On Communication
Men talk to give information or report. Women talk to collect information or gain rapport.
Men focus on facts, reason and logic. Women focus on feelings, senses and meaning.
Men thrive on competing and achieving. Women thrive on harmony and relating
(Source: http://www.itstime.com/mar2005.htm)
Female Bosses Bring Home Work more as Compared to Male Counterparts
One of the most striking results is that women and men bosses differ in regard to coping strategies. In cases of conflict and unfair treatment, women take their problems home with them and develop psychosomatic symptoms to a greater extent than their male colleagues. Women managers also found it more difficult to tune out their work during their leisure time in comparison with their male counterparts.
(Source: innovations-report.de)
No matter where or how you take the debate to, the main point is that there is not much use comparing a female boss or a male boss solely on gender. But what counts in the end is :
- Is your boss a good motivator, does he/she help you in providing you a comfortable and satisfying work environment?
- Does your boss exhibit accountability and leadership qualities?
- Regardless of gender, do you consider your boss a a person worthy for his/her position and someone to look-up to?
Don’t judge a book by its cover; don’t judge a boss by gender. Just don’t judge at all, do your best at your work irrespective of how difficult or easy your boss is and you shall find yourself in a more satisfying job!
According to a boss-survey on Happy Worker website:
Male vs. Female Bosses
He-Managers are favored over She-Bosses:
- 37% prefer having a male boss
- 19% prefer having a female boss
- 43% say it wouldn’t make a difference either way
However, there’s also signs that the glass ceiling continues to crack… younger workers are almost evenly divided; for workers aged 18 and 34, 31% say they prefer a male boss, and 29% say they prefer a female boss.
Do Females Prefer or Dislike a Female Boss?
According to the Gender Issues in the Workplace Survey by career publisher Vault Inc. (2006), women prefer to work for men rather than for other women.
When asked if they would prefer a male or female boss, more women, 28%, picked a male boss rather than a female boss (9%), while the majority of both the men and women surveyed had no preference.
More men would rather work for men than women as well; 26% of men chose a male boss and 8% picked a female boss.
Women in the workplace don’t just prefer male bosses over female bosses; they also feel more comfortable with male co-workers. Again, although the majority of men and women had no gender preference, the next choice for women was men, as 24% prefer male co-workers and only 11% prefer working with other women.
Men’s choices were more evenly split, with 17% choosing male co-workers and 16% choosing female co-workers.One of many important findings from Vault’s Gender Issues Survey is that most women, 77%, agree that it is still difficult for women to get ahead in the workplace.
Conversely, only 43% of men feel that it is still difficult for women to advance at the office. A majority of women, 56%, feel that at one time or another they have been disadvantaged in the workplace because of their gender, while 25% of men feel the same way.
Question: What have been your experiences when working with a female boss?
Some other related articles of interest:
Gender preferences in the corner office – Work & Power survey respondents say why they like male, female bosses
I feel that having both male and female in the “boss” role helps even things out. I believe that you should have managers that compliment each other and are strong in area’s the other one is not. I also think they should appreciate that about each other. Which is usually not the reality of it.
can you give some more points about this? i’m a 1st yr. college student anyway and i’m really do some researching for our debate. our topic anyway is “Men are better leaders than women” and we are on the affirmative side. i need some more points for our side…i’m one of the speakers anyway so i really need some more ideas and evidences…plzzzzz…thank you very much
Good luck on your debate!
Men have different communication style as compared to women as also noted in the link above, women tend to be more emotional when taking decisions, but note this is a general comment not true for all women leaders.
I have been in a forum discussion where one woman in a managerial post wanted to “think and act like a man” because all the board members were men and she had to interact with them on a daily basis. She felt that men were more task oriented and get to the point quicker than most women do. I totally agree .. also men are at times more direct and give specific orders for work to be done by their employees. Women do that too and I agree with the saying “If you want to talk about a task ask a man if you want it done ask a woman”
It is all contradictory, I know..
But still, the weight is more towards men being better leaders because there are so few women leaders out there in all industries and government sectors. The how can you truly compare or pin point who is better. Both have different strategies but the bottom line it to get the work done. Both men and women have different ways to that approach, it would be unfair to say that one is better in getting it done than the other because both have different styles of communication and effect on employees.
These women make it impossible for their coworkers. I was one of 4 middle managers and at the end of the day my unfinished work stayed at home because I refused to work without pay one of the other managers was viewed as a true “teamplayer” because she did projects from home without pay. These are pathetic people who need to get a life outside their workplace
Woman-boss! Really interesting thread for women’s forum
Most of the women like male bosses and recent study has shown it is true Vote here what do you think
I am a woman and will never ever work for another woman if I can help it. During a job I had 3 years ago it was obvious that the woman I worked for favored the guy’s opionions over mine all the time. She came down on me a lot harder. Women seem to take things more personally, show their emotions, and seem to constantly feel that they need to prove it to everyone that they belong there. I strive all the time to manage the group that I have under me as a man would to inconsistency of my attitude, demeanor, policies, respect and most importantly… assisting them whenever possible to be successful.
Maybe it is my military background and the excessive time that I have surrounded myself with male counterparts but it is simply easier in every way to work for and with men than women. The current job I’m in I initially worked for a man (a deciding factor of mine… if I would have had to report to a woman I wouldn’t have taken the job) and since then my boss has left and and a female has taken his place. Since then I have once again been a target for some reason and I see her doing the same thing with other women in our division that report to her as well and yet show constant praise for the guys who do the same or less work than the female reports.
Needless to say I’m in the midst of finding another job and hopefully one where my male boss doesn’t leave me with a female supervisor again…
Rules for female bosses: Don’t ask me to place cute little bumblebees, ladybugs, kittens, etc. on what is supposed to be a professional report. Don’t send me memos, e-mails, letters with untold clip art, smileys, or silly thoughts of the day. Don’t ask me for hot, steaming cups of coffee; I am not your waitress. Don’t fret/pout because a male colleague’s work took precedence over yours – priority is about how important a task is to the company and its clients, not whether or not you had your work in my in-box first. Don’t ask me to type your thesis, letter to the HOA, job resume, etc.; that’s not what the company pays me for. Don’t wear that hot pink skirt that shows all but your real estate to work then ask me how you look in it; you may not like my answer. Don’t boob and sob in the office. Don’t yell at your boyfriend, ex, significant other of the week, etc. over the phone in my presence; better yet, refrain from the vulgar profanities and name-calling. Don’t repeatedly have me lie to clients because your nails are wet, or you just don’t feel like coming to the phone. Don’t bring your brats to work and expect me to watch them while they knock over/break everything in sight while clients are kept waiting. Don’t comment on my makeup, wardrobe choices; you are not my fashion consultant. Don’t borrow anything from me, not even lunch money. Don’t make disparaging remarks to me or call me names; there are laws that protect me against that sort of abuse and you just might find yourself needing that resume I wouldn’t type for you. Don’t man bash, company bash, or anything bash in my presence; it makes you look petty and not altogether bright. Repeat after me: I am not Meryl Streep in the Devil Wears Prada: a) I can’t afford Prada, and b) I could never wield that much power. Repeat after me: I am confident in who I am as an individual and where I stand as an intelligent, contributing leader of this company and, as such, choose to honor and respect my employees, men and women alike. Good. See you at the head of that long oval table where you clearly belong.
I’ve had the oppertunity to work for many boss both men and women in my career. I’ve met terrible boss of both sexes. In my career, I’ve worked for five women bosses. Of the five women bosses, three have been absolutely terrible. The other two have been the best I’ve ever had in my career. In other words, I found that with women bosses there isn’t a middle ground. You can either have a great boss or a very poor boss. All women bosses I had did have one thing in common. They were all ambitious and constantly strive to succeed. The poor bosses were ambitious to the point where they would try to succeed at the expense of others. They didn’t back up their employees nor did they listen to their advice. The poor ones were power hungry. They were aggressive with their staff. They all wanted to have the largest team possible but they didn’t know how to take care of them. For instance the three poor bosses I had never sat down with me to go over my performance objectives for my evaluation. They were always the last to turn the year end employee reviews and non of the employees that work for these women received good ratings. They didn’t know how to write evaluations because they didn’t care if their employees succeed or not just as long as they (Boss) moved ahead. The department run by these poor supervisors was always the lowest in the organization. Despite the failure of the department the boss would move on to another department leaving a train wreack behind. At the other end of the spectrum, the two women bosses who I not only rate highly but I would rate as role models both had two things in common. They backed up their employees and they were excellent mentors. They did everything possible in order for their employees to succeed. As a result their employees were happy and the department in which these bosses supervised was constantly rated highest in the organization.
Completely agree with you! The employee manager relations/communication must be engraved well in a company culture and followed through appropriately.
Only when the employees thrive, are are productive can the org flourish. High handed managers are not what we need and must be flushed well by upper management…
At least we can hope for that to happen!