GENDER AND LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR: A CASE STUDY OF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY, NIGERIA

Although women make up the majority of the local work force, they tend to be concentrated in lower grades and are underrepresented at senior management level Wilson (2002). The phenomenon of overrating men and underrating women job candidates appears to be widespread. There is a need to assess the leadership behavior of both sexes in senior management level to ascertain which of the gender is task-oriented or relationship-oriented to ascertain who has a well balanced approach of leadership behavior. The study adopted a case study research design. Using an adopted and pilot–tested questionnaire, data were collected from the sample of 65 respondents who are Heads of Departments and were selected using proportional sampling technique from each faculty, in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) respectively. Data were analysed using simple percentage. The results showed that the men are more task-oriented while the women are more relationship-oriented and are still able to carry out their task effectively. Thus, it was recommended that more concerns should be shown to more involvement of women in senior management position. An institution grows and thrives better when the subordinates feels that they are part of the organization and their contribution counts.