Female Supervisors Research Articles

Sex Differences in Leadership: Leadership Styles and Subordinate Satisfaction

In order to test some major hypotheses on leadership styles of women managers, empirical research was conducted among subordinates with male and female supervisors in Greek firms. Analysis of results showed that neither leadership styles nor subordinates′ satisfaction differed between employees with male and female managers. The conclusions to be drawn from this analysis are that gender should not influence hiring, promotion and delegation decisions, and that women managers should be encouraged to express certain innate qualities which could contribute to the improved co‐operation and team spirit within organisations.

Are Androgynous Managers Really More Effective?

Spence's Personal Attributes Questionnaire was used to measure the sex role orientation of 65 first-line supervisors from seven organizations. Contrary to the basic hypothesis and the theoretical literature, those who scored high on both masculinity and femininity (androgynous) and low on both (undifferentiated) were rated by their superiors as least effective. The most effective supervisors were high on either masculinity or femininity but not both. However, consistent with the previous research and our own predictions, successful female supervisors were found to be higher on masculinity than were unsuccessful female supervisors and more feminine than were male supervisors. The findings are discussed in terms of the limited research in this area, the possible negative consequences of androgyny, and the effect of the social context.

Supervisor Sex and Subordinate Influence Strategies.

This study explored the beliefs of men and women about what influence strategies they would consider using in a work-related disagreement with their supervisor as a function of their own sex and the sex of their supervisor. Subjects rated the likelihood of their taking each of 40 actions in order to get their own way. As expected, women considered using personal/dependent and negotiation strategies more than men; men considered using coercion/offering rewards for cooperation more than women. In addition, persons considering interaction with a female supervisor reported less likelihood of using reasoning and negotiation strategies and a greater likelihood of withdrawing from conflict than persons with a male supervisor.

When a Woman Is the Boss

This study explored the possibility that encouraging women to behave more dominantly in leadership situations will undermine their effectiveness rather than increase it. As predicted, women who enacted a dominant approach were found to be somewhat less influential overall than women who enacted a considerate, problem-solving approach and significantly less influential when they supervised male rather than mixed-sex subordinates. Women in subordinate roles gave domi nant female supervisors slightly higher ratings of effectiveness than considerate ones. Overall, however, women subordinates disliked their female bosses more than men did and judged them more negatively no matter which approach they enacted. It is concluded that women who wish to be effective leaders should be encouraged to behave considerately and to improve their participative management skills, not to act more like men.

Do women use different influences?

This study builds on an earlier one published in Women in Management Review Vol 2 No 3, that investigated the power bases that women use to influence their subordinates. The current investigation was undertaken to determine whether men differed from women in how they exert influence on their staff. There is a general lack of research comparing how male and female supervisors influence their subordinates, but it is needed to establish whether men and women differ when they hold managerial positions.

Sex Differences in Support for Organizational Advancement

While women workers have often been thought to receive less support than men to advance in organizations, these sex differences have not been systematically explored. Using a sample of 486 male and 356 female employees of a large federal bureaucracy, this article examines differences between men and women in their reports of social support from four potential sources: male peers, female peers, male supervisors, and female supervisors. Our findings indicate that, in general, (1) employees receive the most support from coworkers of the same sex, but supervisors support their male and female subordinates about equally, (2) when other variables are held constant, female employees give equal support to their male and female coworkers, while men continue to favor male coworkers, (3) youth and high-level position increase the amount of support men receive from each other, but diminish or have no effect on the amount of support women receive from men, and (4) workers receive more support from opposite-sex colleagues when members of their sex constitute a relatively small proportion of the total group.

A Test of the Expected Use of Influence Strategies by Male and Female Supervisors as Related to Job Satisfaction and Trust in Supervisor

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsVirginia Eman WheelessDr. Virginia Wheeless Is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at West Virginia University; Mr. Hudson Is a doctoral student In Communication at the University of Texas-Austin; and Dr. Lawrence Wheeless Is Professor of Communication Studies at West Virginia University.Donald C. HudsonDr. Virginia Wheeless Is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at West Virginia University; Mr. Hudson Is a doctoral student In Communication at the University of Texas-Austin; and Dr. Lawrence Wheeless Is Professor of Communication Studies at West Virginia University.Lawrence R. WheelessDr. Virginia Wheeless Is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at West Virginia University; Mr. Hudson Is a doctoral student In Communication at the University of Texas-Austin; and Dr. Lawrence Wheeless Is Professor of Communication Studies at West Virginia University.

Effects of Supervisors' Age, Sex, Number of Subordinates, and Tenure on Disciplinary Intentions

A literature review indicated little research on punishment in work settings despite the prevalence of punishment as a control technique. In the current study, 45 female supervisors and 36 male supervisors rated a list of 40 job-related behaviors as to the intensity of discipline they would administer to a subordinate who did any of the job-related behaviors. A multivariate analysis of variance of the ratings indicated no significant difference associated with sex of the rater as to the intensity of the discipline they would administer. Nonsignificant correlations were noted on disciplinary intentions with increasing age, tenure, and number of subordinates. These findings, along with other studies of sex differences in the work force, indicate such study of sex differences may need to be limited to a narrow field in which sex differences have been reported, such as perceived stress.

The Effects of Supervisor Sex and Work Environment on Attitude toward Older Employees

The effects of supervisor gender and work environment (public versus private sector) on supervisors' attitudes toward older employees were investigated. Participants attending a supervisory development institute completed questionnaires relating to performance appraisal practices in the public and private sectors. As part of this larger study, 120 participants were selected at random and combined in a balanced, 2 × 2 factorial ANOVA. Two independent variables — supervisor sex and type of work environment — were manipulated to assess their effects on supervisors' attitudes towards older employees. A significant main effect was found for type of work environment, confirming the hypothesis that public sector supervisors were more lenient in their evaluations of older employees. A main effect was also found for supervisor gender, but not in the predicted direction. Female supervisors were found to be more unfavorable in their evaluations of older employees. No interaction was found. Implications of findings and suggestions for future research are offered.

Race, Sex, and Supervisory Authority in Federal White-Collar Employment

Samuel Krislov argues that in the late 1960s many top black bureaucrats in the federal government found more form than substance in their jobs, and that virtually all worried that they were filling the role of "Art Buchwald's Negro Ph.D. with an engineering background who speaks ten languages-to sit by the door to convince everyone of the egalitarian principle of the business office in which he is employed." ' A great many black managers in the private sector seem to share this fear that they are "just being showcased."' Empirical research indicates that white males are much more likely to supervise subordinates than are women and minorities who appear to be similarly qualified.3 Affirmative action helps raise more women and minorities into upper level positions, but other forces may keep them out of the more powerful positions at those levels. Based on an intensive study of one corporation, Kanter argued that managers place a high premium on easy communication because they face great uncertainty in their work. They prefer peers very similar to themselves because it simplifies interaction. "Even people who looked different raised questions," she found, "because the difference in appearance might signify a different realm and range of meanings in communication." This made them especially reluctant to work with female and minority colleagues, whom they "decidedly placed in the category of the incomprehensible and unpredictable."4 Some employees do succeed without fitting the social norm, she argues, but they rise primarily in staff rather than line positions and remain outside both the social mainstream and the main lines of power. I Managers may hesitate to appoint female or minority supervisors because they fear resistance from subordinates. The federal government segregated black and white workers up into the 1950s, justifying the segregation as the only path for blacks to become bosses, since few considered the idea of assigning blacks to oversee whites.6 A 1965 Harvard Business Review poll of 1,000 male and 900 female executives found that ony 9 percent of the men and 15 percent of the women agreed that "men feel comfortable working for women."7 In a survey of 30,000 federal civil service employees, nearly three-quarters said that men make better supervisors than women. 8 Women and minorities may thus face even more obstacles in obtaining authority over fellow employees than they do in achieving high salaries in federal employment. Certainly, white males dominate the

Supervisory Behavior and Sex Role Stereotypes in Human Service Organizations

The sex role congruency hypothesis as it pertains to supervisory initiating structure and consideration was tested among 144 social workers in a human service agency in the northeast. The results indicated that male social workers responded negatively to female superiors' initiating structure and positively to male supervisor' initiating structure. Female social workers responded more positively to female supervisors' initiating structure than they did to male supervisors' initiating structure. The implication of these findings for future research were discussed.

Sex and Power in the Federal Bureaucracy

Questionnaire data from 152 female employees and 46 supervisors in a large federal bureaucracy are used to test Kanter's hypothesis that sex differences in supervisory behavior result from sex differences in organizational power. Female subordinates of female supervisors, compared to female subordinates of male supervisors, report less job satisfaction and lower group morale and are more likely to describe their supervisor's behavior as controlling and particularistic. However, when differences in organizational power (as measured by an index comprised of supervisor's job status, the amount of voice they believe they have in their superior's decisions, and the amount of autonomy they feel they have with respect to their superior) are controlled, differences between male and female supervisors on all of these variables are significantly reduced. The results are interpreted as providing support for Kanter's theory.

Gender issues in psychiatric supervision

P SYCHIATRIC SUPERVISION is influenced by the subtle interplay of numerous characteristics of the supervisor, supervisee, and patient. The racial, cultural, educational. social, generational, and economic characteristics of the members of the supervision triad shape and dictate their interactional processes. The genders of those involved are probably even more critical to the interchanges among them; however, one is hard put to find any discussion of gender issues per se in the classic text9 on psychiatric supervision. Indeed, it is only since the advent of the women’s movement that the literature3s4 has begun to focus on gender issues in psychotherapy. Most of this literature is written by and about women in therapy. The men say little about themselves. While the literature on psychotherapy is expanding rapidly, few articles address gender issues in psychiatric supervision.5-Y In these articles the authors stress the importance of using female supervisors in training programs. Their reasons are several: (1) female residents need and want female role models from whom they can learn and with whom they can identify; (2) male residents need the experience of being supervised by a female authority figure to heighten their awareness of unrecognized values, attitudes, and countertransferential problems around females in authority; (3) male residents who for competitive or other reasons resist learning from men, may be taught more successfully by women; and (4) the female supervisor may serve as an advocate for the female patient in therapy with a male resident. A colleague suggested to one of the author9 that it was desirable for either the therapist or the supervisor to be of the same sex as the patient in order to understand any particular gender-related problems of the patient. From this the author posited:

Styles of management and communication: A comparative study of men and women

While women increasingly are assuming positions of prominence in modern organizations, and while considerable research exists demonstrating that, in general, males and females in some respects differ in their communication patterns, no previous study has sought to determine what differences, if any, exist between the communicative behaviors exhibited by male and female supervisors in organizations. Thus, the present study was undertaken to discover whether female managers enact a “male” role when they assume supervisory positions or provide a style of leadership which is somehow distinguishable from that typically enacted by males. Data provided by 150 subjects randomly selected from three organizations showed male and female managers to differ in several dimensions of communicative behavior. However, while those differences initially seemed to suggest that female managers supervise more effectively than male managers, subsequent analyses indicated that further research is needed before one can conclude t...

Sex of Supervisor, Sex of Subordinate, and Subordinate Job Satisfaction

It was hypothesized in the present research that there would be significant differences in the job satisfaction of subordinates depending upon the interaction between their sex and the sex of their supervisors. Using job satisfaction data from 139 employees, it was found that: (a) female subordinates supervised by male supervisors were less satisfied with supervision than those supervised by women, (b) females working under males reported a lower level of satisfaction with their co-workers than females supervised by females or males supervised by males, and (c) women who had female supervisors indicated a higher level of satisfaction with their work than men with male supervisors. Contrary to traditional stereotypes of women supervisors, the results suggested that these stereotypes might not be important in long-term, real-world situations.

Evaluation of male and female supervisors

Carlton E. Munson, DSW, is Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, University of Houston, Houston, Texas. Issues social work supervision reacteristics that are considered inap lated to sex of workers have propriate for management positions.7 never been studied empirically, and Research that has gone beyond atti there has been little theoretical writing tudes to evaluate actual performance on subject. This neglect is ironic, has not supported stereotypes. No since supervision is arena which differences have been found male many of issues that have been and female leadership styles, partic raised recently regarding sex discrimularly when leaders were evaluated ination are usually encountered and by their subordinates. Most studies handled. For example, granting salhave found no significant difference ary increases, evaluating performance, between workers who had a male or making employment decisions, and female for a superior job satisfac granting promotions are all compotion, satisfaction with salary, satisfac nents of supervision that have been tion with supervision, or promotional identified as major sources of disopportunity.8 crimination against women pro fession.1 Discrimination these areas is related to hierarchical organizaLITERATURE ON SUPERVISION tional arrangements which superHistorically, there has been little ex visors get paid more than caseworkers, ploration of roles of males and administrators get higher salaries than females social work supervision. In supervisors, so that . . unless women an early text Robinson merely men are free to move up supervisory tioned that a majority of supervisors and administrative positions, hidjn social work were women, and a den inequities become apparent. 2 revised edition of same book pub Women have fared badly this hierHshed thirteen years later, this refer archical process, and this has generence was eliminated.9 Reynolds, em ally been attributed to processes of phasizing that a majority of social socialization with respect to sex roles.3 workers were women, identified seven Much speculation exists regarding variations of supervisory situation how men and women feel about workbased on sex, age, education, and ing with and for women, but no empiriexperience of worker. Reynolds cal study has been done to support this places more emphasis on prob speculation.4 One research study lems associated with supervising males found that men obtain fewer responses than females. She depicts males as interviewing than women, and femore interested administration, and male interviewers obtain highest holds that women excel in fine responses from men, except situapoints of personal relationship that tions which interviewer and characterize casework practice.10 Rey interviewee were both young.5 Another nolds summarizes problem of study that did not explore sex varithe female supervisor of a male ables directly found that dissimilarity worker as follows: of parties an interview led to greater verbal accessibility.6 Since su^ woman supervisor . . . has a special pervision part involves interviewing hazard to overcome relation to a strategies, these studies demonstrate man worker whom she supervises. She ° ' mil» tan/1 t/% am/Mf x«/\rtinti/\M nntn need for research on impact may tend to enjoy association with . . him more than women workers, and to of sex differences on supervision. -mother him, with loss of objectivity Social work has lagged behind as t0 b;s educational needs, or to look other disciplines investigating and up to him, unconsciously, as the documenting expectations and peryoung prince who is destined to rule formance that are based on sex-role s°me day—and that very soon as com stereotypes of men and women orpared to time it would take a ganizational positions. In business woman to reach a similar position.11 and management, research on percepshe goes on to argue that this situa tions of leadership styles has demontion can be a problem for a man at strated that both men and women tempting to adjust to a profession that stereotype females as possessing charReynolds saw as unhealthily femin

Cross-sex supervision for cross-sex therapy.

The female supervisor can help the male therapist in training to overcome problems in cross-sex therapy by presenting herself as a role model, providing relevant literature, and sharing her own experiences as a woman and as a professional. By enabling the male trainee to identify safely with a woman in a position of relative power, she can help him to deal with the intrinsic limitations of empathy and with other problems, such as "countertransference deafness," that may block his work with female patients.

An Examination of the Moderating Effects of Supervisor Sex and Subordinate Sex Upon the Relationships Between Supervisory Behavior and Subordinate Outcomes in Mental Health Organizations.

Employees (N=592) in mental health organizations described their supervisors' supervisory behavior in terms of consideration, participation, initiating structure, and production emphasis. Very little evidence was found to support the supposition that male subordinates have differential supervisory role expectations for male and female supervisors. However, there was some support for this supposition among female subordinates.

Psychotherapy supervision: the problem of conflicting values.

Psychotherapy supervision offers an opportunity for examination of value differences between therapist and patient and therapist and supervisor. Effects of availability of female supervisors are discussed in relation to these value differences affecting referrals, therapeutic goals, assessment of psychopathology, termination, and supervision of cojoint therapy. Advocacy and ombudsman function of the female supervisor in a training program are emphasized.

Worker Performance and Evaluation of a Supervisor as a Function of Subordinate Sex, Supervisor Sex, and Leadership Style.

Male and female subordinates (N=88) completed a task under the direction of either a male or female supervisor exhibiting a set of behaviors labeled consideration or structure. Considerate supervis...