Crafting the Edge: Gender Intelligence to Increase Productivity

Introduction

The issue of sexual orientation is an emotionally charged one; it arouses feelings similar to, yet very different from, those aroused by other diversity issues. Sexual orientation is a phenomenon in all races and ethnic groups in the world, not just the US. The discussion seeks to contrast leadership of men, women, or chosen sexual orientation, as antecedent to the creation of situational management practices. An example of situational management is drawn from urban geography where astute leadership welcomes people of different sexual orientation to bring their intellectual capital to settle in multicultural population such as those of San Francisco, or New York (see Figure 1). Such settlements have been able to create sustainable economies resulting from the settlement of a people that values diversity. This chapter is organized in four parts: the first provides an introduction and definition of some of the key terms employed to answer two questions (1) Does management exercised by men or women impact profitability? (2) Are there any traits that influence behavior and attributed to men or women? The second part provides a definition of some of the key terms applied in this discussion. The third part provides a statement on the literature reviewed to progress multiculturalism in progressing productivity in high performance enterprises. In the review realism and gender are viewed as necessities in highly productive environments. Realism and gender schemata are examined through the lens of a Socially Constructed Competency Model (SCCM) in crafting highly cohesive teams critical in sustaining the competitive advantage and progressing desirable goals. The fourth part proposes a Situational Leadership Model that embraces the talent required in progressive firms and draws a conclusion.

Urban municipalities have partnered with private property developers to attract diversity postulating that a multicultural community can bring investment critical in sustainability. In Kanai (2014) municipalities in urban centers such as Buenos Aires or San Francisco have dwelling shopping and working places that cater for the needs of a diverse people (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Appreciating a socially constructed urban leadership

(Kanai, 2014a)

The diverse community is akin to the flower kids of the sixties that could generate their own contemporary arts, fashion, and other lifestyles which attracted investors (Miller, 1991). The sixties' political agenda may have been ground down to ambiguity at best. It can be contested that moral and spiritual America will never again be quite what it was before the coming of the hippies. Miller argued that the hippies of the late 1960s were cultural dissenters who, among other things, advocated drastic rethinking of certain traditional American values and standards. The hippies’ movement introduced ethical innovations and analyses that impacted culture. In Mollins (2003), some of the things about the hippies sounded a lot more like present times. The similarities include the Vietnam War and the conflict in Iraq, the demands to legalize marijuana and the acceptance by states such as Colorado or Michigan to use the drug as a pain relief. The hippies or flower power children as they were sometimes known, were dedicated to such tenets as the primacy of love, trust in intuition and direct experience, the rejection of meaningless work, and a disdain for money and materialism. Mollins suggested that the hippies advocated dropping out of the dominant culture, and proposed new and more permissive ethics in several areas. They argued that while some drugs were indeed harmful, others provided useful insights and experiences and therefore should be freely available and widely used. They endorsed a liberal ethics of sex which saw an increase in accepting the gay community in which no sexual act between or among consenting adults would be banned. They developed an ethics of rock-and-roll music, arguing that rock was the language of a generation and that it helped promote new ways of thinking and living. They also revived the venerable American tradition of communal living.