Effectiveness of Leadership Styles Adopted by Women Managers in the Education and Healthcare Sectors

Description

Page: 359-363

Sr. Patricia D’Souza¹ and Nilesh Thakre² (Department of Psychology, Sophia College, Mumbai, Maharashtra¹ and Department of Psychology, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai, Maharashtra²)

Organizations are composed of multiple components that must function cohesively for the organization to succeed. Among these elements, leadership is essential. In times of change, leaders are tasked with creating a shared vision, inspiring people, and providing a solid foundation. The present study investigates transformational, transactional, and passive avoidant leadership styles employed by women managers in the education and healthcare sectors. The participants of the study consist of 60 women currently employed in a managerial position, within the age range of 40-60 years from Mumbai. They were assessed by using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Bass & Avolio, 1994). The data was analyzed by an independent sample t-test and revealed a significant difference between women managers in the education and healthcare sector on passive avoidant leadership style t (58) = 6.49, p < 0.05. The t-value for women managers in the education and healthcare sector on transformational t (58) = 1.72, p > .05 and transactional leadership styles t (58) = 1.18, p > .05 was found to be not significant. The findings indicate that women employed in leadership roles in education and healthcare employ neither a transformational nor a transactional style of leadership. Moreover, the findings depict that women managers employ a passive-avoidant style of leadership more than women managers in the education sector.