The Perceived Leadership Effectiveness of a Female Pasig City Mayor: A Case Study

Abstract

The rise and fall of any organization is often attributed to its leadership. Leadership is a process in which a leader influences the followers to act towards the attainment of the organizational goals (Yuki 3; Rost 102-03). It involves several aspects such as, functions, roles, traits, skills and styles. Honesty, integrity, motivation, self-confidence, creativity, and flexibility are among the important traits (Greenberg & Baron 500-01). The list of skills includes technical, administrative, intellectual and interpersonal (Bass & Stogdill 86). Interpersonal skills include communication skills, which may further be defined into oral, written, listening and nonverbal. While there are numerous research on leadership, studies that relate it to gender are inconclusive. The issue however, has advanced to the question of leadership effectiveness. Leadership effectiveness is "viewed as the ability of the leader ... to provide (through communication) for the needs of the employees and the attainment of organizational objectives" (Koehler 222). Literature on gender and communication suggests that women possess communication skills necessary for effective leadership. Studies on gender and leadership however, show that although neither males nor females possess an overall dominance in effectiveness, certain conditions namely, congeniality of (1) leadership roles, (2) type of organization, and (3) level of leadership may cause some differences (Eagly, Karau, Makhijani 137). Hence, masculine defined roles and first level position favor men, while feminine defined roles and second level position favor women. More so, business, education and social service organizations moderately favor women while military groups highly favor men. An electoral political organization however, is not included in the studies. Traditionally, electoral politics is male dominated. In fact, the few women who may get elected belong to similar background. Hence, it is indirectly suggested that it is doubtful for women to effectively lead in electoral politics. With this issue, this paper focuses on the main problem, "What are the perceptions of government employees of Pasig City on the leadership effectiveness of its female chief executive? The sub problems are: 1) What is the nature of Pasig City government?; 2) What is the profile of its female mayor as the chief executive?; 3) Do government employees perceive her leadership to be effective?; and 4) What communication skills are perceived to contribute in her effectiveness? The primary objective of this paper, on the other side, is to determine the perceived effectiveness of the female leader. The specific objectives are: 1) To discover the nature of Pasig City government; 2) To describe the background of its woman leader; 3) To determine the perceptions of government employees in her leadership effectiveness; and 4) To identify communication skills that contribute to her effectiveness. This research was limited to the study of leadership effectiveness and communication skills of a female as perceived by the employees in the Pasig City Hall during the data-gathering period. Descriptive research design, using case study, survey and document analysis was chosen to facilitate this study. The participants included the female mayor and the city hall employees, picked through convenience sampling. The quantitative data obtained were tabulated using frequency, percentage and rating while the qualitative data were presented in textual form. The study generated meaningful results. Firstly, the woman mayor leads in a male congenial organization. In fact, it presently has a female as its mayor. Men also dominate in all levels of the organization. More so, judging from the female vice-mayor's three consecutive terms in the office, she seems to be effective. Secondly, it was found that the woman mayor exhibits typical characteristics of women in politics. In particular, she started her formal political career when all her children had matured. She is also a college graduate. She has been exposed to politics as First Lady for nine years. Thirdly, the results showed that her leadership is generally perceived to be effective. In fact, the majority asserted that the government's goals are being addressed correspondingly. The findings also revealed generally positive attitudes towards the female mayor. Although male and female respondents admitted that they doubted her capabilities, other persistent reasons, aside from gender, were cited. Meanwhile, financial rewards, her traits, as well as her transparent leadership, her listening and relational skills and her efficient delivery of basic services were named as grounds for satisfaction, while her being newly elected was cited as the sole reason for dissatisfaction in her leadership. The same positive results were suggested in the quality of her contribution to group processes. The majority agreed that she is able to promote cohesiveness, motivate employees, enhance decision-making, contribute in problem solving, resolve conflict, help in fund generation and prepare the organization for challenges. When it comes to performance and overall effectiveness rating, the majority gave her an above average assessment. Finally, the results revealed that the woman mayor possesses communication skills that contribute to her effectiveness. In fact, she displays her listening skill as she encourages open discussion, and seeks for suggestions, motivation, and feedback. More so, through listening she is able to allow others to freely express their thoughts thus, making them feel that their ideas are valued. Her oral skill, on the other hand, helps her to facilitate one on one, group and public communications. In doing so, she is viewed to adjust her vocabulary and interest level to the person she is talking. She further benefits from this skill as she explains goals and policies, informs her constituents of important decisions, plans and events, and persuades businessmen to invest in the city. She is also said to provide accurate information, as well as, equal opportunities among conflicting parties. Her clearly written messages on the other hand, were cited to aid in explaining goals and policies. Meanwhile, the nonverbal behaviors observed, such as eye contact, good posture, smile, etc., which speak of confidence, credibility as well as, interpersonal affiliation as expected of women, reinforce her verbal communication. After examining these findings, the following conclusions were drawn. Firstly, the characteristics that the female mayor shares with the other female politicians help her become accepted in a male dominated organization. Secondly, the female mayor is generally perceived to be effective in performing first level leadership role despite the dominance of men in all levels of the organization. Finally, the woman mayor possesses positive oral, listening, writing, as well as nonverbal communication skills that contribute to her effectiveness as a leader.