Communicative and psychological portrait of a female leader

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of the study is to determine the specifics of the feminine management style, to describe the main features of the communicative behavior of women leaders. To achieve this goal, interviews with six female heads of transport companies were reviewed. The analysis assumed the identification of key ideas in the respondents’ statements related to the speakers’ understanding of their experience in managing the company, as well as evaluating themselves in the position of a leader. Methodology. The methodological basis of the study is the methods of thematic and comparative analysis. The theoretical basis of this article consists of works on gender leadership issues by both domestic and foreign authors. Findins. Thematic analysis of empirical data allowed us to identify six key ideas that make up the semantic “framework” of respondents’ statements. These topics are “Leadership self-determination”, “Leadership and gender”, “Recipes for female leadership”, “Leadership as the ability totransform the world”, “Leadership as power over people”, “Career and personal life”. The composition of the headings and the content of these topics indicate that women managers are aware of the features of their management model. On the one hand, the female leadership style involves the use of typically male communication strategies (result orientation, rationalism, clear hierarchy in the company). On the other hand, the behavior of female leaders includes other traits, that are different from masculine: establishing emotional contact with subordinates and clients, empathy. Consequently, the specificity of the feminine management style is not only in the use of tactical and strategic thinking, but also in the use of developed emotional intelligence. A woman leader is characterized by a combination of two instruments for influencing colleagues and partners — authority and feminine charm. The value of the results. The study revealed the personal qualities of women that allow them to take leading positionsin traditionally male areas of production: an urgent need for social and professional success; internal willingness to compete with men; the ability to create and manage a functional team of professionals; flexibility in the choice of methods of influence and decision-making.