McCauley,

1986);

that

successful

executives

is,
and

it

explores

the

organizations,

nature

and

not

of
the

experiences or interventions that contributed to that success.
Recent studies emphasize that leaders are not born, but
made.

In these studies, the researchers follow the assumption

that leaders can be developed through continuous effort before
and after they take the position.
leaders'

pools

continuous

of

knowledge

learning.

What

In this changing society,

should
does

a

information that discrepancies exist?
if practices which were successful
succeed?

be

renovated

leader

do

through

with

the

What does a leader do
in the past no longer

The leader has to learn about the matter in any way

that is necessary to do the job.
Learning needs and subsequent learning experiences might
differ

among

leaders

who

experiences in the past.

have

different

life

and

work

For example, Kanter (1977b) argues

that learning needs are different for men and women:
While
men
may
need
help
learning
about
relationships and emotional expression, women need
help learning just the opposite: the experience of
power,
task
orientation,
intellectualizing,
behaving
'impersonally'
and
addressing
large
groups, invulnerability to feedback, and other new
experiences in interpersonal behavior for many
women, (p. 383)
Donnell and Hall

(1980)

found that women managers reported

lower basic needs and higher needs for self-actualization.
Compared with males, they reported, female managers were more
concerned

with

opportunities

for

growth,

autonomy,

and

challenge and less concerned with work environment and pay.

31

Also, Chusmir (1985) contended that women managers exhibited
a more mature and higher-achieving motivational profile than
the male managers.
Leaders' learning activities may not be clear enough to
describe them in a systematic way.

But even though it is

nonconscious, the leadership learning process is similar to
another

adult

learning

Knowles

(1980)

constructed

methodology

process:
an

self-directed

educational

for adult education.

learning.

philosophy

He contends

and

that using

experience as a rich resource for learning is an essential
aspect of adult learning.
in

adult

learning.

Self-directedness is a major issue

Jentz

and

Wofford

describe

several

learning steps.
Starting
Points:
Acknowledging
discrepancies
between intentions, actions, and consequences
Examining Practice: Confronting assumptions about
self and others
Making New Sense: Entertaining the possibility of
alternative assumptions about self and others
Translating: Attempting, in a protected setting, to
invent and practice new behavior based on the new
assumptions
Taking New Action: Using one's position as a
leader, informed by new assumptions, to create the
conditions for learning. (1979, pp. 6-7)
These five components are not necessarily sequential, but each
could be a useful step in a leader's learning experiences.
Much of leadership development takes place on the job.
McCauley's

(1986)

categories

of

study

resources

contributed
of

to

leadership

identifying
development:

broad
job

32

assignments, other people, hardships or setbacks executives
endured in their jobs,

and formal training.

Also McCall,

Lombardo, and Morrison (1988) emphasize job assignments, other
people,

and hardships

as

learning sources.

According to

McCauley, most managers learn on the job, and challenge is an
important

source

of

learning.

failures.

Recognizing one's limitations can be a potentially

positive outcome of a failure.
received

the

investment.
— from

most

attention

People

also

learn

from

Another area, training, has
and

certainly

the

greatest

Training programs cover a wide variety of topics

specific

skills

to

broadening

organizational

understanding and "personal revitalization"

(Green, 1988a).

Other people are important sources of learning— colleagues,
subordinates, superiors, and mentors.

Bosses and peers offer

important learning experience because they can be sources of
feedback.

In addition, bosses can be positive or negative

role models.
Mentors

have

received

a great

deal

of

popular and in higher education literature.
suggests

the

mentor

relationship

as

one

attention

in

Levinson (1978)
of

the

most

developmentally important relationships a person can have in
adulthood.

He emphasized that the relationship should be

marked by the qualities of intimacy, freedom for growth, and
the presence of a nurturing structure.

Also Sheehy (1976)

studies the mentor relationship from a women's perspective and
suggested that the absence of a mentor would make development

33

difficult.
learning,

Moore

(1984)

feedback

organization,
important

found

from

the

that

the

mentor,

opportunity

visibility

in

for
the

and access to the mentor's network are all

benefits

derived

from

the

mentor-protege

relationship.
Kram (1985) emphasized that the mentoring relationships
helped the younger people learn new technical skills, become
socialized into the organization, and develop career-planning
skills.

She

functions:

identified

career

and

two

primary

types

psychosocial.

By

of

mentoring

psychosocial

functions, Kram (1985) refers to those aspects of enhancing a
"sense of confidence, identity, and effectiveness" (p. 23) in
a professional role including role modeling, acceptance and
confirmation, counseling, and friendship.
functions

refer

to

those

aspects

In contrast, career

of

enhancing

career

advancement including "sponsorship, exposure-and-visibility,
coaching,

protection,

and

provision

for

challenging

assignments" (p. 23).
Mentors have a subtle influence on their mentees as role
models and same-gender role modeling is a highly significant
influence (Villani, 1983) .

Josefowitz (1980) indicated that

a woman

qualities

sponsor has

some

sponsor: "She can serve as a role model.

not found

in

a male

She also understands

what it is like to be a woman in your position" (p. 96).
Fobbs (1988) found that women presidents are active on
the

national,

state,

and

local

levels

in

professional

34

organizations.

She identified professional organizations as

significant

women

career

to

enhancement

intensified

presidents'
through

networking,

professional

their

and

increased

heightened

growth

and

visibility,

affiliation

with

professional organizations.
The process of building professional alliances is called
networking.

Networking links people to each other as career

resources and supports and helps others find resources they
need.

Therefore,

resource.

networking can be an important learning

DeWine distinguishes professional networking from

the processes involved in a "support group."
Professional networking is a process of linking
people to each other as career resources; and
assisting, supporting and helping others to find
the resources they need.
This is different from
[a] "support group" which are groups that meet to
help one another cope with some psychological or
physiological problem or meet because they share
some common religious or political belief.
(1983,
pp. 86-87)
Support groups also serve as a good learning resource for
women

in

the

"leadership
different

workplace.

enhancement"

individuals,

and

Green
occurs
it

(1988a)
in

emphasizes

different

is more

ways

self-generated

that
for
and

eclectic than it is susceptible to programmed efforts.
Considering the concept of culture as a pattern of basic
assumptions— invented, discovered, or developed— the role of
female leaders and their professional development are closely
related with the organizational culture of higher education
institutions.

35

Mills (1988) argues that gender is a cultural phenomenon,
that organizations are a key aspect of a given culture and,
hence, that organizational analysis needs to take account of
the

relationship

Mills

suggests

between

that

gender

complex

and

organizational

organization

bears

life.

on gender

discrimination in at least three vital ways: feminine traits,
gender identities, and organizational practices, for example,
recruitment and promotion.

One major feature is related to

female traits as follows:
Cultural values associated with maleness are
favored characteristics of many organizations— the
assumed distinctiveness of males and females
according to respective traits of reason and
emotion
is
often mirrored
in
organizational
processes
which
emphasize
rationality
and
bureaucracy while seeking to suppress emotions
associated with home and family, (p. 352)
Acker

(1990)

investigates

the

process

of

gendered

organization by using the terms of organizational logic.
is,

"organizational

logic

assumes

a

congruence

That

between

responsibility, job complexity, and hierarchical position" (p.
148).

She argued that a gendered organization evolves from

the process of gender stereotyping: Specific job positions in
a job hierarchy do not start out being gender-associated;
however,

when a high proportion

certain

levels,

gender

of women begin to occupy

stereotyping

occurs,

and

job

characteristics begin to be formulated according to gender.
In discussing gendered organization, she refers to the points
made by Steinberg and Haignere (1987), who argued that skills
in managing money, more often found in men's than in women's

36

jobs, frequently receive more points than skills in dealing
with clients or human relations skills, more often found in
women's than in men's jobs.
These studies on organizational culture indicate that
women in an organization are facing different issues from men,
such

as

invisibility,

support.

stereotypical

views,

and

lack

of

This implies that women may experience different

person-situation interactions throughout their professional
career.

The academy needs to try to search for and keep the

best leaders and especially to encourage the identification of
potential women leaders who would bring unique talents to
leadership positions.

What do female leaders experience in

the process of external adaptation and internal integration?
How do female leaders learn from organizational life to cope
with its problems and to accomplish their job responsibilities
in

higher

education

institutions?

investigate

female

leaders'

experiences

which

result

It

perceptions
from

is

valuable

of their

interacting

to

learning

with

the

organizational environment: the person-situation interactions
of female leaders in higher education institutions.

The Uniqueness of Female Leaders' Professional Development
It is difficult to define what professional development
should be.

One thing that emerged from the literature review

is that professional

development,

in a narrow

sense,

was

defined in terms of career advancement or the improvement of

37

specific

management

planning,

public speaking skills,

budgeting,

and

professional

so

skills

forth

(McDade,

development

identity and personal

for

is

administrators,

as

financial management and
1987).

directly

issues,

such

since,

But

related

for women,
to

women's

from a developmental

perspective, growth implies complex and ongoing interactions
between

the

self

and

the

environment.

(Levine,

1989).

Therefore, a new definition on professional development needs
to be developed from a broad developmental perspective for the
study of female leaders.
In

this

study,

variety of women's
learning

professional
experience

experiences

professional

in

activities,

the

as

development
female

profession,

leadership

includes

leaders,

such as

participation

practices,

a

and

in

career

advancement.
Leadership is a combination of individual traits, learned
behaviors

and

skills,

and historical

circumstances,

coexist and change in a highly complex way.

Green

points

of

out

that

development

is

the

most

working

difficult

with

aspect

individual

which
(1988b)

leadership

personalities

or

traits, since an intellectual understanding of oneself does
not necessarily lead to the desire or the ability to change
personality.
Some

assumptions

development.

are

made

in

discussing

leadership

The primary assumption is that leadership can be

developed through learning procedures that were mentioned in

38

the previous section of this paper.
suggest

that

the

growth

and

enhances the lives of all.

Sagaria and Johnsrud

development

of

each

person

Also, they contend that most work

is enhanced more by collaboration than by top-down authority.
In terms of leadership development for females, they valued
shared

decision

making

"as

a

learning

and

participatory

process and as a means of enhancing outcomes" (1988, p. 16).
Hennig and Jardim

(1977) advocate that men are better

prepared to be managers because of such factors as their
greater participation in team sports during their formative
years.

They see women as coming out of childhood lacking in

essential
however,

managerial
women

skills

and

traits.

could still be successful

They

believe,

as managers

and

compete on an equal footing with men if they developed the
skills they had not developed in earlier years.

In addition,

Pilotta (1983) suggests that many women in the organization
have

found

obstacles

to

successful

communication

between

themselves and their staff or between themselves and their
supervisors.

That is, women have perceived some communication

difficulties as unique to them.
a

male-centered

criteria

These are the typical case of

approach

to

the

leadership

competencies in terms of the "Women Deficiency Model."
In contrast, the new psychology of women tells us that
women have human relationships with others which are different
from the kinds of relationships men have with others.

The

nature of these relationships which are unique to women is

39

recognized by some researchers as an essential element of
leadership

skill.

Gilligan's

(1982)

conceptualization of

moral development— centered on relationships and caring about
others— provides

insights

for

the

possibility

forming

a

concept of female leadership which focuses on the value of
caring

for others.

Heller

(1982)

shows,

in her study on

leadership styles, that women are more humane, egalitarian,
and friendly.

Also Shakeshaft (1989), as mentioned earlier,

contributed one chapter of her book to identifying the gender
differences of educational administrators.
Gilligan
their

(1982)

study

of

and Lyons

(1983,

gender-related

1989)

have extended

differences

in

perspectives to the area of identity development.

moral

They have

shown how the responsibility orientation is more central to
those whose conceptions of self are rooted in a sense of
connection

and

relatedness

to

others,

whereas

the

rights

orientation is more common to those who define themselves in
terms of separation and autonomy.

Women identify harmony and

interdependence between persons as values to be cultivated in
relationships (McEwen & Shertzer, 1979; Miller, 1976).

Women

seek achievement and competence, but they also speak of the
need to balance achievement with affiliation (Baruch, Barnett,
& Rivers, 1983).
enabling

of

The caring and nurturing of others and the

others

to

grow

and

develop

are

values

long

recognized in women.
Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule (1986) examined

40

women's

ways

of

knowing

and

described

five

different

perspectives from which women view reality differently from
men.

As they pointed out,

accepted

stereotype

of

it is likely that the commonly

women's

thinking

as

emotional,

intuitive, and personalized has contributed to the devaluation
of women's minds and contributions.

These studies support the

notion that women are different in their thinking, emotions,
and relationships with others.
Marshall (1984) categorized three main themes of a womancentered management style in business:

(1)

"a belief that

women have access to more varied and what they called 'softer'
techniques in personal relationships; (2) their understanding
of and sympathy for,
subordinates;

(3)

others'

women's

relation to employment"

needs,

greater

(p. 160).

particularly those of
freedom

of

choice

in

She argues that women's

approach to management is based on principles of cooperation
rather than competition and a belief in honesty, authenticity
and cooperation, and consistently rejecting superficiality,
putting on false appearances and aggressiveness.

The question

is whether these styles are continuously developed through
leadership practice.
leaders

in

higher

If so,
education

why or why not? How do the
institutions

experience

the

procedure of person-situation interaction in their leadership
development?
Conoley (1980) indicates in her investigation that women
and

men

encounter

different

problems

when

they

assume

41

leadership roles.

From her review of research studies on

leadership, she argues that "the skills of leadership are not
biologically
shaped,

rooted

or

facilitated,

entire

process

sexism

and

a

of

genetically

determined

or stunted by

socialization"

history

of

social

(p.

40) .

differential

but

forces

rather
and the

Institutional

socialization

powerful forces as well as an individual's belief.

are

Therefore,

in terms of leadership development, it is far more exact to
consider,

in addition to personal traits,

constraints,

the

task,

and

the

the situational

characteristics

of

the

followers.
While women's participation in leadership positions has
increased

for the

development

have

special needs.

last decade,
changed

little

the

issues

with

for leadership

respect

to

women's

As Shavlik and Touchton (1988) suggest, such

women's issues as the rising numbers of women in the work
force;

interpersonal dynamics between men and women in the

workplace;
practices

work-home
in

conflicts;

recruitment

and

stereotyping in evaluation,

equitable
selection;

promotion,

important to the environment.

policies
and

and

sex-role

and hiring are very

Part of the reason for women's

underrepresentation in the higher ranks of administration is
complicated by sex-role stereotypes.
By
position

participating
in

in

organizations,

a

male-centered
women

administrative

administrators

face

a

different situation from that which their male counterparts

42

face.

How does the psychological uniqueness of women relate

to women's knowledge, attitude, values, and their professional
development?

Such questions are worthy of exploration in

order to understand how women enact their different learning
experiences in their profession.

Conceptual Framework
The review of literature shows that women and men differ
in their leadership styles.
leadership

as

a

product

But most of the studies see

rather

than

as

a

process.

To

investigate leadership from a process view, it is necessary to
explore

the

leaders'

following:

learning

person-situation

experiences,

interactions

essentially

from

and
a

developmental perspective.
There is a major shift in feminist theories: Whereas in
the past, feminist theorists have emphasized equality between
males and females, some current feminist theorists are moving
toward a celebration of gender differences.
tradition,

In the past

studies of female leaders focus on veiling the

problems of women's uderrepresentation or on examining some
exceptional

women,

as

Shakeshaft

(1989)

indicates.

In

contrast, the major concern of my study is exploring women's
learning

experience

as

a

process

of

their

development from the women's own perspective.

professional

The focus of my

study is not only the quantities of managerial skills leaders
obtained;

instead,

my

study

focuses

on

the

qualities

of

43

women's learning experiences in their leadership development:
How/what do women leaders learn before and after they take
their current positions; and how do they enact their learning
experiences in their profession?
It is valuable to note that, recently, women's emotional,
intuitive,

and

personalized

characteristics,

which

were

ignored and devaluej in the male dominant academic society,
are being revalued
feminist

in a new way— from a gender sensitive

perspective.

That

is,

a

conceptual

occurring in how women's qualities are observed.
the

Kuhnian

scientific

leadership development?
female

leaders,

as

revolution

imply

change

is

What does

about

female

My concern is how the nature of

intuitive,

emotional,

and relationship

centered, is developed into unique characteristics of women's
learning and their leadership practice.
issues are examined

In this study, these

in terms of the uniqueness of female

leaders' professional development.

Summary
To explore the competencies and uniqueness of female
leaders' professional development, in this chapter, literature
from four areas has been reviewed.

The studies on the new

psychology of women suggest that women have different values
and human relationships, which are very important elements in
leadership
rarely

practice.

been

unveiled

Women's
in

unique

higher

characteristics

education

have

institutional

44
administration

from a gender-sensitive perspective

and

in

women's own terms. Research studies of leadership competencies
in higher education institutions and women's learning in the
workplace have been reviewed to highlight women's different
experiences in organizations.
definition of female leaders'

In this chapter, an integrative
professional development was

presented in a broad sense, that is, professional development
includes learning experiences in the profession, participation
in professional activities, leadership practices, and career
advancement as well as the improvement of managerial skills.
The conceptual framework of my study was presented based on
the review of related literature.

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
Introduction
Among

the

educational

research

traditions,

two

contrasting research paradigms are called the "positivistic"
and

"interpretive"

approaches.

Positivistic

is

the

perspective taken by the researchers who are attempting to
discover the lawful relationships among the features.
other research perspective,
researchers

who

are

interpretive,

trying

to

The

is taken by the

discover

the

meanings

constructed by the participants as they attempt to make sense
of the circumstances they both encounter and create.

This

study used the interpretive approach rather than positivistic
approach in exploring female leaders' perceptions of their
competencies

and

uniqueness

for

their

professional

development.
Most of the literature in the management field advocates
comparative male-female studies and analyses.

The traditional

studies on women focused on some exceptional women and tried
to find the factors about "how to make it" (Marshall, 1984).
In this case men invariably became the standard against which
women's experiences were evaluated.

Using men as the standard

by which to judge women's behavior and career advancement as
a general-purpose measure of success are the approach's most
45

46

powerful assumptions.

They are concerned positivistically

about its outcome by using systematic,

scaled instruments.

Female leaders' behaviors are regarded as fact, measurable
quantitatively
counterparts.
leaders1

according

to

the

same

criteria

as

male

The problem with this model is that it neglects

emotions

and

their

perceptions

based

on

their

specific experience.
This study explored female leaders' perceived uniqueness
as it affected their professional development, which includes
learning

experience

professional

in

the

activities,

profession,

leadership

participation

practice,

and

in

career

advancement as well as the improvement of managerial skills in
higher education institutions.
has

a

unique

culture

We find that each organization

because

environments are different.

constituents,

tasks,

and

Interpretive research allows us

to examine such a culture.
Erickson (1986) used the term "interpretive" to refer to
the

whole

family

ethnographic,
interactionist,

of

approaches

qualitative,

to

case

phenomenological,

research
study,

and

called
symbolic

constructivist.

Interpretive methods are most appropriate when we need to know
more about the specific meaning-perspectives of the particular
participants and the identification of specific cause linkages
that were not identified by experimental methods.

Therefore,

among the two research traditions, the interpretative approach
was

determined

to

be

appropriate

for

this

study

in

47

investigating

the

specific

meaning-perspectives

of

female

leaders' learning experiences.

Methodological Framework
I

did

not

use

any

previously

existing

research

instruments which had been designed to investigate "leadership
style," since the conceptual framework of my study differs
from studies which used existing instruments.
various

biases

based

on

gender

discipline and the research area.

is

A number of

predominant

in

the

Eichler's (1988) argument

makes a strong point about these biases.
Eichler (1988) pointed out that none of us has ever lived
in a nonsexist

society.

In theoretical

terms,

nonsexist

society can be described, but we can not fully appreciate its
nature until we are able to lift ourselves out of our current
confining parameters:
We have been brought up in an intellectually
limited universe.
our dilemma is that all our
major concepts, our way of seeing reality, our
willingness to accept proof, have been shaped by
one dimension -one sex - rather than by two.
For
as long as we remain within this intellectual
universe, we are incapable of comprehending its
limitations, believing it to be the only world that
exists. In order to truly understand our universe,
we must create a vantage point that allows us to
observe it both for what it is and for what it is
not. (p. 2)
Becoming aware of sexism in research methods might be the
first step in doing gender-sensitive research from a feminist
perspective.

When we are aware that sexism exists in research

methods,

can

we

avoid the

biases

try

to

reinterpret

the

48

existing studies from a different perspective.
McCormack provides the rationale for feminist research as
follows:
Assuming that reality is unjust, a just theory may
be internally consistent but weak in supportive
evidence. If we knew nothing at all about reality,
whether it was just or unjust, there would be an
equal chance of making a case for social justice or
social injustice. (1981, p. 5)
As McCormack suggests, feminist research is a subset of those
studies

which

justice.

attempt to

embody theoretical

Like any other research,

concerns

for

such as that on racial

equality and class equality, feminist studies are sociallyconscious,

value-oriented

research

which

have

their

own

logical system, but the rules for verification are the same as
descriptive research.
Peplau and Conrad

(1989)

argue for the importance of

interpreting of data in terms of "old tools in new ways" (p.
382).

That is, the method is important, but the way of using

the method and the way in which the data are interpreted are
critically important.

In this study, I focused on women's

learning experiences from their own perspective and in their
own terms, in the belief that these experiences are valuable
in their own right and that they are hidden under a malecreated organization.

Because I chose a gender-sensitive

approach from a feminist perspective,
interpretive method of analysis.

I decided to use an

This approach did not merely

add women as additional subjects in studies that so far mainly
have been interpreted through men's eyes.

It was also an

49

attempt to change the conceptual framework in which that study
takes place.

Subi ects
The subjects were

selected from the

following ranks:

women administrators at the rank of president, provost, vice
president,

and academic dean who are working in four-year,

public-supported higher education institutions in Michigan.
The selection procedure was guided by the recommendations of
women administrators in higher levels who have membership in
a women's professional organization in Michigan.

I found that

only a few female administrators currently worked at top level
administrative positions in each university.

Two or three

female administrators from each university were contacted from
the

list

of

Directory.

the

1990

edition

of

the

Michigan

Education

Sixteen administrators were contacted by sending

a letter of invitation but three deans expressed that it would
be difficult for them to participate because of their travel
schedules.

Thirteen of them accepted and participated in my

study.

They were five central administrators in academic

affairs

in a position

of

associate provost

and executive

assistant to president and eight academic deans.

Data Collection Method
The goal of this study was to explore self-perceived
competencies and uniqueness of female leaders.

A series of

50

open-ended

interviews,

follow-up

questions,

and

document

analysis methods were used with the focus on work both for
their professional careers and everyday life aspects.

Before

conducting the data collection, a pilot study was conducted to
examine whether the questions would be suitable for collecting
data.
The primary method was the

interview.

Interviewees'

vitae, articles, and speeches were analyzed in advance for an
indepth interview, and written documents such as publications,
booklets, and information packets were used for supplementary
data.

According to Taylor and Bogdan (1982), the best way to

understand the subject's experience is to begin the interview
with an open-ended question.

In this perspective, open-ended

interview questions were developed for my study.

(Appendix

E)
The Pilot Study
To

examine

whether

the

interview

questions

are

appropriate to explore the research questions, a pilot study
was conducted by interviewing a senior central administrator.
The interview was tape recorded and transcribed for analysis.
It was useful for organizing and refining questions.
After I contacted one woman, an executive assistant to
the president of a university, she told me she would be unable
to work with me but gave me the name of the woman with whom I
did the pilot study.
with

her,

and

the

Three telephone calls were made to talk
interview

was

arranged

at

a

mutually

51

agreeable time.

She completed a demographic information sheet

prior to the interview.

The interview was open-ended and

lasted approximately one hour and 30 minutes.
interview

questions

were

answered

about

in

The actual
hour

and

10

minutes, but I requested some comments from her about whether
it would be desirable to make some changes in those questions.
She recommended that I add some questions that would address
women's experiences more specifically.

The pilot study was a

great help in refining interview questions.
After analyzing the results, some terms in the original
interview questions were refined.

Regarding the competencies,

she emphasized analytical ability, critical thinking, writing,
speaking, human relation skills, and political sensitivity.
As

for

the

identified.

resources

of

learning,

graduate

training

was

She talked human relation skills, sensitivity,

and intuition as advantages, and social bias and stereotypical
view as women's

disadvantages.

The questions

of

"recent

readings" and describing "learning experiences" were added
after the pilot study since those issues were not answered
directly during the first questions but were identified as
very important in understanding the interviewee's responses.
The First Round: Interviews
When a one-week interval had passed after I sent the
first

letter

of

invitation

to

my

study

(Appendix

B) , I

contacted the identified female leaders individually by phone.
Among the 16 first contacted leaders, 13 agreed to participate

52

in this study.

After they expressed their interest in the

first phone call with my academic advisor and me, I sent them
the second letter explaining the interview procedures and
requesting written articles,

speeches,

and their vitae as

background information for an indepth interview (Appendix C).
Also,

an explanation of the study/a research consent form

(Appendix

D),

a

sheet

for

demographic

information,

and

interview questions (Appendix E) were enclosed along with the
second letter.
vitae

Four of the leaders sent their articles and

in advance of the

interview,

and six other leaders

handed them to me right before the interview session.

Three

other leaders requested that I choose any interested articles
and speeches

from a list which they sent to me.

Once I

selected and requested the specific materials, they sent them
by mail.
I

Those correspondences proceeded in a timely manner.
arrived

20-30

minutes

earlier

than

the

appointed

interview time so I could talk with secretaries about the
interviewee or review the vita the secretary handed me in
those cases where the interviewee kept the vita instead of
sending it to me by mail.

Most of the interviewees were well

prepared for our interview and I could see their thoroughness
demonstrated by

some written memos

they

had made

on

the

interview question sheet that I had sent beforehand.
Each

interview

took

one

to

two

hours.

The

shortest

interview took 55 minutes and the longest interview took 2
hours and 20 minutes.

All the interviews were conducted at

53

their offices: 3 interviews were around desks, 8 interviews
were around meeting tables, 2 interviews were around a table
while having tea together.

The last two interviews were most

comfortable, since they talked without time restriction.

Each

interview was tape recorded and transcribed.
As the interviewer,

I allowed the leaders to express

their own accounts sufficiently in their own terms. After an
interview, the interviewees shared written documents such as
publications,

booklets,

and

information

packets

of

the

university for additional information.
The Second Round: Follow-Up Questions
At

the

end

of

each

first

interview,

I

asked

each

administrator whether I could contact her again about the
follow-up questions related to the responses of the first
interview.

All

of

them

agreed.

After

analyzing all of the first interviews,
questions based on their responses.

transcribing

and

I developed several

The follow-up questions

were tailored specifically to each interviewee and they also
drew on issues or information raised in the initial interviews
with other informants.

In requesting responses to the follow-

up questions, I provided three possible options by which they
could communicate their responses: (1) hand written or typed,
(2) a face-to-face interview, and (3) a telephone interview.
Most of them

preferred written responses and mailed them to

me.

these responses very timely and very useful.

I found
When

I

first

sent

the

letter

requesting

follow-up

54

responses (Appendix F), seven leaders responded by answering
Parts A and B and by filling out the follow-up questions.

I

obtained more responses when I made phone calls to the other
six leaders.

As a final reminder, I sent a third letter to

the other five leaders

(Appendix H) .

From these five,

I

received four responses by phone and found that two leaders
were out of the country.

In the end I succeeded in completing

a second round of follow-up questions with ten informants.
Those follow-up questions were more successful than I had
expected

and

specifically

were
the

extremely

experiences

helpful

in

of

individual

each

exploring
in

more
her

particular situation.
The following three areas are the major issues included
in the follow-up questions (Appendix G ) :
First, additional information was requested for selected
issues.

During the first interview, some leaders mentioned

the areas hard to develop for their leadership competencies,
their mentee relationships, and their professional values—
topics which were not included in the interview questions as
important areas to be examined.

And some leaders talked about

their strengths or weaknesses as an individual leader when I
asked about their advantages or disadvantages.

Those items

identified as useful information and valuable questions to ask
other leaders.
Second, a reading check list was included.
about

their

recent

reading

materials,

some

When I asked
interviewees

55

presented very specific information but others did not.

The

question of "what do the leaders read in their profession?" is
important to understand.

Therefore, more precise and specific

responses were needed.
checklist

of

recent

To get more detailed information, a

readings

was

developed

based

on

the

responses from the first interview.

In this list, the major

materials

books

(journals,

included

were

bulletins,

titles

and

of

and

periodicals

newspapers— quarterly,

monthly,

weekly and daily), and also the names of authors were listed
in case they did not remember the exact titles.
Third, more expanded responses were requested for each
unique issue derived from the interviewee's first interview
responses.

In analyzing the responses of the first interview,

some interesting issues were found that I wanted to explore
further. Those issues included girls' unique relationships,
women's

intuitions,

different

between men and women,

ways

experience

of
of

analyzing
a

problems

female management

program, different competencies for different administrative
positions of the career ladder, meaning of success in their
position,

learning

from female mentors,

and so

forth.

I

limited the issues to one for each interviewee choosing the
one issue that

I thought was the most

important

for that

specific individual.
Nature of Documents
Thirty one pieces of work and 13 vitae were collected
from the 13 leaders.

Those include 12 published articles, 8

56

unpublished articles, 7 speeches, 3 bulletins, and one copy of
a picture of an artistic work.

Some of the leaders suggested

that I request specific items that I wanted, since they had
too

many

articles

Therefore,

among

published

these

to

items,

provide

copies

some were

of

selected

all.

by

the

leaders and others were selected by me related to the issues
of women, leadership, and higher education.
Their

resumes,

which

included

specific

lists

of

professional affiliations, gave me a general understanding of
their career patterns and the professional activities of a
leader.

Articles and speeches were used in analyzing the

leaders' professional ethics, values, beliefs, and visions for
the future in terms of female issues, the role of leaders, and
higher education.

Data Analysis
The

primary

data

analysis

method

of

this

study

was

interpretive analysis of qualitative documents and interview
data.

As just described, data collected in this study were

interviews,
articles,

follow

up

speeches,

publications, booklets,

questions,
and

participants'

written

documents

and information packets.

were transcribed and edited for analysis.

resumes,
such

as

Interviews

I analyzed all the

data in terms of issues and the meaning of the content.

I

used a content-analysis method for all the documents in order
to

identify

the

female

leaders'

competencies

and

their

57

uniqueness.
As Bogdan and Biklen

(1982)

suggested for qualitative

research,

I chose an ongoing method of analysis, beginning

from the

first

interview and the

first

document

I read,

continuing up to and including the completion of this paper.
After

analyzing

interviews,

the

pilot

emerging

hypotheses

directed

study

insights,
the

next

and

the

hunches,

phase

of

first
and
data

round

of

tentative
collection.

Merriam (1988) stresses the interactive nature of qualitative
study

in

data

collection,

analysis,

and

reporting.

In

analyzing the data, I focused on the nature of the interaction
between

me

and

the

informants,

the

perceptions, and rich, thick description.

interpretation

of

Therefore, the data

analysis procedure depended on my sensitivity and analytical
skills.

My

interviews,

own

memos,

records

of

reflections

after

and the insights I have gained and recorded at

other moments were handled in the same manner as the actual
data.
To analyze the interview data,

I developed categories

which described the clusters of meaning which I saw emerging
from responses of each interviewee.

After categorizing the

terms according to emergent patterns, I checked those patterns
with two outside readers for confirmation that the categories
were suitable.
leaders'
learning

I used the actual terms that appeared in the

responses

to

experiences

describe
and

the reported competencies,

resources,

advantages

and

58

disadvantages,

and

strengths and weaknesses.

Frequencies

were used to rank the repeatedly occurred categories.

To

identify any differences between central administrators and
deans,

these two groups were counted separately in content

analysis.

Summary
In this Chapter,
study was described.

the methodological framework of this
From an interpretive approach, my study

used an interview and document analysis method to explore the
uniqueness of female leaders' professional development.

I

chose an ongoing method of analysis beginning from the first
interview,

continuing throughout writing up my paper.

The

subjects of the study were 13 women administrators in Michigan
four-year public higher education institutions.
I

collected

data

during

the

first

round,

which

was

interviewing, and a second round, which was written follow-up
questions,

and

between

these

two,

I

collected

speeches, resumes, and other information packets.

articles,
These were

analyzed through content analysis and categorized by meaning
for each participant.

Frequencies were used to rank the

responses among the categories of each issue.

CHAPTER IV

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA:
FEMALE LEADERS' PERCEIVED COMPETENCIES AND UNIQUENESS
Introduction
In this chapter, I present data in four major sections.
The first section provides an illustration of the demographics
of the subjects.

They are the 13 female administrators in the

positions of associate provost,
president,

and dean in Michigan four-year public supported

universities.
will

be

executive assistant to the

The work and competencies of the female leaders

presented

in the

second

section.

In

the

third

section, their learning experiences will be analyzed from two
perspectives: How they learned (the resources of learning),
and what they learned through their leadership positions (the
learning experiences).
Learning did not occur through "separate,

independent

learning experiences;" rather it occurred through "connected,
integrated

learning

experiences"

personal and professional life.
learning
section

experiences
but

will

be

will

be

handled

in

the

female

As a result,

mentioned
in

each

some of the

in more
of

leaders'

those

than

one

sections

differently, according to the specific purpose of presentation
in that section.
In the final section,

the unique qualities of female

leaders will be presented from two perspectives:
59

What the

60

female

leaders

perceive

(advantages/strengths)

to

be

the

or hindered

their professional development.

factors

that

helped

(disadvantages/weakness)

I distinguish advantages from

strengths, since I interpret advantages as structural benefits
which are socially constructed ideas about women as a gender
group, whereas I identify the strengths as individual benefits
which

result

from

particular

personal

qualities

of

each

individual.
The results are based on interviews with participants and
written documents, such as the interviewees' vitae, articles,
and speeches.

The data will be presented by using direct

quotes from interviews and documents and through the use of
frequencies

from

the

content

analysis

of

interviews.

I

present the two groups of leaders (5 central administrators
and 8 deans)

in two separate categories for each response,

since they perceived the leadership competencies they needed
and learning experiences from different perspectives.
Names will be used in citing quotes from the leaders to
show a unique pattern of responses on specific issues for each
individual; however, to protect their confidentiality, all the
names are pseudonyms.

Demographic Information
The demographic information is summarized in Table IV-1.
The deans were primarily academic deans of colleges and there
was one dean of a graduate school.

All but one are currently

61

assigned administrators.

One interviewee had worked four

years as an administrator and has now returned as a regular
faculty member at the same university where she had served as
interim vice provost.

I requested that she participate in

this study, since her experiences in a male dominated position
at the university would be valuable for my study.
identifying each individual,

To prevent

I present only aggregate-level

demographic information.

Degrees and Major
The major areas of academic study of these female leaders
were mostly in the areas of language, humanities, and social
science.

Eleven of the subjects hold doctoral degrees in

sociology; family ecology; education; English; family studies
and

human

research;
philosophy.

development;
library

social

science

psychology;

and

higher

evaluation
education;

and
and

Their Bachelor's or Master's degree areas were in

communications, mathematics, art education, political science,
sociology, English, biology, and philosophy.

Years in College Administration
The average number of years the sample group served in
college administration was 14.8 years.

The deans'

average

number of years of experience in college administration was 16
while the central administrators' average numbers of years'
experience was 13 years.

The shortest number of years in

62

Table IV-1 Demographic Data
Classification
Age

Average of
the group

Aggregate
data
40 - 49: 7
50-59: 3
60-69: 3

Central Ad=49.6
Deans
=52. 8
Total
=51. 5

Current Position
Central Administrators: 5
Academic Deans
: 8
Final Degree

Major

Ph. D
Master
Working toward MA

:11
: 1
: 1

Art
Education/Ed'1 Administration
English (Language)
Evaluation & Research
Family Studies (Ecology, Human Development)
Library Science & Higher Education
Nursing
Philosophy
Political Science
Sociology

Years in College Administration
7-10 yrs: 4
13-18 yrs: 6
20-25 yrs: 3
Years in Current Position
2-3 yrs:
4-5 yrs:
6-8 yrs:
10-12 yrs:

2
6
3
2

Central Ad=13
yrs
Deans
=16
yrs
Total
=14. 8 yrs
yrs
Central Ad =4
=6. 1 yrs
Deans
=5. 3 yrs
Total

Marital Status
Married
: 6
Single(3)/Divorced(3)/Widowed(1): 7
Number of Children
No Children
1 Child
2 Children
5 Children

1
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1

:
:
:
:

7
2
3
1

63

college administration was 7 and the longest number of years
in administration was 25.

Years in Current Position
The average number of years that the sample group members
served in their current positions was 5.3 years.
average

number

positions was

of

years

in

6.1 years while the central

average number of years
years.

of experience

The deans'

their

current

administrators'

in their current positions was

4

The shortest number of years in a current position was

2 and the longest number of years of experience in a current
position was 12.

Aae
The average age of the female leaders was 51.5 years old.
Whereas

the

deans'

average age

was

52.8, the

administrators' average age was 49.6 years old.

Seven of the

leaders were between

40 to 49 years old; three other

were between

59,

50 to

and the

central

leaders

final three leaders were

between 60 to 69.

Marital Status and Number of Children
Marital status of the female leaders varied.

Six were

married, 3 were divorced, 1 was widowed, and 3 were single and
had never married.

Among the six married leaders, two leaders

each have one child, two leaders each have two children, and

64
one

leader

has

five

children

(one

of

her

own

stepchildren), and one leader has no child.
leader

has

her

own

two

children

but

the

and

four

One divorced
other

single/

divorced/widowed women do not have children.
In this section, demographic information of the subjects,
such

as

degrees,

majors,

experiences

in

college

administration, current positions, and marital status suggest
variation within the group.

In the next section, I examine

how this varied group perceives the competencies necessary for
their profession.

Critical Competencies
I asked the female leaders "What do you perceive to be
the

major

competencies

development?"

The

major

needed

for

competencies

your
the

professional
female

leaders

identified as necessary for their professional development
fall

into

two

categories:

competencies as a manager.

competencies

as

leader

and

They saw their two roles as leader

and as manager of the college as distinct.
manage,

a

As managers they

organize, and supervise the work of the chairs and

directors,

and they are responsible for overseeing matters

concerning the budget.

As leaders, they believe they have to

be visionary and creative in moving the institution forward
and in planning for the future needs of the students.

They

emphasized that being creative as a leader is essential in
higher

education

today.

As

I

explained

in

Chapter

II,

65

administrators'

role

as

leaders

separated for each respondent.

and

managers

can

not

be

Rather, the leaders noted that

they have dual roles and they needed competencies both as
leaders and managers most of the time for their profession.
Therefore, I categorize the perceived competencies according
to the emerging patterns of areas rather than to the role
expectations of leaders or managers.
In

the

first

round,

interviews,

87

instances

of

competencies were reported as critical for the female leaders'
professional development.
actual

phrase

or

term

In analyzing this data, I used the

given by

the

leader

in

describing

competencies, then I identified patterns of categories which
emerged across these individual examples.
instances, no double counting occurred.

In counting the

That is, if "budget

skills" were counted once as an incident for an interviewee,
then the same word "budget skills" was not counted again for
that respondent.

These emergent pattern categories were then

checked with two other researchers to determine if they were
suitable.

I found some differences in the responses between

the central administrators and the deans; therefore I counted
these two groups separately.
appear in each table.

Frequencies of the instances

The numbers in parentheses represent

the number of interviewees that responded for that category.
All of the tables in this chapter follow the same procedure.
Table IV-2 gives all the actual phrases and terms which
participants used directly.

Based on the responses, seven

66
Table IV-2 critical Competencies
Central
Academic
Administrators Deans Total (N)
People Related Competencies

Instances (People)
10(4)18(8)
28 (12)

Human Relation Skills
4
6
Team Building
1
Negotiating Skills
1
Diplomatic
1
Motivate People
1
Build Trust
1
Fairness
1
Appreciation/Understanding
2
Networking
2
Sense of Humor
1
Tactful
1
Communication
3
3
Intellectual Versatility
11(4)9(4)
Analysis/Synthesis
4
2
Information Dealing
1
Critical Thinking
1
2
Creativity
1
Fluency with Numbers
1
Quantitative
1
Computer Literacy
1
Writing
3
1
Speaking
1
1
Situation Handlincr
3(3) 7(5)
Problem Solving
1
1
Deal with Crisis/Conflict
2
Timing Decision
1
Stress Management
1
Time Management
2
Being Organized
1
1
Financial Resource Manaaement 4(3) 7(5)
Resource Management
2
2
Fund Development
l
Budget Management
2
4
Vision-Related Competencies
2(2) 7(5)
Being Visionary
2
2
Broad Perspective/Generalist 1
Linking Univ. with
Other Sectors
1
Image Making
1
Take Risk/Courage
2
Oraanizational Understandino 4(3) 1(1)
Sense of Org. Change
1
Understanding Students
1
Higher Education
1
Political Sensitivity
1
Understanding Org.
1
Self-Directed Learaina Skill 1(1) 3(3)
Self Learning Skill
1
Good Learner
1
Research Interest
1
Learning by Self
1
Total

35(5)53(8)

20 (8)

10 (8)

11 (8)

9 (7)

5 (4)

4 (4)

87 (13)

67

categories of competencies were developed as follows:
people-related

competencies;

competencies;

(3)

financial-resource
related

(2)

intellectual-versatility

situation-handling
management

competencies;

(6)

(1)

competencies;

competencies;

(5)

(4)

vision-

organizational-understanding

competencies; and (7) self-directed learning competencies.
First,

people-related

competencies

were

the

most

frequently pointed out of any competency by the female leaders
interviewed.

Twelve out of 13 leaders reported 28 instances

of people-related competencies. These include human relation
skills, team building, negotiating skills, being diplomatic,
being tactful, motivating people, building trust,

fairness,

appreciation, networking, and communication skills.
The leaders are dealing with a range of people: that is,
administrators,

faculty,

chairpersons,

executive managers,

alumni, the clerical and technical people, and so forth.

They

need political skills, since negotiating is necessary between
central administration and other people within the university,
with groups of people outside of the university, and with the
alumni.

They emphasized that all the different types of

people skills were very critical:
You need to know something about managing people,
you need to know something about dealing with
people, you have to know something about [dealing]
with creative people, how to make them, to free
them to be more creative.
(Brown)*
* I cite the quote with a name to show a unique pattern of
responses on specific issues for each individual.
As I
mentioned earlier, all the names I use in this study are
pseudonyms.

68

People are different.
They're a lot alike, but
they are different. And I think there has to be a
real appreciation for those differences....And an
acceptance
for
those
differences.
And
an
accommodation
for those differences
otherwise
you're going to keep coming up against a stone
wall.
Because you can't have cookie cutter
faculty.
They're all different.
And you can't
have administrators who are all the same. (Powers)
Team building is an important competency for the academic
leaders.

To recruit and maintain an excellent team,

the

leaders have to be competent in developing a qualified team.
A

leader,

whom

statement

that

development.

I call
she
She

outperform me."

Kelly,

wrote

believes

describes

in

her

in her
and

job

as

philosophical

supports
"to

faculty

help

others

Also, from the first interview with her, this

perspective was clearly addressed:
Another skill
that
I think is critical
is
contributing to the professional development of the
faculty that you're working for ... being able to
hire
people that are brighter than you or
surrounding yourself with people that have skills
that you don't have so that you can make up a team.
Not everybody can have every single skill but if
you try to fill in your empty spaces with people
that can do things you can't do then you have a
better chance of having a stronger team. (Kelly)
Most of the leaders saw the curriculum as primarily the
responsibility of the experts,

that is, the faculty.

leaders

of motivating

see

their

rewarding them,

job

as

one

the

The

faculty,

and helping to stimulate them to make sure

that they are always providing quality service.

The leaders

have to reassess continually the curricula to provide quality
education.

69

Second,

intellectual-versatility

competencies

were

identified in 20 instances as critical by 8 leaders.

The

female leaders' work is highly related to analytical ability,
since they have to use
decisions.
basic

around

information

in making

One interviewee I call Sheldon emphasized the

analytical

skills.

a range of

thinking

that

is

related

to

her

budget

Also, she emphasized the competencies which revolve
knowledge

strategies.

and

expertise

in

organizational-change

She stressed that it is necessary to have these

sort of quantitative skills plus some understanding of aspects
of higher education and program structure curriculum.
Well, I think if you look at this position, it
requires very good analytical skills, not simply to
do budgetary kinds of things ... you have to get
budgets to all balance and in terms of the
allocations that go to individual colleges ... but
it requires an analytical ability to try to look at
implications
of
decisions
that
are made
in
programmatic, personnel and financial terms....
Because much of what we need to do cannot be simply
bought by additions of new funds. There has to be
reconfiguration
and
restructuring
of
the
university, its values and leveraging, persuading,
cajoling, doing a lot of things. You have to have
a stance of an overall organizational change
strategy. (Sheldon)
Third,

competencies

for

situation

identified in 13 instances by 8 leaders.

handling

were

Situation-handling

competencies include problem-solving skills, dealing with a
crisis,
forth.

making timing decisions,

stress management,

and so

The leaders emphasized that the ability to make proper

decisions

in various situations

their tasks.

is critical to accomplish

For instance, one leader emphasized her role as

70

a

decision

maker

by

contrasting

the

differences

between

faculty and administrator:
The difference between a faculty member and an
administrator is that a faculty member is never
finished with anything, they're always refining,
and refining.... Whereas an administrator has to
make a decision right or wrong and then live with
it because you can't keep puddling around with it.
(Jones)
The toughest parts of their jobs were perceived to be timing
their decisions appropriately as well as making the proper
decisions.

One

interviewee

commented

on

this

point

as

follows:
No one is going to be patting you on the back and
saying, "Well, that was a wonderful decision." The
same with unpopular personnel decisions... .They may
tell you in private but you make those tough
decisions alone.
And that's the toughest part of
the job, I think, is decision making. (Kelly)
Also,

the respondents needed to resolve the conflicts

which result from various levels of the work situation.

One

leader mentioned the tension among male administrators about
her being the only female in her position as a former provost:
You might say there's a tension or a challenge
anytime you're the only female in an all male
group.
And that's happened to me a lot in my
career ... but I think it's important if you are
the only female or you are a minority in a group,
to make them feel comfortable with you. And that's
one thing I always try to do is put my male
colleagues at ease. (Brown)
Fourth, financial-resource management competencies were
identified in 12 instances as critical by 8 leaders.

These

include allocation of resources, fund development, and budget
management.

One leader described her work related to the

71

financial competencies as follows:
I have to be a good steward of the money, make sure
it's spent well, legally as well as ethically as
well as efficiently. (Powers)
The leaders said that equitable allocations of resources are
very difficult but

important.

They sometimes suffer from

resolving an issue of equitable allocation of resources.

For

instance, equitable allocation of resources on a group basis
is important, but one of the most difficult tasks they have.
Using cooperative ways of administering instead of top down
takes a longer time and greater effort.

One leader expressed

her difficulty as follows:
Well, we also took a considerable amount of time
and pain allocating equipment dollars and sharing
how we did equipment resources.
Well, and the
decisions were really pretty good decisions but
people are incredibly frustrated because it takes a
lot of time.... I would like us to get together as
a group and do that. (Kelly)
Fifth, vision-related competencies were identified in 9
instances by 7 leaders as critical.
visionary,

creating

a

symbol

of

These

include being

academism,

image

making,

responding to the future needs of the students, having a broad
perspective, linking the university to other sectors, and risk
taking/courage.

Five leaders strongly emphasized their view

on setting a vision as an essential competency for leaders in
academe.

For

instance,

an

interviewee

I

call

Powers

emphasized her role as providing some leadership, more than
managing.

Since the students will play their professional

roles into the 21st century, they just can't educate them for

72

right now.

She emphasized that the

students have

to be

prepared for the next ten, twenty, thirty years of service
that they are going to be providing.
I [sense] very much that I have to be a leader, and
sometimes even a cheerleader.
But to encourage
people,
to
keep
them
thinking
about
their
vision.... And so you have to keep drawing people's
attention to what, it is what we're really about
ultimately so that we'll move forward. (Powers)
In her annual college address, one leader compared her role as
administrator to that of a captain of a ship who has to
determine the right direction to take.

At the speeches that

she made

on several occasions,

such as an annual

address,

administrators'

keynote,

she emphasized that leadership is much more than

workshop,

management and supervision.

and

a

Phi

college

Kappa

Phi

By leaders, she means men and

women "who anticipate the future, who chart courses toward it,
and who bring others along with them."

Going further,

in

separate articles, she argues that:
I think part of the essence of leader is that being
out there on the edge. And you're not always sure
because the road hasn't been plowed ahead of you.
Hasn't been paved ahead of you. (Brown)
The ability to be creative and not just the ability
to be a good manager, I think that's important, but
if all you are is a good manager you're not going
to get very far. You have to be able to manage and
to manage creatively and to keep the organization
moving forward. The directions that are important
for education today. (Brown)
Sixth,
identified

competency
in

5

in understanding

instances

as

organizations

critical

Organization-understanding competencies

by

4

was

leaders.

include a sense of

73

organizational
understanding
behavior,

and

change,
students,
so

political
higher

forth.

sensitivity,

education,

Understanding

and

organizational
students

was

categorized as a part of organizational understanding, since
students

are

the

major

members

of

the

organization.

For

instance, serving the diversity of students today extends to
a different way of organizing the structure, curriculum, and
teaching,

because

students

are

more

experienced

and have

different interests and needs.
A central administrator also emphasized the political
situation, and that they have to be sensitive to that.
Universities are politicized and there's a lot of
just
straight
politics
that
occurs
in
an
organization this large internally and when you
look at this organization in relationship to other
universities in the state, in the nation, to
legislative process, to various constituent groups
and you've got to try to navigate your way through
all those politics. (Sheldon)
In understanding an organization,
importance

of

understanding

the

education, that is, the students.

a leader emphasized the
major

members

of

higher

And she also suggested that

the university needs to be organized differently than it is,
since universities have to meet the diverse needs of students.
Today, in this institution, and as a matter of fact
in most institutions, you find they [students] are
in their thirties, their forties, their fifties.
And for women, and women are beginning to dominate.
They're coming back after their children are
raised.
There's a whole different cultural
orientation at the graduate level. (Green)
For administrators, understanding students and their present
and future needs are very important.

Most of the leaders, by

74

doing some guest lecturing, try to stay tuned in and always
have to be sure that they understand the new generation of
students.

Several leaders responded that they feel a real

responsibility
students.

to

keep

themselves

always

of

the

And they thought they have to understand what their

needs are, what their wants are as well.
they

aware

have

to

learn

and

refresh

They emphasize that

themselves

each

year

to

understand the university, the students, and the world outside
the university.

To achieve this goal, they often have to take

dual roles as teaching faculty and administrators.
Seventh,

competencies for self-directed learning were

identified in 4 instances as critical by 4 leaders.

Self­

directed learning competencies include learning skills, being
a good learner, learning by oneself, and research interests.
The leaders described themselves as self-paced learners or
having the intellectual horsepower to learn.
a

central

administrator,

Sheldon

said

For instance, as

that

one

of

the

difficulties that go along with her job is that she never
knows as much about a particular discipline or sub-specialty
as she needs to.

When she has to make a decision related to

each academic area, the decision is very hard because she is
not a specialist in that area.
by herself.

In this case, she has to learn

The other difficulty Sheldon mentioned is related

to the allocation of financial resources among the academic
specific

areas.

external

groups

She
or

indicated that when
with

groups

of

she

faculty,

talks with
there

are

difficulties since those groups see the university from their
own perspective, unconnected to the many concerns which she
must consider.

She commented that, since very few people try

to balance out the full range of the university's interests,
she has to be able to try to sort through those kinds of
barriers in conversation and communication.
You'll never know as much about the specifics of
that area as the people who are involved ... that
requires, then, an ability to try to cut through
the j a r g o n
And it requires doing your homework
regarding a particular aspect of an area ...
You
have some ability to be a good learner regarding
various aspects of [all academic areas]. (Sheldon)
To be a good leader,

Brown said,

you need to be a self-

directed learner who learns a lot of things on your own.
Among their responsibilities, 6 leaders reported that there
were some tasks they did not like or are not good at.

Those

tasks are bureaucratic writing, speaking in public, political
gestures, attending a business-related dinner, and so forth.
Two

leaders

talked

bureaucratic writing.

about

their

feelings

about

doing

They said that they do not necessarily

like bureaucratic writing but there are certain situations
that require those skills.

To avoid becoming a bureaucrat,

they emphasized that they have to continue to read and to be
a self-directed learner.
In the range of decision making ... it requires an
ability to do that in a scholarly way.
Otherwise
you become a bureaucrat.
And there's a lot of
pressure in this system to be a bureaucrat anyway.
So if you don't continue to force yourself to read
broadly and then it's hard to articulate a vision.
(Sheldon)

76

The competencies the female leaders need are similar to
those needed by male leaders but the way they learned and
developed those competencies may differ from the way the men
learned and developed the same competencies.
follow-up questions,
were identified.

During the

the learning needs of female leaders'

Among the competencies the leaders needed,

several specific areas were identified as difficult to develop
for the
questions

female

leaders.

concerning

During the

the

areas

that

follow-up questions,
the

female

leaders

identified as difficult to develop, several leaders responded
that public skills and budget skills were the most difficult
skills to develop for them.

One leader reported:

I have had difficulty developing subtle diplomacy
because I believe in being open and direct in
communications.
But I find in this part of [the]
country that is not a virtue. People are much more
indirect in communications. (Dunn)
Five

leaders

out

of

10

reported

that

subtle

diplomacy,

political skills, ability to delegate, and public speaking are
the areas they need to develop.

Three other leaders reported

that budget management and finance are the areas they need to
develop.

And two leaders talked about their current learning

tasks relative to computing/computer literacy.

Maturity which

includes a healthy self knowledge and self-respect,

and a

sense of empowerment were reported as the areas they need to
develop.
One leader,

Brown,

said that dealing with people and

dealing with many complex issues at once caused her to feel

77

weak.

At the follow-up questions,

two leaders,

Brown and

Sheldon, reported their difficulties related to their complex
work load.

One leader mentioned feeling pressured:

Not to feel the physical and mental pressure of 7080 work hours scheduled each week in addition to
the time required for preparation and follow-up.
People who give up easily would find this position
particularly stressful. (Sheldon)
The responsibilities change as the leaders ascend the
administration

ladder.

One

leader,

who

began

as

the

department chair and was responsible for the provost position,
commented that competence in dealing with a broader range of
issues is critical.

During the follow-up questions Brown

emphasized that a provost must be knowledgeable about all
academic programs and budget/personnel campus-wide.
her experience as a provost,

Based on

she added that delegation of

responsibility and prioritizing how time is allocated become
most important.
As
I
have
been
increasing
administrative
responsibility, a basic competency required is the
ability to assimilate much more information.
To
quickly be able to pull. Now a dean does not worry
at the minute micro level that the department chair
will, I'll be more concerned about how the chair, I
believe in letting a chair do their job as a dean,
when I was provost I let the dean do their job, so
you're not as involved in the micro management, but
you have to have enough of an idea of the macro
management. (Brown)
In this section, seven categories of competencies were
identified based on the female leaders' responses.

People-

related

the

leaders.

competencies

were

strongly

emphasized

by

12

They also emphasized vision-related competencies and

78

self-directed learning skills as necessary to avoid being
bureaucratic.

Each of them tended to value being a leader

rather than a manager and mentioned that being capable of
learning on one's own is important to being a good leader.
They identified public skills and budget skills as areas which
they found difficult to develop.
In

the

next

section,

I

will

present

experiences of the female leaders.

the

learning

The first part of the

section will focus on learning resources, and the second part
will describe the learning experiences of these leaders.

Female Leaders' Learning;
The Resources of Learning and the Learning Experiences
The Resources of Learning: How They Learned.
By asking,

"how did you acquire the competencies?"

obtained 58 instances from the 13 leaders.

I

The female leaders

stated that the major source of acquiring their competencies
was their own self-directed learning.
that education

Mostly they thought

is a self-directed process,

since a large

portion of their knowledge and skills were obtained through
their own effort.
They emphasize that they have to learn by observing and
watching

others,

asking

others,

attending

conferences/

workshops, making mistakes, reading, and experiencing life.
They also said that they have always been hard workers and
they did not give up easily.

After reviewing the learning

79

resources that they had identified, I developed six categories
based on their responses as shown in Table IV-3.

Table IV-3 The Resources of Learning
Central
Academic
Administrators Deans
Total (N)
Instances (People)
4(3) 13(8)

Networking

Mentors,Role Models,Colleagues
Observing/Watching Others
2
Colleagues: Interaction
Discussions/Talking to People 1
Asking Questions
Networking
Friends
1
Working Experiences

6
3
1
2
1

4(4) 9(7)

Past
2
Present
Internship
1
1
On the Job Training
Volunteer Work for Prof. Org.
Out of Academy
Professional Organizations
Conference
Workshop

17 (11)

13 (11)

4
2
1
1
1

3(2) 6(5)

9 (7)

1
5

2
1

Self-Directed Reading

3(3) 5(5)

8 (8)

Personal Life

4(2) 3(3)

7 (5)

Life Itself
Raising Children
Family Life
Graduate Training

Those

categories

are

2
1
1

3

5(5)

KD

6 (6)

23(5)35(8)

58 (13)

networking,

working

experiences,

participating in professional organizational activities, self­
directed

reading,

personal

life experiences,

and graduate

80

training.
Learning Through Networking
First,
resource

11 leaders identified networking as a learning

in

networking

17

instances.

with

other

The

people

ways

were

of

learning

observation

through

of

other

leaders, role models, and mentors; interactions with others,
discussions with people; and asking questions of and talking
with colleagues and others.

Eleven leaders responded to my

question by saying that learning from people

is the most

effective way to learn and they preferred that way but felt
that they could have had more help from resource persons.
They were most likely to learn by talking to other people in
the same university or to people in other universities
similar

positions

professional

and

conversations.
learning

and watching.

with

informal

similar

meetings,

problems),

and through

through
telephone

Watching and observing others is a popular

method

institutions.

and

(in

for

administrators

in

higher

education

Eight leaders reported learning by observing
The

following are examples of learning by

observing others in the past, or in the present:
I just observed their administrative styles and how
they interacted with faculty members. And a lot of
that translated into behaviors, that I tried to,
when I became an administrator.
I tried to use
some of the behaviors that I had observed that I
considered to be positive. (Moore)
Be successful and unsuccessful and looking at what
worked for them and what didn't work for them and
what they did when it didn't work for them. I mean
there's a lot of glorious case studies right on
campus - who's successful and why and who's being

81

unsuccessful and why.
The

female

leaders

(Green)
learn by

interactions with

other

people— by asking questions of colleagues or a specialist, or
by calling a friend at another university.

Requesting advice

from an expert or a senior administrator is a good way of
learning in some specific situations.

One leader explained

how she learned about legal issues from university counsel:
she said she approached the person directly to seek advice.
Another

leader described herself as someone who

likes to

discuss everything enthusiastically:
I will seek advice about administrative issues. How
I should handle things. I learn, you know, many of
the
things,
administratively,
how would
you
approach on this and what would you do about that?
I will do that a lot. (Smith)
One leader commented that when she was a high school
teacher she learned a lot from interacting with a good leader,
a principal

who was

supportive,

a good

listener,

a good

motivator, and a good role model.
Asking my opinion, listening to my opinion. Saying
that's a good idea and using it if appropriate.
And to my mind, she was the first example of a real
leader.... I loved going to work. I loved going to
my classes.
I loved going to faculty meetings
which is most unusual.... And she was an example
that I continue to look back on. (Powers)
What Powers learned from the principal was the importance of
listening.

She also learned the importance of extending basic

respect to the people with whom she works and to those who are
working for her, as well as the importance of listening.

She

concluded, therefore, that people can learn from good leaders

82

by interacting with them.

But Powers also mentioned that

people can learn by interaction with someone who is not a good
leader, a person who couldn't tolerate disagreement.
That was a particular person who could not be
confronted with problems.
You could only talk to
that person about good things.... What I learned is
that to be a good leader, you got to be willing to
have people around you who are "no" people.
Who
are willing to say, I don't agree with you.
(Powers)
One leader responded that she could learn through a group of
women— by

being

supportively

with

a

member
each

of

a

other.

group

She

which

called

it

interacts
"new

girl

network."
Women who are in administration and just about all
of them have sort of, the new girls network.... The
women administrators all get together to socialize,
maybe over lunch or dinner, sometimes to socialize,
talk about common problems of the institution and
have really built a really caring relationship.
(Allen)
Learning bv Working Experience
Learning by doing clearly emerged from the interviews as
the

second

major

resource

of

learning.

Eleven

leaders

identified past and present working experiences as a major
learning resource in 13 instances.

These instances include

teaching students, administrative internships, volunteer work,
on-the-job learning,

and so forth.

Respondents emphasized

that working with students over a long period of time makes
them particularly sensitive to a whole range of needs of other
people.

They learned how to work with other people and how to

balance

their

pace

with

that

of

others.

Five

leaders

83
emphasized the learning they acquired, about how to work with
people,

as

a result of their own work

experiences.

For

instance, they cited the importance of having patience with
the pace of others, understanding others, and being peopleoriented rather than task-oriented:
In developing as an administrator, it was important
for me to have been a faculty member, a chairperson
and a dean.
You know, moving up the ranks into
administration was very important to me because I
can understand now why faculty members respond
quite
differently
from
chairpersons
and
chairpersons respond quite differently from deans.
And I think that deans respond quite differently
from central administration.... And I think having
served in those roles helped me tremendously as an
administrator. (Moore)
They expressed awareness of the importance of having followers
and

felt

that

they

made

perceptible

changes

in

their

leadership practices and their leadership styles as the result
of working with other people.

One leader described being

affected as a leader by her followers and the fact that she
learned to listen to the followers.
The administrators also said that teaching experience was
also extremely helpful for them, since understanding students
and faculty are essential to their positions.

six leaders

reported the importance of teaching experience in terms of
understanding people.

They emphasized that classroom skills

do translate in a sense to dealing with other people as well,
skills

such as patience,

maintaining

an even temper,

and

having a sense of humor.
Also,

the

female

leaders

stated

that

their

current

84

positions help them to learn in various ways.

By doing their

job or making mistakes, they explained they can learn needed
competencies.
during

the

commented

To a question about learning which was asked
follow-up

that

she

questions,

learned

a

one

good

deal

leader,

Sullivan,

about

university

budgets during her years in the provost's office by attending
many budget meetings.

Another leader, Powers, gave an example

of learning by citing her own mistakes in hiring faculty.
When she hired a faculty member for a very important, newly
created position similar to a chairperson's role, she expected
that he would be competent in a lot of ways, but it turned out
to be a very different situation.

Therefore, in subsequent

hiring situations, she began to check a lot of references, to
have a longer interview, and to call more people to try to get
them to tell her the truth about candidates for the job.

She

added that when she is interviewing people, his face often
flashes before her.
learned
learning

from

Also, an other leader reported that she

mistakes

assimilation

and
and

emphasized

that

accommodation

different cultural backgrounds.

in

this

included

adjusting

to

She said that, as a minority,

she learned a lot through working experiences and mistakes.
This is learning about being able to negotiate
one's behavior in relation to other people. I am a
very
forceful person.
I have a background that
has encouraged me to speak up ... I've found myself
yelling at people with whom I worked and they were
cringing. They just couldn't stand it... eventually
one day a secretary said to me. "You know, I grew
up in a household where people rarely raised their
voices and your yelling just tears me apart.
I
just can't stand it." So, I explained to her why I

85

yelled.
It was a statement of my own condition,
not a statement of anger at her. But that I would
try to moderate that, and I did. (Dunn)
Two leaders reported that internship experiences were
extremely helpful for them.

They recalled that learning at

other universities was a great experience.

One of them, who

had an American Council on Education Fellowship four years ago
and had a year's leave of absence from the university, spent
her year at the other university working directly with the
president

and

two vice

presidents.

She

budgeting and program review committees.

served

on their

She commented that

those experiences enriched her professionally.

Learning Through Professional Organizations
Third,

the female leaders mentioned the importance of

participating in professional organizations in 9 instances.
Professional

affiliation

is

an

important

index

to

these

leaders' professional development: Seven leaders are active in
regional and national associations in both their own academic
major area and associations of college administrators.

Table

IV-4 indicates the professional affiliations of the female
administrators of this study, either within their major study
area (60 memberships) , administrational area (22 memberships),
or women's study area (11 memberships).

This information is

derived from their vitae and from interviews with them.
In general,

six leaders reported being members of the

American Association for Higher Education (AAHE), four leaders

86

reported

being

affiliated

with

the

Michigan

Academy

of

Science, Arts & Letters, and three leaders reported membership
in the American Council
Associations

are

the

on Education

major

administrational area.

(ACE).

affiliations

in

These three
the

general/

Nine leaders identified themselves as

members of women's associations.

Two memberships were cited

for each of the following organizations: the Association for
Women in Development and the National Association of Women
Deans,

Administrators,

and

Counselors.

The

identified

associations with which these women are affiliated are the
American

Association

Association,
forth.

for

Women,

National Women's

Michigan

Women's

Studies Association,

Studies
and

so

Each leader in my study has at least one general

affiliated association, but four leaders were not affiliated
with any women's association.
In

contrast,

leaders

reported

60

memberships

organizations with specific disciplinary affiliations.
is,

in
That

each leader in my study is affiliated with about 4-5

associations in their field of study.

Table IV-4

Professional Affiliations

General/Administrational Affiliation fmemberships= 2 2 )
American Association for Higher Education (AAHE)
Michigan Academy of Science, Arts & Letters
American Council on Education (ACE)
American Association for Affirmative Action
American Association of University Professors
American College Personnel Association
Council of Graduate Schools
Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)

87
Table IV-4. — Continued
Michigan Advancement Council
Michigan Council of Graduate Deans
Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools
National Society of Fund Raising Executives (NSFRE)
Women's Association fmemberships= 11)
Association for Women in Development
National Association of Women Deans,
Counselors
American Association for Women
Michigan Women's Studies Association
National Women's Studies Association
Detroit Women's Forum
Faculty Women's Association
Women's Economic Club of Detroit
Women's Sports Booster Club

1
1
1
1
2

Administrators

&
2

Institute
Educational Research Association
Home Economics Association (AHEA)
Society for Allied Health Professions

American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education
(AACTE)
American Academy of Nursing
American Association for Public Opinion Research
American Association of University Women
American Ceramic Society
American College of Mental Health Administration
American Council for Consumer Interests (ACCI)
American Craft Council
American Evaluation Association
American Historical Association
American Library Association
American Nurses Association
American Personnel and Guidance Association
American Public Health Association
Association for Consumer Research (ACR)
Association for Legal History
Association for Library and Information Science Education
Association of Administrators of Home Economics
Association of Institutions Research
Chi Eta Phi Sorority
Coalition for Black Development in Home Economics
College English Association
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority
Home Economics Education Association
Indiana Artist Craftsmen

nj

A.K.Rice
American
American
American

t
o ro to

Specific Disciplinary Affiliation (memberships= 60)

88

Table IV-4. — Continued
Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences
Interdisciplinary Health Team Care National Interest Group
International Federation of Home Economics
Kappa Omicron Phi National Honor Society
Michigan Association for Colleges of Teacher Education
(MACTE)
Michigan Council for the Humanities
Michigan Council of Family Relations
Michigan Home Economics Association
Michigan Nurses' Association
Midwest Modern Language Association
Midwest Nursing Research Society
Modern Language Association
NTL Institute
National Association of Vocational Home Economics Teachers
National Association of College Arts Administrators
National Black Nurses' Association
National Council of Family Relations
National Council of Home Economics Administrators
National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
Omicron Nu National Honor Society
Organization of American Historians
Potter's Guild of Indiana
Renaissance Society of America
Shakespeare Association
Sigma Theta Tau, International Honor Society of Nursing
Society for Health and Human Values
Urban Affairs Association
Learning Through Self-Directed Reading
Eight

leaders

recorded

important learning resource.

self-directed

reading

as

an

Eight leaders said that reading

was a major way of gaining some conceptions of new issues in
an organization, higher education, and leadership.

Most of

all, leaders felt that self-directed learning was critical.
For instance, one leader, Dunn, described herself as a selftaught person.

When they need to know about new tasks or

issues on campus, they felt that the best way to acquire that
information was reading books and materials in that area.

89

For instance, collective bargaining in higher
education ... when the faculty there organized a
union.... But we didn't know what we were doing so
I read everything I could find about it.... And it
is freer and less structured than going to a
workshop or a course or whatever because I'm able
to decide what I want from the books rather than
their saying this is what you need to know.... But
that's a personal preference ... I think that,
other more gregarious administrators might prefer
workshops
where
they
could
have the
human
interaction.
I just prefer reading. (Warden)
Table IV-5 presents the recent reading materials of the female
leaders

outside their major

popular

periodicals

the

field.

female

As shown,

leaders

read

the
are

most
Change

Magazine (10 leaders) and the Chronicle of Higher Education (9
leaders), Black Issues, and The Journal for Higher Education
(6 leaders).
Directions

Educational Record. Information Technology. New
in Higher Education, and Science Magazine were

reported by 4 leaders.

And Adult Education. Business Week.

Harvard Business Review. National Issues in Higher Education.
Non-Profit Management & Leadership. The Journal of Teacher
Education, and The Journals from Educom were reported by 3
leaders.

Also seven leaders reported that they read Newsweek

and U.S. News and World Report regularly.
reported

that

she

receives

brochures, and another leader,

two

One leader, Brown,

dozen newsletters

and

Green,mentioned subscribing to

a dozen journals and magazines a week.
Six leaders reported that they have read Megatrends. and
five leaders reported that they have read Bennis (1985), Boyer
(1981, 1987), Kanter (1977a), and Toffler (1980, 1990).

Four

leaders marked Organizational Behavior, and the Jossey-Bass

90

management series books.

In addition,

three leaders noted

that they have read Administrator's Role in Improving Teaching
on Campus. A Tenured Professor. Killing The Spirit. The Quest
for Quality. Tenured Radicals, and Women's Wavs of Knowing.
During the second round,

follow-up questions, two leaders,

Kelly and Jones, commented that they have a long list of books
(over 200 titles including those listed here) that they have
read or are reading.

Table IV-5
Periodicals

Title

A List of Recent Readings
(The numbers
represent
the
number of leaders that read the
periodical
regularly
or
sometimes.)
Number of Leaders

The Change Magazine
10
The Chronicle of Higher Education_______________________9
Newsweek_________________________________________________ 7
U.S. News and World Report______________________________ 7
Black Issues_____________________________________________6
The Journal for Higher Education________________________ 6
Time_____________________________________________________ 5
Educational Record______________________________________ 4
Information Technology__________________________________ 4
New Directions in Higher Education______________________4
Science Magazine________________________________________ 4
Adult Education__________________________________________3
Business Week____________________________________________3
Harvard Business Review_________________________________ 3
National Issues in Higher Education_____________________3
Non-Profit Management & Leadership______________________ 3
The Journal of Teacher Education________________________ 3
The Journals from Educom________________________________ 3
The Wall Street Journal_________________________________ 3
Teacher Education Reports_______________________________ 2
American Demographics___________________________________ 1
Educational Report______________________________________ 1
New York Review of Books________________________________ 1
Sports Illustrated______________________________________ 1
Newspapers_____ Detroit Free Press:2/ Detroit News;!/
Morning Sun-Local:1/New York Times:2/Ursh Post: 1

91
Table IV-5. — Continued
Books

Title

(The numbers represent the
leaders
that
have
read
recently.)

number of
the
book
Number of Leaders

Megatrends 2000
Jossev Bass series
Organizational Behavior_________________________________ 4
Administrator's Role in Improving Teaching on Campus
3
Women's Wavs of Knowing_________________________________ 3
A Tenured Professor
Tenured Radicals_________________________________________3
The Quest for Quality___________________________________ 3
Killing The Spirit_______________________
3
Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses?_____________________________ 2
Higher Education________________________________________ 2
Thriving on Chaos_______________________________________ 2
Closing of the American Mind
Cooperate Culture
Cultural Literacy
Degrees of Fraud
Diploma Mills
Group Think
Leadership an Art
Learned Optimism
Maintaining Professional Competency
Managing the Academic Dept
Ordered to Care
Strategic Planning
Teachers for Our Nation's Schools
x n e A caaem ic uean: u a re uraaon ana u ip iom ar
The Active Society
The Human Side of Enterprise
The Great Mother
The Negro American
The Younger Science
Tomorrow's Schools
Tomorrow's Teachers
Where Have All the Leaders Done?
Women and Success
*

Some leaders reported a number of authors' names.
Following are frequently mentioned names by the
leaders:

Bennis: 5/ Boyer: 5/ Kanter: 5/ Toffler: 5
Sheldon: 4/ Adler: 3/ Drucker: 3/ Peters: 3
Gilligan: 1

92

Learning Through Life Itself
Fifth,

female

leaders

found

that

life

itself

is

an

important learning source and five leaders identified seven
instances.

Personal life experiences, such as being raised as

a girl, life itself, raising children, and family life, were
identified as good learning sources.

One leader said that she

learned a lot by playing basketball and golf in groups of
participants in the sport in which she was the only woman
player.

Another leader claimed that dealing with children and

her husband was very good training for this kind of job.

She

commented that she has had her present job longer than any of
her predecessors.
small children.

She started her career after raising her
She emphasized that her experience at home

was critical for her current position and said:
Raising children is marvelous training for dealing
with people. Dealing with husbands is a marvelous
way of learning how to deal with people and
neighbors ... I'm the only one who has been married
with children.
There have been white males, and
there have been women who were ... never married.
And I think there's a message there. (Jones)
An other leader emphasized that her personal psychology is the
major source of her unique leadership practice.
cooperative orientation

She said her

is the result of her personality,

which is derived from her psychological disposition.
I 'm not sure where I learned that...I think i t 's
perhaps a mix of my own psychological disposition
... I don't know, where this whole orientation ...
which is more participative and collaborative comes
from....
I think you have to analyze my entire
personal life as well as my professional life.

93

(Powers)
Learning Through Graduate Training
Sixth,

the other major source of learning leadership

competencies is the study of each leader's own academic area.
Six leaders reported that graduate training, course work, and
research in their own academic areas were important learning
sources for their profession.

In general, graduate work was

reported as helpful in gaining such intellectual-versatility
competencies
creativity,

as

analysis,

synthesis,

and leadership potential.

critical

thinking,

They explained that

their academic work was very helpful, offering each of them a
unique perspective from which to understand their work as well
as the chance to gain general analytical skills.
Most

of

the

female

leaders

acknowledged

that

their

academic major area of study helped a lot in building their
competencies as leader and manager.
academic

background

English,

in

history,

in

several
and

in

One leader has a range of

different
biology,

fields— a

and

a

Ph.

BA

in

D.

in

philosophy, because her religious group needed her to acquire
proficiency in each of those areas at different times.

She

said the academic background is very helpful but that it was
also very stressful during the time when she was working on
her degrees:
It has made my life as an administrator easier
because I'm not afraid to talk to arts and sciences
folks.
I'm not afraid to talk to engineers.
I'm
not afraid to talk to scientists.
Because I at
least have some sympathy for their disciplines....
I 've had enough exposure to them and to those

94

disciplines to have some respect for them.
So in
terms of academic administration I think it's very
helpful. (Powers)
One leader compared nursing to an administrative job, since
nurses learn how to manage a number of tasks.
You have to be sensitive to the whims and wishes
and needs and desires and demands of other people.
And you have to develop the capacity to keep clear
the boundary between self and another, so that you
won't get pulled in too deeply into personally
constraining kinds of relationships.... I think
good nurses are good managers. (Dunn)
Lewis is an artist.

She emphasizes creativity and harmony as

the connections between her creative art and her work as a
college administrator.

When I interviewed her in her office,

she explained her administrative philosophy by referring to a
big, large, square-shaped ceramic work of hers which she had
placed on the table in front of us.
Now see ... this is my art right here. This piece,
the short one.
You see how it's structured.
See
how it's organized.
You see how there's a nice
balance
toit.
There's sort of a harmony of the
parts.And it has
an original look to it.
It
doesn't look like something you've ever seen before
... I'm creative as an administrator ....
And a
lot of administration is about looking at what's
going on, fact finding, fact gathering, listening,
hearing, making some assessments and acting ... as
an artist ... it only came about after I was
resourceful and solved problems and figured out
what to
do and made assessments and did research.
And so
I learned that whole problem solving
strategy as an artist.
(Lewis)
Connected and Integrated Learning Experiences
By examining the female leaders' learning resources, I
found an interesting pattern in the process of learning: The
leaders emphasized that learning occurred through a number of

95

connected experiences in their personal and professional life
which were, at least partially,

if not wholly,

integrated;

rather than through a series of easily identifiable, discrete
experiences that were independent of each other.

Since the

leaders identified the importance of these distinctions, I am
defining them clearly here and will refer to them subsequently
as "connected, integrated learning experiences" as opposed to
"separate, independent learning experiences."

The leaders

reported that they learned through both their personal and
professional life.
Through my learning experiences.
In many ways I
think my personal life and my professional life are
different, but they're also very integrated.... you
know who I am before I walked into the office.
What I learned as a person, I very much learned as
a professional too.
Sort of, that sort of
integration.
And I think a lot of my learning
experiences come from the informal experiences of
home, the culture that I grew up in ... there was a
familial tie there and that was very important.
(Powers)
Also, the leaders noted that they learned through connected
learning experiences in their professional activities.

For

instance, self-directed reading is a good tool for learning.
But reading alone does have problems, the leaders explained,
since some interaction and feedback are necessary.

They said

that they needed feedback about what they were doing.

One

interviewee pointed out the problem of reading and emphasized
the importance of interaction;
But I think the problem with them [reading] is the
need for feedback and I'm considered very direct
and that's what I am. So the trouble with written
materials for me is that I need feedback.
I need

96

verbal feedback.
I need interactions with people
and that's how I work. (Smith)
Sometimes management courses added to work experiences could
have a timely learning effect on their daily work tasks.

Most

of the leaders mentioned that learning in a connected and
integrated way (three or more methods) is the best, one which
they

preferred.

One

leader

talked

about

her

learning

experience involving a number of people partly as a result of
the management course she took a few weeks ago, and partly
just because of her experience in certain areas.
The leaders in my study valued self-directed reading to
learn new concepts, but realized that reading alone can not be
an effective way of learning.

Therefore,

they said,

they

tried to learn through a variety of interactions with people,
attending professional meetings, informal group meetings, and
taking management courses as well as professional reading.
This information indicates that these female leaders' learning
experiences can not be separated clearly from their personal
life experiences, such as meeting, talking, and interacting
with other people. This issue will be discussed in Chapter V.

Learning Experiences: What They Learned
The

first

part

of

this

section

resources for leadership competencies:

was

about

learning

how did they learn?

This section will now focus on the learning experiences they
have had, as females, in their leadership positions; that is,
what did they learn?

97

Learning Experience From Current Position
The female leaders said that they learned a lot during
the

course

of

their present

positions

personal and professional lives.

in terms

of their

To the question, "what did

you learn during your tenure as an female administrator?"
respondents reported 44 instances of learning experiences.
As illustrated in Table IV-6, the three areas of learning
experiences are

(1) organizational life,

(2)

interpersonal

relations, and (3) personal awareness.
First, the most frequent learning experience was related
to organizational life— they identified 17 instances out of
44.

Nine leaders said that they learned the hierarchical

organizational structure, how the organization works, how to
negotiate,

collective bargaining,

working with unions,

the

slow pace of organizational change, the necessity of being
serious, how to be a model to others, and how relationships
change among colleagues after taking a new position.
Two leaders commented on their learning experiences when
the relationship between them and other colleagues changed
after they moved to central administration positions.

They

said that they needed to accept the authority connected with
their

new

position

and

to

act

accordingly

in

such

a

hierarchical organization.
Some

female

leaders

noted

that

higher

institutions are male-oriented organizations.

education

Sullivan felt

that since her academic major is organizational structure, she

98

Table IV-6

Learning Experiences Through Leadership Position
Central
Academic
Administrators Deans

Total

Instances (People)
Learning Organizational Life

9(5) 8(4)

Hierarchical Org'l Structure
How Organization Works
How to Negotiate
(Collective) Bargaining
Working With Union
Slow Change
To Be Serious (to Position)
Being a Model to Others
Relationship Change
Get Different Expectation
Budget

2
2
1

1
1
1
1
2

1
1
1
1

1
1

2(2) 13(6)

Learning Interpersonal Relations

Human Relationship Skill
Balance with Others
Flexible
Importance of Followers
Know/Understand People
1
Less Optimistic
1
Involve More People
Need of Listening
Importance/the Other Side of the Story
Be Active in Establishing Network
Learning About Self/Personal Awareness
Experience Stress (Child Care)
Frustration
Risk Taking
Challenge
Better Self Image
Happiness from Helping Someone
One Person Can Make Difference
Life in Transition
How Little I Knew
Professional Life From Personality

1
1
1

15(8)

2
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
1

6(3) 6(5)

12(8)

1
1
1

1
1
1

16(5)
has a clear sense of organization.

17(9)

1
1
1
27(8)

44(13)

She said that she learned

the importance of networking and commented on female leaders'

99

under-representation as follows:
Administration is a male dominated job.
I think
what becomes important then is networks, or these
little working relationships.... I think men create
an environment which is comfortable for them and
men are more comfortable with other men ... people
that they're comfortable with and they recruit
them. (Sullivan)
During the second round, follow-up questions, Sullivan argued
in support of her faculty-oriented professional values as
follows:
I firmly believe that academic administrators
should work to create an environment in which
faculty can prosper. Faculty do the real work of a
university.
Administrators exist in order to
facilitate faculty endeavors. Collegiality is the
key to making universities successful, and attempts
by administrators to impose their will on the
faculty are doomed to failure. (Sullivan)
Nevertheless, she said that she learned that administration in
higher education institutions is neither always academically
oriented, nor is it always faculty oriented.

She talked about

her learning experience with misguided administration.
I think
to
some
extent what my
years
in
administration did was convince me how important
faculty government is, and how often misguided,
misinformed and down right incompetent higher
education administration often is.... I think
higher education wouldn't be a Ford Motor Company.
(Sullivan)
Two other leaders talked about the lessons they learned about
the difficulty of changing some organizations.

They said they

have learned that change takes a long time.
I think you get frustrated as well because as a
woman in the organization you tend to fight a lot
of battles over and over again.
And you're
surprised, I'm always surprised that you know if
you look at the women's issues that have been

100

around for a long time and things are better in one
set of dimensions. Yet you still encounter people
who are fundamentally insensitive to the effect of
behavior of words, attitudes on the quality of the
climate for women. And you wonder why you've been
beating your head against a wall. (Sheldon)
Second, 8 leaders identified learning about interpersonal
relations in 15 instances.

The leaders perceived that they

learned how to adopt themselves to the pace of others to
achieve a workable balance among colleagues or staff, to be
more

flexible,

the

importance

understanding of people,

of

followers,

the importance of

a

better

involving more

people, the necessity of listening, the importance of learning
the

other

side

of

the

establishing networks.

story,

and

of

being

active

in

Most of the leaders said that they

learned a lot about human relations, how to work with others,
including

faculty,

executives,

and

clerical

staffs.

The

following is an example of the response:
I've learned to trust my intuition, to trust what
my gut feeling is about a problem or a situation or
an individual. And even if everything does add up
on the tally sheet and I still have some sense that
there's some problems, I should probably listen to
them because that intuition isn't just out of the
clear blue sky. It's been developed over years of
working with people. (Powers)
Third, 8 leaders reported 12 instances of learning about
self awareness.

Whereas some of them learned how little they

knew, experienced stress and some other negative things, some
other leaders experienced happiness as the result of helping
others, the possibility of making a difference, and they felt
some other positive feelings.

Also the leaders learned the

1 01

meaning of risk taking and challenge.

One leader, Powers,

emphasized that she found that her professional life can never
be separated from her personal

life.

She noted that her

personal life and her professional life are different, but
integrated.

Dunn said that she recognized that her goals in

life are never completely accomplished,

since she wants to

pursue new things at each step of her life.

In her 60s she

said she learned that life is continuously in transition.
So that critical
issues,
psychological/social
issues, that were prominent in early years in ones
life.
You face them again.
And I find that the
same issues come up every decade.
But 1 1m
beginning to think a lot more about what I want to
be when I grow up and how to get myself prepared to
do that.
I don't think that one needs necessarily
to have one career for a lifetime. So I'm thinking
about what I want to do next. (Dunn)
As a provost and academic vice president, one leader was the
only female vice president at the university.
she worked well

with the males,

but

found that men have

advantages for their professional development,
research

output,

networking,

and

career

prepared to move them up the ladder.

She felt that

since their

paths

are

well

So she learned that

establishing networking and building trust are critical in
professional development.
The other leader in her 60s said that she experienced
stress from a child care problem, since there were no child
care facilities when her child was small.
Well, I felt very stressed.
Because at the time
that my son was small, there were no child care
centers.
They were unheard of.
It was thought
that women should stay at home and look after their

102

children and most people did. And so I had a very
difficult time arranging for his care.
And so I
didn't really begin teaching seriously until he was
eight years old....I found it very difficult and
it's much easier now. I think it's still hard but
it's easier than it was. (Warden)
Each

leader

responded differently on questions about

learning self awareness according to their positions, field of
academic study, age, marital status, number of children, and
so forth.
children

For instance,
had

different

a woman who married but had

perceptions

of

raising

no

children.

Sheldon commented that having children might create a minor
problem because of the time it would take to care for them,
but she did not think that it would be a critical barrier in
women's

professional

development,

since

any

excuse

(for

absence from work or for having to reschedule professional
appointments)
accepted.
be

an

relating

to

children

in

this

country

is

Therefore, she did not judge her childlessness to

enormous

benefit

in her

profession.

That

was

an

interesting contrast with Warden, who had experienced stress
because of inadequate childcare options in the past.
Learning Experience From Mentoring
From among the different ways of learning from people,
leaders identified mentoring as a major source of learning and
as critical

for

female

leaders'

professional

development.

Thirteen female leaders identified 39 mentors as seen in Table
IV-7.

Among

the

mentors,

16

were

educators,

college

professors, or advisors in graduate school and 23 mentors were
administrators and superiors in past and/or present position.

103

Twenty-nine were male

and

ten were

female.

The

central

administrators had 13 mentors in total, and only 2 mentors
were female— 11 were male.

The mentors of the deans totaled

26, 18 of whom were male and 8 were female.

Table IV—7

The Mentors of the Female Leaders

The Mentors of the Central Administrators
Male Mentors

Female Mentors*

Total

Academic Advisor
Professor

3

1

4

Administrator
Superior

8

1

9

11

2

13

8

4

12

Administrator
Superior

10

4

14

Sub Total

18

8

26

Total

29

10

39

Sub Total

The Mentors of the Academic Deans
Academic Advisor
Professors
Educator

*

Nine respondents out of 13 noted that they did not
have any female mentors.
What did the female leaders learn from the mentors?

mentors helped them in various ways:

The

The

female leaders

reported 30 instances of such help.
From the

female leaders'

responses,

I identified the

following five ways of helping, as shown in Table IV-8: as

104

teachers,

friends,

models.

facilitators,

supporters,

as

role

Five leaders identified 13 instances of the way that

their mentors helped them as teachers.
from

and

their

mentors

they

They remembered that

learned how

to think,

how

to

communicate, the pleasure of intellectual excitement, personal
style, integrity, honesty, politics, and creative ideas.

The

leaders learned from their mentors by observing and working
with

their

university

mentors.
politics

One
from

leader saidthat
her mentor

she

learned

through

many

conversations.
He was very helpful in educating me about the
university, how it worked, the politics of the
university, university governments and encouraged
me to get outside the department and do things.
(Allen)
Another leader said that she learned honesty and integrity
from her mentor.
I think I realized the importance of honesty and
integrity.
For sticking up for what is right even
if it's hard to do so.
I learned that sometimes
you have to make hard decisions and that's just the
way it is. (Kelly)
Four leaders

identified 5 instances of the way their

mentors helped them by facilitating growth and development,
pushing, encouraging, and allowing them to make mistakes, as
well as by helping them to discover their own talents:
[He] was the first person who suggested that I was
good at this sort of stuff and I ought, that I
could speak clearly and write clearly and I made
sense and I was smart. He made me feel good and I
realized I knew I was better at that then most
people. (Lewis)
He

had

a

wealth

of

knowledge

about

higher

105

education,
lots of national and international
contacts, and was at a stage of his career where he
could afford for me to make mistakes ... to push me
in terms of doing a variety of projects and also to
push me to understand what I was learning about and
doing in the course of interacting with various
people at__________ . (Allen)
Three leaders reported 4 instances of the way the mentors
helped

them

as

friends

believing in them.

by

sharing

their

experiences

and

As Powers suggests:

I think they help you by providing opportunities
for you to be reflective in the context of a hectic
day. By sharing their own experiences.
Three other leaders reported that mentors helped them
directly

as

facilitating

supporters
their

by

admission

developing
into

an

their

entry

careers,

position,

and

helping them to move up the job ladder.
So when I finished my degree, he (mentor) offered
me a job and I took it. (Sheldon)
They have hired me and have supported my work.
Clearly, in academic work and in most fields of
endeavor mere competence does not translate into
success.
Many
competent
people
are
not
"discovered" or are not actively supported in their
work.
(Sullivan)
Two leaders reported that their mentors worked as role
models for them.
of

their

mentors

Powers and Kelly emphasized the importance
as

role

models,

since

influenced them enormously in their career.

these

mentors

Powers learned a

leadership style and how to handle human relations issues from
a

leader

and

the

leader became

continued to look back on.

an

example

that

she

has

Kelly described the way that her

mentor was modeling all the things she wanted to do.

1 06

Table IV-8

How Do Mentors Help?
Central
Academic
Administrators Deans Total(N)
Instances (People)

As a Teacher

1(1) 12(4)

How to Communicate
Integrity
Honesty
Assertiveness
Aggressiveness
Politics
Gamesmanship
Creative Ideas
Intellectual Excitement
How to Think
Personal Style
The Nature of Scholarly Life

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1

As a Facilitator

2(2) 3(2)

Find My Talent
Facilitating Growth & Development
Push Me
Afford to Make Mistakes
Encouragement
As a Friend

As a Supporter

1
1
1

As a Role Model

1
1
1
3(3)

1
1
1
2(2)

Role Modeling

4(3)

1

3(3)

Career Development
Facilitating Entry Position
Help Move Up

5(4)

1
1

3(2) 1(1)

Sharing Their Experience
Believe in Me
Reflective
By Helping Him (the Mentor)

13(5)

2(2)

2
10(5)20(8)

30(13)

Despite the fact that mentors of female leaders were
critical

to

their

professional

development,

some

of

the

107

leaders regret that they did not have enough mentors or did
not have a mentor with whom they could share those kinds of
indepth interactions reported by other leaders.

Some women

remarked that because academe is male dominated, there tend to
be fewer mentors for females.
I've never had that sort of very focused direction.
And maybe it was because I never had a mentor who
helped me to think through what my capabilities
were and to think through what the paths might be
to lead me to a presidency and so forth ... when I
went into a field it was primarily all male
dominated. Philosophy is male, was at least in the
past when I was going through it....
Most of my
supervisors were male and some of them just didn't
care to be mentors.
They didn't know how to be
mentors.
Some of them didn't want to mentor me.
(Powers)
I discovered two interesting issues:

The first issue was

that the respondents perceived that the ways in which their
female mentors helped them were different from the ways that
their male mentors helped them.

The second thing was that

they reported that the mentoring they received was influential
in developing their subsequent relationship as mentors to
others.
Four

leaders

who

had

both

male

and

female

mentors

responded to questions about the difference between male and
female mentors.
more

career

One leader reported that male mentors are

oriented,

while

female

mentors

are

relationship oriented:
I would clearly say that the mentors have been
significant and the male mentors really give a very
different kind of mentoring than female mentors....
And I think women are sympathetic to that in their
mentoring.
Whereas the men are more concerned in

more

108

mentoring in terms of next career steps, in terms
of administration management, what you need to do
for professional development.
So the women are
perhaps more
sensitive towards
some
of the
relationship and people issues.
(Brown)
Another leader mentioned that male mentors were very helpful
in terms of career development because they gave her feedback
and direction as she was doing her job.
Most of the men I've worked with have given more
specific ... either job related identities.
Or
they have been very helpful in helping me move up
the career ladder....Now my female mentors...
extremely helpful
in my career building and
networking within my professional field ... with
the women it's been more specific as major
professor,
as collegial dean, as
a long term
colleague of woman who's usually been one step up
the career ladder than I. Whereas with the men, it
has been more situation specific to help better
performance in the job or to help move up the
career ladder. But both are very helpful. (Dunn)
During the second round, follow-up questions, about the
way they received help from their female mentors, two leaders
reported that women mentors were helpful in building a common
interest and friendship as females.
They have
provided a friendly,
caring, and
supportive environment in which to work.
My ties
with my mentors have moved from professional
relations
(mentor
as teacher,
mentor
as
dissertation
co-chair,
mentor
as
boss)
to
friendship/personal relations.
This link between
one's professional and personal and personal life
may not be critical to one's success, but certainly
one's life is much more pleasant and fulfilling
when there is a kind of seamless web between the
professional and the personal. (Sullivan)
In this study, I investigated questions about the mentors
of the female leaders, but in the first interview, I did not
ask questions about how they saw themselves in the role of

1 09

mentor, as care-giver.

Only one leader mentioned her mentee

relationship at the first interview.

At the second round,

follow-up questions, six leaders mentioned their mentee-mentor
relationships:
As faculty member, mentored several students, i.e.,
counseled, taught, explained, directed. As senior
faculty, mentored new faculty,
i.e., advised,
"opened doors," did joint projects. For example,
I'd involve them in campus and community organs,
I'd advise and support them in career moves.
(Green)
I was the immediate supervisor and provided
guidance regularly, not only on the job, but helped
them grow and move up to their next level
positions. We are still in touch regularly, though
our locations are different. (Brown)
Three other leaders responded that they were skeptical about
traditional mentoring and the role of mentors.

Responses from

the follow-up questions include the following:
I am skeptical about mentoring because of the
possibly excessive dependency it implies. (Warden)
I have little interest in preparing someone "to
follow in my footsteps."
Just as my mentor
encouraged me to develop broad sets of competencies
and knowledge, I encourage that same approach to
learning.
I am, however, concerned about helping
others find alternative strategies for advancing in
professional paths of their own choice.
My best
mentoring may be in areas of helping people look at
relationships or possible linkages, at determining
what can be changed and what will remain constant.
(Sheldon)
Interestingly, leaders who have had many mentors reported that
they have developed similar mentee relationships— the kind of
interactions, the number of mentees, and the role of mentors -while those who did not have enough mentors in turn did not
develop

relationships

with

mentees.

This

indicates

an

1 10

important issue in women's mentoring which will be discussed
in more depth in Chapter V.
One leader distinguished between the career mentor and
intellectual mentor:
They were intellectual mentors.
They were not
career
mentors
...
I
think there's
a
distinction.... I learned how to think and I
learned how to create ... ideas and I learned the
intellectual excitement of sociology and I loved
that.... It was exciting and wonderful but it was
not career oriented. (Smith)
I

realized

the

importance

of

recognizing

definitions of mentoring among the interviewees.

the

various

The career

mentor needed to be supportive for career development as well
as intellectual development.

The female leaders emphasized

that they need both mentors who would help with both career
functions and psychosocial functions.
Learning Experience From Professional Activities
Female

leaders

in

this

study

explained

that

their

professional affiliations held significant meanings for them.
Most of the female leaders reported that they are the members
or board members of certain associations (see Table IV-4 in
the earlier section) and that they participated in national
and regional conferences and workshops regularly.

Some female

leaders emphasized that establishing a network more overtly
would assist them in advancing in their career more quickly.
I

asked

"what

are

conferences or workshops?"

the

benefits

of

participating

in

The major function of professional

activities through conferences/ workshops was networking and

Ill
social community, rather than learning new things.
leaders

said

they

have

meaningful

The female

interactions

at

those

meetings and during and after the conferences and workshops.
Thirteen leaders reported the benefits of participating in
conferences/workshops in 35 instances.

After analyzing the

responses, I developed three categories as shown in Table IV9: (1) networking/social community, (2) continuing education/
learning new things, and (3) maintaining a leadership role.
The

13

leaders

were

positive

about

participating

in

professional organizations and the activities they have with
those organizations.
participating

in

social community.

Eleven leaders reported the benefits of

conferences/workshops

as

networking

and

They valued information sharing, talking to

others, understanding each other, solidarity, sharing common
interests and concerns, and being involved in interactions and
receiving feedback.
One

leader,

Lewis,

said

that

she

liked

to

attend

workshops, since it gave her a community to belong to.

One

example emphasizes networking functions:
You get a network of peers to talk to that you can
share things with that you can't share at home.
You get a sense that your problems aren't really in
isolation so
... that what you're doing is being
done by others and being shared by others. (Powers)
Some

leaders

expressed

their

sense

of

the

conferences in terms of informal interactions.

value

of

the

One leader,

Green, remarked that sometimes she was not interested in the
official meeting and speeches on a specific topic.

Instead,

112

Table IV-9 Benefits of Participating in Conferences/Workshops
Central
Academic
Administrators Deans

Total

Instances (People)

4(3) 12(8)

Networking/Social Community

Networking
1
Information Sharing
1
Support
Social Community
To Talk to Others
1
Multi Cultural
Getting Understanding of Each Other
Solidarity/Common Interest
Feedback
Indirect Help
1
Continuing Ed/Learning New Skills

3
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

3(2) 9(6)

Continuing Education
Learning New Things
Specific Skills (Budget,
Group Dynamics/Behavior,
Negotiation,
Fund Raising/Public Relations)
Broaden Intellect
Get Ideas
Enrichment Professionally

16(11)

12(8)

2
2
1
1
1
1
1

1
1
1

4(3) 3(3)

Maintaining Leadership Role
Maintaining Leadership Role
Contribution as Presenter,Panelist
Seeking Adaptability
Trying Out Ideas
Reinforcement
Time for Reflection

1
1
1

7(6)

1
1
1

1
11(5) 24(8)

35(13)

she liked to meet other colleagues and exchange information
about their problems and difficulties as administrators who
have

similar

interests

and

problems.

She

added

that

interpersonal communication at a conference is important and

113
that it is like the invisible college.

Sometimes they found

mentors at these events.
Some leaders valued the interactions among the members of
women's associations.

One leader emphasized the interaction

among women as follows:
Some of them that are not directly related to my
field,
like
the
Association
for
Women
in
Development, and The American Association for
Women, I've liked to interact with people from
different disciplines a great deal.
Because you
learn a lot from people outside of your discipline.
(Moore)
The second reported that the benefit of professional
activities was learning new things.

Eight leaders emphasized

that they could learn some new things through conferences and
workshops.

They reported that they learned specific skills,

interpersonal dynamics, ways of developing creativity, problem
solving, negotiation, public relations, and budgeting skills
through the workshops.

One leader, Moore,

emphasized the

importance of continuous development of skills by attending
the meetings to develop stronger skills, regardless of what
level of skill development one currently has.

Another leader

suggested the importance of participating in conferences in
terms of intensifying readings.
One of the advantages of going to national
conferences and workshops is that you're meeting
other people from other institutions who have
similar jobs ... really heightens your awareness of
the issues, the concerns, the possible solutions
for them and I think intensifies the reading that
you do. (Brown)
Six leaders reported the benefits of participating in

114
conferences/workshops as maintaining their leadership roles in
the profession.

By attending, they could compare what other

universities were doing, understand some issue that related to
the

field,

university
university.

and
to

adapt

the

maintain

new

and

information

improve

the

to

their

quality

of

own
that

They also stressed that conferences provided them

with a time for reflection and an opportunity for trying out
ideas.

One leader commented on this issue, likening meetings

to celebrating holidays, saying that attending meetings is, in
a way, a festive periodic activity which serves as a reminder
of the purposes and goals of her mission.

She said that she

likes to attend workshops and conferences even though the
topics are not really stimulating:
It's the same reason one celebrates holidays every
year, it reminds you. It reminds you of why you're
there, why you're doing this, why do we have
Thanksgiving every year.... Just about ways of
getting people to think together or to work to a
consensus, and just some little techniques. (Lewis)
In this section, I presented the learning experiences of
female leaders in terms of how they learned and what they
learned.

I found that learning occurred through connected and

integrated
rather

experiences

than

experiences.

through

in personal
separate,

and

professional

independent

That is, they learned through

life

learning

(1) networking

including mentors, other leaders, colleagues, and friends; (2)
work

experiences;

(3)

participating

in

professional

activities; (4) self-directed reading; (5) personal life; and
(6)

graduate

training.

They

most

frequently

mentioned

115
learning

experiences

organizational

life,

in

a

leadership

position

interpersonal relations,

related to

and personal

awareness.
As female leaders in male-dominated positions, what did
they perceive as their unique characteristics?

In the next

section, I will analyze the social, cultural, and political
advantages and disadvantages of being women which affect their
professional
individual

development.
strengths

I

and

will

also

weaknesses

to

analyze

their

highlight

the

uniqueness of female leaders.

Female Leaders1 Uniqueness
Advantages of Being a Woman
By asking,

"what are your unique advantages as a woman

that helped your professional development?"

I obtained 34

instances

responses

from

the

13

leaders.

These

are

categorized into five areas, as illustrated in Table IV-10.
The

five

experience,

areas

(2)

are

personal

experience,

(4)

being

affirmative

action.

a
The

(1)

benefits

traits,
pioneer,
following

(3)
and
are

of

women's

life

gender-specific
(5)
the

benefits

of

identified

advantages.
First, 10 leaders reported women's life experience as an
advantage for their leadership practice in terms of acquiring
cooperative human relationship skills.

Identified as women's

life experience are married life which helps social skills,

1 16

Table IV-10

Advantages of Being A Woman
Academic
Central
Administrators Deems Total (N)
Instances (People)

Benefits of Women's Life Experience

6(5) 6(5)

Family Background(Stimulative)
2
Single Life (No Family Chores)
1
Supportive Husband
1
Benefits of Married Life
1
No Economic Burden
1
Never Heard Herself Called "Dumb"
Low Standard in Behaving Brilliant
Having a non-competitive environment
(No Sports)

1
2
1

1
1

2(2) 5(4)

Personal Traits
Supportive Personal Traits
Preference of Group Work
Help People Work Together
Faculty Oriented
Appear Confident
Work Hard

2
1
1
1
1
5(3) 2(2)

Experience of Raising Children
Dealing w/ Husband
Girls' Unique Relationship
Women's Different Ways of Knowing
Being A Pioneer

1
1
2
1

Benefits of Affirmative Action

1

1

husband,

having

no

3(3)

1
1

15(5)19(8)
supportive

5(3)

1
1
1
1
1(1) 2(2)

Affirmative Action
Benefits of Filling a Slot

7(5)

2

1(1) 4(2)

Pioneer
Blazing the Trail for Other Women
Freedom of Inventing Own Life
Volunteer Work for Prof. Org.
Participating in Women's Assoc.

a

7(6)

1

Gender Specific Experience

having

12(10)

economic

34(13)
burdens,

117
having

a

single

life,

and

having

a

stimulating

family

environment.
One leader mentioned that she never heard that "girls were
dumb" in her childhood.

She believed, however, that people

had

behavior

a

low

development:

standard
When

of

boys

made

for

certain

girls'

intellectual

mistakes,

they

were

corrected but when girls made similar mistakes, they were not
corrected, the assumption being that girls were not as capable
as boys and could not be expected to perform to the higher
standard one might reasonably expect of boys.
Oh, sure.
I think that women, I used to say that
the advantage used to be when I was younger that if
I said something dumb, nobody noticed it. And if I
said something halfway smart, people thought it was
brilliant because I was a female.
I spent many
years working where there were almost all men. And
there were lots of disadvantages.... I wasn't
socialized to live the kind of life I'm now living.
But I was part of that transitional generation.
(Smith)
The female leaders frequently mentioned family life.

All

the married female leaders responded that their husbands were
supportive, both emotionally and practically. They valued the
idea of balance; that is, sharing child care responsibility
and

family

chores

between

husband

and

wife,

as

well

as

achieving a balance between family life and professional life.
One leader said that she and her husband chose her career as
the primary career in the family rather than her husband's and
she added the following comments on the advantage of having a
supportive husband:
The

women

I know

that

have

been

successful

in

118
administration
and moved up the ladder, tend to
have a supportive [spouse] or be single.
And
supportive spouse is, I think, far preferable
because you've got two people to help and certainly
one of my mentors told me when I first became a
dean. That once you get to dean level, and above,
the positions are almost two person positions
because you have so many social obligations.
(Brown)
I found contrasts, however,

in the views of female leaders

with different marital statuses.

Married leaders emphasized

the psychological importance of their husbands'

support in

terms of balancing their personal and professional lives.
single

or

divorced

female

leaders

emphasized

The

structural

benefits— they explained that a single life which left them
free

from

family

chores,

allowing

more

profession, was an advantage for women.
her home as her refuge:

time

for

their

One women described

It is a nice,

quiet, and peaceful

environment because she has no children.

Another leader said

that her divorce was a turning point in her career, since it
allowed her more opportunity to grow professionally.
single

woman

said

her

professional

career was

the

One
first

priority in her life, rather than any other things:
I think I've been able to move much faster not
being
married
...
having
a
family
and
responsibilities. I thinkit's much more difficult
to be able to move effectively and do the things
you
have
to
do in
administration
with
families....Well, see my professional life has
always been the most important thing for me. I did
consider marriage several times but, a lot of times
it was my professional career that interfered with
what I wanted to do. (Moore)
Second, 7 leaders reported their personal traits related
to feminine characteristics as advantages.

The women leaders

119
responded that they were better at human relationship skills
than male

leaders.

Most of them said that they have an

advantage as a woman, particularly in dealing with staffs,
since they act in a personally friendly manner that would be
difficult for a male supervisor to adopt.

One leader said as

follows:
I guess the advantages are I think some of the
feminine traits are valuable that we have ... our
concern with others ... our concern for others, our
noncompetitiveness, our nurturing abilities that
....the desire to see others succeed and to get
pleasure from somebody else's success and [be] just
kind of like a mother —
there's a lot of family
metaphors I see. (Kelly)
Third,

5

leaders

identified

their

gender-specific

socialization experiences as their unigue advantage.
experiences

are

raising

children,

a

daughter's

Those
unigue

relationship among family members, having a non-competitive
environment, and women's different ways of knowing.
Related to girls' unigue experience, two leaders talked
about girls' unigue relationships within the family.
said that,

in family conversations,

they did not have to

compete intellectually as vigorously as the boys did.
did, however,

They

They

have to make sure that when they spoke they

first considered whether their brothers and parents wished to
speak.

The

responsibility

conversations

was

cooperatively;

that

to

of

the

participate

is,

girls
in

in

the

these

family

conversations

accommodating the desire of their

brothers and parents to speak: They tried hard to get positive
attention

in a

short

time by presenting

their

intentions

1 20

clearly.

In short, there was a hierarchy within the family

that determined who had the right to speak first, second, and
so on, as well as determining how long they could talk.

Girls

were at the bottom of this hierarchy, parents were at the top,
and boys followed the parents, having priority over the girls
in terms of family conversational speaking rights.
One leader described her experience as a daughter and her
unigue relationships within the family as follows:
When I was growing up, daughters had a particular
place in the family and were treated in a
particular way, and they learned certain coping
skills.
You learn to persuade instead of demand.
You learn to listen instead [of] talking all the
time.
You learn to present your case quickly and
clearly ... you learn to get along with people. I
think in a family, like mine, where there is also a
brother,
those
coping
skills
later
are
invaluable.... You know men and women do not deal
with the world the same way.
And I think part of
it starts in childhood. (Jones)
Also, Jones emphasized that raising her children and dealing
with her husband were marvelous training experiences in human
relations skills.
When I got married, raising small children, again I
think provides one with skills for dealing with the
rest of the world.
You learn how to diffuse
irrationality, you learn how to give choices rather
than orders.
You learn how to, by teaching
children social skills, how to get along with
people you don't like.
You learn something
yourself. Dealing with husbands, and not only your
own but in a social setting, as a family.... you
apply some of those skills of persuasion. (Jones)
Gender-specific socialization experiences include women's
different ways of knowing, along with family relations.
leader argued that there

One

is legitimacy to the concept of

1 21

different ways of knowing.
advantage

as

a

female

Sheldon emphasized that she has an

leader,

since

she

can

see

from

perspective of women's uniqueness in her ways of knowing.

a

She

said that having access to a new way of viewing the world gave
her a special meaning as a woman.
At a keynote speech, on re-visioning knowledge and the
curriculum through feminist perspectives, Sheldon addressed
the

contributions

different

ways

of

of

women

and

knowing.

minorities

She

and

indicated

supported

that

higher

education has been slow in removing barriers to the academy
and even slower to examine openly issues of inequities and
discrimination in higher education institutions.

She pointed

out that Women's Studies is an important piece in the holistic
approach to diversity.

Also, she cited the report of the ACE

Commission on Women in Higher Education.
what

has

yet

to

happen

on

all

She explained that

our

campuses

is

the

transformation of knowledge and, therefore, of the curriculum
demanded

by

this

explosion

of

new

information

and

by

challenges to conventional ways of thinking and knowing.
Fourth, 3 leaders reported 5 instances of being a pioneer
as their advantage.

They saw that being a pioneer in their

position made it possible to blaze the trail for other women,
to invent one's own life, and that it also meant having the
opportunity to do volunteer work

for women's professional

organizations, and participate in women's associations.
The three leaders described their work as blazing the

122

trail for other women, and being recognized specifically as a
successful woman, not simply as a nongendered person in their
position.

They

reported

that

participating

in

women's

associations and exchanging information about women's issues
were great advantages.
interested

in

For instance, one leader said she was

women's

issues

and

active

in

women's

associations within the university and outside the university.
She had the advantage of exchanging information about new
books to read on women's issues.

Also she indicated that she

is seeking opportunities to explore things like faculty and
professional

women's

associations

and

to

be

involved

in

woman's issues.
[That] gives you access to understanding and
observing some other ways of knowing and that
greatly
expands
if
you
can
use
those
effectively... .1 try to keep to up on some of the
women's study issues; go to the women's studies
conference. (Sheldon)
Fifth,

in contrast to the psychological and cultural

advantages, three other leaders identified affirmative action
as a structural advantage.
may

help

their

They thought that being a woman

administrative

Sullivan and Allen,

advancement.

Two

leaders,

said that they were hired because of a

value commitment of the person who hired them; that is, a
value which said that senior administration should not consist
only of white males.
When the president hired me, if there was equally
qualified male candidates and me, he would have
hired me because he's committed to having women and
minorities in administrative positions so that
could have been an advantage. (Allen)

123
The other leader, Brown, pointed out women's invisibility as
a factor which may influence some organizations to hire more
women.

She explained the effect of affirmative action in

terms of balancing and getting more women in certain kinds of
positions.

Disadvantages of Being a Woman
By asking, "what are your unigue disadvantages as a woman
that hindered your professional development?" I obtained 31
instances from the 13 leaders.

It is interesting that the

number of instances of disadvantages is very close to the
number

(34)

responses,

of

instances

of

advantages.

I developed three categories as

Based

on their

illustrated

in

Table IV-ll: social bias, organizational cultural bias, and
individual disadvantage.
social

bias

are

The instances under the category of

related

to

a

society-wide,

public

stereotypical view, whereas the instances under the category
of organizational cultural bias are related to a institutionwide, organizational stereotypical view.
First, 8 leaders identified social bias about females as
a serious

disadvantage.

Fourteen instances were reported

including prejudice, bias, and stereotypical ideas of women.
For instance, when the female leaders go to a new place and
meet new people, they are uncomfortable since they perceive
that most of the people have a bias against women leaders.

124
Table IV-ll

Disadvantages of Being a Woman
Central
Academic
Administrators Deans Total(N)
Instances (People)

Social Bias

4(3) 10(5)

Prejudice/Bias Against Women
Stereotypical View
Scrutinized
Closed Job Market to Women
Be Conscious/Emotional Expression
Pressure/Try Hard (Big Burden)

3

14(8)

3
3
1

1
1
2

Organizational Cultural Bias

6(2) 5(5)
1
2

Men's Informal Conversation
No Old-Boy Network
Invisibility
Underrepresentat ion
Sexist Organization
Lack of Support
Female Dominated College
Male-Dominated Culture

1
1

11(7)

1
1
1
1
1

1

Individual Disadvantage

1(1) 5(4)

No Career Mentor
Unmarried Single Woman
Physical Appearance
Ethnic Minority
Family chores

6(5)

2
1
1
1
1
11(5) 20(8)

31(13)

The leaders pointed out that there must be some long standing
biases and prejudices against females.

Kelly described a

recent experience which reminded her that she is never free
from the disadvantages of being perceived by others who have
stereotypes about women.
There's the immediate assumption that, "Ah hah,
that's their token woman." .... When people see you
initially,
they
think,
"Mmmm,
she's
their
affirmative action quota gal." And I think that's
still there.
I think that's a disadvantage for us

125
because we really do have to, in every new
situation, prove ourselves all over again.... And
that's really a hinderance because that keeps you
from just doing a good job, that added pressure.
Disadvantages.... Well, I tell you, I thought I had
conquered
my
feelings
about
being
a
woman
administrator until this weekend ... there was a
meeting of about fourteen college presidents and
vice presidents and deans ... there were maybe
sixty people and maybe two women.... I was very
uncomfortable in that room. And this was a room of
just middle aged, white, males. And I was supposed
to lead one of the discussions groups.
That was
all males. And the room was set up with just rigid
rows and chairs behind the rows.... I said, well
let's just sit in a circle or change the chairs....
I heard one guy go, you know he swore and he said,
"She'll want to take more time moving the furniture
and we're not going to have any time to talk." ....
I pretended I didn't hear him and proceeded to
rearrange the room ... and we really did have a
fairly ... we did get our job done....In that room
at that time, my femaleness hindered what I had to
do.... And so I feel that I was at a real
disadvantage of being a woman, this weekend.
(Kelly)
Except within such traditionally female-oriented areas

as

nursing and home economics, most female leaders in this study
responded that they were conscious of others'

response to

their professional position within the organization.
brought some pressure to bear on their behavior.

That

They felt

that other people wondered how they handle the dual roles,
family and professional, and whether they were just doing the
work in their spare time.

That kind of perception by others

is clearly very gender-oriented and negative.
The major theme of the social bias that 8 women reported
is related to the female's stereotypical domestic role.

They

said they found that others often discounted their opinion
because those opinions were voiced by a women.

Also, they

126

described that when other women said to them "we really hope
you succeed," they felt very burdened.

One leader described

her experience which resulted from social bias against woman:
I've found that you have to be very assertive but
you have to be assertive from a non-threatening
perspective ... if you're assertive and they
perceive it as aggression, then it can turn people
off.... I think very often women have to work
harder in the beginning to prove themselves. As a
minority you have to work harder than being just a
woman, and I think that those have been some of the
disadvantages in terms of the male arenas that you
have to function in.
And making sure that your
voice is heard, because too often I've been in
groups and made suggestions and then a male will
turn around and say the same thing you've said, and
then people listen. (Moore)
Two leaders both agreed that women may have an advantage in
being hired for a specific position, since there is a great
need for women in certain places.

But they also saw this as

a serious disadvantage for them in accomplishing their tasks.
You know, we need a woman to fill the slot. Let's
ask Sue if she'd like to sit on the board....I
usually believe that it's not good for me to
believe that. I tend to believe it's not me. It's
something else.... I mean I'm always working
against this terribly negative self image I had
when I was young.
It's probably why I appear
overly confident. (Sheldon)
Second,

along

society-wide

social

bias,

7

leaders

identified organizational cultural bias within the institution
as a disadvantage.

The responses represent women's concerns

that

have

they

do

participate

in

not

men's

an

old

informal

boy

network

conversation.

and

can

Also,

not
male

dominant organizational culture, female leaders' invisibility,
a

female

dominant

college,

and

sexist

organizations

were

127
identified as disadvantages for female leaders' professional
development.
Three leaders said that organizations are man-made and
male

oriented.

In this

type

of circumstance,

the women

leaders felt disadvantaged in terms of isolation from informal
gatherings among male colleagues, whereas most of the time,
the

information

important.

shared

in

the

informal

setting

is

very

Sometimes others reacted one way when a man made

a mistake but

if a woman made a similar mistake,

reacted more negatively than they had to the man.

others
Sheldon

pointed out a typical example of the kind of disadvantage she
dealt with in her organization:
There are easy examples. You're in a meeting. And
the meeting ends for whatever set of reasons and
all the guys go to the bathroom. They continue to
talk about the topic. Or they at that point share
a set of information with each other that they were
uncomfortable sharing in a group setting.
And
that's a very natural way that meetings break up.
And there are, in a sense, side conversations that
have relatively important information.
Okay.
I
mean that's just a very simple example that no one
thinks anything about.
But nine times out of ten
there's never, there's not an effort to repeat that
information to the person who is not there by
virtue of gender. (Sheldon)
She said that she felt frustrated because she could not do
anything

in that

situation.

Since women

occupy

a

small

percentage of administrative positions, there is no solution
to this kind of problem, unless more female administrators get
into top administrative positions.
a woman

A lot of women expect that

in an administration position might solve women's

issues in her position, but the reality is far from fulfilling

128
such expectations.
Three other leaders reported the disadvantage of being a
female leader in terms of discrimination:
I think I've changed a little bit.
I've become
more conscious of discrimination. I've become more
conscious of men who discriminate.
I have become
more conscious of the fact that I can discriminate
against women, too.
Because I have experienced
discrimination by women.
I've had, I've had a
secretary tell me that they will not work for a
woman. (Powers)
Third,

5 leaders

said that they have had

individual

disadvantages as a woman and 8 instances were identified.
These

are

physical

appearance,

ethnic

minority,

being

unmarried or single, and having no career mentor.
For

instance,

Dunn wrote

in

her

"Dilemmas

of

Black

Females in Leadership" that people generally resist accepting
black women who perform competently in formal, high-status
positions.

She pointed out in that article that when the

black woman leader fails to give people what they believe they
need,

she

is

perceived

to

be

deliberately

depriving

and

rejecting, and therefore, hostile and potentially destructive.
In the interview with her, she also emphasized her weakness
from a perspective of physical appearance.

Dunn sees her

physical appearance as her critical disadvantage.
Because this is a very racist society.
It is
sexist. The fad is towards slim bodies, blond hair
and blue eyes.
And there's a tendency for people
to have a distaste over those characteristics that
they would not like in themselves. (Dunn)
Dunn

feels

some pressure to present

minority female leader.

a

smiling

face as

a

129
People see me as a pleasant person and they always
want to see me smiling.
I think a part of it has
to do with racial bias. Because they don't want to
confront an angry black person so they want me
always smiling.
And there are times when I don't
smile, so they get very concerned and I had to let
them know that that's nothing to do with them.
(Dunn)
From the perspective of having no family chores,

the

single or divorced female leaders were satisfied with their
professional development, but some of them said that they felt
that their personal life was unfulfilling.

This theme tends

to appear among divorced or widowed persons rather than among
never-married-single persons.
Dunn has been divorced for 31 years and she especially
saw her life as a transition in her 60s.

She said that her

job is not her whole life and she is at another decision
point.

She noted that she is thinking about how she wants to

live— in the next few years and beyond.
Powers and Green are singles and never married.

These

single leaders talked about the disadvantages of remaining
single,

since

marital

administrative positions.
selected
finalist,
ago.

to

be

a vice

partnership

is

needed

at

senior

Green thought that she had not been
president,

even

though

she

was

a

since a single woman was not acceptable 12 years

These women were

satisfied with their professional

development, but they described being part of a married couple
as being beneficial because of the partnership they have.
I'm sometimes envious of people who are in
partnerships because there is the sharing.
You
know I have some friends who are husband and wife

1 30

who are both professionals and they have kids.
They share the responsibilities of the kids and
that's a burden - but they also share other things.
Like who's going to cook. You know who's going to
clean house.
Who's going to go to the grocery
shopping. But I always have to do the cooking and
the grocery shopping for myself. Even if it's just
for myself.
And so that gets tiresome too.
Sometimes I'm envious. (Powers)
Personal Strengths as a Leader
The female leaders reported that as a leader they have
personal

strengths as well as having advantages as women.

They talked longer on strengths than on advantages.

The 13

leaders perceived personal strengths in 54 instances, whereas
they

reported 34

instances of advantage.

Based on their

responses to questions about personal strengths, I developed
3 categories as illustrated in Table IV-12.

Those categories

are (1) collaborative human skills, (2) being a self motivated
worker,

(3) and self confidence/capability.

First, 11 leaders described their personal strength in
terms of their human skills.

They identified 25 instances

including listening to people; being a good observer; being
sensitive; bringing balance to a group; caring about people;
being collaborative and fair; accepting mistakes; and having
good social skills, a sense of humor, professional ethics, and
morals.

These strengths resulted from their gender-specific

experiences as female.
Second, 8 leaders described themselves as self-motivated
workers and 18 instances were identified.

These are being a

risk taker, inquisitive, having intellectual horsepower,

131
Table IV-12

Personal Strengths as a Leader
Central
Academic
Administrators Deans Total (N)
Instances (People)

Collaborative Human Skills
Listen to People
Good Observer
Being Sensitive
Bring Balance to Group
Caring About People
Strong Interpersonal Skills
Collaboration
Social Skills
Get People to Work Together
Accept Mistakes
Professional Ethics/Values
Morals
Sense of Humor
Being Patient
Fairness/Equity
Self Motivated Worker

7(4) 18(7)

2
1

1
1
2

Self Confidence/Capability
Self-Confidence
Optimistic/Positive
Being Assertive
Self-Indulgent
Strong Analytical Skills
Being Competent

2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
2

7(3) 11(5)

Unigue Work Experience
Getting Things Done
Work Fast
Risk Taker/Challenge
2
Being Ambitious
1
Inquisitive/Love Finding Out 1
Love to Bring Change
Strong Interest in Career
1
High Energy
Enthusiasm
Intellectual Horsepower
1
Enjoying What I Do
1
Love Problem Solving
Successful Organizational Life

18(8)

1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1

5(3) 6(4)
2
1

25(11)

11(7)

2
2
1
1

1
1
19(5)35(8)

5 4(13)

132
enjoying

problem

solving,

enjoying

what

I

do,

feeling

enthusiastic, having high energy, a strong interest in their
career, enjoy making changes, being ambitious, working fast,
getting things done, developing a successful organizational
life, and having unigue work experience.

These are strengths

that successful women in organization commonly have.
Third, 7 leaders reported self confidence and capability
as

their

strengths

assertive,

including

self-indulgent,

being

and

optimistic,

having

strong

positive,
analytical

skills.
The
strengths

leaders
as

development.

described

influential

these

three

factors

in

areas
their

of

personal

professional

Some of them are absolutely derived from their

unigue experience as females but the derivation of others can
not be identified.

But in this study,

I hypothesized and

confirmed that the characteristics of one person are closely
related to her gender.

One leader mentioned that she tried to

be overly confident, since other people have a bias against
women's confidence.
that

most

of

her

In light of this realization, I could see
strengths

are

related

to

her

personal

experience as female whether those strengths are "feminine" or
not.

As Marshall (1988) describes in her study, some of the

strengths women adopt in the workplace are close to maleness:
adopting male tactics, while some other leaders try to keep
their femaleness.
V.

This will be further discussed in Chapter

133
Personal Weakness as a Leader
The female leaders in my study reported that they have
personal

weaknesses

despite

their

strengths

as

leaders.

Twelve leaders perceived personal weaknesses in 26 instances,
whereas they reported 54 instances of their strengths.

Based

on their responses to questions about personal weaknesses, I
developed 3 categories as illustrated in Table IV-13: (1) lack
of

public

skills,

(2)

personal/other weakness.
weakness
questions,

was

collected

lack

of

effectiveness,

and

(3)

Most of the information related to
from

the

second

round,

follow-up

since some leaders mentioned their weakness as

unique to women.
First, 6 leaders identified a lack of public skills in 13
instances, including the following: being impatient, feeling
stage fright, difficulty moving easily in a crowd, difficulty
remembering people's name, talking too much, not listening,
not good at delivering public speeches, and lack of political
skills.
One leader, Power, mentioned political skills in terms of
fundraising.

Another leader talked about her weakness

in

terms of political skills related to behavior in front of the
public:
I wish that I had a better capacity to speak before
large groups.
I wish that I had more easy
political skills in the sense of being able to
relate easily to people to remember their names and
be able to move easily in a crowd.
A few things
like that some people do very graciously and easily
and that doesn't come naturally to me. I can do it
but it doesn't come natural.... I think that an

134
administrator needs that ability to relate to
people easily and rather superficially. (Warden)

Table IV-13

Personal Weaknesses as a Leader
Central
Academic
Administrators Deans Total(N)
Instances (People)

Lack of Public Skills
Being Impatient
Stage Fright
Lack of Political Skills
Can't Move Easily in a Crowd
Unable Remember to
People's Names
Talk Too Much
Don't Listen
Public Speech
Lack of Effectiveness

8(3) 5(3)
1
2
2
1

No Specialty
Over Indulgent
Physical Appearance
Less Rewarding Personal Life
Total

3

1
1
1
1
4(2) 5(4)

Have Failed To Be Task-Oriented
Too Task Oriented
Do Too Many Things at Once
1
Take Too Long to Make Decisions
Too Intense
1
Counterproductive
1
Miss The Larger Issue
Haven't Been Innovative Enough
Procrastinating in Delivering
"Bad News"
1
Personal/Other Weaknesses

13(6)

9(6)

1
1
1
1
1

1(1) 3(2)

4(3)

1
1
1
1
13(4)13(8)

26(12)

Second, 6 leaders identified lack of effectiveness in 9
instances.

These included having failed to be task-oriented,

being too task-oriented, taking too long to make decisions,

135
being too
counter

intense,

productive,

innovative enough,

doing too many things
missing

the

larger

and procrastinating

at once,

issue,

not

being
being

in delivering

"bad

news.11
I found an interesting discrepancy between a leader's
perception of herself and others' evaluation of her.
often takes

a long time

believe she needs to do so.

in making a decision,

Kelly

since she

But others pointed that out as a

weakness.
Sometimes I probably do take too long to make
decisions. Somebody might say, "Well, she's taking
too long."
But rarely do you need to make
decisions overnight, especially in an academic
institution when things move so slowly.... I do
spend time. (Kelly)
Third, 3 leaders identified personal/other weaknesses in
4 instances, including having no managerial specialty, being
over-indulgent, poor physical appearance, having a less-thanrewarding personal life.
An unsatisfactory personal life can be a weakness: One
leader said that she devoted herself to her professional life
but lost a balance in her personal life.

Lewis was widowed

but remained single, since she thought that a woman's married
life might interfere with her career.

Now she describes her

personal life as less rewarding compared to her professional
life:
I think just as a person I've put an enormous
energy into my professional life so that my
personal life, my private life has not been as
interesting
or
as
rewarding
as
my
public
professional life.... So, I have a weakness but

136

it's just ... sort of the other side of spending a
lot of time with your career that you don't have
that kind of a private life. (Lewis)
In this section,
leaders'

I presented the uniqueness of female

professional

development.

The

female

leaders

reported the unique advantages they had as women in terms of
life experiences, cooperative personal traits, girls' unique
socialization experiences, being a pioneer, and affirmative
action.

In contrast,

the disadvantages were

reported

as

social bias against women, organizational cultural bias, and
individual disadvantages.

These advantages and disadvantages

are structural features which are socially constructed about
women as a gender group.
It
females'

is

interesting

unique

collaborative
competition.

that

experience

the
as

interpersonal

female

an

leaders

advantage

relations

as

in

perceived
terms

opposed

of
to

The collaborative nature of their leadership

practice which was derived from females' unique socialization
experience
section.

needs

to

be

developed

In the next section,

further

in

a

separate

women's uniqueness will be

highlighted based on their responses to questions about their
strengths.

Uniqueness of Being Women
The

female

leaders

perceived

that

they

have

unique

characteristics in the way they do business, analyze problems,
work as a group, make decisions, and plan.

The following are

137
examples of the ways women do business differently from the
way men do.

Three leaders emphasized a unigue attitude of

women.
I see some of that way of doing business with the
focus on hierarchy ... run over another to get
ahead and one person getting ahead by blaming
somebody else.
I see that as a very male kind of
way of doing business. (Sullivan)
I think women analyze problems different than men
do.
When we analyze problems, we take into
consideration the human element more than men
do.... I think we're probably much more conscious
of feelings, how people are going to react and feel
about something. (Allen)
They do succeed better, I think, if they don't try
to be a man.
You gotta be tough, but not nasty
tough about it, ya' know, quietly tough, femininely
tough, I guess is the word. (Smith)
The other leader, Moore had worked with both male and female
groups and she talked about the differences between the way
males conduct their business as compared to the way females do
theirs.

She

described

the

tendency

of males

to

get

to

business very quickly and mentioned that they move through
things much quicker than some of the female groups with which
she had worked.

She said that a lot of times many decisions

in male groups have been made before they come to the table,
since they have their informal networks and a lot of the
decisions are close to being finalized when they come to the
table, whereas female groups operate differently:
A lot of the decisions have not been made and we'd
like to get a lot of consensus.... I think females
are probably much more concerned about being fair
... I think men are more focused on the end product
... An ethical caring.
And I think we're more
concerned about hurting each others' feelings in a

138
group because I've been in all male groups and
sometimes I'd listen to what they say to each other
and it's hard and cold and nobody cares and they
just move on ... it may bother females, it does not
bother
males
because
they're
accustomed
to
operating like that. (Moore)
Five

leaders

strongly

claimed

appropriate leaders in academe.

that

women

can

be

Kelly emphasized that women

will be appropriate leaders during the 1990s.

She wrote in a

paper that females are considered more collaborative rather
than competitive, and she implies that "our natural styles of
collaboration, accommodation, and compromise are going to be
essential

as

we

professionals."
changed

so

lead

and

She wrote

dramatically

needed to lead.

manage

organizations

that the work

that more

of

environment has

feminine

qualities

are

She also suggested that, since the student

body is becoming more diverse by age and race, there is a need
for less authoritarian uses of power, more highly effective
team work, and increased interpersonal effectiveness.
the interview,

During

she also characterized her uniqueness as a

leader as being cooperative.
Well, what I try to
together.
I stress
competition.
I work
department chairs as a
together. (Kelly)
For

instance,

allocation

in

using

procedure

do is help people work
cooperation rather than
very hard with all the
group.
We are in this

money,

rather

Kelly

than

emphasizes

simply

a

group

designating

amounts herself.
And with our merger resources, we tried to support
people whether the support is just providing
release time so they can go back to school, reduced

the

139
loans. There's a computer ... one of the things
that we did as a group, we decided to do a local
area network.
We pooled all our money.
All the
departments pooled their money and over a three
year period, we put a micro computer on everybody's
desk and then we networked it. That's one example
of rather than just giving everybody money to spend
on what they wanted to do.... I think everybody's
been fairly happy with. (Kelly)
Five leaders, like Kelly, emphasized the importance of caring
about

people,

seeking

consensus,

and

operating

in

a

cooperative instead of top down hierarchical manner and they
find that cooperation is more effective.

They said they are

participatory, democratic, nurturant, and collaborative.

One

leader emphasized her great reserves of patience, both with
people and with a lot of paper work details.

An other leader

stressed

came

the

point

that

her

uniqueness

from

her

background— a noncompetitive environment.
I do think that since I was not raised in an
environment in which I was thrown into competitive
sports.... That I do believe in collaboration.
That I do believe that more than one head is better
than one. (Powers)
Two of the leaders strongly emphasized the fact that they have
unique strengths

as good

listeners.

One leader said her

listening skills and ability to embrace diverse opinions came
from her earlier experiences in which she felt resentment
because someone had not listened to her when she needed them
to.

Another leader described her unique ability to listen as

follows:
I listen very careful to people
often, more than I talk until I
important for me to talk. And
think I pick up a lot of things

and I observe, very
determine that it's
because I observe I
in groups that many

140
people do not pick up.
Because I'm listening and
observing.... And I think 1 bring a lot of balance
to groups because I listen and try to feed back
some of the information that has been said. (Moore)
The female leaders' professional values make it possible
for them to understand how they work within their leadership
positions.
first

I did not ask about professional values at the

interview,

but

one

leader

mentioned

one

of

her

professional values and it seemed an interesting line to purse
with the other leaders.

Therefore, I added this issue during

the follow-up questions.
trust,

I found that they valued honesty,

integrity, harmony, academic quality, relationships,

vision, the willingness to learn, openness, and fairness.

At

the second round (follow-up questions), the 10 female leaders
reported

their

professional

values

as

follows:

(1)

six

leaders reported honesty/trust and integrity as among their
professional
fairness,

values;

high

(2)

three leaders mentioned harmony,

academic

quality

and

standards,

and

contribution to work for the common good/tne willingness to
help others; (3) two leaders each placed a heavy emphasis on
the intangibles of vision,

values,

and relationships;

the

responsibility to develop oneself to the fullest; willingness
to learn; openness; perseverance/ tenacity; and (5) each of
the

qualities

listed

below

were

reported

by

one

leader:

decisiveness, hard work, the ability to keep goals in mind at
all

times,

competence,

courage,

efficiency,

flexibility, poise, sense of humor, and fun.

empathy,

141
Summary
In this chapter,
leadership
unique

I presented the

competencies,

characteristics

information.
leaders'

learning
as

women

13

female

experiences,
as

well

as

leaders'

and

their

demographic

I found that the prominent theme of the female

professional

development

is

competencies

as

people-related

competencies.
The
managers.

leaders

needed

leaders

and

as

Among the competencies, leaders reported people-

related competencies as critical for leadership positions. The
female leaders learned from male and female mentors and they
perceived the nature of that help from different perspectives:
that

is,

whether

the

help

served

career

functions

or

psychosocial functions. Also, the mentoring which the female
leaders received influenced them to build a new mentor-mentee
relationship,
mentor.

with themselves now in the role of being a

Regarding their leadership positions, they reported

that it was important to learn organizational-life and humanrelation skills.
The data analysis shows the unique qualities of female
leaders in terms of networking, mentoring, and working with
people— leadership styles relying on collaboration rather than
competition. Major issues will be discussed further in Chapter
V, and conclusions and implications for further study will be
presented. Also my own learning experiences from this study
will be described in the reflection section of Chapter V.

CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND REFLECTIONS

Introduction
This

study

explored

learning experiences

self-perceived

female

in their professional

leaders'

development by

examining (1) leadership competencies, (2) learning resources
and learning experiences,
leaders.

and (3) the uniqueness of female

To explore these issues, I used two methods: open-

ended interview and document-analysis.

The participants in

this study were 13 female administrators in Michigan higher
education

institutions

in one of the following positions:

associate provost, executive assistant to the president, or
academic dean.
As

Chapter

IV

indicates,

the

major

competencies

the

female leaders needed for their professional development were
identified

in two

categories:

competencies

competencies as manager. They
through

networking,

working

conferences/workshops,

learned

as

those

experiences,

leader

and

competencies

participating

in

self-directed reading, personal life

experiences, and graduate training. Some of the female leaders
in

this

advantage

study
of

reported
being

relationship skills

a

gender-specific

women

leader

and

experiences
noted

that

and cooperativeness were derived
142

as

an

human
from

143
their unique experiences as females.
Some of the findings were supported by previous studies
but some other findings differ from the previous research
studies

that

chapter,

I

I

refer

will

to

in

discuss

literature
the

review.

findings

In this

from

various

perspectives, and will conclude my study based on the findings
and the discussion.

Discussion
In this section, I will discuss the uniqueness of female
academic

leaders

between leaders
differences

from three perspectives:

(1)

differences

in business and leaders in education;

between

men

and women

leaders

in

(2)

academe

in

mentoring, networking, and working with people-collaboration/
competition; and (3) differences among female academic leaders
according to their role and exposure to women's studies.
First, my data suggest that academic leaders learn their
needed competencies in a way that is different from the way in
which business leaders learn theirs.

When investigating the

resources for learning their needed competencies, I found that
the

academic

instances

of

development.
developed

female

leaders

learning
From

including

in

this

study

reported

resources

for

their

professional

these

responses,

networking,

6

categories

working

58

were

experiences,

participating in conferences/workshops, self-directed reading,
personal life, and graduate training.

A study of community

144
college
areas

presidents

of

(Dotterer,

experiences

1989)

affecting

described three broad

professional

development.

Dotterer interviewed 10 males and 2 females and claimed that
personal life, on-the-job training, and formal training are
the

experiences

development.

affecting

Whereas

academic

Dotterer's

leaders'

professional

3 categories were chosen

before interviewing the subjects, the 6 categories in my study
were developed on the basis of the interviewees' responses to
the interviews.

The prominent difference of my study from

others is that the majority of the female respondents reported
that

self-directed

learning.

reading

was

an

important

resource

of

Although we can not directly compare the results of

other studies with mine, since the conceptual framework and
the research method were different in each study, there are,
nevertheless some key features which can be compared.
instance,

McCauley

(1986)

identified

leadership development in business:
people,

hardships,

and

formal

four

resources

job assignments,

training.

For
of

other

Contrasted

to

McCauley's business leaders, the female leaders in my study
found personal

life

and professional

activities

(such

as

reading, graduate training, and participating in conferences/
workshops) to be important learning resources.
I found one interesting commonality in observing women
leaders in education and business.

The socially-constructed

disadvantages of the female academic leaders were identified
as social bias

against women.

In this perspective,

some

145
leaders described affirmative action as an influential factor
of social bias— by forming an image of "a token woman"— even
though it was perceived as an advantage in career advancement
for some other women.

Most of the leaders perceived the

burden to be the necessity of having to prove themselves as
competent in each new place and to new people.
used

the

business.

term

"token"

to

In my study,

image as a disadvantage.

describe

female

Kanter (1976)
executives

in

some leaders reported the "token"
This result supports Kanter's (1976)

study on corporate men and women.

The hierarchy

of job

structures in which men tend to occupy higher positions in the
hierarchy and women tend to occupy the lower positions is
about the same in both academe and business, while the ways
that the leaders learn are different in each sector.
As I reviewed in Chapter II, several research studies
indicated

gender

difference

in

leadership

styles.

Additionally, I discovered some important characteristics from
the participants of my study that were barely touched on in
previous studies: women's networking, mentoring, and working
in collaboration

rather than

competition.

In discussing

women's uniqueness; networking, mentoring, and collaborative
human relations will be focused on in this section.
Compared to male leaders who have access to the "old boy
network," the women in my study feel disadvantaged because
they do not have a comparable network.
study

experienced

the

disadvantage

Women leaders in this
of

having

no

old

boy

146

network, being excluded from men's business-related informal
conversation by virtue of their gender, few chances to have
mentors, and invisibility.

They described the hierarchical

structure of higher education institutions as male-dominated.
But,

as some leaders claimed,

"new girl network"— women's

support groups and informal meetings— could be considered as
a different way of women networking.

The situation of female

leaders have changed in the past 10-20 years.
the

women's

movement,

in

higher

New features in

education,

and

in

the

organizations in Michigan in 1990s might have influenced women
academic leaders' professional development.
DeWine

(1983)

distinguishes

professional networking.

support

groups

from

He sees networking as a process of

linking people to each other as career resources.

According

to DeWine, men's networking occurs more often as a by-product
of membership in social clubs and participation in athletic
events, while women's informal networking is different from
that

of

their

psychological

counterparts— women

ties,

getting

preferred

together,

and

personal

sharing

their

experiences through informal meetings rather than professional
networking.

In my study,

a leader described her informal

meeting with other women as a "new girls network."

Through

informal meetings, the female leaders help one another cope
with some psychological or physiological problems or meet
because they share some common experience.
a

female's career only

indirectly.

This might support

In this perspective,

147
female leaders'

networking is different

from the existing

conception of professional networking in terms of DeWine's
definition.

Investigating women's

responses to questions

about networking, I found that female leaders' networking was
close to the function of a support group.

It might, however,

be a factor of the unique, informal type of networking that
characterizes women's associations with each other.
Also,

the

female

leaders

in my

study expected their

interactions with male mentors to be different from their
interactions with female mentors.

The mentors of the female

leaders included more males than females.

They described that

the female mentors were more sympathetic to equity issues and
assumed the role of friend/supporter while the male mentors
were more teacher/supporters who focused on situational help
and were career oriented.
Regarding the role of mentors, Kram (1985) identified two
primary types of functions of mentoring relationships: career
functions and psychosocial functions.
reported that

they

needed mentoring

psychosocial perspectives.

The leaders in my study
from both

As Kram suggested,

career

and

the role of

career mentor includes sponsorship, coaching, and providing
the mentee with challenging assignments.

Female mentors in

this study were reported as serving psychosocial functions
rather than career functions.

It is interesting that the

female leaders expect mentor-relationships to be different
with male and female mentors.

148
Also, differences were found among the female leaders'
relationships with the people who were their mentees: they
tended

to

mentored.
who

mentor

others

in

the

same

way

they

had

been

At the first interview, for instance, some leaders

reported having

several

mentors

also

described

their

active mentee-relationships in ways that were similar to the
kind of relationships they had had with their own mentors
during the follow-up questions.

This result supports Levinson

(1978) who showed that those who have had mentors are more
likely to be mentors.

Additionally, my study shows that the

kind of interactions in mentor-relationship might be enacted
in a similar way they received.
Another prominent difference between men and women is the
way of working with people.

Emphasizing collaboration rather

than competition in people skills was a main theme in the
female leaders' leadership practice in my study.

A contrast

was found in my study from Powell (1989) and Hennig and Jardim
(1977) who argued that men are better prepared to be managers
because of factors such as their greater participation in team
sports during their formative years.

All but one of the

participants of my study reported that they were not raised in
environments of competitive sports.

It is interesting that

they saw the sports world as competing to win or lose rather
than to collaborate.

They saw cooperative human skills as a

major strength they had as female leaders and as central to
leadership.

Loden

(1985)

reported

that

male

managers

149
preferred resolving conflicts by competition and, in contrast,
female managers preferred collaboration and accommodation.
This theme clearly emerged through my study.

Also, my study

results support Marshall's (1984) study of woman managers in
business.
Marshall

reported

that

women

demonstrated

softer

techniques in personal relationships and sympathy for others'
needs, particularly those of subordinates.

Instead, the major

weakness of female leaders was found to be a lack of public
skills-public speech, political skills, and ability to moving
around among the public naturally.

During the second round,

follow-up questions, some leaders in my study reported again
that they have difficulty in developing skills in this area.
Pilota

(1983)

pointed

out

difficulty

in

women's

general

interpersonal communication with staff or supervisors within
an

organization.

But

in

my

study

of

academic

leaders,

interpersonal communication skills turned out to be one of
their advantages.
leaders

was

human

The major perceived strength of these women
skills,

and

they

related

their

unique

experiences as women as being positively related to their
people-related skills.

No one mentioned any difficulty in

interpersonal communication;

rather they said the kind of

skills in which they do have difficulty is public speeches and
political behavior and skills.
tasks

related

to

political

and

Among some female leaders,
public

matters

(with

the

accompanying kind of bureaucratic behavior and bureaucratic

150
writing) were pointed out as being less pleasant.
Women's gender-specific socialization process, such as
girls' unique relationships within the family and community,
their experience of raising children, dealing with husbands,
and women's ways of knowing were found to be unique advantages
of the

female

leaders,

since those experiences were very

helpful in developing people skills.

The leaders in my study

reported that they valued trust, harmony, relationships, and
collaboration.

These unique advantages found in this study

support the studies of Gilligan (1982) and Lyons (1983), who
claimed gender-related differences in moral development.

Also

the uniqueness of women's ways of knowing is supported by the
study of Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, and Tarule (1986) which
argued,

as a result of their study through the interview

method, that women have different ways of knowing.

From a

psychological perspective, Miller's (1976, 1986) arguments are
supported by the

information concerning

strength

study.

in this

She argues

female

leadership

that women

identify

harmony and interdependence between persons as important.
Yet differences were
leaders

in this

study

found among the female academic

as well

as

between men

and women

leaders.

According to the role of academic leaders, different

learning

experiences

were

reported.

Among

the

academic

leaders, the competencies academic deans perceived themselves
as needing were mostly learned through networking with other
people

such

as

mentors,

colleagues,

other

leaders,

and

151
friends.

In contrast, central administrators perceived their

major learning resource to be graduate training.

This was an

interesting difference related to their perceived critical
competencies.

Differences also exist between what central

administrators and deans perceived as their critically needed
competencies.

The

central

administrators

perceived

intellectual versatility as the major competency they needed,
while the deans perceived that people-related competencies
were most critical to their positions.
It is interesting when we consider not only what they
learned but how they learned throughout their professional
development.

When

versatility,
creativity,

such

some
as

leaders

analytical,

emphasized
critical

intellectual
thinking,

and

they stressed graduate training as their major

learning resource.

Some other leaders identified people-

related skills, such as team building and negotiating skills,
as the major competencies they needed,

and those

leaders

stressed learning from people through networking.
These differences between the central administrators and
academic deans seem to be a reflection of their particular
roles and responsibilities.

One leader reported that the

competencies vary slightly as she change her positions within
the academic sector-chair person, dean, and provost.
described

her

role

change

in

the

follow-up

Brown

responses

follows:
A dean [is] responsible for departments, centers
and personnel within the college, whereas a provost

as

152
must be knowledgeable about all academic programs
and
budget/personnel
campus-wide.
By
sheer
increase in areas and people for which you are
responsible, a provost must become more of a macro­
manager/leader relying on deans and provost staff
for accurate information. (Brown)
Among

the

female

leaders

that

I

interviewed,

an

interesting pattern was found in female leaders' perceptions
of

women's

professional

development.

Shakeshaft

(1989)

suggested 6 stages for research concerning women leaders.

As

mentioned earlier, my study focused on the fourth stage which
explores women leaders' experience in their own terms.

In

this stage, the main question is "How do women describe their
experiences

and

lives?"

By

interviewing

academic

female

leaders, I found that the women leaders fell into 3 groups in
terms of how they perceive females' unique qualities for their
professional development: (1) rejecting gender difference, (2)
observing gender difference and bias, and (3) claiming female
uniqueness as an advantage.

The third type of leaders were

reported as having read at least one women's studies book,
while the others had not read any books

from the women's

studies sources that were mentioned in this study.
First,

3 leaders,

Brown, Dunn, and Green, all of whom

strongly emphasized their competencies from a perspective of
being equally competent with men, reported that they had not
read the women's studies mentioned above.

Each saw herself as

a competent individual rather than simply as a female.

I will

call them leaders who "reject gender difference" in terms of
a male-standard perspective, since the three leaders did not

153

see

differences

particular

as

gender

differences.

the

group

product
but

as

of

being

the

result

members
of

of

a

individual

They believe individual competency and effort

were the strongest factors for their success.
You have more women coming into leadership roles
but they're still a minority... I don't think it's
over discrimination.
I've never really felt
that.... Men have had different career tracks and
different kinds of mentoring. The number of women
who don't consciously go out and network and have
mentors work with them were not as prepared to move
up the ladder.
And it takes planning.
You don't
just
fall
into
administration
in
most
situations.... And there's no question that men are
more expected to do that then women. Women have to
consciously develop their skills. (Brown)
A second approach observes gender difference.

Five other

leaders— Allen, Lewis, Moore, Sullivan and Warden,— reported
that they observed differences in men and women in their own
personal or work experiences, in their ways of doing business,
group work, and their styles.

That is, they believe there are

differences between the two gender groups.

They emphasized

that they experienced the differences between men and women
but

did

not

judge

the differences

individual competencies.

Instead,

factors

factors

as

influential,

from

a perspective

of

they described external
such

as

women's

unique

responsibilities, male-dominated organizational culture, and
unequal opportunities.

I will call them leaders who "observe

gender difference" from a liberal perspective.
that women have disadvantages,

They argue

and that because

of these

disadvantages women need support at a societal level.
Administration is a male dominated job.... I think

154
men create an environment which is comfortable for
them and men are more comfortable with other men...
people that they're comfortable with and they
recruit them. (Sullivan)
The leaders who have this perspective believe that women are
underrepresented in the kinds of positions they hold, seeing
such underrepresentation as the result of the male domination
of the field rather than the result of women's incompetence.
The third and final type is what I describe as leaders
who "claim female-uniqueness as an advantage" from a gendersensitive perspective.

Five other leaders— Jones,

Kelly,

Sheldon, Smith, and Powers— strongly claimed that their unique
experience as females was to their advantage and they highly
valued these experiences.
Some of the feminine traits are valuable ... our
concern for others, our non-competitiveness, our
nurturing abilities ... the desire to see others
succeed and to get pleasure from somebody else's
success and [be] just kind of like a mother.... A
lot of the skills are related to being female, that
there are a lot of traits that are traditionally
described as feminine that are not seen as, that
haven't been seen in the traditional sense as being
critical to be a good administrator are now being
seen
as
more
critical
for
being
a
good
administrator. (Kelly)
The leaders from this perspective reported they read women's
studies materials (at least one or more pieces). Among them,
one leader,

who responded that the experiences of raising

children and dealing with her husband were a marvelous benefit
in her position,

said that she did not read any specific

women's studies books.

But her reading checklist which I sent

for the second round of follow-up questions indicated that she

155
had read at least one:
Knowing.

Belenky et al.'s Women1s Wavs

of

Responses to the reading checklist I sent during the

second round of follow-up questions suggest that exposure to
women's

reading

may

be

related

to

the

leaders'

ways

of

responding about issues concerning women's leadership style
and their uniqueness.
The first type of leader can be designated as the leader
who

is

trying

competition

be

among men

qualifications
preparation.

to

in

one

of

the

and women

one's

men.
and

research,

They

emphasize
teaching,

value

fair

individual
and

career

The second type of leader criticizes unfair

competition between genders, since the current organizational
culture is male dominated.
between

genders.

The

They argue for equal opportunity

third

type

saw their work

from

a

different perspective using a different conceptual framework
— a gender sensitive perspective.

The three types of leaders

look at the same phenomenon but explain it differently.
instance,

For

when talking about an issue related to a female

leader's work with groups, if one judges it from a "rejecting
gender-difference" perspective, he/she will say that the woman
is too slow in decision making and takes too much time and
energy, and so is thus less effective.

But if one sees the

same issue from a "claiming female-uniqueness as an advantage"
perspective,

he/she will say that the woman is emphasizing

group participation, working together, involving more people,
and concerned about hurting other people.

These kinds of

156

contrasting statements about the same issues were seen in the
responses

of the participants

of my

study.

It was very

interesting to see the differences in the responses of the
rejecting gender-difference type and the responses of the
claiming female-uniqueness as an advantage type.

But more

indepth investigation should be conducted regarding why they
responded differently.
Some female leaders in my study noted that they learn in
a connected and integrated way through a combination of events
in their

personal

and

professional

separate and independent events.
et.

al.'s

general,

(1986)
the

conception

descriptions

of

lives

rather

than

in

This result supports Belenky

of

"connected

the

ways

similar for women in all three groups.

they

knowing."

In

learned

were

The women in the third

group (claiming female uniqueness as an advantage), however,
used specific language that they had learned from reading
women's studies resources.

In contrast, although the women in

the second group did describe similar ways of learning, they
did not use the kind of language that their colleagues did who
had been exposed to women's studies.

This indicates that the

exposure to women's studies is an factor influencing female
leaders' perceptions.
In the next section, conclusions will be presented based
on the findings and discussions of this study.

Conclusions

157
1.
their

The major competencies the female leaders needed for
professional

institutions were

development

identified

in

falling

higher

education

into two categories:

competencies as a leader and competencies as a manager.
2.

People-related competencies were seen as the most

critical competencies for the female leaders.

These leaders

perceived that they have unique strengths in people skills in
terms

of

cooperativeness

Differences were

rather

than

found between central

competitiveness.

administrators and

deans in their perceived critical competencies.

The central

administrators perceived intellectual versatility as the major
competency they needed while the deans perceived that peoplerelated competencies were most critical.
3.

I found that learning occurred in a connected and

integrated

way

through

a

combination

of

events

in

their

personal and professional lives rather than in separate and
independent events.

However, several major learning resources

were identified as important.

The competencies the academic

deans needed were mostly learned through networking, that is,
through contacts with other people such as mentors, colleague,
and friends.

The central administrators perceived their major

learning resource as graduate training.

The second important

learning resource was identified as work experience (for both
central administrators and deans).
4.

Self-directed professional activities were critical

in attaining needed competencies as follows: (1) participating

158
in conferences and workshops was critical

in establishing

networks, (2) self-directed reading was a major way of gaining
new concepts, and (3) graduate training contributed to gaining
analytical and critical-thinking capacities.
5.

Despite the fact that leaders learned through self­

directed professional activities,

such as participating in

conferences/workshops, reading, and graduate training, only a
few

female

leaders

(4 out of

13)

perceived self-directed

learning skills as an important competency for being a leader.
6.

The mentors of the female leaders included more males

and the female leaders perceived that their male mentors were
different in the way they interacted with them from the way
their female mentors interacted with them.
four women

reported

that

their

female

In this study,

mentors

were

more

sympathetic to the issue of equity and assumed the role of
friend/supporter fulfilling psychosocial needs, while their
male mentors were more teacher/supporters who were focused on
situational help, fulfilling career-oriented needs.

Also, the

mentorships they had received in the past influenced their
subsequent relationship as mentors.
7.

Women's gender-specific experiences, such as girls'

unique relationships within the family and community, their
experiences of raising children, dealing with husbands, and
women's ways of knowing were found to be unique advantages for
many of the female leaders, since those experiences were very
helpful

in

developing

people

skills.

Emphasizing

159
collaboration rather than competition in people skills was a
main theme in these women's leadership practice and it was
found to be the female leaders' major strength.
8.

The socially-constructed disadvantages of the female

leaders were identified as the social biases against women.
In this perspective, affirmative action was considered by some
leaders to influence social bias in that it made it possible
for people to form an image of "a token woman," while some
other leaders perceived it as an advantage.

Most of the

leaders perceived that they had the burden of having to prove
themselves as being competent in each new place and to new
people.
9.

A different way of looking at women's networking was

identified by

some

female

leaders.

They valued

informal

meetings and support groups rather than any other professional
networking.
10.

The female leaders' personal weaknesses as leaders

were found to be a lack of public skills and political skills.
They perceived that they needed to develop skills in these
areas.

The next weakness was related to effectiveness: They

perceived that they were less effective when they were too
intense and took too long to make decisions, and also when
they were too task-oriented or too people-oriented in their
leadership practice.
11.

I found differences in the leaders' perceptions of

the uniqueness of female leaders' professional development.

160

The exposure to women's studies was posited as one factor for
the different perceptions.

Three types of female leaders were

identified in viewing female uniqueness: (1) rejecting genderdifference; (2) observing gender-difference; and (3) claiming
female-uniqueness as an advantage.

Implications for Future Study
The research studies on leadership indicates leadership
differences among male and female leaders in general.

My

study showed differences in learning experiences between the
leaders

in

business

and

academe.

It

suggested

gender

differences in terms of ways of networking, mentoring,
working with people.

Also,

and

my study explored differences

among the academic female leaders on their perceptions of
female uniqueness.

In this section, implications for future

studies will be presented related to the conclusions of my
study.
1.

The leaders in my study responded in different ways

to the uniqueness of being female leaders, depending on their
administrative roles, major academic area, exposure to reading
materials, and their marital status.

Reading women's studies

was found to be one of the influential
their

perceptions

sources

such

as

of

female

friends,

uniqueness.

colleagues,

factors concerning
But
other

some

other

professional

activities, formal educational background, co-ed or non co-ed
college education,

and personal

life might be

interesting

161
variables to pursue for further research on this topic.
instance,

two

leaders

who

emphasized

the

For

importance

of

exerting their own effort strongly rejected gender as an
important factor in their professional success.

These two

leaders said that they have perceived few advantages because
of

being

a

women

invisibility

of

in

women

their
in

positions.

administration

They
is

a

thought

matter

of

individual ability rather than the result of a male-dominant
organizational

structure.

In contrast,

Sullivan and some

other leaders emphasized women's underrepresentation from a
perspective of male dominance of organizational culture.

It

was interesting to compare the arguments of Brown and Sullivan
from

my

study.

Their

major

academic

study

areas

were

different and their administrative positions were different.
Have these been

influential

factors?

influenced their perceptions on this

What other
issue?

factors

It would be

valuable to explore these two types of different leaders'
perceptions and behavior from various perspectives through a
micro-ethnographic study.
2.

The major academic area of study is important.

participant responded by relating her own academic study field
in

explaining

background.

the

concept

of

leadership

That was very interesting.

from her

unique

It could therefore be

valuable to extend the study with administrators from other
areas than those studied here.

Further studies are needed

about how academic study areas in higher education influence

Each

162

the

leadership

competencies,

learning

experiences,

and

uniqueness in their profession.
3.

I found that the female leaders learn leadership

through

various

discovered.

sources.

First,

Two

female

interesting

leaders

in my

reading as a way of learning new concepts.
specific
knowing

life
were

sources.

experiences
reported

by

and

women's

five

women

facts

study preferred
Second, gender-

different
as

were

unique

ways

of

learning

It is important to examine how the other 8 leaders

view their gender socialization and why they do not describe
it in the same way.
Some
advantages

leaders

strongly

emphasized

because

of

unique

those

that

they

experiences.

have
These

learning experiences were connected to collaboration, rather
than competition, in human skills.

They said that sometimes

they have to believe their intuition rather than any evidence
from

stacks

of

papers.

One

leader

claimed

that

her

experiences of raising children and dealing with her husband
made it possible for her to stay in her position longer than
any of her other predecessors— males, nuns, and single women.
It would be interesting to study how the female leaders enact
their

learning

differently

in

their

leadership

position

compared to others through micro-ethnographic study; how they
make

decisions,

how

they

interact

with

others,

how

they

resolute conflicts, and so forth.
4.

In this study, the female leaders showed different

163
expectations of the male and female mentors who helped them.
Also, three leaders responded that they were skeptical about
mentoring and the role of traditional mentors.

Interestingly,

leaders who had many mentors responded that they have active
mentee relationships, while those who did not had few or none.
This points to an important issue about women's mentoring.
Further research is needed to examine more specific relations
between

the mentoring

experience women

receive

and their

succeeding to the role of mentors for others.
5.

Women's ways of networking is an interesting topic to

pursue.

In this study, some leaders perceive the new girls

networking from a different perspective compared to that of
male counterparts— such as support group.

Examining women's

support groups would be an interesting study in describing
women's unique way of networking.
6.

This

study has

been

done

institutions in the public sector.

for administrators

of

Exploring female leaders'

learning experiences and unique qualities for professional
development would be interesting for the leaders in private
universities and colleges.

Reflection
Studying women leaders in academe was not easy.

They are

all extremely busy persons who can not be contacted directly
without going through secretaries.

Despite such difficulties,

however, I was able to contact them personally.

I appreciate

164
their efforts to accommodate the designs of my study, since my
study heavily depended on interactions between me and the
women leaders through letters, phone calls, and interviews.
When

I

tried

to

contact

some

leaders

to

invite

them

to

volunteer for the pilot study, I felt frustrated, since some
leaders were not available for one or two months.

But the

main data collection procedure was easier than conducting the
pilot

study.

By corresponding with the female

leaders

I

interviewed, I learned a lot of things that went beyond my
initial plan to learn about the female leaders' professional
development.

I appreciate the deepened understanding of my

own femaleness which has come about as a result of my work
with these leaders.

I am also aware, however, that similar

study concentrating on the professional development unique to
male

leaders

section,

would

be

valuable

and

important.

In

this

I would like to share my own learning experiences

from this study.
It seems as though my interview gave them a chance to
reflect on their current positions.

When I first visited

them, I was worried about their time constraints.

But only

two leaders had difficulty giving me more time than we had
originally agreed upon because of unexpected schedule changes.
The rest of the

interviewees made me

feel

comfortable

in

continuing the interview past the assigned length of time.
They treated me with respect as a human being and willingly
talked about themselves by giving me thoughtful responses.

165
Most of the leaders were punctual and well prepared for the
interview

questions.

The

times

in which

leaders

talked

thoroughly while having some tea with me at a table were
invaluable.

Now that

I recognize the

intensity of their

workloads, I especially appreciate their input to my study.
As one leader mentioned, they hardly give away their time:
Most of my time I spend time going through the
stacks of letters that I get.... I really am trying
to keep my eyes open for a professional development
workshop, week, two weeks whatever ... that I can
get away from this place, go to think about what
I've been doing. (Powers)
Nevertheless, she continued the interview with me for 2 hours
and 20 minutes.

She was very considerate and she showed her

interest in my questions.

Also the other leader, Kelly, gave

me her lunch hour besides the scheduled length of time, so we
could talk in more detail about her experience.

But all the

leaders did not prepare for the interview in the same way.
One leader was different.

When I arrived at her office about

40 minutes earlier, she was talking with someone.
minutes,

when she started an interview,

Let's start."

20

she totally forgot

about the questions I had sent a week ago.
it doesn't matter.

After

"What was it ?

Oh

To me, she looked odd and

strange as an academic administrator.

But soon I found out

what was had made it possible for her to take that position:
It was her critical thinking and creativity.

She did not like

the managerial attitude but she liked change, innovation, and
research.

She was not organized but creative.

Her definition

of the role of academic leader was interesting: "I am here to

166
create my college."

That was a great challenge for her.

I also learned about the higher education environment,
the

organizational hierarchy,

leaders

interact

characteristics.

with

the way

others,

and

in which the women

the

leaders'

personal

My exploration of the 14 female leaders*

gave me a big picture of what it is like to have a career
aninstitution of higher education.

But the best

in

thing was

getting to know the people— the women.
Another important learning experience from this study was
that each person differs inresponding and
phone,

letter, or interview.

values

in the ways

impression

of

them

persons.

Their

that

personal

summarized as sensitive,

by

However,they shared certain

they think,
was

interacting

behave,

they

are

strengths
inquisitive,

self-confidence and hard working.

as

and respond.
very
a

My

enthusiastic

leader

positive,

can

be

ambitious,

I would like to share their

personal strengths by quoting some examples:
Oh, well. I'm ambitious and fairly self-confident.
My reaction to things is not "I can't do that", but
rather, "I think I can
do that." Um, I suppose
probably the best description is I enjoy what I do
and if I didn't I'd go find something else to do.
I think my strengths
are that I'm basically
uniquely an optimistic person and I don't get
depressed easily.
I wouldn't have stayed in this
job for twelve years if I were
going to give
up easily.
I'm sensitive. That's a strength and a weakness. I
cry.
And that can be seen by people as being a
terrible weakness....I really do care about equity.
Not that everybody is treated the same but that
everybody is treated equitably and some people
don't hold that value.
They really want all the

167
pie and they
don't really care if it's not
equitably distributed as long as they get all that
they need.
I felt most comfortable when I recognized that the female
leaders' personal and professional values and attitudes were
coherent.

Most of them emphasized the importance of harmony

and balance.

By listening to their interviews, reading the

transcriptions and their articles, and decoding their hand­
written

responses,

I

really

enjoyed myself

appreciation for being a female professional.
that

these

leaders

continuously

learn

and

felt

Also, I found

in their positions

through various sources and the effect of learning (i.e. an
exposure to women's studies) is critical on their beliefs and
attitude.

I feel their learning experiences and knowledge

have to be explored further in social science studies.
Some leaders suggested the importance of establishing
credentials and doing best in what you are doing.
said to me at an interview, that "to be
have to build trust."

One leader

a good leader, you

That is, do best in your job,

teaching, raising children, or administering.
as participants in this study proved it.

studying,

Their behavior

For me, seeing this

proof was a most valuable learning experience as a woman, an
experience resulting from my study of female leaders for my
dissertation.

APPENDICES

168
Appendix A
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
OFFICE O F VICE PRESIDENT FOR RESEARCH

EAST LANSING • M ICHIG A N • 4S824 I046

A N D D EA N OF TH E G R A D U A T E SCHOOL

February 20, 1991

Ms. Samgeun K. Kwon
Educational Administration
418 Erickson Hall
RE:

THE SELF-PERCEIVED COMPETENCIES AND UNIQUENESS OF FEMALE LEADERS'
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN SELECTED MICHIGAN HIGHER EDUCATION
INSTITUTIONS, IRB//90-601

Dear M s . Kwon:
The above project is exempt from full UCRIHS review. I have reviewed the
proposed research protocol and find that the rights and welfare of human
subjects appear to be protected. You have approval to conduct the research.
You are reminded that UCRIHS approval is valid for one calendar year. If you
plan to continue this project beyond one year* please make provisions for
obtaining appropriate UCRIHS approval one month prior to February 17, 1992.
Any changes in procedures involving human subjects must be reviewed by the
UCRIHS prior to initiation of the change. UCRIHS must also be notified
promptly of any problems (unexpected side effects* complaints* etc.) involving
human subjects during the course of the work.
Thank you for bringing this project to our attention.
future help, please do net hesitate to let us kr.cv.
Sincerely,

DEW/ deo
cc:

Dr. Howard Hickey

If we can be of any

169
Appendix B
Letter I : An Invitation To The study

Date_____________________
Dear _____________________ :
The purpose of this letter is to invite you to
participate in a study of female leaders' perceptions on
personal and professional development in Michigan higher
education institutions. Your name was chosen from the 1990
edition of the Michigan Education Directory, on the basis of
the selection criteria of this study, and upon recommendation
by one or more of your colleagues.
The information will be used for Samgeun Kwon's doctoral
dissertation
at
Michigan
State University
under
the
supervision of Dr. Howard Hickey. Research indicates that
female leaders' professional development can not be separated
from their personal development, since, from a developmental
perspective, growth implies complex and ongoing interactions
between the self and the environment. Women were excluded from
organizational theory and little study has been done from a
feminist
perspective
on
gender and
higher
education
administration. This study intends to understand female
leaders' learning experiences from women's own terms.
Because this qualitative study will rely on only 10-12
respondents, your input will mean much to the research related
to organization and female leadership, as well as providing
useful information to women who are contemplating a career in
college administration. If you are willing to participate, we
believe you will find the one to two-hour interview session
stimulating and worthwhile. All of the responses offered in
the interview will be kept confidential to protect each
participant's right to privacy, and each of the subjects has
the right to withdraw from the study at any time.
Our schedule is flexible and we will make every effort to
meet with you at your convenience. In the next few days, we
will follow up this letter with a telephone call to see if you
are willing to join us as a participant in this study.
Sincerely,
Howard Hickey
Professor, College of Education
(517-355-3691)

Samgeun K. Kwon
Doctoral Student
(517-355-6079)

170
Appendix C
Letter II : Request For Interviewee's Background Information

Date __________________________
To: __________________________
From: Samgeun K. Kwon and Howard Hickey
Re: Request for Interviewee's Background Information
Thank you for your interest in the study of female leaders in
Michigan higher education institutions. Enclosed are a consent
form and interview questions, as we talked by phone.
The interview will take about one to two hours to complete and
will be tape recorded. You will be guaranteed anonymity and
will be promised that your specific responses would not be
credited to you by name. Interviewee's vita, speeches, and
articles, if any, will be used as important sources of
information and all information will remain completely
anonymous.
It will be highly appreciated, if you send us your recent vita
in advance. Also if you can send us your speeches and
articles, it will be very helpful in having an indepth
interview.
Thank you.

Sincerely,
Samgeun K. Kwon
Enclosures I, II

171
Appendix D

Explanation of the Study
(Enclosure I)
This study is being conducted as part of Samgeun Kwon's
doctoral dissertation under Dr. Howard Hickey's supervision
from Michigan State University. The major purpose of this
study is to investigate female administrators' perceptions of
their competencies and uniqueness in their professional
development in higher education institutions.
The interview will take about one to two hours to complete and
will be tape recorded. The interviewee will be guaranteed
anonymity and will be promised that her specific responses
would not be credited to her by name.
Your participation is voluntary.

Consent to Participate
I have been informed that this study is being conducted to
investigate female administrators' competencies and uniqueness
in their professional development in the higher education
institution that I belong to. The purpose and procedure of the
study have been explained to me, and I voluntarily agree to
participate in the research.
I understand that all information will remain completely
anonymous and that the results of the study will be available
to me upon request.

Name (Please Print)
Signature
Date

172
Appendix E

The First Round: Interview Questions
(Enclosure II: The actual questions that
according to the interviewee's responses)

I asked

varied

Interview Questions: The following questions will be asked at
the scheduled interview on (date / tinted

A.

Competencies
1. Please tell me about your work, (related to your
responsibilities and needed skills)
2. Please tell me about major competencies that were
critical for your professional development.

B.

Learning Experiences
1. Please tell me how you acquired those competencies.
2. Have you participated in any continuing education to
acquire those competencies? What have you been reading?
3. Did you have any mentors?
(male:
female:
) How
did they help you?
4. What did you learn during your tenure as a woman
administrator (particular scenario)?

c.

Uniqueness as Woman Leader
1. Please tell me about your unique advantages as woman
that have helped your professional development.
2. Please tell me about your unique disadvantages as
woman that have hindered your professional development.

Demographic Information :

Please fill out the following
demographic information before
the scheduled interview.

1.

Title of current position

2.

Degree and Major________________________________________

3.

Years in college administration ________________________

4.

Years of current position ______________________________

5.

Age

___________________________________

6.

Marital status

___________________________________

7.

Number of children

_____________________________

173
Appendix F

Letter III : Reguest for Follow-Up Responses
Date

1303D University Vlg
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48823

Dear
Thank you for the great interview and the speeches and
articles that you sent to me. Those are very helpful for my
study. I really appreciate your input on my study and your
thoughtful responses. In Korea, when people go out of their
way on our behalf, we like to present with a token of our
appreciation. I'm enclosing ginseng tea. This represents
health and vitality in your life.
I have the last interview with you being transcribed, and now
I am reviewing it. I am enclosing for your files a transcribed
copy of our interview.
In my review of all the interviews I've conducted, I found
that I think I need some more information for my analysis.
Please respond to part A and B attached and send to me as soon
as possible. Part A represents questions that you did not
mention but which some other leaders did and which they saw as
important. (Also I included a checking list of your reading
materials). Part B is developed from your interview response
and represents issues I want to explore further. I've
identified a question I hope you can elaborate on. This
question emerges from your interview with me. I've included as
background selected piece of our interview which touch on this
topic. I appreciate your helping me understand further your
experience with and perspective on this issue.
Thank you so much. Please feel free to send in your responses
in whatever form is convenient for you. You can hand write on
the attached or use a separate sheet. If for whatever reason
you prefer to pursue these questions in a brief interview
(either face to face or on the telephone), I'd be happy to
arrange that. If you have any questions, please feel free to
call me at 517-355-6079.
Again, Thank you.
Sincerely Yours,
Samgeun K. Kwon
Enc.

174
Appendix 6
The Second Round: Follow-Up Questions (An Example: Brown)
Part A
1. Among the competencies that were critical for your
position, what is (are) the area(s) that you have had to
develop? What is (are) the area(s) you have had difficulties in
developing, and why?

2. Have you ever had any proteges (mentees) that you mentored?
None: _____ ) Please explain the
(Male:_____ Female:______
relationships and the kind of interactions you had.

3. Please list your professional values.

4. What are your strengths and weaknesses as a leader?

5. Do you want to receive a summary of the results of my
study?
Yes
No

175
Part B (An Example: Brown)
I found that you are the best person who can *compare the
deanship with the central administration (provost). You
mentioned that job tasks and responsibilities, and the needed
competencies,
have changed along with the
ladder of
administrative positions.
* Could vou illustrate more
specifically about the competencies that were critical in each
position (Dean and Provost)?

(Referential Part of the Interview Transcription)
R:

....
*In terms of mv own professional development.
that's a lot of what we want to start with entry level
professionals and then as vou ao u p in administration,
you do have to become I think competent at dealing with
a broader range of issues. When you're a faculty member
responsible for one area or working in one discipline.
That does not expand you as much as administration.
Where as a department chair, you take on as your
commitment the responsibility for the department. As a
dean, it's your responsibility to account for the entire
college. These are competencies that really take a very
careful building to look at a broader base of the world
and how you use information.

I:

Do you see any differences between chairperson and dean?

R:

Oh, significantly.
This is what I was just talking
about. The department is a much smaller more contained
are that covers less specialty. And why you have to then
be familiar as a chair with all the specialties in your
department. * At the dean's level vou have to not only be
responsible for that but also a much wider array of
departments and then the provost position is university
wide.

176

Appendix H
Letter IV : A Reminder of The Follow-Up Questions
Date _________________
1303D University Vlg
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48823
Dear _____________________:
This is a reminder of the follow up questions that I had sent
in March. I made a phone call to your secretary a week ago.
Because of the time frame, I need your response as soon as
possible. This will be the last chance to get your response
to my follow up questions.
I understand that you are so busy, but it would be highly
appreciated if you let me know whether you could respond. I
am sending another copy of the questions for your convenience.
Please respond to parts A and B and send to me as soon as
possible.
If I can not get your answer by 15th of May, then
I will have to not include them.
As I mentioned last time, part A represents questions that you
did not mention but which some other leaders did and which
they saw as important. Also I have included a check list of
your reading materials.
Part B is developed from your
interview response and represents issues I want to explore
further. I've identified a question I hope you can elaborate
on. This question emerges from your interview with me. I've
included as background a selected piece of our interview which
touches on this topic.
I appreciate your helping me
understand further your experience with and perspective on
this issue.
Thank you so much. Please feel free to send in your responses
in whatever form is convenient for you. You can hand write on
the attached sheet or use a separate sheet. If for whatever
reason you prefer to pursue these questions in a brief
interview (either face-to-face or on the telephone), I'd be
happy to arrange that. If you have any questions, please feel
free to call me at 517-355-6079.
Again, Thank you.
Sincerely Yours,

Samgeun K. Kwon

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