Managerial competencies of female and male managers in the Swedish construction industry

The construction industry is one of the most male dominated industries around the world, not only when it comes to workers, but also as regards managers. Only 5% of the managers in the Swedish construction industry are women. The managerial competencies of individuals working as managers in the Swedish construction industry are researched to get a clearer understanding of the situation, and to investigate if this lack of balance between male and female managers has to do with differences in managerial competence. The management development questionnaire provided by Human Resource Development Press was sent to 143 managers in the Swedish construction industry and 112 respondents (44 women and 68 men) assessed themselves in 20 competencies, resulting in a response rate of 78%. The Mann-Whitney U test showed that female and male managers possess equal managerial competencies in 17 of the 20 competencies. Male managers rated themselves as having better managerial competency than females in two of the 20 competencies, namely ‘resilience’ and ‘decision making’. Female managers rated themselves as having better managerial competency than males in ‘sensitivity’, which follows the social norm of what is expected of a woman. It was also found that both groups scored high in decision making, reflecting traditional virtues of construction managers as decisive and active. The most important result is not the differences but the many similarities between women and men working as managers in the construction industry. Thus, it is concluded that female managers are as competent as male managers in the Swedish construction industry.