Management style: does the 'feminine touch' make a difference?

A recurring question with regard to personality characteristics and management style is whether or not gender is an important variable. There tends to be two main arguments in this vein. The first is that gender is irrelevant in management, as successful female managers are those who behave in ways that are traditionally assumed to be male. The second argument (that gender is relevant) contends that a "feminine" management style is characterised by strong relationship orientations, and particularly, information sharing. In order to shed further light on these arguments, this article reports on a study that examined the influences of management style upon employee soft skill utilisation within six Australian organisations. It is reported that managers who adopted a "feminine" management style influenced employees to utilise more of their skill repertoire than those who did not. In addition, firm size was an important variable in relation to management style.