Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman analyze a number of communication theories on the basis of an article titled “Research: Women Are Better Leaders During a Crisis” (2020). Specifically, the writing will establish a relationship between the content of the text by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman with communication frameworks, such as Situational theory, the Spiral of Silence, Diffusion theory, and the Uses and Gratification Social Media Model. Although the selected source pertains to leadership during COVID-19 conditions, the key emphasis will be put on communication as a means of transferring information effectively and accurately. The thesis statement is that women are better leaders during a crisis.
The primary argument of women being better leaders than men is properly established by the Situational theory since it is mainly communicated for aware audiences, who are familiar with the issues but exhibit a lower degree of involvement in regards to resolving the problems and removing the “glass cliff.” It should also be noted that the Spiral of Silence communicational framework also provides an invaluable insight into how the problem of female leadership is silenced, whereas the alternative opinions are voiced excessively. The Diffusion theory enables to see the fact that the primary argument is in the early adopter stage since it is utilized by a small group operating in the leadership field, but it is not an innovation since women are being assigned leader roles during times of crisis for a long period of time. The Uses and Gratifications Model focuses on the drivers of information consumer behavior rather than the information itself. In accordance with the theory, it is evident that the article promotes empowerment, pleasure, and self-confidence. As a result, communication theories provide a richer and more in-depth look at the notion of communicating the issues of women leaders.
The first theory of the assessment is the Situational theory. High involvement and high knowledge publics are categorized as active publics, whereas low involvement and low knowledge publics are inactive ones. Similarly, high knowledge and low involvement publics are aware publics, whereas high involvement and low knowledge publics are aroused ones (Botan, 2017). The fifth domain is comprised of publics with no knowledge and no involvement, which makes them non-publics. The framework mainly focuses on “how attributed responsibility affects organizational reputation and how response strategies matched with the amount of attributed responsibility protect the reputation” (Ma & Zhan, 2016, p. 102). The given approach understands a subject of interest from a perspective of public knowledge as well as involvement. Public model domains are dependent on the degrees of either high or low involvement alongside high or low levels of knowledge in publics.
Communication can be considered as being aimed at the aware public. Some individuals are well aware of the fact that women are better leaders across many leadership measurements during times of crisis, such as the pandemic. However, there is little to no involvement in making the topic more pronounced among the general public. For example, it is stated that “when women are finally given a chance to prove themselves in a senior position, they are handed something that is already broken and where the chances of failure are high” (Zenger & Folkman, 2020, p. 2). In other words, among people well-informed about the intricacies of leadership and management, it is common knowledge to assign a female leader during stressful conditions, such as COVID-19. However, the fact that there is a so-called “glass cliff” means that there is little involvement in resolving or addressing the issue of gender inequality. Therefore, this shows that according to the Situational Theory, the article communicates information to the aware public.
The Spiral of Silence theory is the ideal framework for the analysis of the given article. The popular opinions are reinforced with those upholding them, whereas less popular ones tend to become more reserved and silent, which makes the perceived distribution of opinions more misbalanced than the reality (Botan, 2017). “The key assumption of the Spiral of Silence theory is that opinion climate perceptions affect political opinion expression” (Matthes et al., 2018, p. 3). Evidently, such influences can also translate to both private and public organizations and their leaders. The article states: “consistent with our pre-pandemic analysis; we found that women were rated significantly more positively than men” (Zenger & Folkman, 2020, p. 2). The historical data is representative of the fact that women were known to be better leaders during situations, such as COVID-19, which is substantiated by the presence of the “glass cliff,” and it “describes the idea that when a company is in trouble, a female leader is put in charge to save it” (Zenger & Folkman, 2020, p. 2). Therefore, the public generally rates women higher as leaders, especially during crises (Zenger & Folkman, 2020).
The issue is not as voiced as it should be, which is indicated by the fact that it is known as a phenomenon. Popular opinion of men being better or at least equally competent leaders to women suppress seemingly unpopular alternatives. For example, the article writes: “during the Covid-19 crisis, we’ve heard anecdotally about women leaders doing a better job, and new research backs that up” (Zenger & Folkman, 2020, p. 2). Thus, women’s superiority in leadership positions is a vastly more common opinion, but which is less voiced since it is deviant from the most popular and inaccurate one. The authors are making an attempt to bring a balance in opinion representation through education and research in order to enhance the accuracy of media coverage of reality rather than perception.
Diffusion theory examines the core five critical stages of establishing consensus through a flow of time. There are five stages of adopting a message until it reaches a certain degree of consensus, which begin with innovators, followed by early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards (Botan, 2017). “Diffusion is a social process that occurs among people in response to learning about an innovation” (Dearing & Cox, 2018, p. 183). Novel opinions, messages, or ideas require extended periods of time to become adopted by the entire population, and it takes place in several phases.
The article illustrates how the general notion of women being better leaders than men during times of crises, such as COVID-19, shows that the general notion is in an early adopter phase. Primarily, the general public is not aware of women’s leadership superiority, unlike groups specializing in leadership and management. The article communicated that it is common practice to assign a female leader during periods of stress, but the individuals detached from the subject are not informed on such approaches, which is why it requires research (Zenger & Folkman, 2020). Therefore, according to the Diffusion theory, the message is certainly not in the innovator stage and not perceived by the early majority.
The Use and Gratification theory of communication focuses on empowerment, pleasure, and self-confidence. Unlike the previously mentioned frameworks, it focuses on people’s approach toward information they consume. Human beings are not mere passive users of media, but they actively seek out valuable and important information based on their personal needs and interests. The theory can be considered as the least applicable as it is not evident whether or not the information and research in the article are conducted and viewed by specific groups interested in female empowerment. However, the theory directly and precisely explains that the selected article fulfills three core domains of the framework, which are empowerment, pleasure, and self-confidence.
The Use and Gratification theory is primarily focused on information consumers’ internal motivators rather than the information itself. For example, there is a range of traits, which are demanded by the majority of the general public, such as integrity, honesty, or adaptability, and it is stated that “these are traits that are more often being displayed by women” (Zenger & Folkman, 2020, p. 5). The theory shows how the public is interested in women leaders, which provide empowerment of females, boosts self-confidence among women leaders, and brings pleasures due to enhancement in gender equality.
The assessment of four main communication theories within the context of the selected article shows a high degree of relevance to the information on women’s leadership being delivered. Spiral of Silence theory is most likely the most effective one at understanding the subject since more people inherently believe women to be better leaders than the popularly voiced opinions. The Use and Gratification Model is the least suitable to address the theme, but it still helps explain the consumers’ needs. Diffusion theory is ideal at determining the current phase of the novel idea adoption, which is an early adopter stage. The Situational theory identifies the fact that the article is aimed towards the aware public. Thus, women leaders are superior to men during a time of crisis.
References
Botan, C. H. (2017). Strategic communication theory and practice: The cocreational model. Wiley-Blackwell.
Dearing, J. W., & Cox, J. G. (2018). Diffusion of innovations theory, principles, and practice. Health Affairs, 37(2), 183–190.
Ma, L., & Zhan, M. (2016). Effects of attributed responsibility and response strategies on organizational reputation: A meta-analysis of situational crisis communication theory research. Journal of Public Relations Research, 28(2), 102–119.
Matthes, J., Knoll, J., & von Sikorski, C. (2018). The “Spiral of Silence” revisited: A meta-analysis on the relationship between perceptions of opinion support and political opinion expression. Communication Research, 45(1), 3-33.
Zenger, J., & Folkman, J. (2020). Research: Women are better leaders during a crisis. Harvard Business Review. Web.