I Hear Her Voice On The Line

This research focuses on conference calls in a joint venture based in Shanghai, aiming to investigate the tension between gender and leadership discourse. In performing leadership, men and women project managers in conference calls not only employ discursive strategies associated with their gender, but utilize speech styles indirectly indexed with the other gender. The conventional male-dominated leadership model is called into question. However, while men and women are witnessed breaking stereotypical gender expectations in enacting leadership, they are evaluated differently, with women being subjected to negative evaluations due to the existence of double standard. And in relation to the notion of politeness, women professionals also face more stringent norms in enacting appropriate and polite linguistic behavior. In particular, when women professionals display relatively masculine linguistic behaviors and use stereotypically masculine discursive practices, they are perceived as inappropriate and impolite, as a result of gender stereotyping. The gendered norms are always covertly relevant influences on how leaders behave, and on how their behavior is interpreted, and these norms are available as resources for effective leaders to draw on. The data also suggests that effective leaders make use of a wide range of linguistic styles, expressing themselves and interacting in ways that instantiate many different points on the masculine-feminine dimension.