SEX-DIFFERENCES IN OCCUPATIONAL PERFORMANCE

We tested the assumption that labor organizations possess structural a rrangements that may favor specific individual abilities based on neur ophysiological characteristics. As some basic abilities vary between s exes, so will the occupational performance of individuals, according t o the labor organization they work for. We assumed that: (1) Females p ossess a higher perceptual sensibility (perceptual speed and accuracy) , which allows them to discriminate rapid apparition events and fine c hanges in the environment, in contrast to males who have a greater abi lity to manage spatial relationships. (2) Organizations with a functio nal structure require more fine perceptual abilities and these require ments are stronger at higher levels of the hierarchy. (3) Occupational performance is related to basic abilities required for a specific tas k, leading women to have higher occupational performance than men in l abor organizations with a functional structure. By studying the techni cal and administrative staff of the Universidad Simon Bolivar (Venezue la), we present evidence that women have a greater capacity for percep tual discrimination; that this capacity relates to occupational perfor mance in a labor organization with a functional structure; and that th is relation is stronger at higher levels in the hierarchy. However, th e extremely small sample size available for this study limits the poss ible generalizations of these results to other populations.