But among people with post-secondary apprenticeships and community college degrees, males supplant females as best managers by a noticeable margin. These educational and occupational differences with regard to gender perceptions may represent complex challenges for businesses in an era of workplace equality. The better educated seem more comfortable with women managers than the not quite so well educated. Respondents were asked if American managers and, separately, managers from outside North America were better, the same as, or worse than Canadian managers. As illustrated, most Canadians see no difference in quality.
Age is a significant factor in acceptance of overseas managers.
As businesses adjust to technological change and global competitiveness in a post-materialist era, the old issues of gender and ethnicity may be the least of their worries. Some of these longstanding quandaries are beginning to attenuate with successive generations. Businesses will be able to draw from an ever wider pool of potential managers without fear of workplace rejection or disruption. In practice, businesses may have to draw from an ever wider pool if they can't build employee loyalty through job meaning and satisfaction.