Topic: Women in Leadership
Author(s), Title and Publication
Parker, P. S. (2001). African American Women Executives’ Leadership Communication within Dominant-Culture Organizations (Re) Conceptualizing Notions of Collaboration and Instrumentality. Management Communication Quarterly, 15(1), 42-82.
Summary
This study examined 15 African American women executives’ leadership communication within majority White, male-dominated organizations in the U.S. Study participants were these female executives, their subordinates and supervisors. All of the executives’ supervisors were White men, and most of their subordinates were White men and women. In-depth interviews, field observation of the executives, and archival data (e.g., publications, memos, speeches, corporate media) were used to examine the executives’ leadership philosophy and stated mission, conflict management approach, strategies for employee performance, and employee resistance handling.
Results revealed five themes related to the African American women executives’ leadership communication. The five themes are: 1) interactive communication, which is the basis of the executives’ overall leadership approach. Being interactive in leadership means understanding corporate knowledge (e.g., business, mission and goals), and communicating it clearly, directly, and consistently. Interactive communication also includes being accessible to staff and customers and modeling appropriate behaviors. 2) Empowering employees through challenge. The executives motivated employees by expecting high performance based on the executives’ confidence in the employee’s ability, and setting specific goals for them. 3) Openness in communication. The executives brought important issues into the open, made sure voices that need to be heard on a certain issue get that opportunity, and had no hidden agendas. 4) Participative decision making throughcollaborative debate, autonomy (trusting employees), and information gathering (being aware of multiple viewpoints). 5) The executives also demonstrated a mastery of boundary spanning by connecting the organization to the Black community in positive ways, and articulating the organization’s mission across organizational boundaries.
The findings of this study challenged views of women as master collaborators who shun control-oriented leadership. The five themes revealed that African American women executives applied collaborative leadership, and achieved collaboration through control (i.e., interactive communication) and empowerment. Control is viewed as a necessary strategy for managing their positions as Black women leaders within dominant-culture organizations.
Implications for Practice
People who work with African American women executives can benefit by better understanding their coworkers and changing preconceived stereotyping images of Black women. Openness in communication and participative decision-making approaches are useful in this regard.
Location of Article
The article is available online at:
http://people.emich.edu/mfoss/temp/M15G1T2.pdf (full article, recommend to open it with Firefox)
http://mcq.sagepub.com/content/15/1/42.short (abstract free, purchase full article)
