Manligt och kvinnligt ledarskap

The purpose of this thesis is to examine if there are any differences between people's general view of male and female leadership and whether there is any difference between male and female leadership in terms of performance. The method used was a literature study including six studies regarding the topic published in between 1990-2008 and the research questions are: "Is there a difference in men's and women's actual leadership?" and "Is there a difference in the people's general view of male and female leadership?" The results show that a leader´s gender was perceived differently by most of the participants in the studies reviewed. The participants judged men as more suited as managers than women, because they believed that typical male characteristics were needed in order to be a good manager. It was also found that participants preferred typical masculine appearance in a leader. The work context was found to be essential for the perceived leadership. In hospital environments the participants preferred a relation oriented leadership, but in a male-dominated work environment they preferred a task oriented leadership.Keywords: leadership, gender difference, task oriented leadership, relation oriented leadershipValiderat; 20130207 (global_studentproject_submitter