Carol Smith shares meaningful stories and advice concerning time management and leadership. The story of the difference between being bossy and a boss that happened to Miss Smith in sixth grade was simple but down-to-earth and helpful in understanding that difference (Bryant, 2009). Over-exertion of personal authority to command others without establishing mutual understanding is poisonous in the business environment.
The importance of confrontation is similarly inseparable from organizational management. However, the emphasis was primarily on her ability to confront and a generalization about female list-making skills and intention to confront problems head-on (Bryant, 2009). This part of the interview was quite similar to the discriminative, in the modern sense, understanding of female personality. Therefore, it is difficult to accept the statement that women are better confronters solely based on the experience and generalized perspective of female abilities. She provides a more tangible application of confronting experience while describing the case of presentation, but the provision of constructive criticism and direct attribution of negative aspects might not represent confrontation.
The generalizations made based on the experience of Carol Smith are difficult to accept as solid evidence for several reasons, such as lack of concrete examples, statistics, and details. However, primarily it is also possible to refer to a large body of psychological research that argues humans are attracted to like-minded people (The Conversation, 2017). Therefore, numerous cases that Miss Smith observed could be attributed to this attraction and nullified as the biased perception of reality.
At the same time, while describing her experience of women vs. men comparison, her rationale for male disregard seems biased. It is based on the two workplaces where Miss Smith worked and built upon similarly superstitious beliefs. In this case, this type of bias may be referred to as the memory bias, where negative aspects are remembered more clearly in comparison to positive aspects.
The advice on time management is considered from the abstract perspective and could be very useful. The establishment of continuous habits that allow a positive perception of the work or simplifies the process to a more relaxing procedure may greatly improve time management in relation to the working routine. However, Carol Smith’s portrayal of the time management tips seems superfluous, menial, and unnecessary. According to her, she visits the workplace “almost every Sunday for at least four hours” with the intention of browsing through her e-mails (Bryant, 2009). This routine may work for her, but for others, it is simply outrageous as the activity does not nourish any aspect of one’s personal life and could be performed during working hours.
The separation of work and personal recreational activities is similarly effective but difficult to establish in my experience. The separation or focus on a single task at hand should be nourished continuously for beneficial results and done moderately even at work. During the discussion of work-relax separation, Miss Smith points to the low capability of indulging in such separation for man, which is not supplemented by any data.
It provides another point for her discriminative attention toward men. In addition, the banishment of the small talk, as Miss Smith seemingly proposes with the implication that men tend to discuss their family, hobbies, and jokes while being in the office, should not be followed. Small talk with other colleagues is a healthy practice in any workplace (Morris, 2021). It builds workplace solidarity and helps to create a trusting and synchronous environment within the office (Morris, 2021). Disregarding such an essential part of the working process could lead to the deterioration of personal health and perception of the job (Morris, 2021). Therefore, it is possible to perceive the article as “No Doubts: Women Are Better Managers” as biased and difficult to regard as essential.
References
Bryant, A. (2009). No doubts: Women Are Better Managers. The New York Times. Web.
Morris, C. (2021). The understated importance of office small talk. Nasdaq. Web.
The Conversation. (2017). Most of US tend to be attracted to people who are similar to ourselves. PsyPost. Web.