Men make better bosses, according to employees

THE glass ceiling that once stopped women rising to the top of the business world may have been broken but employees of both genders still think that men make better bosses, a new study has claimed.

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Two thirds of the nation's employees, both male and female, agree they would rather work for a man than a woman.

However, the report was met with scepticism by an expert in workplace behaviour who said the study did not match academic findings.

The criticisms levelled at female bosses included that they are bitchy, hormonal and incapable of leaving their personal lives at home.

A third of those polled claimed women in charge are "loose cannons" ready to stab colleagues in the back at any time, and who constantly feel threatened by other people in positions of authority.

By contrast, both male and female workers believed male bosses are less likely to get involved in office politics, are easier to reason with and rarely suffer from mood swings.

Men are also said to be more straight-talking than women and rarely talk about others behind their backs, it emerged.

David Brown of www.UKJobs.net, which conducted the research among 3,000 employees, said: "Incredibly, both men and women are in total agreement that men make better bosses - 63 per cent of women and 75 per cent of men comparatively.

"This indicates that while women might be more than capable of progressing to a management role, they lack some of the key skills required to be a good boss.

"No-one is suggesting that women aren't intelligent enough to be in senior positions, far from it, but perhaps they need to be more approachable and less competitive."

The study also showed 37 per cent believe women make terrible bosses because they can't help but bitch about senior management and people they employ.

Another 15 per cent said they find female bosses a bit too sharp-tongued and the same percentage say they are more worried about their appearance than their workloads.

Four in ten workers believe men are more able to distance themselves from politics and bitching, and 14 per cent said they find them altogether more reasonable.

Professor Cary Cooper, a psychologist and workplace behaviour expert, voiced doubts about the survey's claims.

He said: "I really can't understand that, because that's not what's come up in my research. I found that basically women managers have better EQ - emotional intelligence. They do look at the emotional side of things because being a manager is about team building. It's not just about decision-making, it's about getting people involved. Women tend to be better at that, so I can't understand why they have come up with these findings."

He added that while he could understand that some men still felt a deep-rooted antipathy towards the idea of a female boss, he found the survey's assertions about women disliking female bosses hard to fathom.

But Mr Brown added: "It sounds like our respondents are giving women quite a hard time, and obviously the findings don't relate to every single female boss out there."