An exploratory study on how females occupying top management positions within KwaZulu-Natal, Durban lead

Abstract

Eagly and Johannesen-Schmidt (2001) state that women have slowly chiselled away at existing stereotypes possessed by society at large as the female gender are increasingly becoming leaders within their respective organisations. Rosener (2011) suggests that the female approach to leadership has changed since their introduction to managerial positions. Females are adopting a style of leadership which is based on their unique skills and attitudes (Rosener, 2011). The purpose of this study was therefore to determine the manner in which current female top managers lead within their respective organisation and, secondly, to determine the leadership styles they have adopted. Structured electronic interviews were utilised to collect data from the respective participants which formed part of the sample. This method was adopted for this study due to the restrictions imposed regarding physical interaction amidst the covid-19 pandemic faced by the world. This study found that the interviewed female top managers possessed a leadership style which could be classified as interactive, collaborative and supportive. Additionally, it was noticed that the leadership style possessed by the participants mostly supported the style identified by Rosener (2011) as the interactive leadership style. This study contributes towards the growing domain of literature regarding the modern female approach to leadership.