Perceptions of female and male managers in the 1990s: Plus ca change ...

Despite an increase in the number of women managers, women frequently have difficulty advancing to upper levels of management. Researchers etch as V.E. Schein [(1973), "The Relationship Between Sex Role Stereotypes and Requisite Management Characteristics," Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 57, pp. 95-100; (1975) "Relationships Between Sex Role Stereotypes and Requisite Management Characteristics Among Female Managers, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 60, pp. 340-344] and G. N. Powell and D. A. Butterfield [(1979), "The 'Good Manager': Masculine or Androgynous?" Academy of Management Journal Vol. 22, pp. 395-403; (1989) "The 'Good Manager'. Did Androgyny Fare Better in the 1980s?" Group and Organization Studies, Vol. 14, pp. 216-233] have found that perceptions of women are often incongruent with perceptions of successful managers, the gap particularly evident in male subjects [O. C. Brenner, J. Tomkiewicz, & V.E. Schein (1989); "The Relationship Between Sex Role Stereotypes and Requisite Management Characteristics Revisited, " Academy of Management Journal Vol. 32, pp. 662-669; P. Dubno (1985) "Attitudes Toward Women Executives: A Longitudinal Approach, " Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 28, pp. 235-239; M. E. Heilman, C. J. Black, R. F. Martell, & M. C. Simon (1989) "Has Anything Changed? Current Characterizations of Men, Women, and Managers, " Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 74, pp. 935-942; O. Massengil & N. D. Marco (1979) "Sex-Role Stereotypes and Requisite Management Characteristics: A Current Replication," Sex Roles, Vol. 5, pp. 56-576; J. Tomkiewicz & T. Adeyemi-Bellow (1995) "A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Attitudes of Nigerians and Americans Toward Women as Managers, " Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, Vol. 10, pp. 189-198]. This study used 702 college student subjects (more than 90% white, 58% female) to examine the effect of subject sex on perceptions of a target (male manager female manager prototypical manager), and found that subject sex has a greater effect on the perceived characteristics of a successful female manager than on the perceived characteristics Of a prototypical successful manager or a successful male manager. Male and female subjects generally agree about the characteristics of a prototypical manager or a male manager but differ in how they perceive a female manager.