Leadership Competencies Analysis - A Study with Reference to Women Managers in Software Industry

Abstract

Women with enormous potential were being underutilized to their capacity in Business. And most boards say they want more diversity but the percentage seems to be very less attractive and still confront challenges in reaching business leadership positions. According to the latest reports women hold only 16.6 percent of Fortune 500 board's seats in 2012. The purpose of the present paper is to identify and examine the key leadership competencies of women managers working in the IT (Information Technology) sector and understand why still women have not made greater inroads. This research is an exploratory one; it is designed to explore the leadership competencies of women managers. The competency questionnaire with 29 competencies was designed and administered to 100 women managers of 5 software companies in Hyderabad. The respondents are the women managers who are having experience of minimum one year and maximum of fifteen years in managerial position leading a team of members. The data collected was analysed by a multivariate analysis technique (Factor Analysis) reducing the factors to the minimum of five commonalities and to the maximum of ten commonalities. And also an attempt was made to find out whether Age and Experience of women in the similar field will have any significant variance with leadership competencies. This study is contributed to and enhances the knowledge on the key leadership competencies for women to be successful in getting sponsored to the leadership positions. The popular saying - Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devatah - meaning wherever women are respected and worshipped, there lie the divinity and prosperity. India has long been a civilization giving immense respect to women and providing women equal opportunities to exercise power in day to day life and in important decisions. In modern India women are no longer treated as show pieces to be kept at home. They are also enjoying the impact of globalization and making an influence not only in domestic front but also on international sphere. The influx of Information Technology (IT) has helped to evolve the socio-economic status of the people in the country and specially women. This also made to transform woman into the career woman of today. Information technology is a sector where a quarter of the total workforce comprises women, but when it comes to representation at the top the figure is abysmally low. Only one in every 10 senior management positions is occupied by a woman in the Indian IT sector, were it is perceived to be a preferred destination for female employees. In the last five years, IT firms have largely placed women at the entry level positions while the count of mid- to senior level women executives has remained the same. So in effect, while their absolute numbers may be growing, their numbers at the top are not. The alarming signal is that a large number of women are dropping out of the IT industry due to various reasons at a crucial time of their careers. The research show that while 22% of women left their jobs because of family reasons, 27% of them quit while taking care of their children and 32% of women have not come back to the IT sector. It is a matter of another 5-10 years when we will see more women in the top deck. That is largely because the diversity programmes which have started in India seriously to mentor women leadership and to sponsor them to the top level by recognizing their special traits.