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COM 211 Assignment 2.docxGED DepartmentAssignment 2Fall
2014 Course: com 211 introduction to research writing
15 marksInstructor: leen abu-teen
Write a brief literature review (450- 550 words) using the four
articles on women’s leadership. Make sure to include an
introduction, body and conclusion. You need to follow the APA
style of referencing (in-text citations and references). Your
assignment should be composed of three sections: title page, the
literature review, and references.
Use Times New Roman, size 12 with double spacing.
Assignment 2 counts for 15% of the final grade and grades will
be allocated according to the following criteria:
Introduction (introduction of women’s leadership + thesis
statement) 3 points
Body (headings + topic sentences + information from the 4
articles) 3 points
Conclusion (summary + future research)
3 points
APA (title page, in-text citations, reference list)

3 points
Language (grammar, spelling, punctuation) + style
3 points
_____________________________________________________
_________________
TOTAL 15 points
women's leadership 1.pdf

Gender & Behaviour 2013, 11(2), 5663-5672
Copyright © 2013 Ife Center for Psychological
Studies/Services, Ile-Ife, Nigeria ISSN: 1596-9231
5663
Leadership Styles Deployed by Women Project Managers
Busisiwe M. Maseko
Rand Water, South Africa (e-mail:
[email protected]), tel: +27827090051
Cecile N. Gerwel Proches
Graduate School of Business and
Leadership, University of KwaZulu-Natal,
South Africa (e-mail: [email protected])
tel: +27312608318
Reprints to be addressed to: C.N. Gerwel Proches, Graduate
School of Business and
Leadership, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville campus,
Durban, 3630, South Africa

The aim of this study was to investigate the leadership styles
utilized by women
project managers in a national electricity provider in South
Africa. In-depth,
semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 female
project managers,
and thematic analysis was then used. Certain leadership styles
and
characteristics were identified as being critical for successful
project
management. The women project managers were found to
exhibit qualities of
transformational, democratic and people-oriented leadership
styles. They did not
believe that gender should be a determinant of their leadership
style, but that
working as a project manager required certain leadership skills
and
competencies to meet the project’s objectives irrespective of
gender. Some of the
barriers identified were: gender stereotyping, lack of
qualifications, fear of not
succeeding, family responsibilities and lack of networking skills
and time.
The organization is a power utility company

in the Republic of South Africa. The project
environment in the organization involves
complex projects interfacing between
Engineering, Commercial and Project
Management Departments. The projects
involve many individuals across disciplines,
multi-cultural project teams (having
members from different cultural
backgrounds working in South Africa),
employing both genders and a range of age
groups. These variables result in different
behaviours that increase the complexity of
having to build the power stations under
major cost constraints and having to deliver
new power stations on time. Not only is
building new power stations a challenge,
but in today’s competitive world, managers
are required who will drive teams to
accomplish tasks while producing good

quality products (Lekganyane &
Oosthuizen, 2006).
During the apartheid regime, not only was
women’s representation very low, but the
situation was compounded by issues of race
and colour. Post-apartheid government
programmes such as the Commission of
Gender and Equality (Act No. 39 of 1996),
together with other policies such as the
Employment Equity Act Equity (Act No. 55
of 1998) were introduced as a means of
addressing the social imbalances created by
previous apartheid policies.
After 1994, the government embarked on a
transformation programme to change the
face of government by making it
representative of the diversity of society.
Women in South Africa account for 51

percent of the population, and yet prior to
1994 they accounted for less than 10
percent of management positions in
Government and Public Enterprises.
In the global perspective, gender equality
and transformation is not new. From the
18th century, the world and Africa in
particular, experienced significant changes
and advancement in terms of technological,
scientific, political changes and the
dismantling of the apartheid system. One of
the most notable changes worldwide and in
Africa in particular has been the
emancipation of women in terms of voting
and property rights, and lastly as holders of
mailto:[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]
Gender & Behaviour, 11(2), 2013

5664
high office in private, public, political and
voluntary organizations.
This study focuses on women project
managers in power stations and it identifies
leadership styles that women employ and
enquires into whether or not their
leadership styles provide them with the
competencies required to be successful as
women project managers in a male
dominated environment.
Literature Review
Literature suggests that the leadership
styles of men and women have, in most
cases, been stereotyped according to
gender. This has had its own impact on the
individual’s behaviour and most especially,

on how women are perceived in the working
environment (Powell, 2011).
Leadership styles play a critical
determinant role towards the advancement
of people to higher leadership positions in
an organization (Eagly & Johannesen-
Schmidt, 2001). The world we live in is
project-oriented. A project is broadly
defined as a task to be completed in order
to accomplish a goal (Meredith & Mantel,
1995). Project management is setting out to
accomplish the project’s goal by applying
knowledge and skills. This goal is achieved
by the project manager through
coordination and integration of all the
activities required to accomplish the goal
within a specified time, cost, quality and
performance and through the project’s
lifecycle (Meredith & Mantel, 1995; Project

Management Institute, 2004). Any project
orientated work requires individual
leadership abilities.
A project manager is a leader that
influences people to ensure that the
organization’s objectives and deliverables
are met, and is someone who is required to
have human skills to handle people and
conflict situations (Armandi, Oppedisano &
Sherman, 2003; Sunindijo, Hadikusum &
Ogunlana, 2007). Armandi et al. (2003)
maintain that the project manager can
accomplish these objectives through
leadership in planning, organizing and
control.
The activities to be integrated include
developing a plan, executing the plan and
making changes to the plan. Kerzner (2006)
states that integrating activities includes

converting inputs such as resources to
outputs, namely: products and profits.
Therefore, strong communication,
interpersonal skills and knowledge of the
business and technology are required by
the project manager to carry out such
duties.
Pheng and Chuvessiriporn (1997) compared
the task of a project manager to that of a
General. Just as the General is appointed
in the army to lead his troops to execute his
mission successfully and ultimately to win
the battle for his country, the project
manager is responsible for leading a team
towards delivering a successfully completed
project within a specified time, cost, quality
and ensuring that the customer
requirements are met. The findings on
military vs. project leadership revealed that

the style of leadership of a General is
autocratic (task-oriented) while the project
manager is ideally democratic (relationship-
oriented).
Leadership is a subject that has been
discussed broadly and at length by several
authors. There are many definitions of
leadership. Appelbaum, Audet and Miller
(2003) defined leadership as an ingredient
for corporate success which means that
rising to more senior positions requires a
person to be recognized as a leader and to
have full potential for leadership. A project
manager automatically assumes the role of
a leader. The leadership style determines
the success of the objectives to be delivered,
therefore, leadership is an important aspect
towards the success of the organization.
Leadership is a dynamic process, which is

influenced by different variables in an
environment/situation. A successful leader
will be in a position to apply different
leadership styles to suit different situations.
Other definitions of leadership include that
of Coughlin, Wingard and Hollihan (2005)
who referred to effective leadership as an
individual’s journey of personal
Maseko, B. & Gerwel C: Women Project Managers
5665
understanding that begins from within.
Yang, Huang and Wu cited DuBrin (2004,
who defined leadership as achieving goals
through communicating with others. Bass
(1990) defined leadership as collaboration
between members in a team to align with
the situation, perceptions and expectations
of the members.

All the definitions of leadership cited above
point to leadership as a set of qualities and
competencies which allows them to apply
suitable leadership styles for different
situations in an attempt to influence
subordinates towards a common goal of
achieving a task.
Different leadership traits of project
managers can determine the success of
different types of projects (Muller & Turner,
2007; Gehring 2007). Lekganyane and
Oosthuizen (2006) stated that strong
leadership is crucial in coping with change.
Their study capitalized on various
leadership traits which were indicated by
other authors as being relevant for
leadership success. These included:
dominance, high energy, self-confidence,

locus of control, stability, integrity,
intelligence, flexibility, sensitivity to others,
abilities and motivation. Their findings from
a study conducted on middle managers
revealed integrity, intelligence and high
energy to be the most dominant traits.
Leadership traits which were not as
dominant and required attention were
flexibility, sensitivity to others and stability.
Muller and Turner (2007) quoted Turner’s
work (1999, p.22) which identified seven
traits of effective project managers, namely,
“problem solving ability, results orientation,
energy and initiative, self-confidence,
perspective, communication and
negotiating ability”. Research identified the
following characteristics which describe an
effective project manager: recognizing the
importance of planning, goal-oriented,
desire for accomplishments and a sense of

team work (Dolfi & Andrews, 2007). It was
concluded that optimism of project
managers which could be learned, was a
critical quality required by project
managers to overcome chaotic challenges,
obstacles and changes in the working
environment.
An effective project manager should have
flexibility in skill and behaviour to manage
people in different types of projects and
situations, and most especially where
cultural differences apply (Fisher, 2011).
Having such flexibility improves the success
of delivery of projects.
Most research into the subject of leadership
has concluded that it is essential for project
success and that the temporal and
changing nature of a project requires

different styles of leadership that would be
appropriate for different project types
(Muller & Turner, 2007). Efficiency and
success in project managers requires them
to practice suitable leadership styles
(Burke, 2004).
Research on relationships between
leadership and project success, suggested
that successful project managers need to
employ flexibility in their leadership style.
Flexibility allows them to adjust and to
apply different leadership styles that will
suit changes in circumstances or situations
(Prabhakar, 2005; Muller & Turner, 2007).
Dolfi and Andrews (2007) study cited
Mulley and Thomas (2004) who stated that
project managers who are flexible have the
capability to adapt easily and successfully
in a working environment. Mulley and

Thomas also found that managers exhibited
a strong link between the personality type
and competency. Mulley and Thomas
concluded that the emotional (EQ)
competencies were most significant in
ensuring project success.
Studies on leadership tend to compare the
leadership styles of men and women.
Theoretical research has indicated the
existence of relationships between gender
and leadership (Chapman, 1975). When
placed in leadership positions, women tend
to display more relationship-oriented
behaviour as compared to men, thus being
consistent with societal expectations.
Chapman (1975) further indicated that the
empirical research done by other
researchers showed women to display

5666
accommodative qualities in influencing
team performance towards achieving a goal.
In contrast, their male counterparts
displayed authoritarian qualities and
sought to gain individual advantages.
Chapman (1975) stated that there could be
an expectation of females to be task-
oriented in order to succeed in a
traditionally male environment.
Koch, Luft and Kruse (2005) found that
women were described as ‘communal’ –
associated with being feminine and
exhibiting traits such as soft, sentimental,
delicate, quiet, sociable, flexible and bold.
In contrast, men were associated with
masculinity and exhibiting traits such as

hard, strong, healthy, robust, tense,
instinctive, aggressive, dominant and
egoistic.
A study by Appelbaum et al. (2003) found
that women were higher on people-oriented
skills and that they tended to employ a
collaborative team approach that empowers
employees and customers. By comparison
men were higher on business-oriented
skills. It was later found that a good
manager, whether male or female, was
distinguished by stereotypical masculine
characteristics, contrary to Powell’s
hypothesis (Powell, 2011) that a good
manager would possess both masculine
and feminine traits (‘androgynous’). In
contrast, Appelbaum et al. (2003) found
that women utilizing ‘androgynous’
leadership would have a better chance of

rising to leadership positions.
Similarly Coughlan,Wingard and Hollihan
(2005) talked about the new and the old
leadership style. The new refers to feminine
leadership traits (open, transparent, and
caring) and is often associated with women
and perfectly suited for leaders who listen
and learn from others in order to be
effective. The old style is associated with
masculine leadership traits (aggressive,
closed and autocratic). They argued that
situations could however occur when a
leader should be masculine or apply both
the feminine and masculine qualities
irrespective of the gender. They stated that
according to the psychologist, Carl Jung,
women and men are each born with the
feminine and masculine side, except that
one is more prominent than the other in
each individual, which means that the one

who is able to balance both sides is an
effective leader.
Method
The research methodology that was chosen
for the study was qualitative. In-depth
interviews were conducted which presented
the opportunity to learn as much as
possible about the interviewee’s
experiences, feelings, perceptions and
emotions, thus providing rich data. The
semi-structured interviews also provided a
platform for conversation and interaction
between the interviewer and interviewee
and the open-ended questions provided the
interviewee with the flexibility to clarify
questions and misunderstandings.
A total of 15 interviews were conducted
with women project managers in the
organization. The interviews were

conducted in August 2011. The interview
sessions lasted approximately 45 minutes
to an hour. A digital recorder was used to
record all interviews which were transcribed
to facilitate data analysis. Thematic
analysis was used to analyze the data.
Results and Discussion
In analyzing responses to the interviews
used to obtain the data for this study, one
main theme and five other themes were
identified. Leadership styles was the main
theme and a number of sub-themes
emerged that included characteristics such
as being a decision-maker, being flexible,
goal oriented, open, motivational, leading
by example, having a vision and being self-
driven, as well as exhibiting leadership
behaviours such as
communication/providing clear direction,

being on top of the game, being people-
oriented, developing others, listening,
continuing to learn from other people and
having a high work ethic (integrity).
The characteristics displayed by the women
project managers – being people-oriented
(kindness, respectful, warmth, sensitivity to
others) are consistent with what culture
5667
links to feminine characteristics, as
compared to masculine characteristics
which reflect competencies of decision-
making and business skill traits (Chugh &
Sahgal, 2007). A lack of decision-making
appeared to have a negative impact on the
progress of the work in a project.

Respondents stressed the importance of
making a decision whether right or wrong.
It was also highlighted that failure to make
decisions could have cost implications for
the company. The participants pointed out
the impact of failing to make a decision on
the job – that it slows down progress and
reduces the momentum. The participants
also explained that project managers
should be brave enough to make decisions
whether right or wrong, as long as they are
in a position to stand by those decisions
and should the decision go the wrong way,
they are still in a position to rectify matters.
A respondent elaborated on her abilities to
adjust her leadership styles to suit the
different people that she deals with or
manages. She emphasized the importance
of understanding the people that she works
with so that she can change her leadership

style to suit the individual.
A second theme to emerge was the impact
of the leadership style on delivery of
projects. Participants emphasized that
working with people on a project requires a
project manager that engages people and is
a good communicator and one who can
convey accurate information to people
which will align them to the same objectives
of the project. Project managers that can
motivate their teams to perform to their
highest levels achieve higher production
and they create teams that can deliver
within budget and on time. The women
project managers that were interviewed
pointed out that the leadership style of a
project manager can have an impact on the
failure or success of a project. The
participants highlighted that a project
manager is a team worker who

communicates, engages, motivates people
and possesses qualities that will impact on
the delivery of a project in a positive way.
Rosener (1990) referred to women who
engage teams through shared goals as
transformational leaders and also women
who encourage participation and sharing of
information as interactive leaders. Rosener
classified this leadership style as being
competitive in an environment which is
economically diverse. The women project
managers reflected an understanding of the
impact of their leadership style on the
delivery of the project. The strong
perception raised was that having project
success requires the manager’s ability to
apply suitable leadership styles to people
management.
Theme number three was: Challenges faced

by women project managers in the
organization. One of the challenges that
was pointed out by the female project
managers is competition among females.
The competitive environment prevailing in
the workplace made it difficult for the
women to support each other and to rally
behind one another when things were
difficult. Even though the women project
managers explained the importance of
Emotional Intelligence in women in
leadership positions, there was a view that
they lacked the capacity to detach their
emotions from work which could inhibit
their success.
Many other challenges were highlighted
including the problems of handling
contractors, under-resourcing, and the high
turnover of staff. The majority of the

participants interviewed felt that
contractors had an upper hand in the
project and that one has to handle the
relationship carefully. One of the issues
with contractors is that they do not always
follow the proper communication channels.
The contractors seem to have free reign
with little restrictions and this puts the
project managers under a lot of pressure.
The way the contracts are written poses
challenges for the project managers
because the contracts seem to favor the
contractor and this makes it difficult to
make the contractors more accountable.
Under-resourcing is often a major challenge
faced by the project managers. The projects
are under-resourced both in terms of
financial resources and human resources.
This makes the work of the project manager
difficult. High staff turnover at projects level

5668
was also raised as a challenge because
continuity with initiatives is always difficult
if key people leave the project for better
opportunities in other organizations and
this can also apply to project managers
themselves.
Theme four was: Barriers preventing
advancement of women into senior
management positions. The main barriers
identified by the participants were: gender
stereotyping, lack of qualifications, fear of
not succeeding, family responsibilities, lack
of networking skills and lack of time. A
number of the interviewees expressed the
sentiment that males who reported to them
were not comfortable with having a female

project manager and so they undermined
them. The respondents also reported that
they are not given full responsibility and
accountability for the project whereas their
male counterparts are fully trusted with the
projects that they manage.
Other negative perceptions that are
perceived to be prevalent among males,
which affect women project managers, are
that women are lazy and that they are in
their positions just because of their looks.
Women therefore said that they have to
work twice as hard as men in order to prove
themselves. Societal gender stereotyping
still exists to a great extent, particularly in
South Africa and is a major barrier to the
advancement of women to top positions.
The women project managers that were
interviewed felt that there was a negative

perception that women cannot hold
leadership positions and were not as
competent as men in managing projects.
Powell (2011) argued that when it comes to
leader preferences across the globe,
employees still tend to prefer male
managers over female managers because of
the negative perception associated with
women. The research also shows that one
of the challenges faced by women project
managers was that their subordinates were
skeptical of their abilities to lead.
Comparative levels of education was a
major problem. Most of the positions at
senior management level in the
organization require a Master’s degree.
Even if the organization opens up
opportunities for promotions to women,
their lack of high-level qualifications will
prevent them from advancing to top

positions in the organization. This is
because top positions come with the
stipulation that they must be filled by
highly qualified personnel. Research by
Govender (2005) showed that men moved
into senior positions at a faster rate than
women, and men who held Master’s
qualifications were likely to earn higher
salaries as compared to their female
counterparts. Furthermore, the study
showed that education could assist females
in advancing in the organization; however,
his findings indicated that men advance to
senior management positions with
minimum qualifications such as diplomas
and degrees while women need to obtain
higher qualifications such as Master’s
degree before they can be recognized for
senior positions.

It was noted that of the 15 women project
manager’s interviewed, none of them had a
Master’s degree. However, the organization
has created avenues for further sponsored
study so that women can advance their
qualifications so that they can be prepared
for senior management levels. One way of
dealing with this is that women should find
a balance between their work and family
because their family responsibilities are a
hindrance to their rising to higher
positions. This is related to women not
being able to work too far from their
families or spending protracted periods of
time away from home on projects that
would advance their careers. Through
networking, information and ideas relating
to the work are shared. Because such
networking sessions occur after working
hours, the managers indicated that time

was a limiting factor because of family
responsibilities.
Cubillo and Brown (2003) pointed out that
fear of failure was identified by theorists as
a barrier to women’s progress and quoted
Cubillo (1999) who stated that women’s
lack of confidence had nothing to do with
the lack of faith in women’s abilities, but
was as a result of being unfamiliar with the
5669
men’s domain; however, the fear tends to
fade once the women are familiar with the
aspects of the job.
Most of the respondents pointed out that
the experience that they had acquired from

previous jobs contributed to their success
as project managers. One participant
explained that she had gained valuable
experience in contract management and
that this contributed immensely to her
success as a project manager. The
experience helped her to understand the
contracts related to the projects that she is
working on. A key aspect of project
management is people skills. The
respondents that had worked in leadership
positions before they became project
managers gained a lot of people-skills
which were very useful to them in their role
of project manager.
Technical experience which most of the
managers had gained on the job was
highlighted as a factor that contributed to
the success of women project managers in

the engineering environment. The
organization is of a technical nature;
therefore technical experience enables the
project manager to comprehend the
technical side of the work which assists
them to make informed decisions. It is
important to note that most of the women
project managers interviewed had technical
qualifications.
Coaching from the manager was a common
finding that the respondents attributed to
their success. The participants expressed a
sense of appreciation at having good
managers who groomed them to unleash
their full potential and afforded them with
opportunities to grow and be successful.
Since the organization does not have a
formal mentorship programme for women
project managers, this initiative from the

managers adds value in the advancement of
women.
Most participants highlighted personal
determination as contributing to their
success. The interview discussions showed
the characteristic of determination amongst
these women. Most of these women had
started off as engineers and project
management was new to them, but then
they learnt through experience.
Theme six related to perceptions of gender
transformation. Promoting women forms
part of the organization’s transformation
agenda and the current review of the
company’s business strategy is aimed at
presenting opportunities to create a
balanced representation at top and senior
management levels. The general view of the

majority of respondents is that the
organization still remains highly male-
dominated with males occupying most of
the top positions. Gender transformation is
progressing on lower and middle-
management positions and very slowly at
higher/top levels. The women project
managers interviewed were of the view that
senior management positions were being
occupied without openly advertising for the
positions. In most cases, men are selected
to occupy those positions and this hampers
the transformation drive to promote women
and it creates prejudice and a sense of
unfairness in terms of the criteria used to
fill the positions. The perception among the
women that were interviewed is that males
get more recognition for promotions than
females even though they do the same job
and have the same achievements. There is

lack of representation of women at the level
of decision-making at top levels. Women
project managers feel like they are
implementers of decisions taken by others.
It was also found that certain areas within
the organization are still reserved for men.
There is still a tendency to allocate
positions according to gender. This limits
the number of women occupying senior
positions in projects. Women are not given
opportunities to be senior managers.
Engineering, project management and
construction are still areas which are highly
male-dominated. Where there is
representation of women in top leadership
positions, those women are mostly in
Finance and Human Resource
Management. Respondents indicated lack of

opportunities given to lead bigger
disciplines such as turbines, boilers,
5670
materials handling or any other discipline,
for that matter. There was a general
concern that women were still not given
opportunities to lead. The problem at hand
is that the organization has for a long time
been a male-dominated environment,
especially in engineering, project
management and construction, and this
cannot be ignored. Gender transformation
is a process which needs to be carefully
strategized.
Conclusion and recommendations
The findings emanating from this research
show that women project managers

perceive themselves to be strong on people
skills. They understand the importance of
people in projects and acknowledge that
projects are delivered by people and that
the success of the project depends on the
leadership and the performance of people.
In relation to leadership characteristics, the
women project managers perceive
themselves to have qualities of
transformational, democratic and people-
oriented leadership styles. In addition, the
study shows that the leadership style of a
project manager determines the success or
the failure of a project because how one
leads as a manager determines how people
will respond to the needs of a project. The
leadership style has an impact on the
delivery of the project in terms of cost, time
and quality. People make projects and as a
project manager you have to influence

people towards the goals of the project by
engaging them in decision-making and
caring for them, encouraging team-work
and continuously communicating the
objectives of the project.
Whilst the recommendations that arise from
this study are specific to the organization it
is possible that they could be applied in a
more general context to other firms and to
other institutions that employ women as
project managers. The following
recommendations are offered to be
considered by management.
1) A people-oriented project manager
creates an environment which helps people
to cope with the pressure and stress related
to the projects. A people-oriented leader
also empowers their team members by
engaging them in the decision-making

process. This makes people take ownership
of the project and this results in them being
more interested in the successful
completion of the project. Previous research
by Appelbaum et al. (2003) and Melero
(2011) shows that these traits are mostly
prevalent among women and those traits
improve management practice. These are
critical leadership styles which the
organization should nurture and retain in
the organization.
2) The study showed that even though
women project managers have strong
leadership skills required for ever-changing
environments, they lack the self-
management and self-awareness capability
of EI in terms of controlling and dealing
with their emotions. It is strongly
recommended that the organization should

implement training programmes to help
women leaders to understand EI and how
to apply it in their lives.
3) The main challenge that women face is
gender stereotyping. Although they consider
themselves to be high performers in their
positions, they pointed out that they are
often undermined by their male
counterparts and seniors. Part of the
reason that women go through the
challenges as described in the working
environment today derives from societal
perceptions, which regard women as being
powerless, submissive and subordinate to
men (Commission of Gender Equality, Act
No. 39 of 1996). This therefore means that
women are not recognised as leaders.
Moran (1992) argued that despite attempts

such as affirmative action to increase the
number of women in leadership, the
existence of traditional stereotypes still
remains a major influence and continues to
hinder women in leadership positions. The
top management of the organization should
therefore introduce awareness programmes
and a paradigm shift needs to happen to
allow the male co-workers to recognise that
any person can be a leader, irrespective of
gender. Women project managers that were
interviewed pointed out that they did not
understand the process that is followed in
5671
terms of promotions. They perceived that
men were being promoted rapidly simply
because they were males. In light of this, it
is recommended that top management

should be more transparent in terms of the
promotion processes so that there will be
no qualms about unfair promotions.
As the study has shown, the organization is
not doing as much as it should be doing for
women in terms of promoting women and
balancing the gender representation in top
management positions. The following
recommendation is made specifically in this
regard:
Management has to set goals for advancing
women to the top. This can be achieved by
implementing strategies that will close the
gap and advance women to the top. This
can be done by setting performance criteria
that involve conducting screening of women
who are already in the junior and middle
management positions. The screening will

check the qualifications, experience and
achievements. This is a fair and
transparent process which will then be
used as a selection criterion to promote
women based on their performance,
capabilities and strengths.
In terms of training, it was clear from the
interviews that women project managers do
not have dedicated career development
programmes. As much as the organization
supports training and development, it is up
to the individual to determine their own
development and advancement according to
their needs. Leadership programmes should
be introduced as these have been highly
recommended as programmes set up to fast
track the advancement of leaders.
Structured mentorship training where

female project managers are mentored by
senior/successful managers as part of their
succession planning programme could also
be introduced. The programme could
include the International Federation of
Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) training and
also focus on the organization’s policies and
procedures.
Women project managers felt that they had
more family responsibilities than their male
counterparts. Such family responsibilities
meant that at times they could not travel
far from home because there would not
have been someone to leave the children
with. One way in which the organization
could intervene would be to introduce
facilities such as nurseries and after-care
facilities for employees’ children.
Women project managers should pay more

attention to networking as this is one way
of accelerating advancement in the
workplace. They should make more of an
effort to attend social events that would
increase opportunities for networking.
It is also recommended that the
organization establish women’s forums.
Such sessions could be debriefing sessions
where women could provide peer-to-peer
support for one another. In addition, they
could also involve motivational speakers
and women that are already at top
management levels to share their
experiences and advise on how they made it
to the top.
This research did not test the leadership
styles of the women project managers but
relied on their own perceptions and views.
The study also did not include the views of

the Human Resources department or
subordinates.
Acknowledgments
All those who participated in the study are
thanked.
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Barriers to and facilitators of female Deans’ career
advancement in higher education: an exploratory
study in Vietnam
Thi Lan Huong Nguyen
Published online: 9 December 2012
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012
Abstract Although the slow progress of female academics
compared to their male col-
leagues and the challenges that female academic leaders have to
face in taking leadership
roles have been well-documented, very little is known about
female academic leaders and
managers’ career advancement in developing countries like
Vietnam. This paper reports on
an exploratory study of a research project funded by the
Cambridge—Viet Nam Women
Leadership Programme, which aims to advance an
understanding of the status of, and
identify strategies to empower, female academic managers in
Vietnamese higher educa-

tion. The focus of this paper is on university leaders and female
Deans’ perceptions of the
barriers to female academic Deanship and female Deans’
reflections on the facilitators for
their career advancement. The study found that the main
barriers are strong family obli-
gations, negative gender stereotypes regarding females as
leaders, and female academics’
unwillingness to take management positions. The major
facilitators of female Deans’
career advancement are self-effort, strong family support, and,
what is perceived to be, a
favourable or ‘lucky’ selection context. The paper provides
empirical evidence to support
the view that family support is a crucial factor for female
academic career advancement in
Vietnam. Women are both an agent and an object of change in
empowering female
academic leadership.
Keywords Middle level management · Female academic
managers ·
Women empowerment · Vietnamese higher education
T. L. H. Nguyen (&)
LH Martin Institute for Higher Education Leadership and
Management,

170 Bouverie Street, Carton, VIC 3053, Australia
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
T. L. H. Nguyen
Hanoi University of Industry, Km 13, Minh Khai, Tu Liem,
Hanoi, Vietnam
123
High Educ (2013) 66:123–138
DOI 10.1007/s10734-012-9594-4
Introduction
The fact that women are under-represented in leadership and
management positions,
including those in higher education, is well documented in the
literature (Bornstein 2008;
Doherty and Manfredi 2006; Mai 2007; McNeill 2007;
Va´zquez-Cupeiro and Elston 2006;
Valian 1998; Winchester et al. 2006). There also is a large
volume of literature that
identifies the challenges and facilitators for women assuming
leadership and management
roles, in society generally and in academic institutions.
However, there is little docu-
mentation of the experiences of female academic ‘leaders’ and
‘managers’ career

advancement in south-east Asian contexts, particularly in
Vietnam.
This article aims to fill this information gap by examining the
experiences of female
Deans in selected Vietnamese universities. The Deanship role is
chosen because of its
centrality to higher education middle management (Meek et al.
2010). The article will
identify both the barriers and facilitators these female Deans
have experienced in pursuing
their careers. The study is based on findings from a research
project funded by the
Cambridge—Viet Nam Women Leadership Programme, which
seeks to advance an
understanding of the status of, and identify strategies to
empower, female academic
managers
1
in Vietnamese higher education.
This research is significant for at least two reasons. Firstly, it
helps to fill a gap in the
literature on female academic leadership. The literature has
been dominated by a number
of studies on women in higher education management in
Western settings, particularly in

the UK, USA, and Australia and in some developing countries
such as China, Malaysia,
Turkey, etc. However, very little has been written on the subject
in Vietnam. Secondly,
understanding the barriers and facilitators for women in
assuming leadership positions in
higher education is important in deepening and broadening
understanding of leadership
development as a whole within higher education (Madsen 2010).
The task of empowering
female leadership is essential not only in terms of achieving
gender equity but also for
organizational productivity and human capital development
(Bell 2009; Cheung and
Halpern 2010).
Following a review of the relevant literature, the context and
methods of the study are
presented. Then the main findings of the study are reported and
discussed. Finally, con-
clusions and recommendations arising from the study are
presented.
Conceptual framework
In the absence of an appropriate theoretical framework

grounded in the Vietnamese
experience, a very general socio-structural framework is
employed based on the literature
of women in management and leadership positions, focusing on
the higher education
contexts. The framework is used as a guide to analyse the
barriers and facilitators for
female Deans’ career advancement in Vietnam. Two main
components of this framework
are barriers to and facilitators for women assuming leadership
and management positions.
1
In this paper, the term ‘managers’ is deliberately used to refer
to Deans and ‘leaders’ refers to university’s
most senior leadership positions such as Rectors or Vice
Rectors, because in Vietnam Deans enjoy a low
level of autonomy and in classifying between university leaders
and lower level of leaders, they are only
considered as department leaders, not university leaders.
124 High Educ (2013) 66:123–138
123
Barriers to women taking leadership and management positions
Researchers both outside and inside academia agree broadly that

for women who aspire to
top leadership positions, paths exist but are full of ‘twists and
turns’, both unexpected and
expected (Eagly and Carli 2007, p. 64). Researchers put forward
a range of theories to
explain the under-representation of women in senior
management positions. However, the
two most common are based on psychological and cultural
theories. From a psychological
perspective, negative gender stereotypes regarding female
leaders may critically impede
women’s leadership advancement (Eagly and Carli 2007;
Heilman 2001; Schein 2001).
From a cultural perspective, women have to face multiple
cultural barriers in accepting
leadership positions arising from the ‘macro’ socio-political
level, the ‘mesco’
2
organi-
zational level, and the ‘micro’ individual level (Cubillo and
Brown 2003).
Psychological barrier: think manager–think male attitudes
Prejudicial attitudes towards women as leaders is arguably the
most ingrained barrier to

women in leadership and management (Twombly 1998). Women
are often thought to be
more communal: affectionate, helpful, friendly, kind, and
sympathetic, interpersonally
sensitive, gentle, and soft-spoken. These communal
characteristics often are considered to
be inappropriate for effective leadership and management. In
contrast, men are considered
to be more agentic: aggressive, ambitious, dominant, self-
confident, forceful, self-reliant,
and individualistic. These agentic traits are often associated
with successful management
(Eagly and Carli 2007; Eagly and Johannesen-Schmidt 2001).
These stereotypes impede
women’s career advancement as it is assumed that women do
not have the attributes
associated with management. Such views about men and women
are often implicitly
acquired and thus very resistant to change.
Research indicates that the ‘think manager–think male’ attitude
is an entrenched view,
especially among males (Schein 1973, 2001). This phenomenon
translates equally well into
the university sector as “think professor–think male” (Tharenou

1994) and “think vice
chancellor–think male” (Tilbrook 1998). Such attitudes not only
limit women’s access to
leadership roles but also create biased evaluations for women
when they occupy such roles
(Bailyn 2003; Eagly and Carli 2007; Heilman 2001; Mabokela
2003). If women choose to
be highly communal, they can be criticized for lacking agentic
qualities; in contrast, if they
are too agentic, they may be criticized for lacking empathy.
Whichever way they act, they
may be considered to lack the ‘right stuff’ for powerful jobs
(Eagly and Carli 2007). Due to
this paradox between the way women and managers are
supposed to behave, women
leaders may find it very difficult to successfully fulfill
leadership and management roles—
damned if you do, damned if you don’t. However, it should be
acknowledged that there are
obviously women who are successful leaders and managers.
Cultural barrier 1: The “macro” socio-political level
Socio-political barriers refer to entrenched hegemonic cultural
traditions of a region or

country that women are generally required to follow (Cubillo
and Brown 2003). These
cultural expectations often put women in a disadvantaged
position compared to men in
trying to advance their careers (Cubillo and Brown 2003;
Oplatka 2006).
2
‘Mesco’ is a term used by Cubilllo and Brown (2003) to denote
a middle level between the macro and
micro level.
High Educ (2013) 66:123–138 125
123
Research has shown that women, particularly those in
traditional societies, are expected
to take more family responsibilities than men, such as solely
careering for their children,
husband, and extended family. They are also required to do
more domestic work. Such role
expectations have been found to be an important obstacle in
academic career progression
for women in Turkey (Neale and Ozkanli 2010), Thailand, Hong
Kong, Singapore, and

Malaysia (Luke 2000), Kenya (Olser 1997, cited in Oplatka
2006), and even for Asian
American Pacific Islanders (Chen and Hune 2011) and African
American women
(Blackwood and Brown-Welty 2011). The pressure of family
responsibilities results in
women continuing to be the ones who interrupt their careers,
take more days off work, and
work part-time. As a result, they have fewer years of job
experience, and fewer hours of
employment per year, which slow their career progress and
reduces their earnings. Even
women who have found a way to reduce family pressures by
sharing housework and child
rearing with husbands, relatives, or paid workers are still
perceived as having domestic
responsibilities which will be inappropriate for promotion,
especially to time consuming,
demanding positions (Eagly and Carli 2007). With the bulk of
domestic work still falling
on their shoulders, women’s career advancement continues to be
slowed.
Apart from family responsibilities, women are also required to
follow particular cultural

traditions imposed by the society in which they live (Cubillo
and Brown 2003; Luke 2000;
Oplatka 2006; Twombly 1998). For example, in a study on how
women’s career paths and
opportunities are shaped by the intersection of cultural values
and structures, and legal
systems of the state in four countries in South East Asia, Luke
(2000) found that Asian
values or Asian culture promotes a specific concept of
femininity. The stereotype ideal of
women’s roles is as dutiful wives, mothers, and homemakers
(Stivens 1998a, b, cited in
Luke 2000). Women’s public conduct should be ‘subdued’,
‘quiet’, and ‘withdrawn’. As a
result, women have to perform an ‘Asian sense of what it means
to be womanly’ or else
‘you will lose face’ (Luke 2000). Being required to be confined
within cultural rules of
feminine propriety, women are more reluctant to demonstrate
their leadership skills in
public or to socialize with colleagues to build professional
networks. This limits profes-
sional opportunities and advancement.
Cultural barrier 2: The ‘mesco’ organizational level

Beside socio-political culture barriers, the highly masculinist
culture at universities can act
as another barrier for women interested in leadership and
management positions (Chen and
Hune 2011; Tilbrook 1998; White 2003.). Like most large
institutions, universities were
historically the realm of a certain class of men, so university
practices and norms are
constructed around men’s life experiences (Meyerson and
Fletcher 2000). Because these
practices are well-established they are taken for granted and
very difficult to change
(Bailyn 2003). Although women have entered the workforce and
have added enormous
value, the balance of power within organisations still is in
favour of men. Consequently,
female academics are often disadvantaged in pay and
promotion.
The literature provides evidence on how organizational
structures, norms, and values
disadvantage women in their career advancement. For example,
the culture of long hours
makes it difficult for women who have family commitments
(Airini et al. 2011); poor

policies on women returnees from leave; and discrimination
against women in selection
and promotion through the syndrome of supporting ‘people like
us’ (Mann 1995). While
research is highly valued for academic promotion, women are
required to do more teaching
and pastoral care than their male colleagues on similar
appointment levels (Spurling 1997,
126 High Educ (2013) 66:123–138
123
cited in Tilbrook 1998; White 2003). In an established
university in the United Kingdom,
the human resources department informally looked for
interested candidates before an
election of a Head of Department. Because women were less
likely to get involved in the
informal networking required to get noticed, the initial informal
search was considered
lacking in transparency and possibly a form of indirect
discrimination (Doherty and
Manfredi 2006). In Malaysia and Hong Kong, training
specifically for women managers is

often not a university priority (Luke 2000). Or if a general
management training program is
provided, it does not fit well with women’s schedules. In short,
policies and processes in
higher education can act as barriers against women assuming
positions.
Cultural barrier 3: The ‘micro’ individual level’
As a consequence of the imposition of traditional male
hegemony at the socio-political and
organizational level, women’s internalisation of barriers may
also contribute to their under
representation in management. Some examples of these barriers
are lack of competitive-
ness, lack of confidence, and a fear of failure (Cubillo and
Brown 2003).
With the pressure of dutiful compliance with societal “norms”,
values and roles, women
may feel that they need to adhere to the social expectations of
their roles. As a result,
women are reluctant to ‘come forward and parade their
achievements in annual compe-
titions for promotion or professorial conferment’ Doherty and

Manfredi (2006, p. 568),
Luke (2000) argues that they may have even internalized a sense
of ‘gender neutral
meritocratic idealism’. Organizational structures that bias power
in favour of men also
make women unenthusiastic to engage in “politicking and
power-mongering” and a gen-
eral “distaste for political party” (Arroba and James 1987, cited
in Mann 1995). In
eschewing the role of power and politics, some have argued that
women demonstrate a lack
of political competence, which can impede career progress.
Facilitators for women in higher education leadership and
management
Whilst research focuses on the underrepresentation of women in
management and barriers
to success, it may be argued that insufficient original research
has been undertaken on
facilitators for women gaining senior academic leadership and
management positions in
higher education (Airini et al. 2011; Chen and Hune 2011). A
literature review of this topic
has found very few relevant publications in English (Airini et
al. 2011; Blackwood and

Brown-Welty 2011; Cubillo and Brown 2003; Harris et al. 2011;
Turner 2007; Twombly
1998). From this scant literature, the three most common
facilitators appear to be personal
factors, family support and mentor support.
Personal factors
Senior academic women seem to demonstrate very strong
personalities such as being self-
motivated, independent and hardworking. In interviews with 18
women in positions of
academic leadership at the University of Costa Rica, Twombly
(1998) found that to rise to
the top of their professions these women were determined not to
be left behind by trying
their best to survive many battles through their own excellence,
tenacity, and political skill.
They also worked twice as hard as their male colleagues to
succeed. In a study of narratives
drawn from women aspiring to leadership and management in
nine different educational
High Educ (2013) 66:123–138 127
123

contexts, from very different parts of the world, Cubillo and
Brown (2003) similarly found
that although they had to face hostile male-dominated cultures,
these women appeared to
be extremely independent, confident and self-motivated. In
studying pathways to leader-
ship for women of color in California Community Colleges,
Blackwood and Brown-Welty
(2011) also found that these women always tried to be the best
in their position. Working
hard and working smart were also the strategies employed by a
number of other female
leaders and managers (Cheung and Halpern, 2010).
Family support
Support from family is the second common facilitator for
women’s career advancement.
By reviewing the literature, Cheung and Halpern (2010)
reported that women leaders in
various studies all mentioned the importance of family support
in achieving their top
positions. While the extended family provided great help with
housework and childcare,

the husbands could also take on a substantial share of household
chores or take the role of
the trailing spouse, i.e. being willing to move to a new location
with uncertain career
prospects for the advancement of their wife’s career. Family
and partner support were also
recognized as playing an important role in three ‘first’
Mexican–American, Native
American, and Asian Pacific/Asian American women university
presidents’ (Turner 2007)
and twelve Asian American female leaders’ (Kawahara et al.
2007) achievement. Almost
all of the women in Cubillo and Brown’s (2003) study identified
their fathers as strong
influences in shaping their thinking and enabling them to aspire
to higher education and
role achievement.
Mentor support
Mentor support plays a significant role for women taking
roles. By analysing secondary data in exploring the career paths
of African American
women presidents, Harris et al. (2011) found that for African
American women to achieve

a presidency, mentoring was strongly recommended because
mentors and networking may
help women access significant information and opportunities for
career advancement. In a
New Zealand study, Airini et al. (2011) identified what helps or
hinders women to advance
in university leadership roles. One of the facilitators was having
senior leaders who support
women to assume leadership roles. The importance of mentoring
was also confirmed by
Peters (2011) in the study of African American women
achieving tenure in the field of
educational leadership, and by Blackwood and Brown-Welty
(2011) research on women of
color assuming leadership roles in California Community
Colleges.
Other factors
Apart from personal factors, family support, and mentor
support, some less common
factors were also identified in the literature. For example, the
importance of early edu-
cational and career success and teachers’ inspiration was
emphasized by the three ‘first’

Mexican–American, Native American, and Asian Pacific/Asian
American women presi-
dents (Turner 2007). Day-to-day application of organizational
policies and practices could
also help empower women (Airini et al. 2011). By allowing
women with full time
appointments to work part time when necessary, universities
provided some structural
facilitators for female academics (Twombly 1998). Female
administrator’s career
128 High Educ (2013) 66:123–138
123
advancement might also be facilitated by being able to move to
another institution or by
accepting an interim position (Blackwood and Brown-Welty
2011). Some female leaders’
success resulted from adopting non-traditional leadership styles
to bring diverse commu-
nities together (Turner 2007).
Even though there have been some common themes with respect
to facilitating female
leadership in the academy, they are not necessarily universal.

For example, although role
models appeared to be essential to the success of academic
American women of color
(Blackwood and Brown-Welty 2011; Harris et al. 2011; Peters
2011), women in North
America (Kelly 2011) and New Zealand (Airini et al. 2011), it
was not obviously a factor
for Costa Rican women academic leaders (Twombly 1998) or
Korean women (Johnsrud
1995, cited in Twombly 1998). Successful academic and
administrative managers in New
Zealand universities were proactive in building their career
development plans (Airini et al.
2011). However, female leaders of color in California
Community Colleges did not have
any well articulated career plans (Blackwood and Brown-Welty
2011) and African
American female community college presidents saw their career
development just as ‘‘in
the right place at the right time’’ (Gooch 2009, p. 118, cited in
Harris et al. 2011). This may
indicate the importance of socio-cultural context in determining
what facilitates/hinders
women’s academic advancement. So it’s important to widen our

understanding in different
contexts.
There is a gap in the literature in that most of the studies
primarily focused on very
senior women in more advanced countries such as the US or
New Zealand (Airini et al.
2011; Kelly 2011; Turner 2007). When researchers examined
the topic in less developed
country contexts, they didn’t distinguish academic from
administrative leadership roles
(Cubillo and Brown 2003) and when they did, the data was quite
outdated (Twombly
1998). In partly addressing this literature gap, this study
furthers our understanding in how
a particular group of middle-level academic managers (female
Deans) from a developing
country (Vietnam) have been hindered or facilitated in their
career progress. The two major
questions guiding this study are: (1) What are the barriers to
female Deans taking Deanship
positions at a Vietnamese university and (2) What are the
facilitators for their pathways to
the Deanship?

Context
Empowering women in leadership and management has been a
significant goal that
Vietnam has aimed to achieve. Vietnam ranks second among
Asia Pacific countries and 9th
out of 135 countries worldwide in the number of female
National Assembly Members.
Even so, the percentage of female National Assembly Members
for the 11th election is
only 28 %. Apart from politics, Vietnamese women have taken
leadership roles in fields
such as economics, culture, social organizations, and
educational institutions. Although,
due to lack of data, no specific ratios could be identified, the
numbers of women leaders are
modest in comparison with males (Quy and Nga 2008).
In higher education, there have been no specific university
policies on promoting
women in leadership and management. Vietnamese universities
generally conduct activi-
ties related to gender equity as stipulated by the Communist
Party’s leadership and the
government’s laws and policies. For example, each university
generally has a Women’s

Association. Their major activity is to hold annual meetings for
the university’s female
staff on Vietnamese Women’s Day to praise women’s
achievements both at work and in
High Educ (2013) 66:123–138 129
123
raising and educating their children at home. These associations
also organize sightseeing
tours or holidays for women to socialize and network once or
twice annually.
One of the two Vietnamese national universities was selected as
the site for this
research. At the time this research was conducted in 2009, the
selected national university
consisted of six university members
3
. Of their total 42 faculties only nine faculty Deans
were female (21 %), coming from four of the six university
members. On average, women
represent 34 % of the academic staff in these four university
members. Female academics
accounted for about 20 % of the total academic staff with

Doctoral qualifications. This
figure is 15 % at associate professor level, and well under 5 %
at professor level. As stated
in the University Regulations (Thủ tướng Chı́nh phủ 2010), it is
necessary for both men
and women to hold a Doctorate to be a Dean.
Methods
Face to face interviews were the primary method of
investigation. All nine female Deans
were invited to participate; however only six were able to
participate in the research. One
female Dean did not wish to participate; two others were on
business overseas at the time
the data was collected. One member of the Board of Rectors or
one Human Resources
Manager from each of the six universities was also invited to
participate. However, only
three male university leaders and two male Human Resources
Managers were available to
take part in the research. Because these participants were most
likely to be decision makers
on whether female academics were promoted, their perceptions
helped to obtain a more
comprehensive picture of the barriers to female Deans’ career

advancement.
All participants were asked to share their perceptions of the
status and empowerment of
female Deans at their university, facilitators and barriers for
women taking Deanship
positions, and how they think their university and society can
help women to overcome the
obstacles in their career development. Six female Deans were
also asked to describe times
when incidents in work or non-work situations have helped (or
hindered) them developing
as university managers. All interviews were recorded and
transcribed in Vietnamese.
Selected verbatim quotes were translated into English in the
final report.
Findings
The female Deans’ Faculty profile
The six female Deans have been in their current roles for
between one and three years.
Before their current position, they most commonly held an
academic Head of Program or
Deputy Dean Position. The average number of their Faculty’s
tenured staff is approxi-

mately 25, except for one Dean whose faculty has
approximately 40 tenured lecturers.
Each Dean is supported by one or two Deputy Deans. The
number of students enrolled in
each faculty varies from 300 to 1,000. One faculty provides
doctoral training; all other
faculties only deliver Master and Bachelor level courses.
Females account for the majority
of the staff and students in all of the six faculties. All of the
female Deans have doctoral
degrees; two have been promoted to ‘Assistant Professor’. No
female Dean is a ‘Professor’.
3
The two Vietnam National Universities are the two largest and
most autonomous universities in Vietnam.
Each national university consists of several independent mono-
disciplinary university members.
130 High Educ (2013) 66:123–138
123
Barriers
The most common barriers to women taking academic
management positions as perceived

by the respondents are strong family obligations, negative
gender stereotypes, and
women’s unwillingness to take leadership roles.
Strong family obligations
According to the participants, strong family commitment is the
biggest barrier to female
Deans. This barrier is perceived by both university leaders as
well as female Deans
themselves. From a male university leader’s perspective ‘it
seems to be the world’s
unwritten rule that women, not men must care about their family
more’ and therefore,
‘women are afraid that if they take part in too many social
activities and don’t care much
about their families, problems will arise’. This challenge is
recognized by all of the female
Deans. They say that the most common challenge for them is to
fulfill their roles as a wife
and a mother while working as a Dean:
The workload is now becoming heavier and heavier so female
academic leaders must
know how to balance family life and university work’. (Female
Dean)

For me, the biggest obstacle is time constraints. Sometimes my
husband complains
about me spending inadequate time with my family and my
children are sad because
I am too busy’. (Female Dean)
My children are still small, so I have to take care of them. I
didn’t get the title
‘excellent staff’ in 2002 and 2003 because my child was often
ill and I couldn’t
arrive at work on time. This is a very big challenge’. (Female
Dean)
Having to take major responsibility for family, leadership and
management work was
perceived as ‘not suitable’ for women because ‘leaders have to
deal with a variety of social
communications, go on business very often, and meet a lot of
people’ (Female Dean). So, if
women are leaders ‘sometimes they cannot come to their office
on time’ and ‘their family
duties affect university work’ (University Manager). Therefore,
male academics are valued
more than females because ‘males have more time for work than
females’ (University
Manager). One university leader further commented that ‘if we
want women to participate

more in social activities, the first task is to change society’s
assessment of women’s work’.
Stereotypes against women being leaders
Stereotypes against females being leaders still exist and they do
hinder female academics
from becoming leaders and managers. Female academics are
thought to be indecisive, less
active, limited in thinking, and dare not take risks.
From the male university leaders’ perspective, ‘female
managers are not very decisive’
and ‘women’s disadvantage is their lack of organizational
capability’. Some female Deans
themselves also think that ‘women are less active than men’.
They blame this on women’s
characteristics:
Women are very careful in making plans; however, they are less
decisive and dare
not take the risks. They care about too many things.
Consequently, they may lose a
lot of good opportunities’. (Female Dean)
High Educ (2013) 66:123–138 131
123

Sometimes I am not decisive enough so I cannot solve a
problem completely. I also
want to cover a lot of work. That is a disadvantage, not an
advantage. Maybe it is due
to my personality. (Female Dean)
or on women’s general low level of education and experience
compared to men:
Women’s thinking and management capabilities are more
limited than those of men
due to how they are educated, their living standards, and social
circumstances.
Except for females with very good living conditions or self-
reliance, the majority of
females’ thinking is limited in terms of vision, depth, and
width. (Female Dean)
The issue that women do not support women was also
identified:
At our university, there are a lot of female academics so it is
easy to choose a female
leader; however, females don’t seem to select other females, it
is females’ problem. I
have a feeling that females don’t vote for other females.
(Female Dean)

Women’s unwillingness to take leadership roles
Living in a culture where women’s primary role expectation is
as homemakers, some
women are satisfied with doing a low ranking job and taking
care of their family:
In fact, many women hold an attitude that they shouldn’t be too
involved in social
activities, their husband and children should be their primary
concern. As the Head
of a unit, they must deal with all problems and conflicts in their
unit. This takes a lot
of their time. Sometimes they just want to care about their
family and look after their
public appearance. They are fed up with all day management
work. (Female Dean)
This thinking appears to be common among Vietnamese women.
However, in this study
it is a viewpoint held only by a minority.
The facilitators for female Deans’ career advancement
The major facilitators for female Deans’ career advancement are
self-effort, strong family
support, and a favourable promotion context.

Female Deans’ self effort
The first factor that influences the female Deans’ career
advancement is their individual
abilities and effort in gaining high level qualifications. All of
the six Deans worked hard to
complete their Doctoral training programs. They were among
the first female Doctors in
their specialization.
I myself decided to study subject X. I didn’t plan anything or
didn’t think that I
would become a Dean one day. I myself felt that I had to study.
The current position,
first of all, is an outcome of my own motivation and efforts’.
(Female Dean)
The completion of my Doctoral thesis possibly made me a Dean.
I am the first female
PhD candidate who completed PhD study successfully. (Female
Dean)
There must be a strong need for learning, an adequate level of
expertise in the
specialized area, and professionalism. (Female Dean)
132 High Educ (2013) 66:123–138
123

Strong family support
Apart from the Deans’ personal ability and efforts, strong
support from their families is a
decisive factor. Support can come from the female Dean’s
husband, parents, and/or par-
ents-in-law:
I have an advantage because my husband is also a lecturer; he
supports me to
advance in my career. Sometimes, he is not happy when I come
home late but
generally, he is very supportive’. (Female Dean)
My husband is very supportive because some relatives in my
husband’s extended
family also work in my specialized area. My parents-in-law are
also involved in a lot
of social work and go on business extensively. Since I was
married, my husband’s
family has created favourable conditions for me to study and
participate in social
activities. It has been a long supportive process. Now that my
son follows my

profession, my husband must also support me more. (Female
Dean)
In fact, family support was the most important factor that
helped me to become a
Dean. I must say that I am very lucky because I have a Doctoral
qualification while
my husband doesn’t. For Asians and the Vietnamese, it is not
easy to accept a woman
whose education is better than that of her husband. Luckily, my
husband’s parents
are very understanding. They respect me because of my high-
level education. My
father-in-law used to be Deputy Director of the National
Department of Agriculture,
my mother-in-law used to be a lecturer of English; therefore
they supported me for
my PhD study. Another advantage is that my family’s financial
situation is very
strong. (Female Dean)
The selection context
Organizational contexts play a very important role in deciding
who can become Deans. In
the cases of the female Deans, most of them were able to take
management positions

because no men were qualified or available. Four of the six
Deans are Foundation Deans in
their faculty.
Actually, I was not elected or selected to be a Dean. I didn’t
apply for the post either.
It came quite naturally. It seemed inevitable. When I started
working in this Faculty,
there was only one male colleague who had graduated from
Russia. He was the one
who offered me my position in the Faculty. However, he only
worked in the Faculty
for two years, and then had to stop for military duties. There
was only me left in the
faculty at that time [with a Doctoral qualification]. So I am not
selected or appointed.
It just came naturally’. (Female Dean)
In fact, there was nothing special about my career advancement.
Our specialized
subject group was founded in 1995 consisting of only me and
another female PhD.
When there was a need to nominate a Head of the group, people
could only select
between me and the other female. I was chosen because I was

younger. After that, in
2001, the group became a Faculty and I was nominated Dean.
Also, there were not
many people who had a Doctoral qualification at that time’.
(Female Dean)
I worked as Deputy Dean from 2005–2007. When I started the
role I had nearly finish
my PhD. In 2008, when the former Dean retired and my
department was separated
High Educ (2013) 66:123–138 133
123
into an independent Faculty, I became Dean. I was strongly
qualified for the post
since I had a Doctoral qualification and was a Communist Party
member. Apart from
that, in terms of capabilities, no one else in the faculty was
qualified. If I wasn’t
qualified, no one from the Faculty was better than me at that
time. (Female Dean)
In general, there are some common features in the six Deans’
career advancement. None of
them had any clear plans for their career development (similar

findings can be found in
Blackwood and Brown-Welty 2011); however, they all had
excellent learning capabilities
and demonstrated great effort and determination to progress. In
addition, they had very
strong family support, especially from their husbands and
parents-in-law in studying
further. Thanks to these favourable factors, they became
outstanding in their faculties.
Having almost no competitors for the position at the time of
selection, they became the
strongest candidates for the Deanship. Similar findings of being
in the right place at the
right time are also found in Gooch (2009) and Ausmer (2009),
cited in Harris et al. (2011).
Discussion
A number of barriers and facilitators for women taking
Deanship positions in this study
confirm findings from previous research on this subject. In
terms of the challenges, female
Deans in the current study face almost all the common barriers
identified in the literature.
Psychologically, prejudicial attitudes against female managers
are quite common among

both male university managers and female Deans. Women were
perceived as having some
personal attributes that are inappropriate for being leaders, for
example, being indecisive,
narrow thinkers, and not being risk takers. Similar findings can
be found in the literature
(Eagly and Carli 2007; Heilman 2001; Schein 2001). However,
the think manager-think
male attitude was not clearly expressed.
Women’s strong family obligations act as the strongest macro
socio-political cultural
barrier to female academic advancement. This ‘unwritten rule’
places a heavy burden on
female Deans’, both physically and mentally. The psychological
effects of this social
imperative can be seen as one type of ‘glass ceiling’ for
academic women (Cotter,
Hermnsen, Ovadia, and Vanneman 2001; Powell and Graves
2003, cited in Harris et al.
2011). This is because university leaders are often in favor of
men in selecting a manager
since as a social norm men have more time for work than
women. Psychologically, women

themselves may feel ashamed if they are involved too much in
career activities and cannot
devote adequate time to their family and consequently face
family problems. While this
finding resonates very well with previous research of Neale and
Ozkanli (2010), Luke
(2000) and Olser (1997), cited in Oplatka 2006), the study does
not seem to support the
Asian values of feminine propriety as a barrier for women
advancement as found in a study
by Luke (2000). This is an important observation, and may be
due to Vietnam’s particular
history.
Surprisingly, even though universities did not seem to have any
available gender profile
data or any particular policies on supporting women,
respondents appeared to be happy
with the current level of university support. No participants
claimed university structures
and policies as a barrier to female academic advancement. One
female Dean even thought
that ‘the university is right in not having any special support for
women’ because ‘if
anyone can satisfy the criteria, s/he can become a manager’.

Although this finding is not
exclusive to the current study—similar findings can be found in
a study on Turkish
universities by White and Ozkanli (2011), it differs greatly from
most other studies in
134 High Educ (2013) 66:123–138
123
‘Western’ contexts in which organizational structures, norms,
and values are perceived as
barriers to women’s career advancement (Airini et al. 2011;
Doherty and Manfredi 2006;
Tilbrook 1998; White 2003). Perhaps, the female Deans
themselves have internalized a
sense of gender neutrality at work as a result of the deeply
rooted social expectation of
their family roles. This finding may indicate that Vietnamese
academic women’s slow
professional progress is mainly due to the social expectations of
their role in the family.
Organizational interventions may help, but they may not be the
decisive factors in
removing barriers for academic women, if the broader social

barriers are not removed.
Possibly, women should learn to take the advantages of the
work-family interface rather
than considering work-family balance as a major concern
(Cheung and Halpern 2010).
Despite barriers, the women in this study are successful in their
career. Women’s
self-ability and determination appear to be the prerequisites for
success. Not surprisingly,
family support is the strongest facilitator for the female Deans
not only prior to but also
during their Deanship. In addition, the way in which they were
selected for the role appears
to be the final decisive factor. These findings support previous
research on the facilitators
of female academics’ advancement: personal factors
(Blackwood and Brown-Welty 2011;
Cubillo and Brown 2003; Twombly 1998), family support
(Cheung and Halpern 2010;
Kawahara et al. 2007; Turner 2007) and a favorable selection
context (Gooch 2009,
pp 118, cited in Harris et al. 2011). However, unlike in some
other studies (Airini et al.
2011; Blackwood and Brown-Welty 2011; Harris et al. 2011;

Peters 2011), in this study the
success of the female Deans wasn’t facilitated by mentors.
This study is limited to one university and its findings cannot
be generalized to all
female Deans in Vietnam. But in this case study, apart from
their own ability and efforts,
female Deans depend on ‘luck’ as a factor for their career
advancement. They seemed to be
lucky because at work they were simply in the right place at the
right time. There is
nothing wrong with someone being lucky in life in general, in
one’s career advancement in
particular; but it can be argued that in order for women to
advance more systematically,
there is much more to be done than for women sitting passively
in one place and waiting
for their luck to come. The female Deans in this study have very
powerful family support
because their family members understand the need to empower
them. This may suggest
that in order for women to be empowered and promoted, we
need to enhance people’s
awareness of freeing and empowering women’s potential.
Possibly, in order to make this

change, women themselves need to first change their thinking
(Mann 1995).
This study adds to the literature on barriers to and facilitators
for female academic
advancement in higher education. It helps to illuminate the
experiences of academic
women taking management positions from a research context in
a developing South East
Asian country. Such specific knowledge is very important in
building gender equity pro-
grams in these contexts.
Although this research has achieved its overall aim of exploring
the barriers to and
facilitators of female academic Deans’ advancement at a
national university in Vietnam,
there are nonetheless limitations to this research work. The
study is based on a quite small
sample of female Deans and university leaders at only one
institution in Vietnam. The
results cannot represent the whole of Vietnamese higher
education, much less that of all or
even only South East Asian developing countries. However, as
there is a lack of research

on this subject in Vietnam, it is important to have this
exploratory study in the Vietnamese
context. It is expected that additional research will be
undertaken to provide a broader
understanding of the advancement of female academic leaders in
higher education in
Vietnam and other developing countries. Future research is
planned in other Vietnamese
universities, involving a greater number of stakeholders from
wider university contexts.
High Educ (2013) 66:123–138 135
123
It would be interesting to compare the facilitators of and the
barriers to female Deans in
Vietnam with those in other Asian contexts such as China,
Thailand, Malaysia, etc. The
similarities and differences in female academic Deans’
facilitators and barriers from such
comparative studies would help universities learn how to better
empower and promote
female academic leaders.
Conclusion

In conclusion, this is an exploratory study on barriers to and
facilitators of female Deans’
career advancement at a Vietnamese university. An important
limitation of this study is
that it is based on only one university and there is a need to
extend the study to a number of
other universities before any reliable generalisations can be
drawn. However, in the
absence of such research in the Vietnamese context, the study
helps to narrow the
knowledge gap by providing perceptions of male university
leaders and female Deans on
the factors that enhance or hinder female academic leadership
and management. The
conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that family
support is a very important
factor that can significantly impede or facilitate female
academic career progress in
Vietnam. In addition, women themselves can be both an object
and an agent of change in
empowering female leadership.
Since having more women as leaders and managers can promote
not only gender equity

but also organizational productivity and human capital
development, appropriate measures
should be taken to empower female leaders. In the Vietnamese
context, as the social
expectations of women as dutiful wives and mothers are so
strong, appropriate policies and
measures must be developed to lessen the time demands of
women’s domestic work and
childcare so that women can invest time as much as men do in
their career progress. At the
same time, women should learn to take the advantages of the
work-family interface rather
than considering work-family balance as a major concern
(Cheung and Halpern 2010).
Additionally, female academics must be aware of and interested
in their career advance-
ment. Without female academics’ personal interest in and
commitment to their own
careers, it is difficult to see how any of the other measures
designed to promote their career
advancement will prove fruitful. Vietnamese higher education is
presently undergoing a
radical transformation in the attempt to create a modern higher
education system for the

nation. Women leaders and managers have a crucial role to play
in this process.
Acknowledgments This study was funded by the Cambridge—
Viet Nam Women Leadership Programme.
The author acknowledges the very thoughtful comments and
advice on earlier drafts from Professor Vincent
Lynn Meek, Professor Sharon Bell and the two anonymous
reviewers.
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Barriers to and facilitators of female Deans’ career
advancement in higher education: an exploratory study in
VietnamAbstractIntroductionConceptual frameworkBarriers to
women taking leadership and management
positionsPsychological barrier: think manager–think male
attitudesCultural barrier 1: The “macro” socio-political
levelCultural barrier 2: The ‘mesco’ organizational
levelCultural barrier 3: The ‘micro’ individual level’Facilitators
for women in higher education leadership and
managementPersonal factorsFamily supportMentor supportOther
factorsContextMethodsFindingsThe female Deans’ Faculty
profileBarriersStrong family obligationsStereotypes against
women being leadersWomen’s unwillingness to take leadership
rolesThe facilitators for female Deans’ career
advancementFemale Deans’ self effortStrong family supportThe
selection
contextDiscussionConclusionAcknowledgmentsReferences
LEADERSHIP STYLES OF ENTREPRENEURIAL WOMEN IN
EASTERN CHINA: CHARACTERISTICS AND DIFFERENCES
CHENGYAN LI
Shanghai Normal University

LILI BAO
Case Western Reserve University
QIANG JIANG
Fudan University
A number of studies have recently been conducted on
entrepreneurship of women. In one
study the researchers found that gender had an impact on
entrepreneurial activity (Mueller &
Conway Dat-On, 2008) and the characteristics of
entrepreneurial women per se became the
focus of research. In our empirical research we explored the
characteristics of, and differences
among, the leadership style of a sample of 225 entrepreneurial
women from Zhejiang
Province and Shanghai in eastern China. We found that the
majority of these women adopted
an achievement-oriented style of leadership, that is, a style
consisting of high initiating
structure and high consideration. We found differences in the
consideration leadership style of
the women according to the type of enterprise in which they
were working; in addition there
were differences in both initiating structure and consideration
leadership styles of the women
entrepreneurs according to the length of time that the enterprise
in which the women were
working had been established.
Keywords: leadership style, women entrepreneurs, gender,
initiating structure leadership style,
consideration leadership style, achievement-oriented leadership
style.
A number of studies have recently been conducted on

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