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In workplaces with a high percentage of women in a management position more individualized employee feedback is carried out, more democratic decisions are adopted and more interpersonal channels of communications are established, according to a new study.

This research conducted by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) aims to study up to what point administrative practices of persons in the workplace are different in management teams that have a higher proportion of women.

"In line with known gender differences in individual leadership, we find that in workplaces with more women managers more individualized employee feedback is carried out," said the study's author, Eduardo Melero, professor in the UC3M Department of Business Administration.  "Likewise we can see evidence, although weaker, that in these workplaces decisions are made more democratically and more interpersonal channels of communications are established."

If a company wants to have increased direct contact between management and employees, it could be easier with more women higher up in management positions. "Women managers seem to be more inclined to use these types of practices, individually, as well as promoting them among the rest of the management team," the author explained. "And as such, a management team with more women could be more effective when implementing them," he concluded.

For this new study, data from the Workplace Employment Relationships Survey, a survey of workplaces in the United Kingdom, was used.

"While using this survey in another research project, I suddenly realized that all the information that it contained, if employed well, could be used to delve further into a subject which psychologists had studied extensively but always at the individual level," Melero said.

The author carried out a regression analysis in which he controlled for the effect of a number of factors at three levels (company, sector, and personnel) when analyzing the relation between the percentage of women in management and the type of practices applied.

The results of this research were published in the Journal of Business Research.