Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
Case 15.2: Lack of Inclusion and
Credibility
Case Synopsis and Analysis
Lori Bradley, an experienced probation officer, meets with two other male officers, Ian and
Ted, and their supervisor, Len. The four employees are meeting to plan an orientation session
for new probation officers. All three men, however, ignore Lori and discount her ideas.
For instance, when Lori enters the room, Ian and Ted ignore her and continue to talk about
sports. When Len enters, Ian and Ted include him in their talk about the game. As the
meeting progresses, Lori offers a way to structure the orientation that is essentially ignored.
Ted, another officer, offers a different idea that presents problems. Ian then offers Lori’s
suggestion, and the men agree to go with “Ian’s suggestion.”
Learning objectives:
• Students will recognize gender prejudice and understand how it influences a woman’s
ability to excel.
• Students will learn methods to help resolve gender prejudice and advance women.
Answers to questions in the text:
1. What advancement barriers is Lori encountering?
Lori encountered gender bias, stereotyping, and prejudice. Stereotypes are cognitive
shortcuts that influence the way people process information regarding groups and
2. What should Lori’s male coworkers have done when Lori entered the room?
Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
3. How should Len have behaved to provide a role model for Lori’s male colleagues?
What should Len have said after Ian made the same recommendation that Lori did?
Len should have treated Lori as he treated Ian and Ted. He should have
4. What could the organization do to foster the effectiveness of all four managers?
The organization needs to work to remove gender prejudice and stereotypes.
Potential teaching approaches:
Below is a way to structure a class based on Gender and Leadership Case Study 15.2:
• Hold a lecture on gender and leadership.
• Ask students to read Case 15.2 and answer the questions.
• Discuss questions in the case study as a class.
• Finally, the professor may choose to conduct in-class exercises listed below.
Exercises for this case study:
1) The case study shows that women’s voices are often ignored at her organization.
2) Students will draft an apology, assuming the following facts are true: Lori complains
about the meeting to their boss, who asks Len, Ted, and Ian to write an apology.
3) Ask students to create a list of potential topics (other than sports) that could have
been infused into this case study. Clearly the case is set up to outline “men talking
Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019