Bargaining with Leadership Styles: Women Managers in the NGO Sector in Lebanon

Abstract

Sociocultural, structural, and institutional challenges that restrict women’s rights and capabilities are well-studied global phenomena that affect the upwards mobility of women in their careers. This study aims to assess this in the context of the NGO sector in Lebanon. Based on a case study of two NGOs in Lebanon, this research focuses on the perspectives and day-to-day interactions within the workplace through interviews and ethnography. The aim is to contribute to the research on women’s career trajectories, and to explore the challenges caused by gender discrimination and how this affects women managers in the NGO sector. This research is also interested in assessing the gendered leadership styles that Lebanese women managers in NGOs adopt in the workplace. In the present literature, the two leadership styles are transactional leadership and transformational leadership (Jogulu and Wood, 2006).Transactional leadership is usually found to be more present in men and utilizes a more reward/punishment method of leadership which is highly authoritative and competitive. Transformational leadership is generally attributed to women, and those adopting this style tend to be relationship-oriented, conciliatory and focused on caused organizational change as a collective. The findings suggests that women’s leadership styles move beyond the binary of transactional/ transformational but rather situational and fluid. Women’s adoption of their leadership styles falls on the spectrum of both styles and is affected by external factors such as institutional structures, the nature of work and also by the gender order and patriarchy.