Female managers\bosses, what has your experience been with them?

Question

I've found them easier to approach and discuss problems with, but I've noticed allmost all female managers I've worked for have often made irrational\emotion based decisions, some were very methodical and religious in the way they did things.Many suffered from an inability to see the bigger picture and to see in depth the impact of their impulsive decisions...

so what have your experiences been?

Answer 1

Gee- Sounds like you have had a lot of different bosses over time..... Are you sure it's not you with the problem...??

Answer 2

I'm a manager and I can't afford to make irrational decisions and neglect the bigger picture.

Men handle stress a lot better than women do and this is the main reason men usually make better managers.

Answer 3

male bosses are better,women hold too many grudges.

Answer 4

Well I had a female manager at a telemarketing company one summer.  I have to say that I didn't enjoy it at all.  It was really annoying as h**l to work under her.  Every friggen day, I had to deal with her constant nagging about sales and such.  If I tell her that something is wrong with my system or something is wrong with my headset or something at my cubicle, she would simply ignore me.  If a person wanted a manager, I got ignored...And this was often the case like...every three days or something.  She was really annoying to work with and didn't give any good pointers either.  There was a couple of managers who were female and pretty cool..And all of the male managers were pretty cool too and didn't mind talking to irrate customers and such.  MOST of the female managers (except the head manager and one other lady) were hardasses though.  It felt like they loved getting me written up or something...

HOWEVER, at my work study job, my boss was an older lady and I worked in the history department.  She was the best boss I could ever have.  Very flexible and easy going, though tough in her own way.  She was very organized and nice to everybody.  I really enjoyed working under her a lot and wish I could work there again this semester but the government didn't want to award me a work study award...*sighs*

So I've had mixed experiences.

Answer 5

I prefer male boss.  Everytime I had females in charge,  they always

try to hook up with me.  =)

Answer 6

ii lke men bosses betteer

Answer 7

I have had some good ones and some not so good ones, i think it relies more on the individual leadership style.  

Answer 8

For me the majority of female managers/supers were poor managers.  The majority of male mangagers/supers were  good.  

Answer 9

Women can see things differently in my experience, men are often playing a long term game and women will be caught up in little battles.  Perhaps this answers the chess question?

I know two female bosses who don't like hiring other women.

I had another in Australia, we began socializing, one night we got really out of it and myself and a friend "roast" her, at the time she kept saying how lucky she was but she was uncomfortable with it in work afterwards so we left, because we are gentlemen and we thought it best we brought our special brand of trouble elsewhere.

Answer 10

I've had a 50/50 experience with female managers. Some are very professional and some let their status go to their head.

Answer 11

I have only worked for female bosses at retail stores, two of them i liked and one of them i hated (who called me racist right when she started because i would return a broken 5 year old necklace from a black customer, who I also dressed down severely for her incompetence in front of the manager who was training her)

Answer 12

It's all about the person in general, male/female make no difference.  I've had very good female bosses and 1 exceptionally bad female boss, but the exact same is true for males.  If you try to judge someone based on gender alone your more apt to misjudge.

Answer 13

My overall experience has been the same as bosses who were men: some good and some bad, but the worst of the worse have been women.

The female bosses I've had were qualified for their positions and had the necessary knowledge, but some of them did not get along well with their peers and subordinates. They seemed as if they had a chip on their shoulder and had something to prove by breaking everyone's balls. I found them the most difficult to approach and the least willing to teach and take a personal hand in anyone's job development. A couple were obviously emotionally unstable, crying a lot at work, and inconsistent in their treatment towards others. One minute everything is fine and the next they are biting heads off.

Answer 14

Female bosses can be great if you are a male. Sometimes they might show favoritism to a man that they think is handsome. Also, if you make them laugh from time to time they will be lighter on you if you make a mistake. As long as a male is charming, doesn't come on to them in a sexual harassment type manner, then most likely he is a o.k.On the other hand if you are a female, they can be shady to you. They can single you out if they don't like you and hold grudges. If they don't like you for some reason, they can look for any reason to fire you. This doesn't apply to all female managers, but it does to most.  

Answer 15

In my 30-year career, I've found that I generally prefer working for women.  I'm not entirely sure why, because I've had good and bad bosses on both sides.  I guess I develop more congenial working relationships with women.

OTOH, I don't think any one person has enough bosses even over the course of an entire career to comprise a sufficient statistical sample to draw any general conclusions.

Answer 16

The only female manager who ever did that was the one who managed a department store I worked at very briefly. She fired me on the spot after I demonstrated that I wasn't very good at interacting with customers. She knew I didn't have any retail experience, but didn't give me a chance to improve myself.

At the radio station where I volunteer, the program director is a woman, and there is essentially no difference in style between her and the male station manager. They're both very good at what they do.

Answer 17

Very good.

In fact, of all the bosses, male and female, I've had in over 35 years in the paid workforce I've actually only ever had a couple of lousy bosses. True, those couple were pretty bad, but putting it in perspective, I also learned a LOT from them, in one way and another!

The women bosses I've been lucky enough to work with have been great bosses, excellent managers and willing to share their knowledge and expertise with staff and others.

I have nothing but respect for them! And no, I can't say I've noticed a lot of 'emotion based' decision making, lol. In most professional situations you don't see a real lot of that.

Cheers :-)

Answer 18

I had a female boss that was so openly feminist that she fired most men under her, and, appointed women to replace them, and, was so aggressive about her power, would make very bad decisions...

I had another female boss that was at her best with critical thinking, and, would force herself to leave behind any gender issues, which she admitted was difficult for her to do.

Both were associated with nationally recognize brands and were at the organizational officer level.

Answer 19

All of my favourite managers have been female.  I have actually never had any issues with either s*x in terms of management.  I just read this interesting book entitled, Snakes in Suits that ascertains that the best managers are sociopaths because they really don't care.  If your child is enduring life threatening surgery or you father just died they don't care and will demand you continue working.  It would seem they are the most productive of managers since they lack  a conscience.

This depends more on individual leadership stye and has little to do with gender.

Answer 20

While I've had male bosses who were psycho, female bosses can  pretty vindictive and petty. One woman held a grudge for two weeks because someone snapped at her. She then took her revenge by ordering that person (a senior in the firm) to run a gopher errand.

Answer 21

Only once in my life have I ever had a direct supervisor/manager who was male.  The rest have been female.  While some are better than others, I am in a position to see male managers in action next to their female counterparts.  Both have their strengths and weaknesses and individual character flaws, but I haven't seen any indication that men are better at being supervisors or vice versa.  I judge them on an individual basis only.