The Russian constitution guarantees both men and women equal rights. And business has long ceased to be male territory. Women executives, executives and business owners are not uncommon. It was once customary to say that there is no male or female management style, but there are professionals and non-professionals. Moreover, experts also often could not give an unambiguous answer about male and female styles in management.
But the legal framework is not able to make everyone the same - some studies show that gender differences in management styles do exist.
Control styles
Management style is a system of actions of a manager that is aimed at employees and serves to achieve business goals. Several scientific theories (McGregori, Strogdill, Likert, Mitchell and House) describe the concept of management style. The main goal they pursue is to improve the performance of managers. And they all in one way or another refer to the classification introduced by the psychologist Kurt Lewin. He divided leadership styles into three clusters:
Authoritarian. Power is concentrated in the hands of one person.
Democratic. Managed by the group.
Liberal. The power of everyone. This style is also called anarchic.
With an authoritarian leadership style, the manager himself completely determines the methods and directions of work. Communication in the team is official, the opinion of employees does not play a decisive role. One of the features of this approach is a high degree of control over subordinates.
In a democratic style, collegiality prevails, the instructions of the leader are often based on the opinion of subordinates. Responsibilities are decentralized.
In a liberal management style, the manager is removed from the team leadership process, often acting as an intermediary for employees. He only gives them data and tools to work with.
Gender: male and female management style
According to psychologist E.P. Ilyin, male leaders are characterized by a low level of communication and empathy. They are conservative and aggressive. Women, in contrast to men, are more inclined to empathy, social partnership, successfully unite the team and motivate employees to perform difficult tasks.
Researchers Elvira Gizametdinova and Rail Uraev in the article "Gender Differences in Management" provide the following data:
They give me presents. I enjoy getting them. Most people have a birthday party on this day.
This year I have my birthday party at home. My parents and I prepared for this day. We invited my friends and relatives to the party.
I celebrated my birthday on Sunday. I got up early in the morning. My father and I went to the shop and to the market to buy everything we needed for the party.
My mother stayed at home. She made cakes and laid the table. At four o'clock my relatives and friends came to congratulate me and I was glad to see them. They brought flowers, books, sweets and presents. I thanked them all.
We had a good holiday dinner on this day. During our merry party we sang songs, danced, made jokes and spoke about our life, hobbies, and future.
I enjoyed my birthday party.
