SUPERVISOR SEX AND STYLE 1

Supervisor Sex and Style and

Their Influence on Subordinates
Katie Rigby
Weber State University

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There are an ever-increasing percentage of women in the workplace excelling to boss
status. This percentage comes with a stigma that employees prefer a male boss to a female one.
Many studies have been conducted concerning what individuals perceive versus what they
actually think about gender and positions of authority This study tested job satisfaction, levels of
credibility, and dissent. Other studies test some of those same factors as well, alongside different
behavior and communication styles, nonverbal immediacy, and reading emotions.
Review of Related Literature
Behavior Style
John E. Baird, JR and Patricia Hayes Bradley conducted a study regarding the differences
in communicative behaviors as perceived by subordinates, titled, Styles of Management and
Communication: A Comparative Study of Men and Women. The Managerial Woman defined
behavior style as behavior in a work situation which appeared to contribute to these womens
executive success. While behavior style is important for males its more crucial for a woman
because they also have to get others to accept her in a role that is perceived to be for males only.
In Kristin Bryons article Male and Female Managers Ability to Read Emotions: Relationships
with Supervisors Performance Ratings and Subordinates Satisfaction Ratings she reports,
Female managers and leaders receive better (or worse) ratings when they exhibit (or fail to
exhibit) communal characteristics whereas male leaders are not subject to the same expectations
(Byron). Females in several different studies showed different communication styles and
behavioral skills. They were perceived to give more information about other departments, to
place greater emphasis upon happy interpersonal relationships, to be more receptive to
subordinates ideas, and to be more encouraging of subordinates efforts than were males (Baird
& Bradley).

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Female managers are expected to be more inter-personally oriented, more concerned with
others, more sensitive and nurturing, and to have more collective characteristics (Byron). As far
as communication styles go, females were seen as being more concerned and attentive while
their male counterparts were seen as dominant, direct, and quick to challenge others. It was
found to be more acceptable for males to be assertive and dominate, while females that were
reported doing it often had a more negative job satisfaction. Perceived supervisor dominance,
however, had a negative correlation with job satisfaction regardless of supervisor biological sex
(Baird & Bradley). Jason J. Teven in his article, Effects of Supervisor Social Influence,
Nonverbal Immediacy, and Biological Sex on Subordinates Perceptions of Job Satisfaction,
Liking, and Supervisor Credibility he found; Subordinates have negative attitudes toward
supervisors who employ legitimate and coercive power, who do not nonverbally express interest
in their subordinates, and who do not make them feel valued.
Supervisor Communication
Paul E. Madlock discovered in his study Employee Satisfaction: An Examination of
Supervisors Communication Competence that communicative behaviors displayed had a positive
influence on the subordinates job and communication satisfaction. Job satisfaction was
positively related to the supervisors promoting happy relations, encouraging effort, and being
open to ideas and negatively related to supervisor dominance. The purpose of his study was to
expand the understanding of supervisor subordinate relationships by examining the influence of
communication competence and nonverbal immediacy enacted by a supervisor, on their
subordinates satisfaction. They found that both nonverbal immediacy and communication
competence had a positive influence. This information led them to the idea that, organizations
may want to develop supervisory training programs in order to enhance the communication

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competence of supervisors, which in turn may result in greater employee satisfaction and
increased performance (Madlock). In this training it would also be beneficial to include some
information on body language and facial expressions. Becoming more effective at reading nonverbal cues has led to being seen as more sensitive and caring, having better listening and
communication skills, having more satisfied subordinates, and being more successful at the job
resulting in higher performance ratings (Byron). Its amazing the change that can happen when
individuals feel like their feelings are understood.
In Kristin Byrons study, mentioned previously, she found females were more accurate
than males at perceiving facial expressions of emotion. This was reflected in the study and it was
found that female managers who more accurately perceived non-verbal emotional expressions
received higher ratings of performance from their supervisors and higher ratings of satisfaction
from their subordinates (Byron) Female supervisors showing concern correlated with job
satisfaction and higher relationship quality. This information should be taken into account when
hiring managing male and female supervisors. The results considering supervisor-rated job
performance suggest that different standards of performance are being applied to male and
female managers (Byron). Managers who reported being more accurate at perceiving others
emotions had more satisfied subordinates and higher job performance ratings. Research has
generally been supportive of a positive link between accuracy in non-verbal emotion perception
and job performance, particularly for occupations that require high levels of interpersonal
interactions(Byron). Becoming more effective at reading non-verbal cues has lead to being
seen as more sensitive and caring person, better listening and communication skills, more
satisfied subordinates, and being more successful at the job resulting in higher performance
ratings.

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Jason J. Tevens study was designed to detect relationships among supervisor use of
power, nonverbal immediacy, and biological sex in respect to perceived supervisor credibility,
subordinate satisfaction, and liking for the supervisor. Supervisors were found to generate more
positive perceptions of credibility from subordinates by being more nonverbally immediate and
interacting from prosocial power bases. The 3 types of power bases as we learned from French &
Ravens traditional view of power are: reward, expert, and referent. Rewarding power is the idea
that you are doing something for them, giving them something positive or taking away
something negative. Expert power is having the knowledge or skills someone needs. Referent
power is having power over someone else because they like you and think highly or positively of
you. Supervisors that dont communicate in these types of prosocial ways are perceived
negatively to subordinates. Verbal behavior was found to play significant role in shaping
subordinates views of their supervisors.
Biological Sex and Job Satisfaction
Auburn University did a study titled Sex of Supervisor, Sex of Subordinate, and
Subordinate Job Satisfaction by Hubert S Field and Barbara E Caldwell. This study found out
several things. First, that female subordinates were more satisfied when a woman supervised
them. Female subordinates supervised by male supervisors were significantly less satisfied than
those supervised by women. Similarly, women who had female supervisors indicated a
significantly higher level of satisfaction with work than men with male supervisors. Paige Edley
di a long-term participant observation study of a woman-owned business. Her study was titled
Discursive Essentializing in a Woman-Owned Business: Gendered Stereotypes and Strategic
Subordination. Edley reported that a reward for the women was that they saw themselves
working in an ideal workplace because they could speak and act freely as women. In terms of

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satisfaction with co-workers, ratings were lower for females working under males than females
supervised by females or males supervised by males. Females showed they were significantly
less satisfied with men as their supervisor than with a woman supervisor. When supervised by
men, women were also less satisfied with their co-workers, and more satisfied with their work
with female supervisors. Many men and women have an internalized negative perception of
women since they, as a sex arent seen as having the qualities needed for a good leader. Results
show that perceptions are different from actual experiences when it comes to female supervisors.
The negative perceptions have developed it would seem from a lack of experience with women
in the leader role (Field & Caldwell).
Method
We posted an IRB approved survey on Survey Monkey. Each student had 8-13
individuals participate. We had a total of 353 participants. 131 participants were men (37.1%)
and 220 of the participants were female (62.3%). Two individuals declined to report which made
up .6%. The majority of the participants were white, 306 people making up 86.7%. The
Hispanic/Latino population made up 7.6% with 27 people. There were 8 (2.3%) Asian
American/Asian participants, 2 (.6%) African American/Black participants, and 1(.3%) Native
American participant. 6 (1.7%) individuals marked other for their ethnicity and 3(.8%) declined
to report.
Most of the survey participants (302, 85.6%) had one job. 50 (14.2%) individuals had
more than one job and one (.3%) individual declined to report. The two highest reported job
fields were Technical Sales, & Administrative Support with 133 (37.7%) and Managerial &
Professional with 114 (32.3%). Service Occupations followed with 65 (18.4%) participants.

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Operators, Fabricators, & Laborers had 19 (5.4%) participants; and Precision Production Craft &
Repair had 13 (3.7%) participants.
The highest to lowest reported income was as follows: 89 (25.2%) under $20,000, 52
(14.7%) between $40,000-50,000, 51 (14.4%) between $20,000-30,000, 49 (13.9%) between
$30,001-40,000, 31 (8.8%) between $50,001-60,000, 23 (6.5%) between $60,001-70,000, 20
(5.7%) had $70,001-80,000 and over $100,000, seven (2%) between $80,001-90,000, and four
(1.1%) between $90,001-100,000.
The hours worked a week reported by the participants ranged from four to 70 hours a
week. (M=38.35, SD=11.24, seven declined to report.) Individuals had worked at their respective
jobs from one to 384 months.
We used a likert type scale to test job satisfaction, credibility, and dissent.
The Credibility measure by McCroskey and Teven from 1999 includes three subscales
assessing competence, character, and caring. Responses to the items were solicited on 7-point
semantic differential scales such as bright/stupid (competence), honest/dishonest (character), and
insensitive/sensitive (caring). Caring resulted in Cronbachs alpha at .865, M=5.0, SD= 1.34.
Competence was Cronbachs alpha= .89, M=5.67, SD=1.2. Characters results were Cronbachs
alpha= .94, M=5.66, SD=1.43.
Job satisfaction measure from Wanzer, Booth-Butterfield, & Booth-Butterfields from
1996 was used testing three items on a 7-point Likert Scale ranging from Strongly Disagree (1)
to Strongly Agree (7). Cronbachs alpha= .84, M=4.9, SD=1.56. Credibility was split up into 3
sections: caring, competence, and character.
Organizational Dissent scale from Kassings in 1998 measures articulated, latent, and
displaced dissent. These responses were indicated on a 5-point Likert scale from Strongly

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Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (5). Its results in 3 sections are as follows: Articulated
Cronbachs alpha=.86, M=3.46, SD=.71; Latent Cronbachs alpha=.85, M=2.72, SD=.70;
Displaced Cronbachs alpha+.79, M=3.2, SD=.73.
Results
Hypothesis one predicted that employees would report differing levels of satisfaction
with male and female superiors. Reports of an independent samples t-test indicated not
significant differences (t(346)=.406, p=.69) such that employees were satisfied with both male
and female superiors. As such, hypothesis one was not supported.
Hypothesis two predicted that employees would report differing levels of articulated
dissent, latent dissent, and displaced dissent with male and female superiors. Results of an
independent samples t-test indicated there werent significant differences in both Articulated
dissent ( art-t(325)=139, p=.171) and Latent Dissent (latent-t(324)=.24 p=.81) Significant
differences were reported in displaced dissent (dis-t(336)=-2.26, p=.02) such that individuals
with female superiors (M=3.30, SD=.75)displaced more dissent to others outside the workplace
than those with male superiors(M=3.12, SD=.701). As such, hypothesis 2 was supported
regarding Displaced Dissent.
Hypothesis three predicted employees would report differing levels of credibility (caring,
character, and competence) with male and female superiors. An independent samples t-test
indicated no significance for any of the variables. As such, hypothesis three was not supported.
Hypothesis four predicted that job satisfaction would be negatively related to displaced
dissent and latent dissent. A one-tailed Pearson Correlation indicated that Job Satisfaction and
Displaced Dissent were significantly (p=. 03) and negatively (r=-.12) related, the more satisfied a
person was the less they complained outside the workplace. Job satisfaction and Latent Dissent

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were also significantly (p=.01) and negatively (r=-.297) related, the more satisfied an employee
was the less he/she complained inside of the workplace. Thus, hypothesis four was supported.
Research question one asked what the relationship between job satisfaction and
articulated dissent was. Results of a one-tailed Pearson Correlation indicated a significantly
(p=.01) and positively (r=1.99) related correlation. The more satisfied the employee is the more
likely he/she is to dissent to the boss.
Hypothesis five predicted that Job satisfaction would be positively related to the
perceived credibility of ones supervisor. A one-tailed Pearson Correlation indicated that caring
(r=. 487), competence (r=. 383), and character (r=428) were all positively significant (p=.01).
The more satisfied an employee is with the job the more caring, competent, and character the
boss has.
Discussion
The study showed subordinates were equally satisfied with female supervisors as they
were with male supervisors. Research predicted that the idea that subordinates wouldnt like a
female supervisor was a stereotypical view and didnt correlate with how the subordinates
actually felt about having a female supervisor. There was a positive correlation between job
satisfaction and the perceived credibility of ones supervisor. My research found there was
significance in supervisors that showed concern and communicated well to the subordinates and
that was reflected in the study. When subordinates are satisfied with their jobs they are more
likely to openly communicate to supervisors. Results stated subordinates with female supervisors
communicated more to outside sources which can be related back Edleys study of the all female
workplace; the women felt like they could be themselves, but when placed in a workplace with
mixed sex subordinates arent quite sure what is an acceptable way to act or feel. Research

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revealed women to be more concerned, sensitive, and nurturing ( Byron) but our results
reported no significant difference in credibility between males and female supervisors. There
was, however a positive correlation between how satisfied a subordinate was with their job and
how credible the supervisor was. While research showed it was the females who took on that role
more our study revealed subordinates enjoy their job more when their supervisor, male or
female, had more character, was more caring and competent.

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References

Baird Jr., J. E., & Bradley, P. H. (1979). Styles of Management and Communication: A
comparative Study of Men and Women. Communication Monographs, 46(2), 101-111.
Byron, K. (2007). Male and female managers' ability to 'read' emotions: Relationships with
supervisor's performance ratings and subordinates' satisfaction ratings. Journal Of
Occupational & Organizational Psychology, 80(4), 713-733.
Edley, P. (2000). Discursive Essentializing in a Woman-Owned Business: Gendered Stereotypes
and Strategic Subordination. Management Communication Quarterly, (14), 271-306.
Feild, H. S., & Caldwell, B. E. (1979). Sex of Supervisor, Sex of Subordinate, and Subordinate
Job Satisfaction. Psychology Of Women Quarterly, 3(4), 391.
Gillen, H. G., & Members of COMM 3150. (2014). [Quantitative Perceptions of Supervisor
Sex]. Unpublished raw data.
Madlock, P. E. (2008). Employee Satisfaction: An Examination of Supervisors' Communication
Competence. Human Communication,11(1), 87-100.
Teven, J. J. (2007). Effects of Supervisor Social Influence, Nonverbal Immediacy, and
Biological Sex on Subordinates' Perceptions of Job Satisfaction, Liking, and Supervisor
Credibility. Communication Quarterly, 55(2), 155-177. doi:10.1080/01463370601036036