This is a summary of an article by this name, appearing in The Wits Business School Journal, November 2004. It was written by Norman Chorn, Visiting Professor in Strategy at WBS from Sydney, Australia.

It starts, “This is not an article about getting more women into organisations — although I believe that this is necessary… Creating feminine values is not about women. It is about those behaviours which will drive the cultures and strategies required in the current and emerging competitive environment in South Africa. To view in favour of creating more feminine values is based on two key premises: (1) The emerging competitive paradigm will demand a set of values and behaviours which emphasise more of the so-called ‘feminine’ attributes; (2) Traditional ‘masculine’ values have a number of limitations when applied to the task of leadership in modern organisations.”

Norman Chorn proceeds with the following line of argument:

Research around the world is showing that competitive advantage is being found less and less in business units and products, and more and more in the development of strategic capabilities that produce superior customer value. Organisational structures are changing to accommodate this shift by integrating infrastructure across different functions and business units. Traditional departmental functional boundaries are being transcended, and the CEO must play a key role in providing integration and strategic direction for the whole.

“Feminine values are more suited to the task of integrating the various processes into strategic capabilities. Because they emphasise collaboration, exploration and interdependence, they promote behaviours which allow the organisation to develop these integrated capabilities.”

Research in this area has highlighted some of the traditional masculine values that are threats/weaknesses for men in the emerging connection economy: loneliness, competition, emotional timidity, and a lack of open communication. These will all be counter-productive in the context of leadership in modern organisations. It might be helpful to look at the classical Jungian labels of masculine and feminine values:

“The debate on feminine values in organisations has been retarded primarily by two factors. Firstly, the issue is often confused with the feminist debate and movement. By and large, the feminist debate has tended to polarise and inflame discussions, and even to prevent many (men) from raising the subject for fear of being branded sexist. Secondly, the Jungian labels, although useful for academic research purposes, has tended to stereotype the set of values. This has produced a view in some quarters that the values are mutually exclusive, and that both sets cannot be present in an organisation simultaneously. Clearly, this is not so. Both values have a place within the organisation. It is simply that we have allowed the ‘masculine’ values to dominate.”

In order to develop the feminine values, he emphasises the role of leadership throughout the organisation. The role model of leaders is obviously critical, but in addition to that he recommends a few steps that can be taken: share your vision and principals generously, engage your people, argue strongly with your colleagues about the things you believe in, know when to be a follower, accept failure in tragedy as part of the route to success, and seek time out and learn about other cultures. “This will require a new style of leadership. One that is open, sharing and supportive, and that is engaging in ongoing learning from continual experimentation and innovation. We are not suggesting that all the traditional ‘masculine’ values should be swept aside. Far from it. They have contributed much to the success of our organisations, but going forward, they need to be complemented by another set of values that have so much to offer the future.”

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