Management style and gender, or the power of women in business
Does the 21st century economy need more of the "female factor" in management? Poland and the world have seen a significant increase in influential women in top government and business positions in recent years. Female managers are said to perform better under conditions of crisis and uncertainty. Does a manager's gender really affect her management style?
Is there a "masculine" and "feminine" management style?
Management style differs between men and women, among other reasons.
different brain functioning.
In both sexes. They process information differently, resulting in different abilities and behaviors. The female brain has more connections between the right and left hemispheres, so more information is exchanged between them. In men, on the other hand, more connections are formed within each brain hemisphere separately. This difference means that women are equipped to receive a wider range of sensory information, connect it more easily, and see the relationships between them. This gives them a better ability to combine and associate verbal and visual information with each other. In addition, they can also better read subtle cues, such as emotional tones of voice, gestures and facial expressions. In the male brain, on the other hand, more functions are controlled by a function-specific area only. The result is that they focus better on tasks and don't get as easily distracted by superfluous information.
Management style and psychological gender
Traits such as, for example, rationality, independence, aggressiveness, self-confidence, ease of decision-making and not giving up in difficult situations are traditionally attributed to men. In contrast, traits such as emotionality, caring, sensitivity to the needs of others, the ability to sacrifice, submissiveness or warmth in social relationships are considered typically feminine. A counter to such simplistic attribution of traits to people, solely according to their biological characteristics, is the concept of psychological gender, introduced by American psychologist Sandra Bem. According to her, femininity and masculinity together form a continuum. Where one places oneself on it means defining one's psychological gender - that is, how one agrees with what is culturally feminine and masculine. In the middle of the bipolar masculinity-femininity scale is the
androgyny,.
denoting the presence in a person of psychological traits characteristic of both men and women. It is believed that androgynous people are better adapted to social functioning than gender-stigmatized people. They have higher levels of openness, are more communicative, flexible, empathetic, partnered and creative, and present greater independence of opinion and resistance to conformity. In difficult situations, they have a greater capacity for constructive action, they do not limit their behavior to the extent of conforming to gender stereotypes, but demonstrate a high flexibility of response forms and a richer repertoire of actions. They are able to find effective solutions to problems, while experiencing lower levels of anxiety and greater self-confidence than people defined according to biological sex.
The modern boss should be characterized by a "feminine" management style
There have been significant changes in the global economy over the past two decades:
The spread of information technology (ICT),
New forms of work organization (remote work, project teams, network structures)
Intangible resources as a factor of competitiveness (knowledge and intellectual capital)
The disappearance of traditional hierarchical structures - flattening and decentralization of the decision-making process
The entry of young people from Generation Y into the labor market.
They require managers to develop new competencies and modify traditional management styles. Modern management attaches less importance to hierarchy, in the knowledge economy relationships and teamwork are important. It can be said that companies are demanding more competencies from the "feminine" catalog from managers. These include empathy, the ability to communicate in a diverse team, cooperation and teamwork. The ability to negotiate in win-win terms, flexibility and openness to frequent change are also valued. Studies indicate that greater participation of women on company boards has a positive impact on improving company performance and financial results. This essentially means that the modern boss needs to be more "feminine" in management style.
Regardless of whether he is a man or a woman, he should constantly develop his managerial competence and flexibly apply different strategies that are effective in a given situation.
