Leadership education: the impact of managerial level and gender on learning

With growing competitiveness in the global marketplace, more corporations are conducting leadership training for managers and executives. Over one-third of the educational budget in Fortune 500 companies is spent on employees at the middle and upper levels[1], yet programme effectiveness has generally not been measured[2]. Often evaluations are flawed by their anecdotal nature and a focus on a single firm right at the end of training[3]. Few studies have investigated the training experiences of executives and managers[4]. The distinction between them is very important since they have different organizational roles. There has also been limited investigation of gender differences despite the dramatic rise of women in managerial and executive roles. It is true that women are disproportionately represented in lower-level corporate jobs and may feel less comfortable in work and training settings because of their token status[5]. Nevertheless a growing number of women attain middle-and upper-level positions, making it imperative to understand the influence of gender on learning during leadership education. The lack of research on gender and level in management education is due to a number of factors. Historically upper management has been a male domain, so gender has rarely been investigated[6]. In addition, data on leadership education has not widely been available possibly due to concerns that confidentiality can not be maintained. Except for work by Levinson[7], the psychological investigation of executives is rare; there may be a reluctance to evaluate their performance[2]. Also, academics tend to study students or lower status employees not experienced managers in work settings[8]. One exception[9] found that after leadership training men report more positive affective reactions than do women managers.