Unfeeling Female Bosses Fail to Win Over Staff

Newswise — Female managers who are seen as unkind, insensitive and unaware of others' feelings are judged as worse bosses because of it " yet men who exhibit the same qualities aren't.

This is the conclusion of Kristin Byron, assistant professor of management in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, who wanted to see if being good at spotting emotions meant managers had more satisfied staff. She revealed her findings in the November 24, 2007 issue of the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.

Byron studied 44 part-time students who were employed in a position with supervisory responsibilities as part of their Master's in Business Administration course, and 78 managers from four participating companies in the hospitality industry (i.e. upscale restaurant and catering companies), to see how good they were at spotting emotions.

She also asked the staff of these managers to rate how supportive their manager was (by scoring statements such as 'My manager shows concern for me as a person'), how persuasive they were (scoring statements such as 'My manager can inspire enthusiasm for a project') and how satisfied they were (scoring statements like 'I am satisfied with the degree of respect and fair treatment I get from my boss').

She found that female managers who couldn't read unspoken emotions, such as facial expressions, posture, and tone of voice, were seen as less caring and thus received lower ratings of satisfaction from their staff. But male leaders who were bad at spotting emotions were not subject to the same expectations.

"It seems female managers may be expected to be sensitive to others' emotions and to demonstrate this sensitivity by providing emotional support. Because of this, female managers' job performance is judged on them being understanding, kind, supportive and sensitive," says Byron. "In contrast, this is not the basis to evaluate the performance of male managers. It is far more important for male managers, and men, in general, to be seen as analytical, logical and good at reasoning than showing care and concern for others."