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Gender and an ‘Effective’ Language of Leadership

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Speaking as Women Leaders

Abstract

This chapter discusses the insights from our research and their significance for theorists and practitioners. In both research contexts, there are common elements in the discursive ‘subject positioning’ of senior women leaders, largely to do with increasingly globalised expectations about how senior people are supposed to lead within international companies. Women leaders in both contexts are constrained by their subject positioning as women in a men’s world. Yet, they are able to accomplish new forms of leadership that are indexed by particular linguistic and discursive acts. While there are some differences between women within the same cultural context, there are also differences across the two cultural contexts. These are partly accounted for by variation in cultural norms and values, but never amount to distinct cultural behaviours or stereotypes. Finally, the chapter considers what constitutes ‘effective’ leadership within and across the research contexts.

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Baxter, J., Al A’ali, H. (2016). Gender and an ‘Effective’ Language of Leadership. In: Speaking as Women Leaders. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50621-4_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50621-4_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-50620-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-50621-4

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