[kictanet] FYI - Who make better managers?
Alex Gakuru
alexgakuru.lists at gmail.com
Sat Jan 26 16:17:04 EAT 2008
Allow me to request that we deliberately choose to avoid posting
provocative messages to all list at this moment in time. If we now
engage in genders warfares while surviving/recovering from the crisis,
surely then we would only be starting fresh new wars,if not causing
extra, uncessary anxieties.
Bobby, please try non-confrontation seeking or suggestive postings.
Regards,
Alex
On Jan 26, 2008 3:25 PM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> This is an interesting article on who makes better managers and I felt it
> might best explain the increase in women among top mangement and not by
> affirmative action but their own effort.
>
> Maybe former President Moi knew more than most of us when he rejected the
> concept on affirmative action, nature has already given women the edge.
>
> Its time the male of the species looked for alternative past times, the
> corporate world is not home anymore.
>
> Regards
>
>
>
> Why companies need female managers
> By Tim Weber
> Business editor, BBC News website, in Davos
>
>
>
>
>
>
> When Helen Fisher speaks, the politically correct members of her audience
> are likely to flinch.
>
> Declaring that she's "definitely not a feminist," the American
> anthropologist from Rutgers University dissects the differences between men
> and women.
>
> Men are more analytical; women are better long-term planners.
>
> Each gender has a different way of falling in love.
>
> And the invention of the plough did more to set back gender equality than
> anything else since.
>
> What Ms Fisher says is not psychobabble. She bases her findings on
> archaeological evidence, MRI brain scans, genetics and large-scale surveys
> of how men and women behave.
>
> And understanding that male and female brains develop and behave
> differently is important not just if you are in the dating game.
>
> It also helps us to hire the right people, improve teamwork and can - to
> quote part of the title of her talk at the World Economic Forum in Davos -
> grow a company's bottomline.
>
> Once upon a time
>
> Double-income families are not an invention of modern times.
>
>
>
>
> "In prehistoric times, double-income families were the norm, and women
> provided 60-80% of the evening meal," says Ms Fisher.
>
> But following the invention of the plough and with the resulting need for
> hard manual labour, the power balance shifted.
>
> Only since World War I are women re-entering the workforce and regaining
> their status in society.
>
> But there are much more fundamental differences between men and women, says
> Ms Fisher, that have been shaped over millennia of evolution.
>
> For starters, men and women are thinking differently. Brain scans prove it,
> as does plenty of other research.
>
> On average, women gather more data, consider the context, are intuitive,
> have a sympathising mind and think more long-term. Ms Fisher calls it "web
> thinking".
>
> Men, on the other hand, are more focused, think linear, focus on rules and
> the short-term - "step thinking".
>
> The culprit
>
> Blame testosterone for the difference. From the moment the embryo's brain
> develops in the mother's womb, high testosterone levels will make you focus
> on details in later life.
>
>
>
>
> Now lift your hand and look at your palm. Is the ring finger longer than
> your index finger? Then you were the recipient of high levels of
> testosterone.
>
> Chances are that you are an analytical thinker (or very musical),
> regardless of gender, while a shorter ring finger suggests you have a more
> sympathising mind. And men tend to grow up on lots of testosterone.
>
> You want proof? Research shows that film scripts written by women are more
> complex and have more ambiguous endings than those written by men.
>
> Male doctors focus on the illness and its treatment, while female doctors
> take a more holistic approach.
>
> The long-term thinking of women makes them better investors.
>
> It's even true in the bedroom, says Ms Fisher. Men tend to focus more on
> what they are doing, while women are easily distracted, she says to slightly
> embarrassed laughter from her audience.
>
> And when men get older and their testosterone levels sink, their brain
> starts to work differently - they become more sympathetic to the plight of
> others.
>
> But why the difference? Well, over the ages men tended to be the hunters
> and needed to focus.
>
> Women, in contrast, had much more diverse tasks, like bringing up children
> (which Ms Fisher also believes may be the reason why women are better
> talkers: language is the key tool to control children).
>
> The business case
>
> So what does all this mean for business leaders?
>
> Combine the long-term thinking of women with the short-term focus of men.
>
> And bear in mind that different thinking also results in very different
> behaviour.
>
> Men think more in terms of status and rank. Women prefer flat hierarchies.
>
> Men can have tunnel vision, women may fail to get to the point.
>
> Women find it difficult to counter aggression. When men push back, it earns
> them the respect of other men.
>
> When women apologise, they are not really sorry. For men it's a serious
> affair, a perceived weakening of their status.
>
> Ms Fisher's list goes on and on, but her message is clear.
>
> Managers, says Ms Fisher, have to realise that men and women act
> differently, and that they complement each other.
>
> Having only men or women on your team would be like hopping on one foot
> instead of walking.
>
> As the status of women is on the rise again, says Ms Fisher, we "move
> forward to a lifestyle we had a million years ago".
>
>
> Story from BBC NEWS:
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/7209353.stm
>
> Published: 2008/01/26 00:09:17 GMT
>
> (c) BBC MMVIII
>
> Robert Yawe
> KAY System Technologies Ltd
> Phoenix House, 6th Floor
> P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
> KEnya
>
> Tel: +254722511225
>
>
> ________________________________
> Sent from Yahoo! - a smarter inbox.
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> This message was sent to: alexgakuru.lists at gmail.com
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alexgakuru.lists%40gmail.com
>
>
More information about the KICTANet
mailing list