Dear Diary,
When my husband first talked about his bullying female boss, I did secretly think, grow a back bone. But during recent dinner table conversations, bullying female bosses have become a repeated topic. More and more people seem to be feeling disgruntled with how women are treating them as employees. The stories my husband comes back with are quite astonishing.
These aren’t just male perspectives but female ones too. Common complaints seem to be around aggression, moodiness, competitiveness, insecurity, back-stabbing behaviour, underhanded and self centred tendancies. I know in most of these cases that have been discussed around my dinner table, there has been a real prevention of progress due to personal clashes.
One story was around a boss who told her employee to “quit arguing and do as you are told” when questioned about a certain decision. Being treated like a child by a Victorian parent is certainly not good management style. Morale of the team is at an all time low and productivity is being seriously affected. This person says that they will now ask at interview stage what the sex of their boss is!
Reflectively, I have had a mixed bag of female bosses. Some very good and some very bad. One was exceptional and inspirational and made me feel extremely valued as great addition to the team.
So what is about female bosses in 2011 that we still need to prove ourselves? I thought bitchy bosses were a thing of the 90’s and went out with Alexis Carrington. Are they making a comeback? I hope not. I am an employer and I like to think that I am fair and honest. I want my staff to succeed because if they do, so do I. I have never felt the need to prove myself or be cruel to anyone. It just isn’t good business.
Bunty
The Chatterjis Blog 