Okay, did that title get your attention? I hope so. Here’s why…
My friends over at Randstad sent me a peek at the results of their Work Watch survey they just completed. It’s focused on how employees perceive their bosses andcompares employers’ management styles to presidential personality types. Lots of interesting stats are included, but honestly, there was one that really caught my eye. When asked the question,
“Have you changed your work style/habits based on your manager’s personality?”
61% of males asked said 'yes,' while only 49% of females said 'yes.' Hmmm. I immediately wondered: Why are men more likely to change then women? I posed the question to a good friend of mine and she responded with the following, “That’s easy. Because most of them have male bosses and the ‘old boy’s club’ mentality still exists. Have you seen the show Mad Men? Even though it’s set 50 years ago, a lot of it still rings true.”
I think she might be right. Women might not be as inclined to change their habits because they don’t feel the need to. We could even argue that the male boss/female employee work relationship is different than the male boss/male employee relationship. Perhaps, men feel the need to be accepted by a male boss even after they were hired, whereas women feel if they were hired by a male boss, then they are accepted. Or, maybe there is still pressure to 'be one of the guys' in a lot of workplaces for men, while women in the same environment are excluded from this practice.
What do you think? Why is there such a difference in this statistic? Would it be different if there were more female bosses? I’d be interested to know of the people surveyed, how many of them had male bosses.
Now tell us. Have you changed your work habits because of your manager’s personality? If so, are you glad you did?
