Durham University Dissertation 2015

MSc Management Dissertation Z0951673

Leadership DevelopmentOf Women through Sports Participation

AuthorJanelle Lindsay Chow

SupervisorRosalie Hall

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of:

Master’s in Business ManagementAcademic Year: 2014-2015

September 4th, 2015

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About the Author

Janelle Lindsay Chow is 24 years of age, was born in Toronto, Canada, and grew up in Seattle,

Washington. She loves to live a healthy active lifestyle and has been associated with sports all her life.

From gaining a Division I scholarship in both volleyball and basketball at the University of Idaho, she

excels at relating every day activities with diverse lessons she has learned from her sport experiences

and has created many relationships both at Mercer Island High School, University of Idaho, and

Durham University. She holds a Bachelors in Exercise Science and Health, Minor in Communication,

Master’s in Adult Organizational Learning and Leadership, and finally a Master’s in Business

Management. In the future she would like to be associated in the sports field focusing on sports

management in either professional sports or collegiate sports. She’s a lover of hard work, physical

activity, fun sport games, vegan meals, positive relationships, traveling, and living life to its fullest. This

dissertation was completed to fulfil her Master’s of Business Management at Durham University.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to my mother, father, brother for all their support for my travels to the United

Kingdom and fulfilling another Master’s while playing volleyball at Durham University

and all of my wonderful teammates I’ve had the pleasure of playing with during my

career in all of the sports that I have been associated with.

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary…………………………………………………………….……………5

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………7

Literature Review Defining Leadership…………………………………………………………….10 Leadership Development………………………………………………………12 Leadership Identity Development…………………………….12 Leadership and Self-Efficacy………………………………….14 Skill Development through Experience……………………..16 Importance of Developing as a Follower……………………17 Leadership Development with Respect to Women………………………18 Leadership Development focusing on the Empowerment of Sports…19 Propositions…………………………………………………………………….20

Methodology………………………………………………………………………………….21

Results, Findings, and Discussions Survey Results, Findings, and Discussions....................................…....22 Interview Results, Findings, and Discussions…....................................23

Conclusions…………………………………………………………………………………..36

References…………………………………………………………………………………….37

Appendices A…………………………………………………………………………………..42 B……………………………………………………………………………….….45 C…………………………………………………………………………………..53 D…………………………………………………………………………………..56

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List of Tables and Figures

Figure 1 Bar Graph of the engagement of leadership on their sports teams

averages from the survey completed.....………………………..………….23

Figure 2 Table of the percentages of answers pertaining to each question about the

beliefs about how sport may or may not have contributed to leadership

development…………………………………………………………..……….26

Figure 3 Pie Graph of beliefs about how sport may or may not have contributed to

leadership development percentages...……………………………….....…27

Figure 4 Characteristics of leadership listed by 22 athletes, ranked from 1-5, with 5

being the most important……………………………………………………..29

Figure 5 Chelladurai’s (2007) process of pursuit of excellence in sport facilitating

leadership development………………………………………………………33

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Executive Summary This report provides an analysis and evaluation of current and former female student-

athletes who have participated in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)

Division I athletics in the United States of America. The purpose of the study focuses on

leadership development and considering potential patterns and specific experiences that

sport creates for women. Through these experiences, observations about the

development of these leadership characteristics transition into their careers and the

different factors of becoming a leader in the workplace context versus the sport context.

Reasoning behind this study dates back in history where women were not seen as

prominent leaders both in society and in their careers. Sex-socialization was very

noticeable when focusing on top leadership roles where males always dominated every

position. Also during the same era, women were very restricted when it came to the

participation of sports because the community believed sports were harmful towards

females and had no benefits both in health and family life. One key date is when Title IX

was signed by the President in 1972. Title IX is a federal law that prohibits discrimination

of sex in educational programs targeting athletics. After the passing of Title IX, an

escalation of women participants in sports emerged and has helped women have an

equal right to join the sports world. On the other side of the spectrum, females have also

had troubles getting into top leadership positions in the corporate world because of a

phenomenon called the ‘glass ceiling’. This concept focuses on the fact that women get

reprimanded from becoming high in the ranks because of multiple factors associated with

being a female. Today, many companies have recognized this issue and have created

more and more opportunities for females to achieve their aspirations and dreams.

From these findings, since both the participation of sports and top leadership positions

increased for females, I thought it was interesting to research if sports participation help

develop a women’s leadership skills. Methods of this analysis include a qualitative

research design through an inductive approach investigating the relationship of the

participation of women in sports and leadership development of these athletes. Surveys

were conducted targeting current athletes discovering how their sport experiences have

taught and developed specific leadership skills, styles, and qualities. By using the

grounded theory, analysis from these surveys produced a strong based for the semi-

structured interviews that were conducted targeting former female athletes that hold

leadership roles in their occupations. The purpose of this interview exposed how sport

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experiences has uniquely helped all participants become successful in their occupations

and as prominent leaders.

The report findings include four different sections of leadership development. They

comprise of stages of leader identity development, self-efficacy, skill development through

experiences, and the different aspects of followership. Also targeted are leadership

development with women and leadership development with sports. From the survey, the

data shows a strong correlation of the creation of a strong, confident identity as a women

and being well prepared and equipped for their future as a leader. Also, a solid belief,

confidence, and knowledge of what a successful leader comprises of is understood during

their time as an athlete. The interview concludes similar principles but also shows the

relationship of multiple sport experiences that have an influential impact on their careers

today. Each women established a strong outlook how sports have empowered them to

become the women they are today and the goals that they have reached could not have

been achieved without their experiences as an athlete.

Overall, the increase of female leaders today is an inspiration to all and this research

study examines specifically the experiences and lessons that are taught to help women

aspire to be a leader in the future.

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Introduction It is commonly acknowledged that great leaders are important to achieving excellence

in multiple contexts. The concept of leadership is one that bridges many domains,

including politics, business, the military, religion, sports and education. However, one

element in common is the definition of a leader as “one who exerts more influence within a

group than does any other member of the group” (Denmark 1977 cited in Denmark 1993).

Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed Martin notes “good leaders organize and align people

around what the team needs to do. Great leaders motivate and inspire people with why

they’re doing it. That’s purpose. And that’s the key to achieving something truly

transformational” (Fallon 2014).

Our leaders are often gender specific. History shows that “leadership has been

conceptualized as the ‘man on the white horse’ where the study of leadership has been

seen as the study of ‘great men’ who defined power, authority, and knowledge” (Klenke

1996 p.1). Because of this general tendency to think of leaders as being male, often

women are less likely to think of themselves as developing into leaders. The sex-role

socialization literature explains that society often assigns distinct, and often unequal, work

and political positions on the basis of biological sex, creating socially distinct gender roles.

Examples include females being assigned to infant care and raising children because of

their biological ability to bear children whereas males are more focused on interfamilial

activities that in turn helps them gain political dominance (Amott and Matthaei 1996 p.3).

However, there are broad societal changes at work in many parts of the world that

contribute to changes in how women see their roles. For example, the history of women

leadership in the United States of America has “evolved from managing a family in a

private domain to serving as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and second in

the presidential line of succession” (O’Connor 2010 p. 61). Before the Revolutionary War,

women were relegated to the “private sphere and domestic world of housework and caring

for the children [while] men were in charge and controlled the public world, which included

community activities and politics” (O’Connor 2010 p. 62) After the War, women began to

play a greater role in the public sphere by participating in multiple reform movements from

the 1820s through to the 1840s. Women began to realize that they should be fighting for

their own rights as well. Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton declared the first

women’s rights convention in 1848 in Seneca Falls, leading to the demand for, and

eventual winning of, women’s right to vote. Later generations of women saw that even

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though the Equal Rights Amendment was not ratified, they were “advancing in the military,

corporate America, college and professional sports, institutions of higher learning, the

U.S. Congress and state legislatures, and government positions” (O’Connor 2010 p. 66).

In spite of these advances, girls and women may still tend to experience fewer

developmental opportunities as leaders than do men. One potential way to develop as a

female leader is to participate in sports. The current research study explores the

relationship between the participation of women in sports and the development of

leadership qualities that can transfer to leadership positions in work organizations.

In addition to physical activity and benefits to psychosocial health, sports provide

opportunities for leadership skill development. The idea that sports can contribute to

development is present in text and academic literatures. For example, the legendary John

Wooden notes: “Sports do not build character. They reveal it,” addressing the idea that

sports provides a context in which self-knowledge could be developed. Similarly, the

famous American Football Coach Vince Lombardi claimed that “People who work together

will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern

society”, suggesting that learning how to work as a group is an important broad skill that

transcends settings. Many studies have revealed the benefits of sports including the

important life skills of goal setting and time management. They have also found sports

encourage development of a sense of morality, greater personal confidence and self-

esteem, stronger peer relationships, social cohesion, self-control, persistence, and

responsibility (Long 2014). Sports in America were strongly male dominant until the

passage of the influential legislation Title IX which created a huge rise in women’s

participation in sports.

Title IX was signed by the President on June 23, 1972, and it states that “No person in

the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied

the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity

receiving federal financial assistance” (Jang 2015). Under this act, American universities

and colleges can satisfy Title IX by having female athletic participation proportional to the

number of women in the student body, or have a “continuing record of improvement in

providing access to women’s sports” and to “demonstrate that the university has fully

accommodated the interests of female athletes” (Pecorino and Farmer 2012 p.143). Each

of these situations creates opportunities for all women to have equal respect and support

when competing on sports teams and sports related events. Title IX has led to a large

increase in the number of women participating in college sports for example from 1971-

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1998 the numbers rose from 30,000 to 167,000 women participants and during this period

percentages rose from 1.7% to 5.5% overall (Pecorino and Farmer 2012 p. 144).

Before Title IX, girls and women faced discrimination, racism, homophobia, prejudice,

and ridicule and women were told that physical activity was unfeminine and also tied in

with proof of lesbianism. If women played sports, they were seen as physically

unattractive, their reproductive organs were at risk and in danger, and they had a lower

chance at marriage (Winslow 2009). Title IX gave female athletes the chance to earn

prestigious collegiate degrees and get an education, be provided and awarded athletic

scholarships, increase their self-confidence, learn how to compete and be assertive, win

noteworthy athletic events such as the Olympics, and have equal access to the resources

they need to be both successful at their sport and in their academic careers (Valentin

1997 p. 128).

The current study explores how the experiences of sports might empower women to

become great leaders in the corporate world. Americans have shown a high interest of

participation in the sports world and this study will investigate whether and what aspects

of sports are perceived by female athletes to develop leadership skills. Thus, objectives in

this study include researching and learning about the evolution of women as leaders and

of women participation in sports, identifying the impact of sports of American women and

the development of leadership skills, and finally drawing conclusions of the empowerment

of sports to become great leaders in the corporate world. An inductive approach will be

used in this study and data will be collected using survey and interview tactics. The

participants will be current female Division I Collegiate athletes located in the United

States of America and also retired athletes that have exhausted their eligibility within two

years. After completion of this study, conclusions will include how sports help women

develop and become a great leader.

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Literature Review Leadership is an important part of our everyday lives. Evolutionary theorists argued

that leadership evolved as a survival mechanism, with a significant bearing on the conduct

and quality of our everyday lives (Jackson and Parry 2008 p.7). Leadership tends to be

easily recognised in practice but difficult to define precisely. Fred Fiedler (1971) noted

that “there are almost as many definitions of leadership as there are leadership theories-

and there are almost as many theories of leadership as there are psychologists working in

the field” (Fiedler 1971 p.1 cited in Day and Antonakis 2012 p.5). Most leadership

definitions reference an influencing process with outcomes for leaders and followers and

academics study “how this influencing process is explained by the leader’s dispositional

characteristics and behaviours, follower perceptions and attributions of the leader, and the

context in which the influencing process occurs” (Day and Antonakis 2012 p.5). It is also

important to note that the terms “leadership” and “leader” are not strictly synonymous and

can’t be separated from the person of the leader and the job of leadership (Gini 1997

p.71).

A leader is an individual enacting particular roles under a leadership-type name

(Schruijer and Vansina 2002 p.870). In business settings, a leader implements a personal

agenda referring to their specific goals and then establishes an organizational agenda for

his or her subordinates. A good leader must communicate this agenda to all of their

followers in a way that is understandable and attainable. Lee et al. (2015) mentions

specific traits and talents to fulfil the role as a leader including character, charisma,

switching mind-sets, and know-how. “While in the past, leaders may attain their roles

through more haphazard paths” (Cunningham 1985 p.18). Nowadays, employees need to

more strategically prepare themselves for leadership roles. Schyns et al. (2011) argue

that self-awareness is an important aspect of leader development which ties into identity

development and the skills of leadership.

The current study is guided in part by Bass and Avolio’s full range leadership model,

proposed in 1990, and focusing on the behaviours of leadership. Kirkbride (2006)

describes this model as “probably the most researched and validated leadership models

used worldwide today”. The model involves both unstructured and structured experiences

and the impact that they have on the maturation of both leaders and followers measured

using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, and distinguishing between two different

leadership styles: transformational and transactional leadership. The effectiveness of this

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model surpasses others because it involves building leaders of higher moral character

(Day et al. 2004 p.71). The full range model centres on the concept of developing oneself

to develop others suggesting that as leaders mature and develop a more extensive leader

identity, they invest more time and energy in promoting the development of others versus

satisfying their own needs” (Day et al. 2004 p. 72).

Several studies (e.g. Bass 1985; Howell and Avolio 1993; Bycio et al. 1995; Avolio et

al. 1997) have identified the different components and characteristics of transformational

leadership (Bass and Riggio 2008). First, transformational leaders have idealized

influence where they embody a leader’s behaviour and the different elements of a leader

that are attributed by his or her followers. Next is inspirational motivation--a key factor

where enthusiasm and optimism are displayed and used to get followers involved by

demonstrating commitment and shared goals and visions. Thirdly, intellectual stimulation

occurs when leaders stimulate their followers to be innovative and creative by

“questioning assumptions, reframing problems, and approaching old situations in new

ways” (Bass and Riggio 2008). Finally, individualized consideration is used by acting as a

coach or a mentor and meeting individuals’ needs to accomplish achievement and growth.

All of these core components play a significant role in creating ideal results as a

transformational leader.

Another style highly researched is the transactional style of leadership, where the

focus is on social exchanges of leaders and followers, for example in a business setting

where the leader offers a financial reward for productivity or denies rewards for lack of

productivity. This approach deals with transactions, clarifies roles, clarifies tasks, directs

and instructs, and relies heavily on formal power and position. Transactional leaders

essentially make sure everything operates smoothly. The motivating forces linked with

transactional leadership are contingent rewards, active management by exception and

passive management by exception. Contingent rewards are given as praise when one

meets set goals and complete certain tasks on time. Active management by exception is

where the leader corrects and helps followers during the process towards the goal

whereas passive management by exception is when a leader waits until something goes

wrong until they fix the problem (Odumeru and Ogbonna 2013 p.358). As a transactional

leader, a clear structure is always established and rewards and punishments

implemented.

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Leadership Development Modern conceptions of leadership development focuses on expanding the collective

capacity of “organizational members to engage effectively in leadership roles and

processes” (McCauley et al. 1998 cited Day 2000 p. 582). Leadership development

involves building a strong foundation for unpredicted challenges, constructing strong-

willed groups of people to learn from different situations and other peers, and creating a

better notion of cognitive and behavioural complexity among a range of circumstances

(Dixon 1993 cited in Day 2000 p. 582). These approaches consider the whole picture of

leadership development and how to create strong leaders in an organizational context.

The current study, concentrates on the development of women athletes and how their

sport experiences have impacted their growth as a leader in ways that might later transfer

to organisational settings. Several themes of leadership are relevant to this study

including leader identity development (Murphy and Reichard 2011), self-efficacy and

emotional intelligence (Goleman 2004), skill development through experience (McCall

2004), and followership (Hollander 1992).

Leader Identity Development Day’s (2000) perspective on leadership development views leadership as an emergent

property of an efficient systems design. Each person is considered a leader and

“leadership is conceptualized as an effect rather than a cause” (p.583). From this

perspective, leadership development is seen as using social systems to increase

commitments within the organization and emphasizes that individual identity is an

important asset to overall leadership development (Drath 1998, Salancik et al. 1975, and

Wenger 1998 cited in Day 2000 p.583). Lord and Hall (2005) also noted the importance

of individual identity in developing leadership skills and expertise.

One study that portrays this specific theme is mentioned in Murphy and Reichard

(2011). This qualitative study was completed at the University of Maryland, where their

research team used grounded theory to create the Leadership Identity Development

Model. The study consisted of 13 diverse students, all participating in three interviews

consisting of five hours from the research team. The analysis of results suggested six

different stages of leadership identity development: awareness, exploration and

engagement, leader identified, leader differentiated, generativity, and integration and

synthesis. From these different stages, the participants were involved in a cycle of

contextual factors such as developing themselves, learning from group influences,

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changing the view of themselves with others, developing helpful influences, and

broadening their view of leadership (Murphy and Reichard 2011 p.280). The

achievements of each of these stages were influenced by the environment and each

individual’s variation in readiness (Komives et al. 2006 p.405).

The first stage of awareness involves recognizing different acts of leadership. At a

young age, players distinguish national and historical figures and people of authority in

their lives, and perceived them as leaders. In this stage people are building confidence,

creating a sense of self, and recognizing potential leadership skills (Kornives et al. 2006

p.406). In the sports world, athletes create a role model for themselves such as a

professional athlete, highly skilled players, coaches, and trainers. The key experiences

with these athletes include watching them perform, communicating about their sport, and

listening to influential advice which in turn, creates a vision about an ideal identity they

want to strive for in their future athletic and organizational careers.

The next stage is exploration and engagement where players experience and seek

opportunities to explore numerous amounts of interests. New friendships, activities, clubs,

and groups create exciting chances for players to communicate with others that have

experience, been through the journey, and can give advice about positives and negatives

that a player will encounter (Komives et al.2006 p.407). One example is the famous

Serena Williams who is the number one women singles tennis player in the world. When

she was at the age of four her older sister, Venus Williams, inspired her to try the game of

tennis. She had told her it was fun and enjoyable and that they could both become good

at the game if they practiced together. Serena decided to try the sport and ever since

then she’s been dominating opponents left and right and has found a profession that she

absolutely loves and can be successful at (Williams 2015). Without her sister’s advice

and extra motivation to participate in the sport of tennis, Serena might never have found

her passion for the game. While engagement is a key factor for growth, the next two

stages show the player will then identify a leader and differentiate specific leaders.

These two stages are very different in each of their specific ways where the ‘leader

identified’ stage shows how the player views a leader as one who has authority and a

leadership-type name whereas the ‘leadership differentiated’ stage shows the learning

process of the player and how they distinguish specific leadership traits and recognize

that leaders can be non-positional (Murphy and Reichard 2011 p.284). An example within

a volleyball team context is that there is a specific set captain of the team who is named

‘captain’ and fulfils all of the duties of a captain which is a leadership type role. Although

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on the court, the libero position is in charge of the back row defence and the setter is in

charge of the whole offense whether they are named captain or not. These athletes are

still considered leaders on the team as they are in charge of certain aspects of the team. I

think changing the view of self with others and broadening the views of leadership and

awareness are increased in these two stages and recognition and acknowledgement of

being a leader or identifying one are key aspects in these two stages.

The final stages are generativity, integration, and synthesis. Generativity ties in with

servant leadership that is defined by Graham (1991) as “a leader who models service by

humbly serving the led, rather than expecting to be served by them” (Graham 1991

p.111). In other words, a leader needs to give back and share his or her knowledge to

others seeking advice. Mentoring can have an impact on both the follower and the leader

and result in significant developments of leadership traits no matter what stage a person is

in. Finally, integration and synthesis plays a huge role where confidence is achieved and

the ability to assess a situation has emerged. These traits have become a stable part of

their self-identity. Lord and Hall (2005) quotes that “as one’s identity as a leader solidifies

with increasing experience, a self-view as a leader should become a more central aspect

of one’s identity” (Lord and Hall 2005 cited in Murphy and Reichard 2011 p.285). Identity

development begins with knowing one’s self and the ability to learn through each step of

the Leadership Identity Development. Each of these stages has created experiences and

confidence for a person to know and become a great leader. Expanding on relationships,

interactions, and knowledge are key aspects and one fragment about leadership

development.

Leadership and Self-Efficacy

Another aspect of leadership development is self-efficacy. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “If I

have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not

have it at the beginning,” alluding to the critical role of confidence (i.e. self-efficacy) in

effective leadership. Bandura (1997) defines self-efficacy as “beliefs in one’s capabilities

to organize and execute courses of action required in managing prospective situations.

Efficacy beliefs influence how people think, feel, motivate themselves, and act” (Bandura

1997 cited in Williams 2004 p.144). Relating specifically to leadership development,

Machida and Schaubroeck (2011) note that few empirical studies have examined the

relationship between leader self-efficacy and leader performance but from these studies

four relevant self-efficacy appear to promote leader development: preparatory self-

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efficacy, efficacy spirals, learning self-efficacy, and resilient self-efficacy (Bandura 1997,

Lindsley et al. 1995, Schunk 1996 cited in Machida and Schaubroeck 2011 p.461).

Preparatory self-efficacy deals with the phase of learning, practicing, and rehearsing a

new skill. Bandura (1997) sees both sides of the spectrum of high and low preparatory

self-efficacy. He argues that people with high preparatory self-efficacy and have a lot of

confidence in their leadership abilities and are found not to have the motivation to “seek

and invest their time and energy in developing their leadership ability” (Machida and

Schaubroeck 2011 p.461). Whereas, having extremely low preparatory self-efficacy could

be a stressor which in turn harms a learner’s motivation to develop any type of skills

needed. Machida and Schaubroeck (2011) call this relationship an inverted U-shaped

relationship between preparatory leader efficacy and leadership development (Machida

and Schaubroeck 2011 p.461).

The next two concepts of self-efficacy that helps promote leadership development are

efficacy spirals and learning self-efficacy. Efficacy spirals are defined as a phenomenon

where there is an increase or decrease in a variable such as performance and that also

causes a similar change in another variable such as self-efficacy, later leading to a self-

reinforcing trend in performance (Machida and Schaubroeck 2011 p.462). From these

spirals, Lindsley et al. (1995) notes that for optimal learning, leaders may need to maintain

a “self-correcting cycle by seeking to adjust their self-efficacy, increasing it or decreasing it

in ways toward the objective of motivating investments in preparation” (Lindsley et al.1995

cited in Machida and Schaubroeck 2011 p.462). Spirals work in a way where there is a

reaction from one chain to another and can both have a positive or negative effect on

leadership development depending on certain circumstances. From this spiral, there is a

chain reaction from preparatory self-efficacy and the next phase of learning self-efficacy

which refers to the confidence of one’s ability to learn a skill and accomplish a task.

Avolio and Hannah (2008) identified that there is a direct association with learning self-

efficacy and leadership development in a way where a leader will only approach a task at

hand if they are confident in knowing that a positive result and change will come out in the

overall learning phase (Avolio and Hannah 2008 cited in Machida and Schaubroeck 2011

p.463).

Finally, the last concept is resilient self-efficacy looking at an individual’s own beliefs

about their own self-efficacy during a variety of situations. Bandura (1997) stressed the

importance of self-efficacy beliefs in terms of “both developing skills, self-regulating one’s

performance, and emphasizing the significance of having resilient self-efficacy in the face

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of adversities” (Bandura 1997 cited in Machida and Schaubroeck 2011 p.463). As leaders

develop, there are many challenges and setbacks which would tend to lower self-efficacy

but this decrease will in turn benefit the leader during this learning process and with

resilient self-efficacy they are able to maintain motivation to improve their leadership skills.

Through each of these self-efficacy concepts, we see that leaders are constantly required

to learn and develop in each and every situation in this changing world. As problems and

challenges arise, future leaders learn from their mistakes and keep growing on their

journey to become what they believe they want to achieve. Another aspect that helps with

this leadership development process is developing skills through experience.

Skill Development through Experience

McCall (2004) states that the primary source of learning to lead, to the extent that

leadership can be learned, is experience (p.127). Experience holds many important

aspects in the learning process and when studying leadership development a vast

majority of experiences involve facing adversity, going into the new or unknown, and

struggling with the unfamiliar. At first, studies have found that people don’t automatically

learn from experiences and that similar experiences repeated over and over again carry

with them reduced learning which produces narrower executives (McCall 2004 p.128). In

the sports world experience of an athlete comes from interaction of different coaches as

leaders. If one coach’s philosophy was followed for the extent of multiple careers, an

athlete wouldn’t grow and learn from the different styles, rules, ideas, and personalities

that he or she would endure with a variety of coaches in their full careers. Using

experience for development is very challenging and requires the right experiences to help

people grow. The lessons learned will be inevitable providing that the support they need

will be offered for most efficient development (McCall 2004 p.128).

Finally, the last part of leadership development is followership where both leaders and

followers act as a unity and work together where various studies have shown that leaders

do command great attention and influence but followers can affect and even constrain a

leader’s activity in more than passing ways (Hollander 1992 p.71). When a leader is

detached from their followers, the leader will be “less concerned about how their actions

will be perceived by and affect followers and their mutual activities (Hollander 1992 p.72).

So, it is important to look at the relationship of great followership traits and the correlation

of leadership development and what entitles good followership.

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Importance of Developing as a Follower Followership is the “ability to take direction well, to get in line behind a program, to be

part of a team and to deliver what is expected” (McCallum 2013). In organizations these

days, everyone in the company is both a leader and a follower depending on certain

circumstances so therefore the followership stigma is just as important as the

responsibility of a leadership position. The reason why being an effective follower creates

a good leader is a huge emphasis on the understanding of a follower’s mind-set and their

development. A good leader understands their follower’s values and one’s capability of

motivating followers which helps develop and “sustain transformational followership to

enhance transformational leadership” (Latour and Rast 2004). There are many traits that

entitle good followership. McCallum (2013) has done multiple studies on leadership and

followership and has concluded the most important traits of followership are judgement,

work ethic, competence, honesty, courage, discretion, loyalty, and ego management.

From this list, the most important traits that stand out towards leadership development are

judgement, honesty, and loyalty.

As a follower, one must be able to follow rules and take direction according to the

leader’s decisions but also a good follower will know when to step in and give advice or

stop doing a task because of ethicality. Judgement is critical for a follower and ties in with

being a good leader and “good judgement comes from experience, [and] experience

comes from bad judgement” (McCallum 2013). Honesty is another trait ties hand in hand

with teamwork and being able to trust the leader by giving constructive feedback is a must

when working side by side to achieve a similar goal. Finally, loyalty includes respect to be

loyal to their organization and have a strong allegiance and commitment to what the

organization is trying to do. When challenges arise, followers need to stick together and

communicate with leaders about the aspects of the problem and go through the problem

solving process to be able to focus on the main goal. Leadership development has many

different aspects, dimensions, and factors that tie into this concept. The literature

explored includes stages of leader identity development, self-efficacy, skill development

through experience, and followership which all have an impact of the development of

leaders, but are these aspects the same in leadership development for women?

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Leadership Development with Respect to WomenWhen Eagley and Carli wrote in 2007 (p. 63), of the set of Fortune 500 companies,

only 6% had women in high level positions, with 2% having female CEOs and only 15%

had women sitting on the board of directors. Two metaphors have been created to

describe this lack of women in high positions, consisting of the ‘glass ceiling’ and more

recently, the ‘labyrinth’ (Eagley and Carli 2007 p.64). The glass ceiling is an invisible

but real barrier where the next stage or level of advancement can be seen but not

reached. It usually targets gender or racial inequality (Cotter et al. 2001 p.655). These

barriers are targeted at women specifically, begin at the start of their careers, and

include things such as lack of work-family programs, lack of flexibility, lack of

succession planning, low priority given to the advancement of women, inadequate

advancement strategies, and failure to track turnover (Mason 1993 p.5). In contrast,

the labyrinth metaphor “conveys the idea of a complex journey toward a goal worth

striving for. Passage through a labyrinth is not simple or direct, but requires

persistence, awareness of one’s progress, and a careful analysis of the puzzles that lie

ahead” (Eagley and Carli 2007 p.64). This metaphor acknowledges that although

climbing the corporate ladder is difficult, some women have achieved it, and suggests

that research should investigate obstructions that women run up against and how to

address them.

One hindrance that women face is societal expectations about women and their

personalities. More specifically, gender role socialization processes lead us to

associate communal qualities such as being affectionate, helpful, friendly, soft spoken,

gentle, kind, and sympathetic with women, whereas men are associated with agentic

stereotypical attributes such as confidence, assertiveness, independence, rationality,

and decisiveness (Deaux and Kite 1993 cited in Murphy and Reichard 2011 p.207).

These expectations feed gender biases in the leadership domain, such as an

expectation that women “take care” and men “take charge” (Chemers and Murphy

1995, Hoyt 2010, Hoyt and Chemers 2008 cited in Murphy and Reichard 2011 p.213).

Gender role socialization also tends to lead to segregation of women and men into

different types of jobs, with women relegated to lower level service and clerical

positions.

However, a variety of studies suggest how women can break the glass barrier.

Most of this advice focuses on identifying women’s strengths and weaknesses and

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overcoming challenges to develop their leadership skills. Examples include becoming

comfortable in taking risks, increasing their confidence, using tools and techniques

properly to overcome existing barriers, creating their own social capital, developing

networks of support, seeking sponsors, securing mentors, promoting themselves, and

communicating with value (Johns 2013 p.10). These traits will help balance and set

apart women from the rest and prove their sense of worth to the company and the

team. Another challenge is that many women feel pressured to choose between a

career and parenthood (McCrady 2012), thus companies need to have good support

systems addressing this issue. Some programs companies can implement are having

a top management commitment that support gender diversity, addressing women and

men’s mind sets to better support gender diversity, monitoring women’s representation,

and driving a gender diversity program (Johns 2013 p.11). As women are seeking

more and more ways of how to break this glass ceiling, one aspect that will set them

apart from others is their participation in sport.

Leadership Development focusing on the Empowerment of Sports for Women Sports have many benefits including health benefits and a better quality of life.

Another benefit of sports is the “positive association between sports participation and

emotional and behavioural well-being and perceived competence” (Donaldson and Ronan

2006 cited in Murphy and Reichard 2011 p.96). Focusing on women who grow up in

gender-biased communities, sport is shown to help promote dominant American values

such as success, competition, hard work, continual striving, deferred gratification,

materialism, and external conformity (Eitzen and Sage 2003 cited in Murphy and Reichard

2011 p.97). These values come from the on-going interaction between coaches and

players on a daily basis and how players must overcome challenges through practice and

game situations. Players competing at a high level tend to overcome adversity through

failures, successes, role models, and a diverse amount of experiences that sport offers.

Research shows that sports have positive functions where values and norms are

integrated into mainstream life and provides women with status and recognition that later

lead to non-sport areas of life (Hanson 2007 p.156). Knowing this about sport suggests a

relationship between participation in sport and leadership development for women.

Murphy and Reichard (2011) explain how the pursuit of excellence in sport might foster

leadership development in domains including visioning, intellectualizing, cultivating self-

efficacy, focus on winning, being self-interested, being competitive, being task and ego

19


oriented, and cultivating and enjoying the flow experience, Sports experiences can lead

to growth in each of these domains. They also map onto characteristics of the typical

entrepreneur, including a desire to achieve, hard work, strong optimism and belief,

excellence, being organized, and the willingness to take charge (Murphy and Reichard

2011 p.109). There are many similarities between skills and characteristics needed by

athletes and those needed for leadership in organizations, but there have been very few

studies of their potential relationships.

Propositions After further research looking more into the definition of leadership, leadership

development aspects such as leader identity development, self-efficacy, skill development

through experience, and followership, leadership development with respect to women,

and finally how sports for women could develop this, I advanced some propositions before

collecting data for this study, arguing that women who have experienced high-level

athletics develop similar qualities to those in definitions of leadership. These qualities

include communication, courageousness, charisma, confidence, and high levels of

motivation. In addition, experiences from sport parallel important aspects of leadership

development, including development of a leader identity, increased self-efficacy and belief

in oneself, and how to be a good follower. In the current study, current and former female

athletes will be asked to report on their sports experiences and perceptions about how

those experiences might have helped prepare them for leadership in organizations.

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Methodology This research study adopts an exploratory, inductive approach, investigating the

relationship between women’s sports experiences and their leadership development .

Participants The qualitative and quantitative data are collected from female collegiate student-

athletes who are currently, or have previously competed, in Division I sports in the United

States of America. This level was deemed most appropriate because these athletes

compete in prestigious sports programs from the highest division in America through the

National Collegiate Athletic Association, Emmert, 2015. Data were collected via a

combination of survey and interview methods.

The survey (see Appendix A) was answered by 22 female athletes who are currently

in their last two years of eligibility. The survey included both quantitative and qualitative

items assessing the athletes’ behaviours, beliefs, and opinions of how much they engaged

in different leadership activities on their current team, beliefs about how sports may or

may not have contributed to the development of leadership skills, and personal opinions

about their definition of leadership and future career goals. Responses were made to

quantitative items on a five-point Likert scale indicating frequency or agreement,

depending upon the particular item.

Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face or via Skype with retired

division I female athletes who hold a leadership position in their career. They were audio-

recorded; see Appendix C for the interview protocol. The interview targeted the

interviewee’s opinions about leadership, reflections and lessons learned from their sport

experiences that tie into their career today, how leadership is portrayed in their position in

their careers, what their thoughts are about women in leadership positions, and advice

that they would give future women athlete’s about leadership development. Findings from

the interview will show the impact of sports in leadership positions in organizations and

how these experiences has helped women moved up in the ranks to become a well-

developed leader.

Informed consent was obtained from all study participants. Qualitative data from both

the survey and the interviews were analysed through categorisation and unitising data.

21


Responses to quantitative items are reported using descriptive statistics such as

percentages.

Results, Findings, and Discussions By conducting both surveys and interviews, I was able to create some themes,

patterns and relationships connecting leadership development from the perspective of

females reflecting the impact of their sport experiences. Both the survey and interview

methods suggested findings about how sports have developed knowledge of leadership

and the role these experiences have had on their careers today and in the future.

Survey Results and Findings

Starting with the twenty-two surveys conducted, the learning objectives include

finding out perceptions about how much athletes engaged in different leadership

activities on their sports teams, seeking the beliefs about how sports have contributed

to leadership development, followership skills, and identity, pursuing a diverse set of

opinions of a personal definition and characteristics of leadership, future goals for their

career, and finally their desire to take on leadership roles. Each of these objectives

explores the point in a women’s life before the start of their career, targeting valuable

experiences as an athlete geared towards personal development of leadership skills.

The participants of the survey came from six different sports: basketball, soccer, tennis,

track, volleyball, and water polo. The average age of these athletes were 23 years of

age, over half had exhausted their eligibility, played their sport for an average of 13

years and were studying degrees in the subjects of business, sciences, education, and

fine arts.

The first 10 survey items explored the extent to which the athletes perceived that

they engaged in actions related to the transformational leadership characteristics of

Bass and Riggio (2008) while doing their sport. Transformational leadership

characteristics were the focus because as an athlete, they’re already forced to engage

in transactional behaviours (i.e., the coach and program sets guidelines and a clear

structure, shows consequences and rewards if met or failed). The transformational

behaviours include team confidence (Q1), setting team goals, accountability, strong

communication, coordinating activities, having a positive image, and deliberately taking

22


on a leadership type role in their program, showing overall the engagement of

leadership on their sports teams. Figure 1 shows the average response given to each

of these 10 transformational leadership behaviours, note that all averages are above

the middle of the 5-point response scale, indicating that the behaviours were engaged

in ‘Sometimes’ to ‘Often’.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

0.51

1.52

2.53

3.54

4.5

5

Engagement of Leadership on their Sports Teams

Average:

Questions

Ans

wer

s

Code:1=Not at all2=A Little3=Sometimes4=Often5=Very Fre-quently

Figure 1: Engagement of Leadership on their sports teams averages from the survey

completed, questions seen in Appendix A.

One pattern that really stood out was the statements that involved mentoring

new or less experienced athletes, representing the team positively, and being a role

model all had higher averages than the rest at 4.5, 4.6, and 4.8. These actions

represent confidence and a high self-efficacy in themselves and their identity that they

show pride in whom they represent. With the athlete image, they are already portrayed

as automatic role models and are forced to convey this positive image since being a

top-level athlete is highly admired in the community. I think learning and resilient self-

efficacy are portrayed in these situations where Machida and Schaubroeck (2011)

stress these concepts. Learning self-efficacy is represented as athletes continue to

participate in team tasks involving leadership skills with a goal of improving their

teammates and program while also knowing their engagement in a leadership-type

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skill. Resilient self-efficacy is embodied by the recurrences of successful skills to

achieve higher goals such as being a better teammate, subsequently also improving

their leadership skills. Self-efficacy holds true to be a huge factor in leadership

development.

Another pattern of the engagement of leadership on their sports teams were the

categories with the lowest averages. These included making certain other athletes

were doing their assigned tasks, mediating conflicts among teammates, and

coordinating activities among team members. These averages include 3.6, 3.5, and

3.7 respectively showing that this ‘sometimes’ happens over the course of their athletic

career. These actions have to do with assertiveness and having complete assurance

over their ability to lead. McCall’s (2004) argument of how experience can be used for

development in the future correlates well with these athletes minimal experience with

leadership and will be inevitable for successful growth. Finally, the last observation

from this section of the survey was that out of the 220 responses of the engagement of

leadership on their team, there were only 5 responses coded by having done the task

“a little” and absolutely no responses coded by having done the task “not at all”. This

shows that all of these leadership type actions in sport have happened at least once in

their athletic careers ultimately showing the positive relationship sport has with different

leadership development skills for these athletes. The next section explores their beliefs

of how sport may or may not have contributed to leadership development.

An additional 11 questions (#11-21) were asked pertaining to perceptions of lessons

learned from sports that relate to leadership. Participants responded to these using a 5-

point scale indicating agreement, with 5 as strongly agree and 1 as strongly disagree (3

was a neutral point of ‘neither agree nor disagree’). These questions (see Appendix A)

targeted motivation, role models, overcoming setback and barriers, followership,

communication, and future goals. The average for each of the 11 questions was

above a 4.0, indicating all statements were agreed to by the majority, and indicates that

the athletes believed sport provides role models, support, and motivation to achieve

success.

Apart from suggesting athletes gained skills and experience from their sports, a

positive inference from this data is that sport is a source of confidence and self-

assurance which can have an impact on their lives and future careers. The first 4 of the

11 questions focus on if the athletes agree that sport has motivated them to achieve

more in different dimensions of life, understand people better, and create ambition to

24


become a good leader. These responses suggest the athletes are in the Leadership

Identity Model stage of awareness, exploration, and engagement where a vision is

created for the ideal identity an athlete would like to strive for and indulging in new

interests and opportunities through their sport to help them engage and create their

growth process of leadership development (Komives et al. 2006).

The next questions dive into different lessons learned throughout their individual sport

experiences such as followership skills, setting realistic goals, and dealing with

setbacks and barriers. As research has shown, being a good follower entitles traits

such as judgement, work ethic, competence, honesty, courage, and loyalty (McCallum

2013). As a follower develops, more values are created seeking the knowledge of

future leaders. The last few questions of this section targets the athlete’s beliefs about

how they think others see them as a leader and if sport has helped them find what

they’re passionate about for their future careers. Having a strong majority of agreeance

to these statements, I can conclude that in the sports world there is strong support for

success and many peers applaud athletes to achieve greatness which gives

confidence, motivation, and support towards their leadership journey. Overall, Figure 2

displays percentages of the rate of responses specifically for each question showing

varied patterns of when a majority of the participants ‘strongly agreed’, or if they were

scattered among the rest of the choices. I’ve also created a pie graph shown in Figure

3 that displays the overall percentages of responses received throughout all these

eleven questions. Obviously there is a strong majority of ‘strongly agree’ responses of

60% and 33% of ‘agree’ responses that determines a strong connection of faith and

support that sport provides athletes. It also showcases the fact that these athletes

know they have leadership skills, are proud of them, and have created an image of

themselves through their sport.

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Please indicate by ticking the appropriate box the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements about your participation in sports.

Stro

ngly

D

isag

ree

Dis

agre

e

Nei

ther

A

gree

nor

D

isag

ree

Agr

ee

Stro

ngly

A

gree

1 2 3 4 5 11. Participation in sports has motivated me to achieve

more in other aspects of my life as well.0% 0% 5% 27% 68%

12. I have had to learn to understand other people better in order to do well at my sport.

0% 0% 0% 50% 50%

13. Sports have provided me with good role models for being a leader.

0% 0% 9% 36% 55%

14. Regular effort to improve is as important as innate talent for getting ahead.

0% 0% 0% 23% 77%

15. My experiences as an athlete has motivated me to be more of a leader.

0% 0% 9% 27% 64%

16. I have learned how to be a better follower through sports participation.

0% 0% 23% 36% 41%

17. Participation in sports has taught me how to set realistic goals.

0% 5% 14% 41% 41%

18. I have learned to deal with setbacks and barriers better as a result of being an athlete.

0% 5% 0% 23% 73%

19. My teammates or coach communicated to me that they see me as a leader.

0% 5% 0% 32% 63%

20. Sport has helped me find who I am and what I am passionate about.

0% 0% 14% 41% 45%

21. Sport will help me be successful in my future career.

0% 0% 5% 22% 73%

Figure 2: Table of the percentages of answers pertaining to each question about the

beliefs about how sport may or may not have contributed to leadership development.

26


1%7%

33%

60%

Beliefs about how sport may or may not have contributed to Leadership Devel-

opment

1 2

3 4

5

Code: 1=Strongly Disagree2=Disagree3=Neither Agree nor Disagree 4=Agree

5=Strongly Agree

144 Responses79 Responses

16 Responses3 Responses

Figure 3: Beliefs about how sport may or may not have contributed to leadership

development percentages of answers from questions seen in Appendix A.

Finally, some open ended questions were asked to determine how these athletes

would define leadership, and to determine their future goals and aspirations. I was

curious to see whether these athletes’ definitions of leadership were similar to those in

the academic literature. Also, I asked them to rank what they considered to be the top

five characteristics of good leaders. One common theme in the definitions is that a

majority of them mentioned a ‘team’ or a ‘group’. Examples include “putting the team

on your back and stepping up, in the good times and the bad…”, “the ability to develop

and build-up others…”, “a person who is able to guide a group of people…”, “the ability

to effectively coordinate a group…”, “the act of helping and serving people they lead…”,

and “the act of leading a group of people to accomplish a common goal”. Crust and

Lawrence’s (2006) study found that when athletes define leadership they saw that

cohesion of groups and teams was commonly stated to define leadership connecting

27


upon their player and coach relationships and also the fact that athletes stressed the

theme about the positive impact that individuals have on group dynamics relative to

team objectives (Loehr 2005 cited in Crust and Lawrence 2006). This demonstrates a

factor of transformational leadership where the athlete is focused on producing a vision,

inspiring and motivation, empowering, and setting a good example (Bodla and Nawaz

2010). To additionally support this focus, the end of their definitions included many

positive adverbs relating to leadership as a whole. Examples are to “help others grow

and succeed in a positive way”, “it’s about selflessness and being team-minded, and

making no excuse”, “by effectively communicating with them to achieve desired

results”, “having respect and making others better by inspiring and raising the level

around you”, “effectively coordinate group activities”, and “a process of social influence

to accomplish a common task”. From each definition the athletes are focusing on

bringing together a group of people and effectively making a positive impact on them

with influential and constructive courses of actions.

From these definitions I asked the athletes to list the top five characteristics of

leadership, with 5 being most important. Out of the 110 responses, there were 37

different characteristics, shown in Figure 3. This table shows how frequent each term

was mentioned in their rank and their total score representing the sum of each of their

frequency ranks.

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Number Leadership Terms Total Frequency Score1 Confident 10 352 Honesty 8 253 Charisma 4 194 Empathy 5 175 Respect 4 176 Responsible 4 177 Work Ethic 6 178 Communication 7 159 Passionate 5 15

10 Compassionate 5 1411 Integrity 3 1412 Courageous 5 1013 Selflessness 3 1014 Understanding 3 915 Direction 3 816 Positive 2 817 Patient 2 718 Trustworthiness 3 719 Humility 2 620 Leads by Example 3 621 Approachable 2 522 Commitment 2 523 Enthusiastic 2 524 Team Player 1 525 Considerate 1 426 Flexibility 1 427 Consistent 1 328 Encouraging 1 329 Inspiring 1 330 Just 1 331 Loyal 1 332 Motivated 3 333 Charitable Spirit 1 234 Humble 1 235 Relatable 2 236 Listener 1 137 Tenacity 1 1

Figure 4: Characteristics of leadership listed by 22 athletes, ranked from 1-5, with 5

being the most important.

After examining the table, the top five responses were confident, honesty, charisma,

empathy, and respect. Correlating these terms to the athlete’s responses about how

being an athlete has influenced their desire and ability to take on leadership roles in the

future, there were many similarities. Multiple responses showed that they were not

29


afraid of responsibility and being an athlete has given them confidence for future

endeavours. Some of these career goals include being in business, a variety of sports

careers, education, and many stated that they had no plan and would follow their

passions and dreams. Being a lot more comfortable and having respect for previous

leaders influencing their ability and motivation to become an effective leader

themselves. Participant 7 quotes, “being an athlete has given me the confidence to

lead large groups of people with grace. It has shown me that in order to gain respect

you also have to respect those around you and work as hard if not harder than them”.

Relating these statements with the characteristics mentioned shows the strong

influence that sports have on these athletes and the relationship of how they view

leadership correlating to their sport experiences. Using grounded theory, the survey

has opened our eyes to multiple inferences about women athletes reflecting on the

impact of their sport experiences before the start of their careers. The survey has

discovered current athletes to have high self-efficacy through active participation of

tasks required in their sport, the need to develop more experience for assurance on

their ability to lead, the strong belief of their sport contributing to leadership

development aspects and the ability of sport to create a well-supported image for the

athlete. From these conclusions, it has created a base knowledge for the seven semi-

structured interviews targeting women with a Division I sports background who hold

leadership roles in their occupations.

Interview Results, Findings, and Discussions “Take as much as you can out of the experience of being an athlete, believe in

yourself, you are capable of greatness. Go after it with passion and zeal, it’s infectious.

Bring along positive supporters, let the haters hate, do not let them infect your dream.

Seek out opportunities to stay engaged and use the experience of sports as an

opportunity to learn and engage yourself for your future career” (Participant 7). As

former athletes who hold leadership positions in their careers, these women have great

insight and understanding about the impact that sports have on their leadership type

personalities and why these experiences have played such a huge role in their success

and career today. Out of these seven women interviewed, all played Division I athletics

in the sport of volleyball or basketball, had an average age of 25 with an outlier

participant at 54 years of age, and hold occupations as an accountant, registered

nurse, human resource manager, supervisor, and a research analyst. Each interview

30


exposed their individual enthusiasm while talking about the topic of leadership

development of women through sports participation and from there we can create

theories and conclusions as to how these sport experiences help develop leaders.

The beginning of the interview examines a significant leader in their lives, the main

qualities of that leader and how they personally defined leadership. Over half of the

leaders mentioned were sports related and the rest of the responses were father-

figures in their lives. As each of these women were answering the question, I noticed

lust and compassion in their voices to prove their significant leader impacted their lives

in ways that no one else has. The main qualities that they described them with

included motivator, an enforcer, supportive, analytical, leads by example, loyal,

knowledgeable, and loving. These characteristics supports Lee et al. (2015) leadership

traits of what fulfils the role of a significant leader and ties into their own definitions of

leadership. I've established a common theme with the definitions of leadership where a

leader is trying to influence others in positive manners to help for the better. Although,

one definition stood out from the rest where they defined leadership as “contagious. A

great leader makes those that follow believe they are capable individuals. That nothing

that is being asked of them is not possible for them to achieve over time, but something

they are meant to earn and be proud of once accomplished” (Participant 4). Showing

pride and value in what you love and desire has one of the greatest impacts on self and

on others in the journey of leadership.

On their sports teams, it was interesting to note that a majority of these women did

not hold a ‘captain’ identity but instead played essential positions on their teams where

the impact that they communicated physically and mentally was very powerful. An

average rating of 9.2 was answered when asked how passionate and dedicated they

were of their sport on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being very passionate. This rating

demonstrates the love for the game they were playing and their devotion that they put

into their sport while they were a student-athlete. When asked to describe a specific

experience in sport that helped them develop as a leader, each story was unique and

fascinating. One example includes the participant having to have a position change

because it was better suited for their team structure. Through frustrations, hardships,

and tons of practice she fought through the change and was able to prove her ability to

be multi-dimensional for the team. From then, she held her teammates accountable to

never give up through the tough challenges and nitty gritty and be a good role model

and leader for the new generation of athletes that came in every year. She proved

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adversity, courage, and confidence through this long process and in the end, told me

she felt like a new person with a stronger identity as a leader achieving the results that

she did. From the stages of leadership identity development, this participant overcame

the stage of leadership differentiated by seeing leadership as a process by proving to

herself the ability of her leadership skills and changing her perception of leaders and

followers (Murphy and Reichard 2011).

The difference between the survey and the interview is that the interview

participants are well established in their careers. The interviewees hold a wide range of

occupations from a registered nurse to a business market researcher. The next few

questions asked them about their career and how they displayed leadership in the

office. When asked how passionate they were about their job the average score on a

scale of 1-10, with 10 being very passionate, was a 7.5 which is lower than their

passion for their sport but still a high average. At their job, there are many different

dimensions that each of them displayed leadership. Some examples include working in

teams, leading a team to accomplish a goal for the manager, being a role model and

training new workers, share company initiatives, guiding staff to work hard with

encouragement and trust, being self-motivated to build trust, and also communicating

to others effectively and efficiently. Each of these tasks relate solely to responsibilities

similar to those being a student-athlete.

By reflecting back to their sport experiences I asked them to elaborate if their sport

experiences had prepared them for their role in their occupation and their efficiency of

their leadership skills. All participants agreed with a bold statement. Some examples

they emphasized while answering this question are learning how to be successful at

time management, become a lover of people, being confident when holding people

accountable, building efficient and effective teams, and being resilient through drama

and conflict in tough situations. An illustration that Participant 6 pointed out were the

“really tough and challenging workouts that we as athletes take on several times a

week. By putting yourself in these very physically and mentally difficult situations,

where you may feel like quitting regularly, translates into being able to handle stress

and difficulty in your occupation and work place.” Figure 5 is based on Chelladurai’s

(2007) process of pursuing excellence in sport including how the leadership influences

facilitates leadership development (Chelladurai 2007 cited in Murphy and Reichard

2011 p.103). This process relates to how the experience of sport which includes all the

leadership influences listed are “practiced” within the context of sport and translated

32


into the workplace to achieve optimum performance and therefore coincides with

leadership development in the work place and overall. These different stages are

demonstrated to show the influence of characteristics specifically focused on sport and

success in each athlete’s future career.

Figure 5: Chelladurai’s (2007) process of pursuit of excellence in sport facilitating

leadership development (Chelladurai 2007 cited in Murphy and Reichard 2011 p.103)

Participant 7 describes her relationship and lessons learned from sport where she

learned how to “understand people as a leader on the court. [She] learned how to

listen and take criticism from both [her] coaches and peers. [She] learned the power of

trust and importance of being vulnerable with [her] teammates so that they can help in

a time of need. All of these directly translate to [her] job as a registered nurse”. By

engaging in deliberate practice from her sport, she is able to master her leadership

development skills while pursuing excellence. Janelle and Hillman (2003) note that the

most intense and deepest involvement happen in the practice stage where the athlete

gets shaped through the person’s skills, abilities, attitudes, and beliefs and I believe this

stage is related to a women’s participation in sports (Janelle and Hillman 2003 cited in

Murphy and Reichard 2011 p.104).

33


Another impactful part of the interview were perceptions and opinions about women

and leadership. From previous research we explored the glass ceiling and multiple

challenges that are encountered for women attempting to move higher in the ranks in

their occupation. The different challenges presented by the participants are that

women are highly under-utilized and undervalued, they need to take on a masculine

approach to be accepted as leaders, and a strong stigmatism is correlated to women in

power by being a mother that is not home with her children. The communal qualities

mentioned by Deaux and Kite (1993), (i.e. affectionate, helpful, friendly, soft spoken,

gentle, kind) of a women create gender role socializations that create self-concept and

an identity that women are supposed to “follow” which is why these challenges emerge

(Deaux and Kite 1993 cited in Murphy and Reichard 2011 p.207). Although, these

challenges also create opportunities. Participant 2 said “women have to demonstrate

time and time again that they are the right person for the job. They have to be

persistent, competent, but not too bossy. It’s a delicate balance. Women can lead in

whatever they want to do, they just have to prove themselves more than men do”. In

today’s world, women have set high standards for themselves and are demonstrating

their ability to be an effective leader through all the challenges and setbacks they

encounter.

To end off the interview, I asked them to give any advice or opinions they had about

the topic and I found this section to be the most thought-provoking of them all.

Participant 6 mentioned the authentic leadership theory to be well connected to this

topic of women and leadership. Authentic leadership focuses on how genuine the

leader’s style is. Focusing specifically on increased self-awareness that can attain a

“degree of clarity with regard to core values, identity, emotions, and goals” (Burke and

Cooper 2006 p.88). She mentions that anyone can be a leader and they don’t need

specific characteristics to be called a leader, but instead it’s about being true to

yourself, creating good relationships, and gaining respect. This ties in with the

importance of self-efficacy and the confidence that women need to achieve as a factor

of leadership development. These women shaped multiple recommendations together

emphasizing the fact of taking as much as you can from the experience of being an

athlete. They highlighted the importance of believing in yourself and that anything can

be achieved if you set your mind to it comparing the aspects of being an athlete and

being successful in your career. Participant 4 accentuates that “if you decided firmly

that you want to hold yourself to high standards and become the best that you are

34


capable of, you have the recourses to get there, resilience is key. Use the experience

with sports as an opportunity to learn, stay disciplined, and learn about self-motivation,

which transcends into motivating others and motivating a team in all aspects of your

life”. This interview explored the different factors that sport experiences have

empowered women who are leaders in their careers. From gaining valuable

information from the survey about how sports teach leadership skills to female athletes,

the interview had a big focus on how these lessons transformed and developed into

their character today and their constant use of leadership abilities in their workplace.

Compiling all the data together from both the survey and the interview it is important

to look at the reliability and the validity in this qualitative research study. In this study,

there is a medium reliability when it comes to collecting data. All of the participants

hold consistent demographics where they are all female student-athletes who have

participated in Division I sports in America. This generates stability when collecting

data but when it comes to repeatability of the data, this creates low reliability as all

sport experiences are all unique in their own way and a researcher has no control over

that. To counteract these different experiences, the specific questions that were asked

had them reflect on their experiences as a whole and compile all different factors into

either a rating or an open ended question where they could explain their individual

situation. These responses developed consistent and similar data that could correlate

with one another. Looking at the internal validity of the study, it proves the fact that the

research findings are a true reflection and representation of reality. Many of the journal

and articles research supported the concepts of the leadership development in women

athletes explored and correlated well with the findings from both the survey and

interview. Finally there is not much variability in this study as both the survey and

interview were set on structured questions, both open and closed and the diversity of

the participants is minimal as most are around the ages of 20-25 with an outlier

participant of 54. Each participant was treated the same and the settings taken place

to collect the data were conducted through technology to effectively communicate the

message across.

Conclusions

35


Throughout this study, the propositions mentioned earlier can be supported through

the grounded theory by making conclusions about leadership development of women

through sports participation. We have learned that sport experiences develop a

confident assertive identity, strong self-efficacy, followership skills, and are a way for

women to break through the glass ceiling in the work place. Each semi-structured

interview proved how much of an impact sports have taught them as successful

business women and how opportunities are opening the doors for women to become

an influential, prosperous leader. In conclusion, sports are perceived to be a pre-cursor

in a women’s successful leadership journey. As Vince Lombardi quotes “Leaders aren’t

born, they are made. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us

must pay to achieve any goal which is worthwhile.” The hard work that women achieve

and endure through their sport experiences have opened up windows and opportunities

to advance in the ranks in their chosen occupations.

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APPENDIX A Survey Consent Form and Template

41


Consent Form for Surveys

Title of Project: Leadership Development of Women through Sports Participation

Name of Researcher: Janelle Chow, Masters Candidate Durham University Business School

Summary of the study:

This is a study to look at women athlete’s experiences with high-level sport participation and the impact that they have with leadership development in their current organization. Learning objectives include researching the evolution of women as leaders, the increasing involvement of women participation in sports, the impact of sport experiences and how they relate to leadership development skills, and drawing conclusions of the empowerment of sports to become great leaders in the corporate world. This survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete and will include both open and closed questions relating to sport and leadership development.

1. I confirm that I have read and understand the summary for the above study and have had the opportunity to ask questions.

2. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw at any time, without giving any reason.

3. I understand that participating in this study I either will be referred to by a pseudonym or not identified by name in any publications arising from the research without any reason or penalty.

4. I agree to take part in the above study.

5. Thank you for your participation.

Name of Participant Date Signature

Researcher Date Signature

42


Leadership Development of Women through Sports Participation Survey

Found at: https://janellechow.typeform.com/to/Zrr22vTake a moment to think over your past experiences with being an athlete and participating in sports. Then please indicate the extent to which you do (or have done) each of the following activities while participating in your sport:

Not

at a

ll

A li

ttle

Som

etim

es

Oft

en

Ver

y Fr

eque

ntly

1. Do or say something with the goal of helping to build team confidence.

1 2 3 4 5

2. Participate in setting team goals. 3. Make certain other athletes are doing their assigned

tasks. 4. Mentor new or less experienced athletes. 5. Smooth-over or mediate arguments or conflicts

among team members. 6. Coordinate actions among team members. 7. Represent the team positively to fans, family,

friends, and outside community 8. Be a role model on and off the court/field/playing

venue 9. Improve communication among team members or

with the coach. 10. Deliberately take on a leadership role.

Please indicate by ticking the appropriate box the extent to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements about your participation in sports.

43


Stro

ngly

D

isag

ree

Dis

agre

e

Nei

ther

A

gree

nor

D

isag

ree

Agr

ee

Stro

ngly

A

gree

1 2 3 4 5 11. Participation in sports has motivated me to achieve

more in other aspects of my life as well.12. I have had to learn to understand other people better

in order to do well at my sport.13. Sports have provided me with good role models for

being a leader.14. Regular effort to improve is as important as innate

talent for getting ahead. 15. My experiences as an athlete has motivated me to

be more of a leader.16. I have learned how to be a better follower through

sports participation. 17. Participation in sports has taught me how to set

realistic goals. 18. I have learned to deal with setbacks and barriers

better as a result of being an athlete. 19. My teammates or coach communicated to me that

they see me as a leader. 20. Sport has helped me find who I am and what I am

passionate about. 21. Sport will help me be successful in my future

career.

21. How do you define Leadership?

22. What do you consider the top 5 characteristics of good leaders? (Rank from 1-5, 5 being most important)

23. After finishing University, what goals have you set for your career and work life?

24. How has being an athlete influenced your desire and ability to take on leadership roles in the future? Please describe.

If you are interested and are curious about the findings of this study please place your email below for future contact

Appendix B44


Survey Answers

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46


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Appendix CInterview Consent Form and Questions

Consent Form for Interviews

Title of Project: Leadership Development of Women through Sports Participation

Name of Researcher: Janelle Chow, Masters Candidate Durham University Business School

Summary of the study:

This is a study to look at women athlete’s experiences with high-level sport participation and the impact that they have with leadership development in their current organization. Learning objectives include researching the evolution of women as leaders, the increasing involvement of women participation in sports, the impact of sport experiences and how they relate to leadership development skills, and drawing conclusions of the empowerment of sports to become great leaders in the corporate world. Participation in this study involves face-to-face and Skype interviews lasting approximately 30-45 minutes. We will discuss current organizational experiences and past sport experiences and opinions about personalized leadership development.

1. I confirm that I have read and understand the summary for the above study and have had the opportunity to ask questions.

2. I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw at any time, without giving any reason.

3. I understand that participating in this study I either will be referred to by a pseudonym or not identified by name in any publications arising from the research without any reason or penalty.

4. I give consent that an interview will be audiotaped or recorded for in-depth analysis. This tape will only be used by the researcher and will be destroyed after it has been transcribed and the dissertation study submitted and accepted.

5. I agree to take part in the above study.

6. Thank you for your participation.

Name of Participant Date Signature

Researcher Date Signature

53


Leadership Development of Women through Sports Participation Interview

Researcher: Janelle ChowDemographics:

Name:Highest degree or level of school completed:Subject of degree:Date of Interview:Professional or Employment Status:Age:Main Sport competed in Division and League Played:

1. Name a significant leader that has had an impact on your life and explain why they hold this position.

2. What are the main qualities represented by the leader mentioned?3. How do you define leadership?4. Explain your role on your sports team that you were a part of.5. How passionate and dedicated were you about your sport? Scale of 1-10, 1 being not

passionate and 10 being very passionate. Explain.6. Thinking back to your highest level, most competitive sports experiences, how did

you demonstrate leadership qualities within your team and university?7. Are there specific experiences and stories from sport that you remember that have

helped you develop as a leader? Please elaborate.8. What is your current occupation today and what duties are you responsible for on a

daily basis?9. Are you passionate about what you do? Do you enjoy going to work everyday? On a

scale of 1-10 please rate how passionate you are about your job.10. Do you display leadership, as you defined in earlier questions, in your career? If so,

how is this displayed?11. Do you think your experiences as an athlete has prepared you for the role you have in

your occupation? In what specific areas have these occurrences helped you be where you are today?

12. Do you feel like there is a relationship between the experiences you had with sport and the effectiveness of your leadership skills in your occupation today? If so, explain.

13. What are your future career goals? Is finding a role that allows you to exercise more leadership a goal for you?

14. Would you define leadership differently in your job context versus your sport context?

15. How would you define a good follower?16. When you are not leading, do you think you are a good follower?17. What opinions do you hold about the challenges that women have in respect to

leadership?

54


18. Based off of these challenges, do you think there are opportunities presented for women as leaders? If so, what are they?

19. To the best of your knowledge/within your company/within your industry, do men and women hold your current position equally?

20. If you had the desire to improve yourself as a leader, what do you think you’d need to do to obtain this goal?

21. What advice would you give a young women athlete about the relationship between college sport and future occupations, particularly as the two relate to leadership experiences?

22. Anything else you would like to add about leadership development of women through sports participation?

55


Appendix DInterview Answers

I

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Durham University Dissertation 2015

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