Leadership characteristics and training needs of women and men in charge of Spanish universities

This article discusses the results obtained by two consecutive enquiries into the leadership styles and training needs of women and men leading higher education organisations. It compares the findings of the first stage of two studies, based on ad hoc questionnaires responded to by 136 women and 129 men. Results showed only subtle differences between the leadership styles deployed by the two groups. Both groups viewed organisations as social constructions; they preferred characteristics such as responsibility, ability to get on well with people, motivation capacity, communication and empathy, capacity to tackle difficult situations, and ethical issues. Consistent with this both groups identified similar training needs, which included the acquisition of abilities to deal with interpersonal conflicts and the construction of personal criteria to select the best strategy to face every situation. As no significant differences between male and female leaders were found, it is suggested that research into higher education organisations and their management training needs from a gender perspective should focus on the way both men and women managers tackle problems and situations.