Interview with a female manager


The second interview I conducted with a female director at the core audit department of one of the Big Four (Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCoopers). She has been in a managing function in this company for around 7 years now.

According to her for a manager it is important that to be able to lead a team. Furthermore he needs to take responsibility and be able to make (important) decisions and solve issues with the client himself. Lastly, he should be a satisfactory discussion partner for the client, and if a relationship has been established be able to create more work for the company. Being a good manager also has to do with smart-intelligence. It is important that you are able to correctly judge a person’s reaction and to fine-tune your behavior to the specific person you’re working with. Ethics is just part of it as an accountant. It is not something this manager devotes a lot of specific attention to. It is mainly life experience that makes her grow in the function of manager, and which influences the way she acts.

This manager has both a University and a College education.[1] In her college education she gained more practical insight and dealt with cases, which taught her to be more pragmatic. Her university education on the other hand helped her to be more analytical and be able to cut a problem down to the bone. This combination has proved valuable to her. However, she also thinks that a good manager mainly is this by nature. Extra training could help to improve certain skills that are underdeveloped. But in general when you are not a good manager by nature, it will be hard to ever be one.

I also asked her about the difference between a leader and a manager. She sees a leader as someone who is able to motivate a group to get the maximum out of their capabilities. Someone with a vision, whose lead is followed by people. A leader is also a person who is charismatic. The manager’s work is more concrete, he is the one who makes sure everything roles. She sees herself somewhere in between these two roles. She is able to get the best out of people, but does not see herself as a visionary person.

This manager does not believe in the glass ceiling. It is something that is in people’s minds. She does think that it is more difficult for women to get to the top. This is because there are more men at the top, who are more likely to choose someone with the same characteristics. There already are less prejudices, so in the future more women will be on top. It just takes time. She is a mother of two, and things it is doable to combine this with her job as director. Whether this works is something that differs for everyone and should be a deliberate choice.

She thinks the job of a manager changed over the past few year. The technological developments are a cause of this. For example, the existence of e-mail makes that you have a lot more information to deal with, and a higher pressure to respond to people’s questions. Another thing she notes is that nowadays managing the work done for a client happens more from a distance. In the past the manager would be at the client a lot more. Now you try to find the most efficient way of doing things, so you can fit as much in a day as possible. These new technologies have a lot of advantages, but also make work more complex. The job of a manager has not become easier because of it. In the future more changes will ask for a different type of manager. Management will not disappear however. A self-leading team would be lost. Every team needs a leader.

A crisis also has an influence on managing. When the economy is performing well, everything works as it should. But in times of crisis everything is more difficult. Audit fee negotiations are much tougher, and because clients have less employees it is more difficult to get the information you need. Therefore, in times of crisis the work becomes more difficult, while at the same time you often get paid less.


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Note:

[1] In the Netherlands there are two main options for higher education. A college education, which is called ‘Hoger Beroeps Onderwijs’ (HBO), and university. The college education is more practical in nature, with more contact hours for students, while university is more theoretical and scientific.

Source:

http://www.umanitoba.ca/colleges/st_pauls/faculty_and_staff.html (photo)