Kristin Byron

Male and female managers' ability to 'read' emotions : Relationships with supervisor's performance ratings and subordinates' satisfaction ratings

The present study examines the direct and indirect effect of managers’ accuracy in ‘reading’ non-verbal emotional expressions and their supervisors’ performance ratings and subordinates’ satisfaction with the manager .D ata from working managers and their supervisors and subordinates wer eu sed to test the study’ sh ypotheses. Although managers’ accuracy was not directly related to others’ ratings, as ignificant interactiv e effect was found: Female but not male managers who more accurately perceived nonverbal emotiona le xpressions received higher performance ratings from their supervisor and higher satisfaction ratings from their subordinates, perhaps due to gender stereotypes prescribing emotional sensitivity to female managers. Furthermore, how managers used emotional information to enhance subordinates’ satisfaction varied for female and male managers. Results suggested that male managers who wer em ore accurate at emotion perception received higher satisfaction ratings if they used the information to be more persuasive, whereas more emotionally perceptiv ef emale managers receive dh ighe rs atisfactio nr atings when they demonstrated more supportiveness.