At the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, the number of female cadres working in leadership and management positions is increasing and accounts for a fairly high proportion (40% of leadership positions at all levels). They are shouldering heavy responsibilities and contributing their efforts and enthusiasm to many different areas of the University's activities. On the occasion of International Women's Day, March 8, let's listen to their very real sharing about the advantages and disadvantages, gains and losses, joys and sorrows, and valuable experiences they have gained while participating in this work.
Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Minh Hoa (Vice Principal): lucky to always have family support
As a woman participating in management work, you will certainly encounter many difficulties. Because the role of being a mother and a wife is very important, the biggest difficulty is how to share your time and energy for your family, work and yourself. Especially today's society has increasingly high demands on each individual, including women. To be successful at work, women must also try very hard in terms of expertise and many other aspects, especially trying to improve themselves. Because when you are in a management position, you must have relationships and behave much more broadly than when you are just a normal employee, such as behaving with superiors, subordinates, colleagues... To be recognized by everyone, a manager must have "heart" and "vision". Having "vision" but not "heart" will not win people's hearts. Having a “heart” but not a “vision” will make many people love you but will not be able to solve the problem. The higher the leadership level, the more “vision” you need. As a manager, in addition to having to reduce your attention to family, yourself, your expertise and personal interests, sometimes there are emotional sacrifices due to unavoidable conflicts at work with colleagues and employees, although they may only happen temporarily for a certain period of time. It is inevitable that there will be times when you feel discouraged. So you have to be steadfast because those things will pass. Regarding management experience and how to handle work, there is no common denominator for all cases. The important thing is to maintain principles but also to handle things flexibly. Always combine reason and emotion, although these two things do not always go hand in hand in balance. If there is only emotion, the work will be messy and unresolvable, but if there is only reason, it will become rigid and willful.
Women have advantages but also limitations compared to men in management. They may not be as profound, strong, decisive or strategic as men, but they are more patient, thoughtful in their work, more meticulous and gentle, so they have certain restraint in their behavior. This is also suitable for the university environment that requires sustainable development and promotes community cohesion. Does success in management bring happiness to yourself and your family? I think yes if you are lucky enough to have a husband who sympathizes and shares the difficulties of his wife. Even in the world, the success of famous female leaders is often supported by a great husband. Personally, I am very lucky because I always receive support from my family, husband and children. I can even exchange, learn and receive many career advice from my partner. Before being a good manager or leader, you must be a good lecturer with solid expertise. Success in management and professional work helps women a lot in raising children and organizing family life. And especially, a mother who is successful in her work will be a good example for her children to follow.
Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Thi Phung (Head of the Department of Archival Science and Public Administration): Women "benefit" a lot when they become managers.
For women participating in management work, the "gains" and "losses" often go hand in hand. Many people have talked about the "losses". I will only share more about the "gains". Although the position is not too important, it is a measure of one's capacity and maturity. Women have more pride and self-esteem because they have been trusted and appreciated by the collective. When in a leadership and management position, I have favorable conditions to turn my own ideas and initiatives into reality, contributing to the collective, society and community. It is also a happiness because in the position of being in charge of a unit, I have gathered, oriented, motivated and encouraged everyone to strive and achieve certain goals, promote the capacity of each individual and the collective to complete plans, increase income for my brothers and sisters. The joy and happiness of each member of the collective is the happiness of the leader of that collective, at least in terms of work. On the other hand, the experiences and good management methods at the office also help us women to apply more or less in organizing our lives and strengthening family relationships. In a nutshell, women being managers is also "good" a lot! (laughs) Women being managers have many advantages, especially for women working in science because they have a coherent and rigorous way of thinking, so when making decisions, they often base their decisions on clear grounds and foundations. They also know how to organize work scientifically, from planning, preparing, implementing, and supervising work reasonably and promptly to achieve high efficiency and limit errors. Because they are very sensitive, and often encounter more difficulties and hardships in life than men, female leaders are more likely to sympathize with the difficulties of their employees (especially female employees), so it is easy to share, encourage, and motivate others in work and life. That also creates better emotional bonds in the group. However, for women managers, if they are only successful in their work at the office, it is not enough (or not complete). So, to harmonize work at the office and family life, women must know how to play their "role". They may be a boss at work, but when they return home, they must be a mother, a wife, and must not bring the rigid, superior style of a manager back to impose on family members. On the other hand, the support of family members is also very important. A woman has fulfilled her "role" but her husband and children still do not support her, it is also very difficult.
Being a manager sometimes requires being tough to achieve work goals, so sometimes you may encounter complaints and anger from employees. But the important thing is that you are sincere with everyone and transparent in your work, then everyone will understand and sympathize. The biggest experience and goal in the process of being a manager is that you personally try to work with the team to create a truly cohesive and consensual working environment among members of the unit. If in a unit everyone is respected and finds joy in their work, in their efforts and in sharing personal and common interests, then that is a great working environment that not every place has. A good working environment will create inspiration and motivation for each member to work and contribute. And that is also the success and happiness of the manager.
MSc. Ngo Thi Kieu Oanh (Deputy Head of Personnel Organization Department): Human resource management requires the word "love"
Human resource management is the most comprehensive and complex management field because it involves people. Inherently, human relationships contain too many overlapping conflicts. Therefore, handling human relationships is the most complicated task. Moreover, at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - a higher education environment, the subjects of human resource management are highly qualified intellectuals with broad knowledge, so human resource managers also need to have specialized knowledge, have a "profession", and be able to handle work with a gentle and flexible attitude but must be in accordance with principles. One of the most important experiences I have gained after many years of working in personnel organization is that, in addition to other requirements, human resource managers really need to have a true understanding and sympathy for the thoughts and feelings of staff in order to make the right decisions. In handling work, the word "love" is really needed. Our school staff are capable people who have gone through many selections, exams, and challenges before being retained or recruited by the school to do teaching and research work. But there are also cases where the problems seem impossible to solve, wanting to leave the school because they have feelings that they do not know who to share with... At that decisive moment, the human resource manager can listen and understand their feelings, combined with reasonable advice and analysis, can easily resolve those problems and change their initial decision. Every time we resolve such a case, we feel very happy because we have not only retained the staff for the school, but later on, these teachers themselves give very positive feedback that: the working environment at the school is truly friendly, humane, an environment where they want to stick with and contribute for a long time. I really like the saying: "A manager must have a warm heart and a cool head". The heart is warm to sympathize, understand, and be enthusiastic about work, but the head must be cool to maintain principles and consider overlapping conflicts of interest. Management is truly a science and an art, requiring managers to work professionally and systematically, not just based on experience and traditions passed down from father to son as before. But no matter how tough and determined they are, women still have their own characteristics, which are softness, gentleness, and femininity, which are gender characteristics, so they definitely create sympathy for the other person compared to male colleagues. Besides, in management, there are many things that require meticulousness, carefulness, detail, and patience, so women have a great advantage. Especially in personnel management work related to the rights and policies of employees. In communication, female staff also limit the bad behavior of the other person. These are the “God-given” qualities of women. If they are aware of this and combine it with other abilities, women will have a much greater advantage than men. In fact, there are many jobs that women can handle better than men.
Of course, women also face many difficulties in order to complete their assigned work well. Women who are managers not only have to accept certain sacrifices for themselves but also for their families. Just to take a simple example: being a leader and manager, there are certainly times when you have to leave early and come home later than everyone else. I used to not dare to send my child to a public kindergarten but had to send him to a private school (even if I sent him to a private school, I didn't dare to choose any other option than choosing one near my house) because I couldn't guarantee the time to pick him up and drop him off. Or when going on a business trip, men can easily go without much trouble, but women have to worry about preparing their family and children thoroughly before they can go far away. Another obstacle for female managers is that the age of full strength, "ripe" enough to be appointed as a manager, often falls at a time when the children are still young and need a lot of time to take care of. The top priority of women at this age is also family and children. When friends meet, the first thing they ask is about health and children, but rarely what position they hold or how much money they earn. Therefore, balancing family and work at this time is very difficult. However, in Vietnamese society in particular and Eastern society in general, women must overcome the ideology of "male superiority and female inferiority" that still exists in a certain part of the male half of the world. And to be successful, they must be confident and prove their ability at work. The decisive quality to become a good leader and manager is to be decisive, courageous, have opinions, and not be indecisive. Because a leader and manager is someone who dares to take responsibility, is the leader, and behind them is a whole group that is waiting for them. And finally, effectiveness and output are the most accurate measures of the qualities and abilities of leaders and managers.
