Men v women: who are the better managers?

You have probably noticed blue-chip companies advertising job positions with a special provision - “Female applicants are especially encouraged to apply.” These days, it is not uncommon to find women outnumbering men in professions, especially service delivery. In fact, it is no longer newsworthy when an accomplished woman is promoted to lead a business entity or to run a company full of hard-charging men. So why is there still so much tension between men and women at work? Do men and women really lead in different ways? Do they view and use power differently?

Working environment
Ms Angelita Musimenta, a human resources expert with Pila Consultants, says gender has nothing to do with one’s performance at the workplace. “Gender may not be a key issue in defining who a good employer is. There are other factors that define who a good employer is. Again, such factors like competence and attitude are boosted by the work environment,” she says. Ms Musimenta says the working environment is a bigger determinant of work output, than gender or other differentials.

But Ms Lucky Brenda Kulabako, another city human resource expert, insists that women have a competitive edge over men when it comes to management since the former believe in solving problems faster than men. “Men have tended to demonstrate a ‘go for the kill’ mentality. They try to get as much as possible through pressure, intimidation, and the sheer desire to defeat at any cost whoever is sitting across the table from them. Yet for us women we prefer searching for common interests, solving problems, and collaborating to find win-win outcomes,” she told Jobs and Career.

Multi-tasking
She argues that a woman, from childhood is trained to do multiple tasks concurrently unlike their men counterparts who handle one at a time. “What I know is that a woman can attend to a crying baby, while washing, cooking or ironing and can ably extend this very ability to the workplace,” she says. Ms Kulabako insists women are good business heads because they are less egoistic and tend to be innovative. “As women we are naturally appreciative and reward workers for a job well done which men hardly do,” she says.

According to Ms Kulabako, women are gifted with a more appropriate approach of dealing with work stress .“Of course, there are studies which indicate men are better than women in various skills.
“But a study carried by the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2000 found that women tend to seek contact with others and social support when they are under stress, which is a psychologically much better way of coping with stress than the ‘fight-or-flight’ approach of men,” Ms Kulabako told Jobs and Career. She however warns that women who want to be business managers have to be honest about it - not only with themselves but also with the men they work with and the men they share their lives with.“Being mothers we have something in born that make us caring and loving what we do. And unlike men, it is very rare to find a woman abdicating her duties for no good reason,” she said.

Male perspective
But Mr Morris Kasibante, an independent human resource expert observes that women’s entire lives and social circles are based around hatred which makes them weaker to handle managerial challenges.
“Men don’t go in for that silly sort of nonsense. If we’re dissatisfied, we pick up and move out. We believe in perfection no matter how much it costs,” he says. A recent survey in UK revealed than most employees prefer male bosses because they “are more authoritative, straight-talking and better at making decisions than their female counterparts.”

The study also found that the fairer sex are better at delegation and more likely to dish out praise. The research found while women are good at dealing with employees’ personal issues within the office environment, most felt men were better at ‘steering the ship’. The study of 2,000 women in full or part-time employment were asked whether they would prefer to have a man or woman as their immediate line manager. Sixty three per cent expressed a male preference while thirty seven per cent prefer females .Also, a recent study by MSNBC.com and Elle magazine reports that “three out of four women who expressed a preference said they would rather work for a man than a woman.”