IAT (Implicit Attitudes Test) is a powerful tool in the field of social psychology that measures the strengths of association between concepts and evaluations or stereotypes.
An experience with the IAT and the results so found helps in removing the bias if any, in differentiating the preconceive notion that is more implicit in women , than in men. It is found that women attaches a symbol to her work folks as men are for career while women are more family oriented. This notion has hindered the process of transparent leadership and avoid gender biases. The IAT must be used thoroughly to understand the implicit sexual orientation among the group members as well as the leaders. Say for example, a team lead having a good experience and good in dealing with people, finds himself to be one who favors women for reasons unknown. This would not be helpful while taking people oriented decisions. This would mean a potential bias which is a hindrance for growth and goodwill of an organization.
Taking cues from the IAT, it would help us identify the potential leaders while designing activity based workshop for leaders and group members who have a poor score in the IAT. Understanding gender gaps, the person who is at the helm of the work and empathizing with the concerned person will help in building an effective leader- member relationship.
Let us examine two independent cases:
Case 1: A women employee who has joined work after maternity leave needs a three month leave to settle herself and look after her young child. The company policy does not allow such a long paid leave . The employee is otherwise sincere , responsible and talented. As a leader , we must empathize with her, and can grant her a leave without pay; this way we can stay within the company policy and keep the employee motivated to resume duties with full enthusiasm after the leave period.
Case 2: A male employee asks for a two month leave to take care of his child who is suffering from a disease. In most of the cases, a leader would not grant the leave thinking its not a father's job to look after his child, its the prerogative of the child's mother but in reality, the need and orientation of the family might be different. This is another way when the leader must empathize with the concerned employee.
The above two illustrations describe, how we can use the results of IAT to influence leadership style and maintain a healthy leader-member relationship in the process.
Describing your experience with the IAT. . . Analyze the impact that gender differences might have...