The Influence of the Queen Bee Syndrome on the Attitudes, Behaviors, and Emerging Leadership Styles of the Millennials
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Master Thesis The influence of the Queen Bee Syndrome on the attitudes, behaviors, and emerging leadership styles of the Millennials Author: Ramona Wuertele Supervisor: Philippe Daudi, PhD. Examiner: Björn Bjerke, PhD. Academic term: 16HT-4FE531 Subject: Leadership Level: Master (M.Sc.) Course code: 17VT-4FE75E submitted at the IMC Fachhochschule Krems (University of Applied Sciences) Master Program Marketing and Sales Linnaeus University Kalmar Master Program Leadership And Management in International Contexts by Ramona WÜRTELE for the award of the academic double degree Master of Arts in Business (MA) Master of Science in Business and Economics (MSc) Advisor FH Krems: Edith Singer, Prof. (FH) Dr. Advisor Partner University: Philippe Daudi, PhD. Submitted on: 01.07.2017 Statutory declaration I declare in lieu of an oath that I have written this Master thesis myself and that I have not used any sources or resources other than stated for its preparation. I further declare that I have clearly indicated all direct and indirect quotations. This Master thesis has both been submitted at the IMC Fachhochschule Krems and the Linnaeus University and has not been handed in elsewhere for examination purposes. Krems/ Kalmar, 01.07.2017 Signature Student Foreword “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” Walt Disney This master thesis would never have become possible, if not for the tireless support, constant encouragement and limitless love of my family to whom I dedicate my work. To my father, who has taught me that I can face all adversities and slay every dragon on my own without waiting to be ‘rescued’ by someone else; to my brother, who made me smile when I wanted to cry and who lifted me up when I was down; and especially to my mother, who has made me the strong woman I proudly am today by showing me that compassion, determination and love can make the impossible possible. I Acknowledgements This incredible and often seemingly impossible journey from clothing my first thoughts in words to placing the last sentence on these pages would not have been feasible without the support and encouragement of my friends and my dearest roommate Theresa, who endured all my moods and joined in my ‘suffering’, the delivery services in Krems, who made sure that I did not starve during my long writing-sessions, and the marvelous inventions of coffee and chocolate, which kept my head up and my soul content. I also want to thank all my interview partners for taking some time from their busy lives to share their experiences, stories and points of view with me and, in doing so, substantially contributing to this thesis. Furthermore, I thank both my mentors, Philippe Daudi and Edith Singer for their support, guidance and much-valued input in some dire times of need. Thank You! Tack så mycket! II Abstract Over the past couple of decades, women have conquered most obstacles in their effort to scale the mountains of leadership and management, seemingly only to fall at the last hurdle by purposefully derailing and mistreating each other. As a large percentage of the workforce in the Western hemisphere is composed of women, the likelihood of experiencing a female superior throughout their career is very high for both men and women, giving rise to the threat of dealing with the Queen Bee Syndrome. The antecedent aim of this master thesis paper is to explore the reasons that give rise to and legitimize the so-called Queen Bee phenomenon, which describes a usually senior female holding a higher leadership-position, who actively opposes the rise of other females in male- dominated organizations, in connection to the Millennial Generation. For this purpose, the methodology approach of Grounded Theory was chosen, first and foremost establishing a theoretical framework comprising literature gathered from academic journals, professional and specific print and sources, as well as relevant writings from contemporary and topical media channels, such as the New York Times newspaper, or the Harvard Business Review. Second, a qualitative empirical study was conducted, for which several women from both the Millennial and its predecessor generation were interviewed, in order to explore opinions on perceived biases against female leaders and managers which, among other things may lead to typical Queen Bee behavior, its provenances, and their implications for business women and organizations. The gained insights are culminating in the emergence of a new theory, according to which female Millennials’ inherent narcissistic tendencies may not hinder them to pursue much-needed mentoring relationships with other females and even suggest the possibility of a diminishment of the dreaded female bully-boss paradigm. Keywords Queen Bee Syndrome, Female Leadership, Millennials, Generation Y, Emotional Intelligence, Authentic Leadership, Followership, Workplace Bullying III Table of Contents Foreword _____________________________________________________________ I Acknowledgements ___________________________________________________ II Abstract _____________________________________________________________ III Table of Contents _____________________________________________________ IV List of Tables and Figures ______________________________________________ VI 1 Introduction ______________________________________________________ 1 1.1 Background of the Study and Problem Definition ________________________ 3 1.2 Objectives and Research Questions ___________________________________ 6 1.3 Research Relevance _______________________________________________ 7 1.4 Thesis Scope and Limitations ________________________________________ 8 1.5 Chapter Outline __________________________________________________ 10 2 Methodological Research Approach _________________________________ 12 2.1 The Author’s Role within the Research Design _________________________ 12 2.2 Convergence through Grounded Theory _______________________________ 13 2.3 Semi-structured Interviews _________________________________________ 14 2.3.1 Data Collection ______________________________________________ 16 2.3.2 Sampling Method _____________________________________________ 17 2.3.3 Data Analysis ________________________________________________ 19 3 Theoretical Framework ____________________________________________ 21 3.1 Defining the ‘who’, the ‘what’, the ‘why’, and the ‘how’ _________________ 21 3.1.1 Defining Leadership __________________________________________ 21 3.1.2 Defining the Queen Bee Phenomenon _____________________________ 26 3.1.3 Defining the Millennial Generation _______________________________ 30 3.2 Off to Pastures New – Leadership & Gender ___________________________ 33 3.2.1 Leaders and Followers within the Organizational Hive _______________ 33 3.2.2 Female Leadership and the Elusive Glass Ceiling Problem ____________ 40 3.2.3 Emotional Intelligence as Defining Leadership Quality _______________ 49 3.3 The Female Office Terror – the Queen Bee ____________________________ 58 3.3.1 Never out of Style – the (adult) Queen Bee _________________________ 58 3.3.2 The Workplace Bully-Boss, her Minions, and her Victims _____________ 66 3.3.3 A Tale of Ice Queens, Nice Girls, and Fairy Godmothers ______________ 73 3.4 The Young and the Restless – the Millennials __________________________ 76 3.4.1 The ongoing Millennial Revolution _______________________________ 76 IV 3.4.2 Hive-Mentality versus Lone-Drones – Millennials and the Issue of Narcissism _________________________________________________________ 86 4 Research Results _________________________________________________ 90 4.1 Relational Aggression Self-Assessment Evaluation ______________________ 91 4.2 Results of Main Empirical Data Collection ____________________________ 93 4.2.1 Data Analysis Concept _________________________________________ 93 4.2.2 Open-Coding Results __________________________________________ 94 4.2.3 Axial-Coding Results _________________________________________ 107 4.2.4 Selective-Coding Results and Emergent New Theory ________________ 119 5 Conclusion _____________________________________________________ 122 5.1 Short Summary _________________________________________________ 122 5.2 ‘The Looking Glass War’ – own reflections on the thesis research and its discoveries __________________________________________________________ 124 5.3 Outlook and Further Research _____________________________________ 126 5.3.1 Outlook ____________________________________________________ 126 5.3.2 Further Research ____________________________________________ 129 List of References ____________________________________________________ 131 Annex _____________________________________________________________ 141 Annex 1 [Interview Guide] ___________________________________________ 142 Annex 2 [Rel. Aggression Self-Assessment Questionnaire] ________________ 145 Annex 3 [Detailed Tabulated Open Coding Results] _____________________ 147 Annex 4 [Interview Transcripts] ______________________________________ 154 V List of Tables and Figures Table 1: Interview Participants (Overview) ......................................................................... 19 Table 2: Five of the most prominent leadership styles ....................................................... 24 Figure 1: Workplace bullying within the US workforce ....................................................... 28 Figure 2: Same-sex workplace bullying among women and men ....................................... 29 Figure 3: Overlapping Generations .....................................................................................