TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– According to the situational theories of leadership managers should adapt their influence tactics to situational demands but there is still a constant problem with managerial influence because managers using influence (whether “hard” or “soft”) mostly “cling” to it. The paper examines how managers regulate their influences with the help of deinfluentization (DEI) – the ability to consciously withdraw one's influence and self‐monitoring (S‐M) – the ability to regulate one's image in the presence of others and to compare women's and men's managerial abilities.Design/methodology/approach– Research work was conducted in one of the largest electro‐energy organization's /N=169 managers/ as a part of regular annual managers' appraisal procedure. A S‐M scale was used, scale of managers's influence and DEI scales that the author had constructed.Findings– Analysis revealed different patterns of DEI and S‐M connected with high and low appraisal. High DEI and high self‐monitors were perceived as the most effective managers no matter what kind of influence they used. Women managers made up half of this group.Practical implications– Developing “clinging to influence” managerial behaviour brings too much stress and pressure for both women and men managers. Managers should enrich their knowledge about influence regulation tactics as DEI and S‐M. Women managers should not only give up their femininity but also enrich their managerial role with DEI behaviour and make it part of their own strengths.Originality/value– The paper supports the theoretical work on S‐M and aids in understanding how the human capital in an organization can be used better. VL - 21 IS - 2 SN - 0964-9425 DO - 10.1108/09649420610650701 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/09649420610650701 AU - Kożusznik Barbara ED - Adelina Broadbridge ED - Jeff Hearn PY - 2006 Y1 - 2006/01/01 TI - Deinfluentization and self‐monitoring as influence regulation tactics of Polish women and men managers T2 - Women in Management Review PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 131 EP - 142 Y2 - 2024/04/25 ER -