An Interactional Model for Empowering Women in Supervision

Abstract

Gender-related power differences have been observed in supervision. Empowering women involves attending to women's need for connection in interactions. An interactional model for encouraging connected power in supervision is presented.One goal of successful supervision is to facilitate the development of the trainee so that he or she can achieve a degree of professional autonomy (Hogan, 1964 1995) pointed out the difficulty for supervisors of attending to the technical and ethical demands of the profession while creating an environment that can foster development of the trainee's unique abilities. The supervisor is in a powerful position regarding monitoring and guiding the trainee's learning, yet must still find a way to allow the trainee to professionally emerge with his or her own sense of power. In other words, the supervisor must use his or her expert power to assist the trainee in assuming power.Recent investigations of supervision and counseling relationships have identified gender differences in the use of interactional power. Nelson and Holloway (1990) found that in relation to their trainees, men and women supervisors provided significantly more support for men's assumption of power in the interaction than for that of women. Accordingly, for the trainees, men exhibited significantly more power in the interaction than did women. In a discourse analysis of counseling interactions, Heatherington and Mary Lee Nelson i s an assbtant professor in the Depcutrnent of Educational Psychology a t the Uniwrstty of Washington, Seattle. Correspondence regarding this cuticle should be sent to Mary

The relationship of supervisor and trainee gender match and gender attitude match to supervisory style and the supervisory working alliance

“…Furthermore, socially and culturally defined gender roles and expectations are brought into supervision (Ancis & Ladany, 2010;Brodsky, 1980;Holloway & Wolleat, 1994;Inman & Ladany, in press;Munson, 1997;Stevens-Smith, 1995). Several authors have described theoretical models (Munson, 1997;Nelson, 1997) or have made recommendations regarding gender issues in supervision (Ancis & Ladany, 2010;Bernstein, 1993;Brodsky, 1980;Nadelson, Belitsky, Seeman, & Ablow, 1994;Stevens-Smith, 1995;Twohey & Volker, 1993); however, only a few have examined gender issues empirically (Baker, 1991;Budd, 1994;Claridge, 1994;Gullotta-Gsell, 1984;Horwitz, 1990;Johnson, 1997;Nelson & Holloway, 1990;Robyak, Goodyear, & Prange, 1987;Schiavone & Jessell, 1988;Schwartz, 1994;Walker, Ladany, & Pate-Carolan, 2007;Worthington & Stern, 1985). These studies are extremely varied in design and focus, and perhaps as a result, their findings are inconsistent and inconclusive (Holloway & Wolleat, 1994;Munson, 1997).…”

Gender‐related events in psychotherapy supervision: Female trainee perspectives

“…A number of writers have suggested that supervisors incorporate gender issues when assisting trainees with conceptualizations (Ault-Riche, 1988;Bernstein, 1993;Ellis & Robbins, 1993;Holloway & Wolleat, 1994;Munson, 1987;Nelson, 1997;Stevens-Smith, 1995;Taylor, 1994;Twohey & Volker, 1993). In addition, there are a number of empirically based studies that examine gender dynamics within the context of supervision (Gatmon et al, 2001;Granello et al, 1997;Martinez et al, 1999;Nelson & Holloway, 1990;Sells et al, 1997).…”

A Study of the Relationships Among Effective Supervision, Organizational Culture Promoting Evidence-Based Practice, and Worker Self-Efficacy in Public Child Welfare

“…Supervisory style emphasizes the importance of procedures such as regular conferences with staff, review of case records and time studies, and supervisory procedures supporting worker autonomy, responsibility, selfinitiation, and independent decision-making. Hipp and Munson (1995) and Nelson (1997) encourage a partnership model, as opposed to the traditional hierarchical models, that promote collaborative learning and the pursuit of client and worker goals. However, neither of these studies investigated the relationship between supervision and worker self-efficacy attitudes toward their child welfare tasks.…”