Differences Between Personality and Values Between Women and Men

TABLE OF CONTENTS

executive summary

introduction

leadership and gender

The statistics for women in leadership in Australia

differences between personality and values between women and men

engagement and gender

What is employee engagement?

Why measure employee engagement?

Right management’s approach to measuring employee engagement

Engagement levels for women and men

Drivers of engagement

Engagement of women at different levels in the organisation

Engagement of women across industries

motivation and gender

other employee opinions and gender

Differences of opinion between women and men

Most and least favourable items for women and men

recommendations

©2018 Right Management Inc. Right Management Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manpower Inc. / 1
080908 Women in leadership- discussion paperFINAL

executive summary

While there are broad differences between males and females on some personality traits, the difference between males and females in general is very small when compared to the possible differences between 2 (or more) females or two (or more) males. Therefore, at least in terms of personality, individual differencesare much greater than average gender differences. [1].

However, female and male executives do differ quite fundamentally in their values, motivators, and the specific factors that drive engagement (overall, with the organisation, and with their jobs). As such, organisational culture holds the key to creating an environment that engages, motivates and ultimately retains women within organisations.

Based on the current study recommendations are made to engage and motivate women. As a priority, organisations should focus on creating a culture:

That offers a flexible and family-friendly work environment while still supporting career progression;
Where both tangible rewards (e.g. remuneration package etc.) and intangible rewards (e.g. flexibility, working-from-home, career development etc.) are in place to incentivise and reward hard work and performance;
That truly values employees, embraces diversity and respects all individuals, and that these behaviours are role modelled by the senior leadership;
Where all employees’ opinions are heard and treated as important (not just the majority group); and
That provides women with the information that enables them to do their jobs well.

introduction

Most organisations are united in their goal to effectively engage, retain and develop their employees to build a robust talent pipeline to ensure organisational viability and growth.The focus on talent management has only increased in recent years as the ‘war for talent’ has intensified. At the same time, there are many competent high-potential women within organisations who are willing and able to progress their careers within those same organisations. Despite these apparently convergent goals, there remains a disconnect between the goals of organisations and the reality of the current state of the workforce in Australia.

The current statistics show that women are under-represented in management roles compared to the workforce as a whole and this imbalance only increases the higher the management level.Many have offered explanations for why this disconnect exists from personality and management style differences between male and female executives to women’s career and lifestyle choices.

This white paper examines current research on personality and style differences between women and men in leadership roles. In addition, new research findings are presented that reveal significant and unique differences between women and men in terms of what drives engagement and motivation. These differences are translated into recommendations for organisations to develop a culture that engages and motivates both women and men, and in doing so effectively engages their entire talent pool.

leadership and gender

The statistics for women in leadership in australia

Australia has a strong history of legislative, policy and social change programs when it comes to equality for women, with the first equity review (the Royal Commission into Australian Government Public Administration) conducted in 1975. Despite more than thirty years of considerable legislative, policy and social change in the equity domain in Australia, women have still not attained leadership positions in any significant numbers[2].

Although women are present in almost equal numbers to men in the workforce as a whole (44.8% vs. 55.2%), there is a diminishing representation of women in the workforce, relative to men, as job level increases. Women currently make up 44.2% of managers and professionals compared, with 55.8% of men. However, these percentages fall substantially at Executive Manager, CEO and Board Director levels. These trends are outlined in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Current representation of Females and Males in Australian workforce by role[3]
The most recent Equal Opportunity in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) census in 2006 indicates that women held 8.7% of board directorships in ASX200 companies (129 seats out of 1487). This compares with 8.2% in both 2004 and 2003. Similarly, women held 12% of Executive Management positions in ASX200 companies (222 positions out of 1856). This compares with 11.4% in 2004 and 10% in 2003[4].

In terms of the Executive Management roles that women hold in ASX200 companies, 22.5% are in a support function (e.g. Finance, Human Resources, Marketing) compared with 7.4% in a line function (with responsibility for profit-and-loss or direct client service).

A similar situation exists across the globe. Even so, Australia’s statistics compare less favourably with other western developed nations such as the USA (14.7% of women board directors and 16.4% women executive managers in 2005), Canada (12% of women board directors in 2005 and 14.4% women executive managers in 2004), South Africa (11.5% of women board directors and 16.8% women executive managers in 2006), and United Kingdom (10.5% of women board directors in 2005; no data available for women executive managers). Only New Zealand fared less well than Australia, with only 7.1% of women board directors.

In contrast to these statistics within AXS200 companies, the statistics within the Australian Public Servicetell a more positive story with women holding 35% of senior executive positions[5].

differences between personality and values between women and men

An analysis of 38,000 personality questionnaires completed by Australian professionals between 2001 and 2005by workplace assessment firm SHL founda number of significant differences between men and women[6].

Specifically, data analysis of a total sample of 38,000 individuals (24,041 males and 13,959 females) from various job types across different industries found that:

compared to females, males had a higher predisposition to selling and persuading and were more competitive
males were also more likely to be orientated towards numbers, statistics and facts and prefer to use them as a basis for their decisions
females were more detail conscious, affiliative, caring and vigorous
females were more likely to be comfortable with large groups and more likely to enjoy being the centre of attention and relating to others informally.
females were likely to described themselves as more helpful, sympathetic and supportive of others.

However, while these broad gender differences do exist[7]SHL are at pains to point out that these differences are not so extreme that any given female could be predicted to be higher or lower on a personality trait than any given male. In other words, although statistically significant, the difference between men and women in general is very small when compared to possible differences between 2 (or more) females or two (or more) males.. Therefore, at least in terms of personality, individual differencesare much greater than average gender differences . [8].

This conclusion is supported by a similar study of personal styles using Hogan Assessment Systemswhich showed that on the whole the personalities of female and male executives are not substantially different[9]. The study based on the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) revealed that only two out of seven dimensions of personalitywere significantly (and statistically) different between female and male executives.Where there are differences, the results showed that compared to males (n=150), females (n=77) were:

Higher in terms of interpersonal sensitivity than males, which reflects a greater level of social skill, tact and perceptiveness;
Higher in terms of adopting a learning approach which is the degree to which a person enjoys academic activities and education;
Similar in terms of their ambition, social confidence, having a calm and even-tempered approach, degree of self-control and conscientiousness, and sense of adventure, curiosity and imagination.

The Hogan Development Survey (HDS) assesses eleven patterns of interpersonal behaviour that may act as barriers to personal or career development (and are most often observed during stress and heavy workloads).The same study showed that only one of the eleven scalesdemonstrated a (statistically) significant difference between males and females with a high degree of statistical confidence.The results showed that compared to males (n=140), females (n=75) were:

Less reserved which reflects that women have less of a tendency to withdraw socially and a greater awareness of, or interest in, the feelings of others;
Similar in terms of being moody or hard to please, sceptical and cynical, just as likely to be resistant to change, autonomous, self-confident and bold, risk-taking and needing excitement, impulsive, imaginative, careful and precise, and eager to please.

However, the real differences emerged when examining the motivations, values and preferences of female and male executives[10]. The Hogan Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MVPI) reveals a person’s core values which are assessed on ten motive scales. On seven of these ten scales73 female and 133 male Executives were (statistically) significantly different.

The results showed thatcompared to men in the workplace, women value and are more motivated by:

Recognition – being recognised and appreciated by others;
Altruism – helping, encouraging and respecting others;
Affiliation – having social interaction; and
Aesthetics – being concerned about the quality, look and feel of work products.

Whereas compared to women, men value and are more motivated by:

Security – preferring structure and predictability;
Commerce – motivated by the bottom line; and
Science – being logical, disciplined, and empirical and making data-based decisions.

In summary, while there are some differences in terms of personal style, there are more significant differencesin the things that women and men value and are motivated by. Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, it is these differences in values and motivations which have the greatest practical value and implications for employers and organisations in general.

The factors that drive engagement and motivation are explored further in the following sections.

engagement and gender

Right Management conducts Employee Engagement and Opinion Surveys on behalf of a broad range of private and public organisations. Based on a random, stratified sample across these multiple organisations and industries, Right Management has conducted an analysis of responses of 2,018 employees (1,388 females and 630 males) completing an Employee Engagement and Opinion Survey to identify whether there are differences in terms of engagement levels and drivers of engagement for women and men.

What is Employee Engagement?

Employee Engagement is a critical measure of person-organisation alignment, and reflects employees’ emotional and intellectual involvement, and their contribution to the success of their organisation.

Why Measure Employee Engagement?

Research shows a high correlation between Employee Engagement and organisation performance:

Right management’s Approach to Measuring Employee Engagement

Right Management’s Employee Engagement Model utilises eight questions and comprises of the following four measures:

SATISFACTION: is the most basic measure of employee opinion. Satisfaction is a passive state, not necessarily connected to productive behaviours.
COMMITMENT: is a measure of employee alignment with the values and culture of the organisation and of their commitment to the achievement of the organisation’s business vision. Strongly linked to employee loyalty and customer service excellence.
PRIDE: is a measure of employee opinion that reflects satisfaction or pleasure with the success of the organisation. It is strongly linked to employee loyalty and customer service excellence.
ADVOCACY: is a measure of whether employees would speak highly of the organisation in regard to the organisation as an employer and the organisation’s products, services and brand.Strong links with customer and employee attraction.

Right Management’s model measures engagement at three different levels; how engaged an employee is to their job, to their organisation/employer and overall (a combination of both). For an employee to be considered ‘engaged’ at each of the three levels they must indicate favourable scores (5 - 7) for all items related to that area:

Job Engagement: Employees must indicate favourable scores for all four job engagement items
Organisation Engagement:Employees must indicate favourable scores for all four organisation engagement items
Overall Engagement: Employees must indicate favourable scores for all eight engagement items

engagement levels for women and men

The current study revealed no (statistically) significant differences between womenand men in terms of level of overall engagement, job engagement, or organisational engagement. The engagement scores for men and women are shown below.

men / women
Overall Engagement / 35.6% / 39.2%
Job Engagement / 42.4% / 46.8%
Org Engagement / 43.4% / 47.8%

Although there were no significant differences in terms of level of engagement, women are significantly higher than men on four of the individual survey items that make up the engagement measure. These are listed below (with the percentage favourable for women vs. the percentage favourable for men):

Overall satisfaction with the organization (63.4% vs. 58.6%);
Overall satisfaction with the job (64.3% vs. 59.5%);
Pride in their work (83.4% vs. 78.9%); and
Being committed to doing what is required to perform the job well (89.7% vs. 84.8%)

In summary, although women tend to have slightly higher engagement scores than men, these differences are not statistically significant. However, women are more engaged with their organisation, more satisfied with their jobs, take more pride in their work, and are more committed to doing what is required to perform their jobs well than men.
drivers of engagement

Although there are no significant differences inengagement levels between women and men, the key“drivers” or levers that have the most influence on overall engagement vary for women and men. Key drivers are identified through conducting correlation and regression analysis on the engagement measure, and explain approximately 70-80% of the engagement result.

Drivers of Overall Engagement for Women

The drivers (i.e. survey items) that have the greatest influence on engagement for women are summarised in the diagram below. The key drivers are ranked in relation to their degree of influence on engagement, from strongest influence to slightly less strong influence.The figures shown next to each key driver indicate the favourable score they recorded. Redarrows represent items that have a high impact on engagement and a favourable score of less than 60%, which suggests that immediate attention is required on these drivers.A blue arrow indicates items that received a 60% – 70% favourable score and action should be considered for these items as there is an opportunity to further leverage these to enhance engagement. For items that recorded favourable scores greater than 70% (greenarrow), maintaining and taking additional positive action on these drivers will yield positive results for engagement.

The women’s' responses with regards to the 10 drivers of engagementwere either very favourable (>70%) or quite unfavourable (<60%). There were no drivers that received a response in the moderately favourable zone of 60-70%.

Women responded positively to only 4 of the top 10 drivers of overall engagement (>70% favourable;in order from most favourable):

Being encouraged to take ownership of their work;
Teamwork being encouraged in their workplace;
Alignment of core values between themselves and the organisation; and
Working in a safe and healthy environment.

However, women responded unfavourably to 6 of the top 10 drivers of engagement (<60% favourable;in order from least favourable):

Feeling like their opinion counts;
Having sufficient incentives to work hard and perform well;
Senior leadership valuing employees;
Being able to balance work and personal interests at their organisations and still progress;
Everyone being treated with respect at work regardless of who they are; and
Receiving the information they need to perform their jobs well;

To engage their female employees, organisations should focus on ensuring that they have the strategies and corporate culturein place that support these drivers, including:

A flexible and family-friendly work environment that still supports career progression;
A culture that truly values employees, embraces diversity and respects all individuals, and that these behaviours are role modelled by the senior leadership;
Ensuring that all employees opinions are heard and treated as important (not just the majority group);
Ensuring thatboth tangible rewards (e.g. remuneration package etc.) and intangible rewards (e.g. flexibility, working-from-home, career development etc.) are in place to incentivise and reward hard work and performance; and
Ensuring women have access to the information they need to perform their jobs well.

Drivers of Job Engagement for Women

The drivers (i.e. survey items) that have the greatest influence on job engagement for women are summarised in the diagram below. The key drivers are ranked in relation to their degree of influence on job engagement, from strongest influence to slightly less strong influence.