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    The social well-being of women officers who have left the New Zealand Army : "I haven't seen any advantages to being female" : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Management, Massey Business School, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Nelson, Ellen Joan
    Society is recognising the benefits of gender diversity in leadership teams and considerable research exists to support this (Boulton, 2017; Buckingham, 2014; Egnell, 2013; Escobar, 2013; Hoogendoorn, Oosterbeek, & van Praag, 2013; Hunt, Layton, & Prince, 2014; MOD, 2014; Morenzo-Gomez, Lafuente, & Vaillant, 2018; Parsons, 2018). Sexual harassment and bullying is at the forefront of many conversations worldwide, following in particular, the #metoo movement. The NZ Army and the wider NZ Defence Force is no exception, and has come under fire in recent years for it treatment of women (Lawrence, 2018a, 2018b; Livingston, 2017; RadioNZ, 2018; Weekes, 2016). Despite the NZ Army lifting all gender related restrictions in 2000, the proportion of women has remained stagnant at around 13% (Parsons, 2018; Weekes, 2002) for the past two decades. This research examines the social well-being of women officers who have left the NZ Army. A case study approach was used, utilising three forms of data; NZ Army recruiting video advertisements, insider research as I am a member of this group, and interviews with 20 ex-serving women officers. The research is framed with the theoretical concept of social well-being (Keyes, 1998) and this is integrated with the theoretical concepts of authentic leadership and embodied leadership. It was found that recruiting material used during the 1990s and 2000s focused on men. Men were consistently observed doing more physical and command related tasks compared to women. While all of the interviewed women spoke positively about their overall experience in the NZ Army and were all thankful for the opportunities and training received, a number of challenges were identified and discussed. Many of the women officers experienced or observed harassment and gender discrimination. The women identified that the NZ Army trains and forces its leaders to adopt a masculine approach to leadership. In contrast, almost all of the women interviewed conceptualised and exercised leadership in a more feminine manner. Conflict existed, as the women’s feminine approaches were not always valued. This reduced their social well-being and many of the women felt pressured to be more masculine, and therefore, lead in a manner that was less authentic to them. Women officers were judged on their physical appearance which includes their dress and grooming and their physique. Physical performance had an even bigger impact on their social well-being as the NZ Army appears to be very unforgiving of people with low levels of physical performance. This was a particular issue for women with injuries and women struggling with their fitness following the return from maternity leave. All of these findings provide significant evidence to suggest that the NZ Army does not provide an environment that generates social well-being for women officers. This leads to many women officers being worn down and eventually leaving, and therefore does not support the NZ Army’s desire to recruit and retain more women, continuing to limit diversity at the senior level. Recommendations to the NZ Army include: broader representation of women in recruiting advertisements, safer channels for making complaints, a review of the masculine leadership approaches taught at training establishments, introduction of camouflage uniform that fit women’s bodies, and better integration back to physical activities following maternity leave.
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    Tongan women and leadership in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master in Business Studies at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2016) Paea, Seluvaia Talikivaha
    This study aims to explore how Tongan women practice leadership in New Zealand organizations. To understand the Tongan women’s leadership practice involves understanding the factors that underpin the philosophy behind their practice of leadership in their given contexts. The development of this exploration study was completed using a qualitative research framework with a focus on interpretative study interlaced with the Kakala model to produce a feminist interpretive qualitative study. I employed the talanoa method in my data collection to assist the research framework to gather valid and indepth reflections by the participants. I used the thematic analysis to analyse the data. The findings indicated how Tongan women in New Zealand organizations practice leadership based on frames that they observed and experienced during their upbringing and life journey. Numerous factors or strands emerged from the findings that weave together to produce the participants’ understanding and sensemaking of leadership. During the participants’ practice of leadership in their given contexts, they reframed some of the pre-concieved frames that enhance their leadership understanding and leadership practices. I used the metaphorical process of lalanga fala to frame the participants’ ontological narratives on their sensemaking and practice of leadership. This study highlights the value of understanding the frames that shaped the understanding of Tongan women in New Zealand on leadership. How they practice leadership in their given contexts relates to the frames that they see through. The use of framing helped to motivate participants to contribute in leadership acts no matter what position they hold in an organization.
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    A 'novel' approach to leadership development : using women's literary fiction to explore contemporary women's leadership issues : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Business Studies in Management at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2016) Martin, Lydia Anne
    The central aim of this thesis is to investigate how women’s literary fiction can be harnessed for the purpose of exploring contemporary women’s leadership issues. This thesis argues that literary fiction is a valuable source of interdisciplinary and ‘artful’ consciousness-raising material for proactively addressing at the interpersonal level a wide range of critical concerns related to women’s leadership experiences. Having identified a significant ‘gap’ in the extant literature – the underutilisation of women’s novels, short-stories and plays in leadership studies – this thesis adopts an interdisciplinary approach to demonstrate how literary works can be used to examine women’s contemporary leadership issues. For this research project I adopted an interpretive qualitative research paradigm informed by critical leadership studies and a multiplicity of feminist perspectives. I developed a systematic method for long listing and short listing appropriate texts and analysed selected works in response to a five-point conceptual framework of critical concerns arising from a review of the women and leadership literature. I also kept a reflective blog to track the iterative nature of the research process and to record my learning during this study. The findings demonstrate that women’s literary fiction offers a rich repository of thought-provoking illustrations of women’s leadership concerns, including gender binaries, power-play, socially constructed perceptions and gendered expectations, and women’s diverse range experiences as both leaders and followers. The extended analysis provides a number of in-depth examples and reflective questions, revealing myriad opportunities for critical theorising, illustrative analysis and critical reflection. Subsequently, this thesis argues that fictional stories are a viable and potentially transformative ‘artful’ intervention for addressing complex leadership issues concerned with gender within the context of women’s leadership development programmes. My recommendations for future studies include a focus on ethical leadership, the evaluation of participant ‘book club’ interventions and an extension of the reading lists to include more culturally relevant New Zealand authors. To my knowledge, there are no studies that utilise women’s literary fiction for the purpose of exploring contemporary women’s leadership concerns and questions. Consequently, my thesis makes an original contribution to the leadership and humanities field, as well as providing an innovative and creative product that can be used for critical and interdisciplinary approaches to women’s leadership development.
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    Women as governors : powerful leadership with a difference : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Educational Administration, Massey University
    (Massey University, 1997) Hawk, Kay
    This research project involved the Board of Trustee chairwomen of six Auckland secondary, co-educational state schools working together over an eighteen month period using an action research methodology. The group met monthly to discuss issues of importance to individuals or the whole group. A high level of trust developed early and the discussions became the focus for the sharing of ideas, strategies and resources as well as an opportunity for shared problem solving and support The researcher, as a chairwoman, was a fully participating member of the group. The research was guided by a set of research questions. Data collection strategies included group discussions, interviews with each of the chairwomen and with their Principals and observations of Board of Trustee meetings. Data from these sources were brought back to the group who shared in the interpretation of it. There is no research information on how chairpeople of school Boards of Trustees enact their positions and very little information on voluntary leadership. The voluntary and elected nature of this leadership is an important influence on the motives of the women and on their determination to lead from within and with the group. The similarities in the motives and chosen styles of enacting the chairwoman's position were many and they corresponded closely to those described in the literature on women's leadership. On the other hand, there were also important differences which the current literature did not seem to explain. It appeared, therefore, to be too simplistic to explain the similarities by taking an essentialist view that could not explain the differences. This thesis looks to a feminist post-structuralist analysis to help understand both the similarities and the differences. Being a woman was an influential factor in leadership style but not because of gender as such. It was important because of the many subject positions taken up and held concurrently by the women and the ways they had learned to reconcile the conflicting demands of those positions. Some of these positions, such as 'woman', 'mother', 'wife', 'neighbour' and 'community volunteer' are very much products of the discursive ways in which gender relations in our New Zealand society have been constructed. The influence of some, such as 'responsible person', 'victim' and 'nurse' were particular to the unique experience of the person when growing up in their childhood family and within their marriage. The inpact of others, such as 'career woman', 'leader', 'educator', 'change agent' and 'trustee' were a result of choices made by the women about how they wanted to construct their lives. The order in which they were taken up and the interrelationships between these various subject positions forced the women to make decisions and choices about how they would work within and between them. Throughout their lives the six chairwomen had each occupied very similar subject positions and recounted very similar learnings resulting from the experiences. This similarity of experiences accounts, to a large extent for the similarity in motivation and in preferred ways of operating within the chairperson position. The differing orders in which the various subject positions were taken up appears to explain many of the differences in their confidence levels and operating styles.