Carol Smith, senior vice president for the Elle Group, said recently that “female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers.” That prompted the New York Times to ask some executives, professors and a psychologist what research shows about the differences between women and men as managers.
Some of their comments:
“Women are less ‘bossy,’ probably because people dislike bossy women even more than bossy men.”
“None of this behavior matters if it’s accompanied with a denial of the continued existence of sexism in the workplace.”
“Women are often better communicators because their brains are more networked for language.”
“Carol Smith is wrong about her blanket statement about women being better managers. But she’s right about something else. Whether we’re talking about mentoring, managing or office politics, the research is clear: Men and women together are the best.”
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25 Comments
Oh sure, women make better bosses.
And Hispanics are more compasionate then others.
So, the best boss would be a Hispanic Woman.
I’ve had good bosses and bad bosses. Of both sexes. Gender has tended to make little difference. However, many women will often state that they would rather work for a man. That a woman boss is often “difficult” to other women. Me, I never noticed much difference.
littlejohn
Posted August 3, 2009 at 12:21 pm | Permalink
However, many women will often state that they would rather work for a man. That a woman boss is often “difficult” to other women. Me, I never noticed much difference.
_______________________
I’ve had mixed results. I’ve only worked for 2 women. One was the greatest and the other was a twit. But I’ve noticed that women have a tough time working for women. And at least in manufacturing, women tend not to get along if they have to work together.
“Carol Smith, senior vice president for the Elle Group, said recently that “female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers”
Ssn;t that Kinda sexist thinking? Shouldn’t she be fired for such statements? Should Harvard apologize to Summers?
littlejohn
Posted August 3, 2009 at 12:34 pm | Permalink
“Carol Smith, senior vice president for the Elle Group, said recently that “female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers”
—————————————–
Yeah, try to name just one great nation that some rich ole white guy built…..
Attractive younger women, with big bo obs and nice tails make the best bosses.
JimJohnson
Posted August 3, 2009 at 12:37 pm | Permalink
Attractive younger women, with big bo obs and nice tails make the best bosses.
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Women like that frighten libtard men….
Hey, Phill, speaking of iconic women and an eagle idol, is the newspaper going to cover Kathleen Sebelius GETTING HER HAT HANDED TO HER IN A TOWN HALL MEETING ON OBAMA’S HEALTH PLAN? WOW!!!
Oh, for the days of peddling the kid’s “Don’t Drop the Soap” game and hosting parties for a late term abortionist in Cedar Crest!
“the_truth_hurts” salivates –
“…Kathleen Sebelius GETTING HER HAT HANDED TO HER IN A TOWN HALL MEETING ON OBAMA’S HEALTH PLAN?”
The truth must hurt you a lot, since you avoid it so incessantly.
“okobserver” and I discussed the videotape earlier on another thread. We agreed…
“If your congressman hasn’t read the bill, tell ‘im to read it.”
…was a solid, rational response.
Here, “the_truth_hurts” –
You can have your hat back.
Yes.
BlueJay
Posted August 3, 2009 at 2:01 pm | Permalink
Yes.
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BeeJay cannot concieve a better boss than herself….
biased1
Posted August 3, 2009 at 2:06 pm | Permalink
BlueJay
Posted August 3, 2009 at 2:01 pm | Permalink
Yes.
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BeeJay cannot concieve a better boss than herself….
———————————–
Who would hire him?
Do women make better bosses?
==============================
I don’t know.
I don’t have the time or the patience to review each and everyone of them.
Depends on the woman or the man who makes the better boss. I can tell you the absolutely worst boss to work for is a multimillionaire who hasn’t made a business that didn’t go bankrupt in a decade. (long story, boring)
Ironically, there appears to be, at least in my experience, be more prima dona men than women, whose entry into a room is preceded by a huge ego with little else following.
Women do make better bosses. But management types are by and large jerks. The person who wants to be in charge is usually the worst one for the job and wins it not through performance but an ability to kiss up.
kiss up? suck up? let me guess, bj…when anyone in school studied hard, applied themselves, didn’t create problems in class and got better grades than you, you accused them of being ‘teachers’ pet’, didn’t you?
you seem incredibly bitter towards anyone who has gotten ahead, been promoted or been even moderately successful.
Bosses? I have had male/female, black/white/Asian/Hispanic. Can’t say any one gender/race/ethnicity shines above any others.
In my experiences, women DO NOT make better bosses. They tend to let their feelings get in the way of productivity. If they don’t like someone, they will ride you like they ride an ex-husband. They let their emotions guide their decisions.
At my last place of employment, we had a very good Director who had been with us for 8 years. When the new lady boss took over, we thought she was going to get us going on the new software package but she came in with the opinion that none of us wanted it. We had wanted it for years. Needless to say, she proceeded to fire us or drive us all away. None of us were left and now, she is not either.
I think a lot of women feel like they need to prove something so they are willing to totally destroy a person or persons just to prove that they are not weak. When I was in the military, we began with a lady drill sergeant. I was very glad when she left and we were assigned a male drill sergeant. He was tough but he didn’t make it personal.
I am a woman, and I prefer male bosses.
Probably slept your way up the ladder some time before electricity eh “Borg”?
Raptor in this country, having a hostile view of management just makes good sense.
For some odd reason, the management culture in America treats labor as enemies. In Europe, the relationship is much less adversarial.
And why do I get the feeling that you are IN management and that is why what I said stung.
I did the management bit a little myself. Yelling at people I agree with over stuff I didn’t care about. Trying to find something wrong with people who were working while I merely watched. Not for me. Unfortunately, the very people attracted to that sort of thing are the worst at it.
The best boss I ever had was a woman.
We got into over a procedure. I won’t go into it here but we ended up in a hot shouting match in front of a dozen other workers. She even threatened to fire me for insubordination.
When she found out that I was right and she was wrong, she didn’t even have to apologize. But she gathered together everyone who had been present and admitted that she had been wrong and I had been right and ASKED me for forgiveness! THAT’S class.
I don’t believe a word of it, bj. Your bitterness toward anyone who has demonstrated a modicum of success transcends any reason. My position is none of your concern, but I can thank my lucky stars I have never (and hopefully never will) be associated with you in the work place. ‘yelling at people’ is not professional management by any stretch of the imagination.
and if your idea of supervision is to ‘merely watch’ is misguided as well.
i pity your employer.
The odd thing is that a woman cannot assert herself effectively without being labeled. If a woman acted like a man in the workplace, she would be called all sorts of unlikable names.
That behavior is just accepted when done by a male.
VICTIM! VICTIM!
“Political_mama
Posted August 3, 2009 at 8:46 pm | Permalink
The odd thing is that a woman cannot assert herself effectively without being labeled”
Not true in my workplace. Perhaps you need a change of scenery.