I.

VIEWPOINT

In contemporary management, assigned positions are not based on their gender but on how
they have worked for the firm. In general, gender has minimal impact on manager's capability to set
high performance standards and oversee a large number of individuals involved in building projects. In
this case, we chose the point of view of Karen Valdez, newly appointed Project Manager (PM) of Lae
Builders Corporation. She is well-qualified for the job, with a master's degree in construction
management and extensive experience in cost engineering. Coworkers, on the other hand, easily
questioned her competence and technical expertise which develop disputes across the industry.
However, as a manager, it is important to constantly prioritize enhancement of management abilities
and knowledge instead of focusing on gender diversity issue. But to establish and sustain contact with
project engineers and job superintendents will gain trust and respect of workers.

II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The construction sector deals with a number of challenges, including gender disparities.
Employees failed to recognize the skills of female managers in boosting company's growth and
performance due to the fact that it is a male-dominated sector. Moreover, female managers are
transformational leaders which obliged employees to work critically for better scheduling and
budgeting. Karen demands project engineers and job superintendents to submit a complete data
and breakdowns of all actual costs or expenses of every project for a thorough analysis of cost over runs.
She surprisingly altered monitoring and reporting system. This unique nature of work arises conflicts and
misunderstandings between employees which suddenly ignores and counters the request of project
manager. Line of communication and respect among involved individuals suddenly vanished.

III. STATEMENT OF THE FACTS

The recent study of Goodhead (2020) shows that more employees nowadays experienced to
work with a female manager. However, form of gender discrimination in construction sector increased
to the extent of giving women employees less importance compared to men. In the case of Karen, she
immediately promoted as project manager because of her good educational background and job
experiences. However, women lead differently compare to men. They are critical, organize, persistent
and highly committed to their work. Karen’s actions and approaches as new project manager results to
skepticism, which she was secretly criticized by her co-workers. Due to the fact that men are more
concise, strategic, focused and less emotional. Moreover, it is noteworthy that effective communication
within the project team resolves current and potential conflict (Wilson, 2019). Also, transparency and
collaboration leads to improved ideas as well as rapid delivery of information. Unfortunately, absence of
these elements lead to serious problem making team to crumble.

IV. ANALYSIS OF THE FACTS

In this case study, the issue focuses around the absence of effective communication and
collaboration between the engineers and manager which resulted to gender discrimination.
V. CONCLUSIONS

VI. RECOMMENDATIONS