Why women make better bosses

Women in management positions are often perceived as more demanding and difficult to work with, but a new study has found that they are actually better bosses compared to men.

According to the Spanish survey, women in top posts lead in a more democratic way, allow employees to participate in decision-making and establish interpersonal channels of communication much better than men.

"In line with known gender differences in individual leadership, we find that in workplaces with more women managers, more individualised employee feedback is carried out," study author Eduardo Melero, a professor of business administration at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, said.

"Likewise, we can see evidence, although weaker, that in these workplace decisions are made more democratically and more interpersonal channels of communications are established," Prof Melero said.

Those interpersonal channels of communication facilitated increased communication between management and employees in companies with women in management positions.

This, according to the researchers, has a two-fold benefit for these organisations. First, these companies are able to make more well-informed decisions, since employee feedback will be utilised in the decision-making process.

Additionally, employees will also have the feeling of contributing to and having their opinions heard at work.

"Women managers seem to be more inclined to use these types of practices, individually, as well as promoting them among the rest of the management team," Prof Melero said.

"And as such, a management team with more women could be more effective (keeping all other factors constant) when implementing them."

The research, published in the Journal of Business Research, was based on data from the Workplace Employment Relationships Survey, a survey of workplaces in the UK.

Prof Melero and colleagues analysed this data by looking at the number of women in management posts in companies and the leadership tactics employed at those companies.

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