Increase in the women participation in the organizational management is the
trend in the world. This is common in Sri Lanka also. In the present, there are
many women are working in managerial positions. It can be a factor to
change the power balance in an organization. Furthermore, by changing
power balance in the organizations the organizational workers might be a
factor to change the labour – management relations among the workers.
However, there are no theoretical knowledge and empirical facts about these
study phenomenons. Therefore, the problem of the study is: how do gender
differences on power distance between the superior and subordinates
determine the labour – management relations in the apparel industry in Sri
Lanka. The main objective of the study is to find the impact of gender
differences on different power relations between the superior and
subordinates in determining the labour – management relations in the apparel
industry in Sri Lanka. Using 120 pairs (120 superiors and 240 subordinates),
primary data were collected. The data collection method is a structured
questionnaire and it consisted of questions on power distance, gender
differences and labour – management relationship. The reliability and validity
of the questionnaire were measured by using test – retest method and
Cronbach alpha. Univaraite and bivariate analyze were used to analysis the
primary data. The main findings of the study are, the power distance between
all kinds of superiors and subordinates in this sector remain at low a level and
the labour – management relationship between superior and subordinates
depended on the low power distance rather than the high power distance.