AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY OF GENDER AND SITUATIONAL EFFECTS IN A PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF A MANAGER

Following an interactionist perspective, performance evaluations of a manager were studied to assess whether person-related variables (manag er's gender and behaviors) or situation-related variables (subordinate 's gender, other persons' ratings of appropriateness of behavior or pe rceived unpleasantness of the task or situation) were related to judgm ents about the manager. Analysis points to the importance of both pers on and situation as sources of variance in evaluating the competence o f the manager and observers' affect toward the manager. The manager's leadership or communication style, but not gender, affected 394 observ ers' ratings as did certain situational variables (subordinate's behav ior and perceived unpleasantness of the situation, but not subordinate 's gender).