Are Women Better Project Managers?

Roberta Riedel — Sat, 08 Apr 2006 00:44:17 +0000

A colleague of mine, Terrie Mui, co-authored a paper on just this topic. Her paper was published in IEEE conference proceedings. The opening paragraph of the paper reads, "Women may be the perfect project managers! Programmed by evolution toward nurturing, and groomed by culture to handle multiple, simultaneous activities, women appear to possess inherent abilities and practical skills needed in the role of project manager."

The paper quotes research from University of California that found, "… women have stronger communication, empathy, and better response to stress skills than men." Sounds pretty right-on to me.

Terrie and her co-author Gerald Mulenburg did original research and studied survey results from both women and men in project management positions. The issues that women identified were no different than the men in the study. And Mui and Mulenburg were not able to conclude that there was much difference between women and men in the profession. Interestingly, though, women cited working with a team and achieving a feeling of accomplishment as stronger motivators for remaining in the profession than their male counterparts.

You can find a copy of the entire paper at: http://www.riedelconsulting.com/res/reading.html
Scroll down to the item Women Project Managers Study.

Creativity and Leadership

Roberta Riedel — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 12:08:52 +0000

Did you know that there is a relationship between leadership and creativity? According to Hal Louchheim, lecturer with Stanford University Continuing Studies, "There's a very dynamic interaction where creativity makes you a better leader and better leaders stimulate more creativity." Stanford Business school has been teaching creativity in business for over two decades. Michael Ray (emeritus) wrote the book on it: Creativity in Business. It's a good book — worth reading, worth having, worth re-reading.

BusinessWeek Online published a related article just this past week, called Creativity Comes to B-School. The closing line of the article reads, "As companies seek more innovative employees, MBAs who have learned techniques for cutting-edge creative thinking might have an edge in the new economy."

The Alliance of Technology and Women, Silicon Valley chapter, is offering a 1/2-day workshop on the topic, called Creativity & Leadership: Making Life a Work of Art.
   Friday, May 5, 2006
   8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
   Visa International, 900 Metro Center Blvd, Foster City
   More information and registration: http://www.atwinternational.org/chapters/silicon_valley/upcoming_events.aspx

The workshop presenters are Hal Louchheim and Jackie McGrath, who teach a 10-week course on the topic with Stanford Continuing Studies business program. I've taken their class, and it was good — thought provoking, relevant, and memorable. I'm sure the workshop will be equally great.

Project Musings

Are Women Better Project Managers?

Creativity and Leadership