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So far I have prefered working for female bosses. They have both been good mentors and worked to achieve company goals and to grow me in the company without complaint from me.
Both male bosses I have worked for have sat around angry when another guy at the department has purchased a flashier car than they have, spent time trying to "out do" the other VPs with their departmental meetings etc, and using me like a glorified secretary, attempting to send me on non-job related errands to make them look important.
I have had the problem with a female supervisor of treating us, her male underlings, like her children, in a negative sense. Talking down to us and trying to keep an eye on us and control us like she would/does her own children.
Yup I have a female boss now who treats me like her child and even tells me she thinks of me as a son....its really weird.
Some male bosses are good.
Some male bosses are bad.
Some female bosses are good.
Some female bosses are bad.
In the case of female bosses, a lot depends on how she reached her position. Did she advance the same as a typical male employee would? Did she never get married and completely sacrifice her personal life to get her position? Did she get her position due to an affirmative action program? There are so many variables.
I am surprised no one posted this article from the Wall Street Journal about female bosses.
That is an interesting article. But, to be honest, I find that much of the behavior described in the article applies, to some degree, to bosses and employees of both genders.
An interesting point is that it says that it's surprising that having more female bosses hasn't lead to a kinder, gentler workplace. The reason for that is obvious: the type of women (and men) who get into positions of authority, unfortunately, are not the kind, gentle type of people.
while i personally believe that men and women should enjoy their gender roles (women should be nurturing, men should be dominant), a boss depends on many things and very little with gender. i have had bad male bosses and good female bosses and vice versa. it really depends on personality. that new female boss of yahoo just screwed over her own gender by forcing employees (specifically and most likely mothers) to come into work when they can do the same work at home while taking care of their kids. work is work. as long as you do it, it doesn't matter where. does it matter if i fix my car in my garage or michael's garage down the block or one owned by the company ford (where i am likely to get ripped off by bogus charges)? the end result is to fix it.
anyhow, there is just one example. a bad female boss. and then there are female bosses who are opposite of her who are very understanding. i once had a male boss who was never satisfied and always wanted more out of employees. i learned quickly to put on a horse and pony show just for him.
I've worked for men and women, and would always prefer to work for a man.
Women are too often petty, underhanded, jealous, easily threatened, gossipy, catty and emotional. They also tend to blur boundaries with their underlings, which causes problems with respect in the hierarchy.
Some male bosses are good.
Some male bosses are bad.
Some female bosses are good.
Some female bosses are bad.
In the case of female bosses, a lot depends on how she reached her position. Did she advance the same as a typical male employee would? Did she never get married and completely sacrifice her personal life to get her position? Did she get her position due to an affirmative action program? There are so many variables.
My worst female boss (not worst boss, that title goes to my father) had got her position because she was good friends with the VP at the time. They immediately became friends years before when he hired her originally when he was just a director in the company. His wife and my former boss both went to the same all girls college, so that was a big part of it. Also there was an issue of race. my VP was black, and he hired a black female manager. Much of his management staff were all black, but there are a few white faces thrown in there. Most of the management staff had graudated from HBCUs as well.
I think everything was fine until he was pushed out and force to resign. No longer having the protection of the VP, with the company coming off the worst fiscal year, and a more "whiter" executive staff, she panicked. She never wanted to rock the vote, so ate a lot of blame and controversy. I thnk a male in that position would have fought back, but she never tried. The thing is she took it out on us, basically making our lives miserable in the process. She was at the point she was making it up as she went along. This may not be a female issue, but maybe a natural reaction when people higher up on the nepotism chain start falling off.
The other woman, another black female manager at a different job got her job for somewhat better reasons. She had been our technical lead for awhile, and she knew what she was doing. But make no mistakes, she was NEVER a great manager. She was pretty much forced into the role. The manager she worked with was fired (he was only there because he was a good ol boy), and she served as interim manager until there was a replacement. The guy who replaced the former boss was a white guy, but damn good. He knew how to fight, and he actually ran two successful migration projects on budget. however they merged us with the development team (I was a system admistratior at the time) who was lead by a black director. He basically made my former boss a project manager over data center projects, and put the staff management for my team under the woman. She never asked for it, but she did EVERYTHING the director told her to do. He didn't understand datacenter operations, as he was a development manager. But she never tried to use her expertise to advise him, and instead was just a minion. I left the position as I got tired, but luckily that director got firerd from receiving a business trip gift from a vendor.
IMO it also depends on which "generation" the woman was raised. "Old school" women have often had to work harder to advance, and sometimes may feel like they have to "act like a man" (and sometimes they overdo it). Also god forbid you get a woman boss of any age who feels like they have "something to prove"! Otherwise have worked for the good and the bad in both genders. Although some female employees... now that's another issue altogether!
This. Especially in engineering, especially in hi-tech/telecom/software. Pretty much sums up my experiences. It's tolerable, but I won't go seeking out positions working for a female boss.
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