Men may feel more threatened by female bosses, research finds

originally posted by: theabsolutetruth
I have worked in management roles since before my 20's and I have found in all of those roles that men don't like it and they were more assertive in their attitude even though vastly under qualified for questioning my authority.

That has been my experience, it isn't up for debate or for the usual hordes of women hating men /misogynists or accusations of ''misandry'' or ''sexism''.

May I ask how a 20 year old becomes a manager in any work place?

originally posted by: GUITARPLAYER

originally posted by: theabsolutetruth
I have worked in management roles since before my 20's and I have found in all of those roles that men don't like it and they were more assertive in their attitude even though vastly under qualified for questioning my authority.

That has been my experience, it isn't up for debate or for the usual hordes of women hating men /misogynists or accusations of ''misandry'' or ''sexism''.

May I ask how a 20 year old becomes a manager in any work place?

It's a company whose staff skew young. I was honestly shocked when I was picked. I wasn't trying to work my way up. I just knew my job well, fostered good working relationships and am well organized.

Our manager last year was 23 btw.

a reply to: JadeStar

My own experience with female bosses is that they actually were much more threatening. So, they would make threats. Perhaps the reason women feel more threatening to male employees is that they make more threats to male employees.

originally posted by: GUITARPLAYER
May I ask how a 20 year old becomes a manager in any work place?

I was the same age when I got my first managerial position.

a reply to: GUITARPLAYER

I worked in the summer for a baker that trained me in baking and we ran the cafe in a guest house, that was before I was 17, that provided a good basis for experience and work ethos.

I was then in a gap year and moved away to another country, I applied for a trainee manager job for Grand Metropolitan Retail, they said yes and put me on a 6 months intensive training course where I basically lived in a hotel for 6 months, again I relocated and was trained in all aspects of the catering business, from making dough, prepping veg, cooking, to waitressing, all aspects of maintenance, P&L's, forecasting, accounting, management etc and all with tests for each area and a final test at the end, all in all about 8 large manuals worth of learning and very intensive on the job training.

The ethos was to ensure managers know all aspects of the job properly before being able to manage. After my training I went to my restaurant as an assistant manager, within 3 months I was promoted to deputy manager and within a year manager, from there I went on to manage other businesses in many areas including hotels, retail, sales, offices, systems, projects etc. doing additional training, gaining experience and qualifications along the way.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: GUITARPLAYER
May I ask how a 20 year old becomes a manager in any work place?

I was the same age when I got my first managerial position.

How old were the people you managed?

originally posted by: GUITARPLAYER
How old were the people you managed?

The oldest was in his mid-40's

a reply to: GUITARPLAYER

My experience, the oldest possibly were bar staff and chefs in their 50's and a few times older dishwashing and cleaning ladies in their 70's.

a reply to: theabsolutetruth

Apparently my views are skewed being that I have worked in the manufacturing field where it takes a while to learn the process and then they normally go to college and get some education in management before they become managers. I’m in QA (quality assurance) where to get anywhere one has to be a engineer either through education or one who came up from working the floor to working in management. So please don’t take me wrong when I was amazed that managers were as young as you all have been.

a reply to: GUITARPLAYER

I have other qualifications above degree level in academic areas and I am doing postgraduate qualifications.

When I started in management my training was probably more intensive and better than many college courses at UK level 5 on a practical level. My training was on the job more than 36 hours a week and additional written work and tests. At the very least it was equivalent to an NVQ /National Diploma level 5, though probably more. It was on the job training more than 36 hours a week and written work and tests.

I teach FE and HE now and I know the levels of training involved in academic and vocational courses and I have to say the management courses I did back in the 80's were top notch, they paid for my hotel for 6 months while training and many other training weekends at country houses and in London, this was while company cars and employee perks were the norm, companies invested in staff and staff made to feel valued members of the company.

a reply to: GUITARPLAYER

That's actually a real problem I see in my field (software development), what I notice happen a lot of times is someone that wants to make $$. In college they shoot for the bare minimum cs degree and then major in something fluffy, finds work and barely scrapes by as a dev for less then 2 years until a management position opens (which they are aggressively jockeying for). Once they get that one management position on their resume they job hop from place to place.

To me, (in my field), if your in capable of doing a code review, you should not be managing a team of developers. Yet 90% of the managers I have ever encountered in my field are just like that. Its almost as if they are sales people that decided they want to be managers...which I don't think is too far from the truth. Most of these people know how to play polices and internal politics to their favor.

a reply to: sirChill


" Its almost as if they are sales people that decided they want to be managers...which I don't think is too far from the truth. Most of these people know how to play polices and internal politics to their favour.!

Reminds off the old adage, sirChill.

"The place is run by sociopath's and psychopaths"

On topic OP,

Women gaffers tend too be more ballsy than the men,
You see when men or work friends have worked together for twenty years plus they are more in tune with each others emotions and understand the hardships of life, like bringing up a problem child or a family member that had a breakdown.

A female boss doesn't relate to that unless she has worked/man managed this close "Fellowship of journeymen"

But im old school and a soft touch for anice smile and good eye contact,

Fox

originally posted by: JadeStar
The more i read the more i realize that masculinity seems to be a fairly fragile thing.

This is a very perceptive statement.

It depends on what you call "masculinity". There are men who like to assert their maleness into the world. In the latin community, this is known as "gallo". "Alpha personality" is another way to look at it.

But being a man, secure in yourself, requires nothing of this sort. I currently answer to 4 people. 3 of those people answer to me in return. We call ourselves "partner". But my direct supervisor is a woman. I recommended her for the job when her predecessor left the position open. Not all men feel threatened by female authority. I actually prefer it, and tend to be averse to overbearing male authority.

With not saying the overall study pertains to all men, maybe there's a bigger issue here not being discussed. I've had personal experience to share which goes in combination with the study. While being a female head of dept., supervisor etc., was meant with an unfair reception by males. Especially when employment where there are more males and/or a male orientated one. Often times being put in a role,the fact was I was quicker, smaller, etc., easier to complete on the job duties.

Is it limited to just women as bosses? Article says it's less so at the lower positions. Wonder if this has anything to do with the issue that women employed in the same industries as men make less money?

Have a plan communicate it clearly, have boundaries clearly defined and if people can't deal they are out.

Communicating clearly is the most important thing in my opinion.

I've had male and female bosses say you know what to do and then flip out because I didn't read their minds and do it exactly as they wanted.

If you communicate clearly and have a plan...You could be a poo flinging baboon and I'd be happy.

But then I'm a knuckle dragging military aircraft mechanic.

As far as the pay gap, if your working the same hours, taking the same risks the pay should be the same... But the problem is I have read cases where some females could only work day shift (kids) sued and won to receive the shift differential pay swings and miss received... While working only days.

Things like that is part of what's causing the angst towards women in the workplace...

I work in a male dominant career field, and every single time a woman comes to the flightline we (guys)get the same briefing. What we can say, what we can't say, what the punishment will be if we harass her etc.(note we harass the s&+# out of each other regardless of serial orientation, color, religion or sex for some of the women that did fit in)(secondary point the women that insulted us back fit in, those that reported us to the military hr we ignored unless we had to talk in relation to the job)

Sorry for the long ramble hope it made some sense just woke up and haven't had caffeine yet.