The workplace continues to change. More organizations are forming teams to increase productivity. More and more, these teams are being made up of both men and women. Unfortunately, many of these same organizations are discovering that their mixed-sex teams are less cohesive, less productive and less effective than expected. One reason for this failure is the different communication styles and perceptions of men and women.
The following is a look at some of the (generalized) differences between the sexes. Accompanying some of these differences are suggestions of guidelines for mixed-sex teams to help avoid negative conflict.
Men tend to focus on solving a particular problem at hand, while women tend to see a larger picture. One of the reasons brainstorming is an effective step in a structured Total Quality Management (TQM) process is that it provides men with the opportunity to do what women tend to do naturally: consider a larger picture. Instituting an "Everyone Participates" rule and including everyone in the group during brainstorming allows the more reticent team members of either sex to share their ideas. Another key is to allow a word such as "pass" to be an acceptable response to anyone's turn to contribute. This provides for smooth flow where everyone can build on the contributions of others in a synergistic fashion.
Men tend to disseminate detailed information when presenting an idea. Women resent being lectured to. Giving background details may be appropriate - and even appreciated - when men are communicating with other men. Too often, however, what a man sees as simply giving all of the necessary supporting information is interpreted by a woman as being a lecture. She may find it bothersome, if not offensive. Worse yet, a woman may interpret the telling of these details as a means of trying to persuade her to believe a weak argument or talking down to her. A team guideline to initially "Present Just the Idea" reserving details for later discussion, and a "No Speeches" rule eases this mixed-sex communication problem.
Another facet of men's tendency to focus primarily on solving the immediate problem is the exclusion of alternative solutions once a satisfactory solution has been identified. Women can often see how, and may just as often point out that the team could have done better. Men want appreciation for their accomplishments. They interpret a woman's remarks as to how the job could have been done better as lack of appreciation for their efforts, or worse yet, an attack on their abilities. On the other hand, men like to move on once a problem is solved. They may not readily be open to the idea that there often is more than one right answer. Suggesting how or asking if the team should consider some particular additional factor can open up a discussion without criticism. Early on, the team should "Agree Upon the Team's Goals and Performance Expectations" to help avoid gender-based conflicts and limit discussion.
Men tend to interrupt others to make their point, while women tend to wait for their turn to speak. A woman may judge such male interruptions as anything from supportive, at best, to impoliteness, or at worst, as a total disregard for her opinion or herself. Meanwhile, the offending men may only know that they are participating in a typical discussion in which it is important to present their views at the appropriate time or as the opportunity arises. Men or women can also use interruptions to dominate. A "No Interruptions" guideline for teams would level the playing field and avoid the interpersonal conflict arising from differences in what is considered normal or polite behavior. Formalizing the team process to the point of having to "Raise your Hand to Speak" and not speaking until recognized, will eliminate interruptions.
Men tend to be direct, dictating to others and often seeking confrontation. Women tend to be indirect, negotiating differences and avoiding confrontation. When working together, both men and women can benefit by using he phrase, "Would You...?" For men, using "would you..." in front of a request can remove the specter of appearing to dictate orders. For women, using "would you..." instead of, "could you..." transforms the request, in a man's point of view, from questioning his ability to determining his willingness to do something. Furthermore, a "No Personal Attacks" guideline can prevent unnecessary or unproductive confrontations.
Men tend to view unsolicited help as a lack of confidence in their abilities. Women tend to view it as a sign of caring. This difference can result in unintended conflict and resentment in a mixed-sex situation. A woman may want unsolicited help when she could obviously use it or as a recognition that she is being appreciated. She may resent being allowed to struggle alone by what she sees as uncaring or insensitive men. Meanwhile, the men, even if they want to help, may be avoiding insulting her by not trusting her to do it herself. The male experience leads them to expect her to ask for help if she wants it. A man may even think that a woman is just trying to prove she can do the job without asking a man for help. Conversely, a man receiving unsolicited help from a woman may either appreciate the help or resent her lack of trust in his abilities. Establishing guidelines to "Ask for Help" when you want it can avoid such conflicts. Making "would you like he! ! ! lp with..." a standard question for both sexes allows both the offer and the acceptance or refusal of the offer to be made without conflict.
During a discussion, both men and women may make inarticulate sounds, such as "mm-hmm" or "uh-uh." Men generally make these sounds to show agreement. Women generally use these same sounds to show that they are listening, not necessarily agreeing. Therefore, when a man hears woman making agreeable sounds while he is talking, he may assume that she is agreeing with him. However, a woman may make such sounds just to encourage further discussion. A man may think he has received agreement with his views from a woman only to hear her change her mind when talking to someone else or casting a vote. Conversely, a woman may be surprised to find that she has taken a stand on an issue when all she was doing was listening to an idea of one of her male coworkers. Formalizing consensus by "Asking for Agreement, Not Assuming It" is a guideline that can avoid these misunderstandings over listening styles.
When men ask, "What do you think?" they are generally asking for agreement or approval. When women ask, "What do you think?" they are generally asking for a discussion. A man may be surprised to have initiated a long discussion with a woman that ends in agreement with what he originally said. Whereas, a woman may be surprised by the shortness of a man's nod of comment and his quick departure to the next subject when she is looking for a discussion. Both men and women can benefit by being more specific in their requests for either agreement or further discussion.
Women generally want to be liked and respected. Men generally want to be respected whether or not they are liked. This is another facet of the fact that men tend to be more direct and confrontational while women tend to be more indirect and cooperative. This can also be a barrier to effective communication and lead to a subservient relationship.
These examples of male-female differences are stereotypical generalities. The suggested team building guidelines can help to facilitate communications and, thereby reduce conflict. To summarize:
DALLAS HOSTS MICRO-31 - Micro-31, the 31st International Symposium on Microarchitecture, will be held in Dallas, Texas, Nov. 30 - Dec. 2, 1998. In the 1990's, MICRO has become the premier microarchitecture forum emphasizing exploitation of instruction-level parallelism (ILP). Visit the web site at www.acm.org/sigmicro/micro31/ for all the latest information.
IEEE-USA SCORES WITH DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT BILL - After a year and half of debate and controversy, Congress finally passed The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation and On-Line Liability) before ending this session. Legislators stripped controversial provisions protecting databases from the bill at the recommendation of many engineering and scientific organizations, including IEEE-USA. In addition, IEEE-USA worked closely with the staff of Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah on the Senate Judiciary Committee, to craft appropriate language that reached balanced protection for Internet content providers and Internet service providers (ISP). Content providers will have better protection against Internet theft of their copyrighted material, while ISPs will not be held liable for copyright infringement committed by their subscribers-as long as they remove the infringing web site once they are notified by the copyright holder. While! ! ! IEEE-USA supported this protection, it also urged Congress to adopt language that would protect Internet users fro m false accusations of copyright infringement. IEEE-USA is concerned that this portion of the bill may harm small businesses and intends to pursue this issue during the 106th Congress.
IEEE-USA INTRODUCES CONSULTANTS' DIRECTORY ONLINE SUBMISSION FORM -
It is not too late for consultants who did not advertise in the 1998 Directory of Electrotechnology and Information Technology Consultants to take advantage of IEEE-USA's client development service. The on-line version of the Consultants' Directory, recently updated with new search capabilities, is accepting applications from members at www.ieeeusa-consultants.org/submissions/submit.html. The cost is $40.00 for IEEE members ($50.00 non-members). The directory lists more than 400 electrical, electronics, software and management consultants and their services alphabetically, by state and by category - with a listing of specialties. The printed 1998 Directory is available free by contacting William Anderson at 202-785-0017 or w.anderson@ieee.org. Prospective clients can also access the database of consultants on IEEE-USA's Web site at www.ieeeusa.org/consultants.
SCIENCE COMMITTEE ACCOMPLISHES MORE WITH LESS DURING 105TH CONGRESS -
The House Science Committee successfully completed the 105th Congress with 14 measures signed into law, including legislation expanding the US commercial space industry, enhancing scientific opportunities for women and allowing faster communications for schools, businesses and communities. All of this was accomplished with a significantly reduced staff level.
The 14 bills enacted into law include:
Further information on any of the legislation mentioned above can be located at the Science Committee's web site, www.house.gov/science/welcome.
EDUCATION WEBSITES FOR MATH & SCIENCE-
ELECTION RESULTS - IEEE - President-Elect: Bruce A. Eisenstein; Vice President, Technical Activities: Michael S. Adler; Vice President-Elect, Technical Activities: Robert A. Dent; IEEE-USA - President-Elect: Merrill Buckley, Jr.; Member-at-Large: Michael Mulder. Division Directors - II: Barry C. Brusso; VI: Luis Gandia; X: Janie Fouke; Director-Elect - V: Doris Carver. Region Directors-Elect - 2: Marc Apter; 4: Myron Wilson; 5: Joseph Lillie; 6: Lawrence Hamerman.
INFORMATION ADVANTAGE CUTS THROUGH THE CLUTTER - The IEEE Information Advantage (www.ieee.org/products/infoadvantage) is a members-only benefit program that puts existing services, plus the new IEEE BooksPlus on-line book-buying service, under one roof. IEEE Information Advantage consists of Bibliographies On-Line, IEEE OPeRA (On-line Periodicals Research Area), ASK*IEEE document delivery service, the IEEE Personal E-Mail Service, and a final component, the new IEEE BooksPlus on-line book buying service. IEEE BooksPlus (www.ieee.org/products/booksplus) complements the IEEE's discounts by giving members the opportunity to purchase professional books, technical references, and textbooks from other top computer science and engineering publishers on-line, at discounts of 20 percent - discounts not available at bookstores, on-line retailers like Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble, or even by contacting the publisher! ! ! s di rectly. IEEE members will be required to register for an IEEE Web account to gain access to BooksPlus. For more information, contact Carol Coffey, 732-562-6547, c.coffey@ieee.org.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION TO DEFINE THE FUTURE OF IEEE'S ELECTRONIC SERVICES - All IEEE members are encouraged to participate in the on-line discussion areas posted by the IEEE Electronic Services Steering Committee. The site has open discussions on electronic publishing issues. The intent is to develop an IEEE plan that maps what customers (members, companies, libraries, etc.) want from IEEE two to five years in the future and to develop a coherent strategy that addresses policies, processes, and computing/communications/information infrastructure requirements needed to implement the services. See www.ieee.org/committee/essc/.
The results are in from the 1998 IEEE Election, and we have a new Director-Elect for Region 5. Joe Lillie, an Area Manager for BellSouth in Louisiana, will be the Director-Elect in 1999 and take over as Director for 2000-01. The Fort Worth Section reports directly to the Region 5 Director. In his new role, Joe will oversee all Sections and Student Branches within a 12-state area in the mid-southern USA. Congratulations Joe! The election also gave us a new man at the very top - Dr. Bruce Eisenstein from Drexler University in Philadelphia is the new President-Elect of IEEE. For complete election results, visit the main IEEE website (www.ieee.org).
The IEEE Professional Development Conference (formerly the Professional Activities Conference) will take place in Dallas over the Labor Day weekend in 1999. The Fort Worth Section is co-hosting the event with the Dallas Section. Help is now needed to coordinate local activities. If you are interested, please email Jean Eason. No experience required. (See www.ieeeusa.org/usab/PRODEVCON/.)
Finally, with only 390 (or so) days left to mass Y2K hysteria, we must be approaching the end of 1998. On behalf of all the officers and volunteers of the Fort Worth Section, may you have a very happy and enjoyable Christmas, and a successful new year of debugging and troubleshooting.
- Alan Triggs
Recognizing our Section members for their long-time commitment to the profession on the anniversary of their joining IEEE.
45 yrs
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Jean Eason, Editor