A comparative analysis of the attitudes toward women managers in the US and Poland

In: Cross cultural management, Volume 11, Issue 2, p. 58-70

Abstract

As globalization intensifies, the need for tapping the capabilities of corporations' human resources, gecome more paramount. To this end, businesses cannot afford to have their most important resource, their people, hampered by attitudes that detract from their abilities to perform at their best. This is especially relevant when there may be a misconception that being male is synonymous with management competency. The focus of this research was on exploring the attitudes towards women managers in the United States and Poland. Questionnaires were distributed to two groups of individuals within each nation, professionals and graduating business students or "future managers". There were 157 and 295 usable responses from Poland and the United States, respectively. The results indicate that Polish women may have more negative attitudes to overcome in becoming managers in comparison to the US counterparts. Perhaps more disconcerting is the potential that "future managers" in Poland may have even more negative attitudes toward women as managers.