Bortom ‘den stora mannen’ : En studie om kvinnors föreställning om ledarskapet

The purpose of the essay is based on the idea of masculine and feminine leadership. As well as the criticism of postheroic leadership as gender neutral, and the conflict in whether men's and women's conceptions of leadership differ. This is determined on the basis of the research questions "Do women have a notion of leadership that can be defined as postheroic", "Do women's notion of leadership differentiate from men's notion" and "Do women experience obstacles in their leadership from stereotypical notions of woman". The method used in the essay is a qualitative and quantitative approach. The collection of empirical data was conducted using six semi-structured interviews with respondents who have a managerial role in the private sector. Four of the respondents are women and two are men. In addition, a survey was conducted against the subordinates of the four female respondents to triangulate the leadership of the interviewed women. The thesis theoretical reference frame consists of ‘Heroic leadership’, ‘Postheroic leadership’, ‘Identity and culture’ and ‘Femininity and masculinity’. The result shows that all women in this study seem to have a postheroic notion of leadership in their way to lead. The result also shows that there do not appear to be any differences between men and women's notion of leadership. Instead, it suggests that the context in which leadership is located has a greater impact on the concept of leadership, than gender. The women in this survey do not state any direct obstacles in their leadership from stereotypical notions of the woman. Instead, it appears that it can be an advantage to be a woman in a relationship-oriented leadership