1. Decide what to write as a topic of this email. Reply to this email writing at least 100 words:

To: Ivan Melkov From: John Broad Topic:

Dear Mr. Melkov, You will be interested to hear that we have been able to obtain a further supply of Indian Tee of the same quality as that supplied to you last year. With the increase of freight costs which become effective next week, the next consignment will be more expensive, so we recommend you to take prompt advantage of this offer which is firm for three days only. Yours, John

2. Write about the following topic: In future services will be customer specific and partnerships will eliminate the former adversarial relationships. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer and include relevant examples from your knowledge and experience. Write at least 250 words.

Culture

Read the text and discuss the following questions:

1. Do you agree with the author’s point of view? Reason your opinion.

2. What do you know of female managers in Russia?

3. Which great women managers (or leaders) can you remember? What are they famous for?

Are Women Better Managers Than Men?⁷⁰

A budding school of thought is finding favour in both business and research circles that women inherently make better managers compared to their male counterparts. A study reveals that women are more likely than men to use leadership styles and other studies have shown they produce better worker performance and effectiveness in today's world! Specifically, women are more likely to be transformational leaders, i.e. they successfully serve as role models, mentor and empower workers and encourage innovation.

In addition, Yael Itzhaki of Tel Aviv University carried out simulations of business negotiations among management students at Ohio State University and in Israel. She notes, “Women are more generous negotiators, better co-operators and are motivated to create win-win situations.” This is further corroborated by another study by international research group, Catalyst which deduces that companies with more women on their boards perform better than those with very few women! During the four-year span of the reporting for the study, Fortune 500 companies with the highest percentage of women on their boards saw 53% higher equity returns, 42% higher return on sales and a whopping 66% higher return on invested capital. On the contrary, in a recent MBAUniverse.com poll, around 60% of the readers disagreed to the fact that women make better managers!

The interminable debate

It cannot be denied that women have a lot going for them. They are good at managing people per se. The inherent participatory, insightful and interactive style of management enables them to easily nurture, motivate, inspire and influence employees. This coupled with appropriate care, compassion, attention and praise stimulates the staff to achieve higher goals. Being relational and personal oriented, they naturally encourage openness, listen well and can tolerate diversity. Little wonder then female managers successfully build confidence, empathy and loyalty on the one hand and maximize performance and results on the other.

Then again, women have also proved to be more transparent and accountable, can communicate tactfully, better adapt to new situations as well as handle complex, varied tasks without batting an eyelash! They are also blessed with good reasoning ability and intuitively plan for the long-term.

Dilys Dias, Assistant Manager L&D in a leading ITES provider in Bangalore surmises, “Thinking out-of-the-box and being creative are not second nature to men. Women work with a to-do list; men on the other hand display ‘cross–the-bridge-when-it-comes' attitude. As people managers too, they tend to shy away from giving constructive feedback and effectively delegate that job to another person!”

Chalk it up to their ability to agilely manage the household or day-to-day juggling of multiple roles simultaneously (home, children and job), but women managers do emerge as more focused, responsible, meticulous and success-oriented. They also prove to be patient, optimistic and better able to manage finances.

Yet, each gender comes with their unique strengths and weaknesses. Women are more prone to emotional outbursts and get worked up at small things. They are bad crisis managers and cannot handle failure well.

Comparatively men have an aggressive, command-and-control approach. Being analytical and task-driven, they can quickly take charge, get things done and make better decisions. Furthermore, male managers prove that they can take problems, frustrations and setbacks in their stride.

At the outset, women do inherently seem to have the upper hand. Yet, amid vociferous praise of female managerial capabilities, there emerge some vehement refutations as well. Because there are bound to be some dominating or apathetic women managers as well as sensitive and concerned male ones. As top writer and editor Michael Fitzgerald pronounces, “There will be awful managers who are women and brilliant ones who are men and everything in between…”

Sangeeta Mehta, research analyst at a pharmaceutical firm, corroborates, “Gender difference may be true in one person's experience, but it does not follow across the board, no matter how seasoned an executive they are!”

It follows that no specific gender can claim a monopoly on good management. Moreover, management and leadership have more to do with skills, knowledge, experience, personality and emotional quotient than gender. As Rebecca Fuller, a leading management consultant opines, “Good (whatever that means) management is not about women vs. men; it is about skills, competencies and behaviours”.

KEYS