Are females bosses or just bossy?

Grace Okigbo (not real name) is head of a section in one of the foremost banks but says she has not been given her due recognition as a leader or treated equally as her male colleagues. “My experience as a woman boss in a male dominated environment has been a most frustrating and discouraging one. For many years, I have observed that men bosses are more respected by far than women who are on the same level as they are or even senior to them; regardless of experience and proven success. It is worse still when you are a single lady.  

“The guys receive more assistance and accolades than we do and we usually have to work twice as hard just to receive a small amount of recognition even though we have more responsibilities in the end with hardly any authority. It has also been my experience that women often oversee huge areas of responsibility but have little or no authority.

I have been in numerous meetings where women’s suggestions are continually put down while their male peers are applauded for their contributions. Such things are so discouraging that one gets weary of fighting for what you believe in. The female subordinates don’t even help matters. They can be so much nastier to their women bosses then they would ever even think of being to a male boss.  

Employees under female bosses also aired their views. “I have learnt a lot working with my boss”, said Donald Olayemi. “She is detail oriented, as against us men who prefer to look at the big picture. It went beyond being tough. She had succeeded under very difficult circumstances by being absolutely ruthless, by sacrificing her private life and by giving her life to work. If you weren’t prepared to do the same, she had no time for you. She was much, much harder on women than she was on men. She looked down on women who had children or went home early. But it could all be just a matter of our own perceptions of what’s normal for a man and a woman. When a woman shows strength of character in a meeting, for instance, she may be seen as “aggressive” whereas her male counterpart is seen as “assertive”.

One would expect that women would enjoy working under woman as they are of the same sex and there is likely to be better understanding and compatibility amongst them.  But that doesn’t seem to be the case with Tina Momoh who obviously prefers to have a male boss.  “When I was going to get a new job, I prayed desperately not to work under another daughter of eve. I found my previous boss so overbearing I want to tell her to go to hell. To exercise her powers she ends up being rude and acting in manners I as well as my colleagues consider inappropriate. Nobody is contesting the fact that she is the boss, but she should recognise that nobody wants to be bossed around.”

In as much as there are views condemning female bosses and their modus operandi, they are deemed to be stricter than their male counterpart as well as being more effective managers.

Robert Kabacoff, a management consultant, conducted a study. He compared male and female managers at the same firms, with similar jobs, at the same management level, and with the same amount of supervisory experience. He examined 1,800 supervisors in 22 management skills. The women outranked the men on about half the measures.

Also, The Hagberg Consulting Group carried out a similar survey, examining evaluations of425 high-Ievel executives. Each was evaluated by about 25 people. The women execs won higher ratings on 42 of the 52 skills measured.

Jim Collison, President, Employers of America states that, “Not all female bosses are good. Not all male bosses are bad. What the studies really show is that the best bosses for today’s workforce are people -men as well as women -who have leadership styles most often associated with women and more often possessed by women than by men.” He went on to report findings of other experts.

What are important, though, he adds, are the skills and characteristics that women excel in. Some of these skills and characteristics where women have the edge in today’s work- place environment: coaching, teamwork, empowering employees, sharing information, sharing responsibility, consulting rather than dictating; motivating others, fostering communication, listening to others,  producing high-quality work. Males are more likely than females to have command-and-control behaviour styles. Women are more likely than males to be team builders and communicators.

“Think of the strengths and skills associated with men as the hard skills. Men are conditioned by society (and their genes seem programmed for this) to be tough. Until about 1950, men in developed nations were the “warriors,” the protectors, the “hunters” of society. This started changing in the 1960s. Think of the strengths and skills associated with women as the soft skills. Women are conditioned by society (and their genes have evolved for this, too) to be mothers, to share and to cooperate, to reduce tensions.

“Employees today want to work where they are appreciated and where they are listened to. Employees today don’t want to take orders/commands. They want to get guidance and have opportunities to achieve on their own. This brings to mind Tina Momoh’s comments.

It is safer to avoid conflict with your boss whether male or female but particularly with a female boss. The key word is sensitivity. Female bosses along with their accomplishments have heightened sensitivity. And unfortunately you do not realize when you may trigger a vicious response based on a sensitive issue or at a moment when she is more sensitive. Unfortunately, in many situations, once you are on her bad side, you are in a heap of future problems.