Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management Essay -- Tourism Hospita

The need for high-quality leaders in the hospitality industry has been readily recognised and is seen as critical to the long-term well-being of the industry. In new years, the industry has undergone something of a sea change in its gender composition, with change magnitude numbers of females graduating from hospitality and tourism management courses. This suggests that the gender composition of managerial ranks is likely to change in the medium term, with concurrent changes in the natural lead style valued in the industry. This article seeks to explore and measure out the differences in gender-based perceptions of leaders styles and outcomes in the hospitality industry. Using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ bass & Avelio, 1995), a well-established self-administered instrument, the researchers used a snowballing technique to recruit a self-selected experiment of 264 hospitality employees. These employees work in a variety of sectors in the hospitality industry, including large international-style hotels, small franchised motels, food and beverage operations and contract catering, and at levels ranging from junior staff to senior property and site managers. The data indicated that disdain their similarities, there were a number of subtle but significant differences amid males and females in terms of the behaviours used and the extent to which various behaviours contributed to successful leadership outcomes, One potentially confounding result was the high emphasis displace upon the contingent reward leadership style by females and may be explained by the females desire for clear, open and transparent communication. More generally, the differences between males and females were manifested in the form of the males placing greater emphasis on confronting and sporting leadership styles eyepatch the females placed greater emphasis on leadership styles which are built upon clear and concise communication and a greater focus on personal consid eration for the team members. However, these subtle differences warrant further investigation--possibly exploitation a more holistic approach-such as a 360 degree legal opinion or semi-structured interviews. ********** This study sought to explore and quantify the differences in gender-based perceptions of leadership styles and outcomes in the hospitality industry. Leadership studies in the hospitality industry ... ...use, R.J., & Shamir, B. (1993). Toward the consolidation of transformational, charismatic and visionary theories. Leadership theory and research perspectives and directions (pp. 81-107). New York faculty member Press. Howell, J.M., & Avolio, B. (1993). Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, locus of control and support for innovation. Key predictors of consolidated business unit of measurement performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78, 891-902. Manning, T.T. (2002). Gender, managerial level, transactional leadership and work satisfaction. Wom en in oversight Review, 17(5), 207-216. Tejada, M.J., Scandura, T.A., & Pillai, R. (2001). The MLQ revisited. Psychometric properties and recommendations. The Leadership Quarterly, 12, 31-52. Tracey, J., & Hinkin, T.R. (1994). Transformational leaders in the hospitality industry. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant organization Quarterly, 35(2), 18-24. Correspondence Paul Whitelaw, Senior Lecturer, School of Hospitality, Tourism and Marketing, Faculty of affair and Law, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, Vic 8001, Australia. Email Paul.Whitelawvu.edu.au Paul Whitelaw and Romana Morda Victoria University, Australia