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Are you a queen bee?
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Queen Bee Syndrome, says Karen Bune, a victim’s specialist in the Domestic Violence unit of the State’s Attorney’s Office for Prince George’s County MD, is a phenomenon where women placed in high level positions undermine and sabotage female employees. These supervisors’ generally feel threatened and in constant competition with their employees, often causing great harm to the employee and ultimately the company. They have an overwhelming need to control everything, at all times, no matter the cost to others or their own careers. She will protect her turf and will often give unreasonable assignments, set unattainable standards, condemning her target’s work performance, dress, or attitude.
Researchers’ are studying the effects of this syndrome on female workers’ and finding greater incidences of stress related illness, depression and job loss. Victims of a queen bee are more likely to quit, transfer or change departments than their male counterparts for fear of retaliation by their female supervisor. Some of the women that participated in a study by Scott Scheiman, a researcher at the University of Toronto, were so traumatized, they refused to look for a position in another company unless their supervisor was a male.
According to Joan Lloyd, founder of Joan Lloyd and Associates, a Management Consulting Firm, "disagreements between managers and employees rarely end up in the employee’s favor. If she is big on blaming, we all know who is going to be on the losing end of this game. If the music stops, you are the one who will be without a chair." 
Though the Queen Bee moniker has only recently been attached to such behavior, some studies suggest this type of ‘kill or be killed’ attitude exists in any predominately female interactions. Citing high school cliques, the ‘Mommy cliques’, and the ‘Sunday Church cliques’, as just a few examples. Each one of these cliques has a hierarchy with a queen bee as the leader, and the other little bees buzzing around trying to knock her from her proverbial throne.
In a question to Joan Lloyd, a woman asked her what steps she could take to remedy the situation with her boss. "If you wish to stay employed, you would be wise to find a way to deliver what she wants. However, if you feel like a drone and resent it, you would be wise to start looking elsewhere. It may be time to have a heart to heart conversation with your manager. Clear up any misunderstandings about roles, responsibilities and authority. Once that is clear, you will be in a better position to determine whether or not you want to stay."
With this in mind, it would behoove any female supervisor, to not only take stock of their own actions, but attempt to head off any such destructive action of a co-worker. Women working together for the sake of each other can only strengthen our relationships in the work force.
For more info: Handling a Queen Bee go to Joan Lloyd at Work, "How to Coach and Give Feedback"
Content Sources:
Joan Lloyd at Work: http://www.joanlloyd.com/default.asp
Law Officer.com: http://www.lawofficer.com/
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