Communication: The Ultimate Gender Barrier

"Life is really simple, but men insist on making it complicated."

~ Confucius

During the past few years, I have discovered that there are a vast majority of differences among men and women. Whether it be the way they dress, their eating habits, attitude, or even their body language. However, I found the greatest dissimilarity to be the conversational styles presented by men and women in the workplace.

With this in mind, communication between the genders, has become more prevalent, and pervasive in today's society. Research indicates that men and women are socialized differently and have diverse styles of speaking. According to the article, Men and Women Talking on the Job, Tannen mentions that men aim to hold the highest status role, and challenge those who defect these confrontations through increasing authority, and arrogance (73). Nonetheless, Tannen believes women are at a disadvantage, and seem to lack confidence. Likewise, women tend to use greater detail in leading up to the point, and express significant kindliness, affection, and congeniality through self disclosure (73).

Furthermore, Tannen discovered that men are widely observed to come quickly to the point they wish to make, by interrupting the conversation, and through use of assertive language.

Likewise, I agree with Tannen's generalization concerning gender communication in the workplace. Through personal scrutiny, I found Tannen's description to be accurate. Unfortunately, I have seen a great deal Tannen's gender communication patterns throughout my employment. As an intern at the Hyatt Regency Princeton, I have had the opportunity to carefully monitor the conversational styles of the female and male employees. With the help of Professor McManion, I was able to conduct a naturalistic observation of the verbal and nonverbal communication among Hyatt employees. As a result, I had successfully found the various differences in conversational styles between women and men. These disparities were similar to Tannen's findings.

In my observation, I constituted that men who held managerial positions were more self centered, and had developed aggressive strategies in making sure they receive the top positions. As a result, almost every top position at the Hyatt Regency Princeton, such as the General Manager, the Controller,the Director of Sales, the Director of Food and Beverage, the Director of Rooms, and the Director of Engineering are held by men. Moreover, I discovered the men that acquire these high positions, use conversation to negotiate their status and to preserve their dominance, determination, and autonomy. Nevertheless, the females at the Hyatt Regency Princeton obtain the lower positions, such as the Human Resources Coordinator, the Revenues Manager, Assistant Food and Beverage Manager, Front Desk Manager, and the Executive Housekeeper, to name a few. With that being said, these females use dialogue to conciliate closeness, and familiarity.

Lastly, I concluded that the male employees at the Hyatt progress to solutions, and engage in problem solving at the moment. Where as female employees, tend to converse regarding the problem, and try to solve it collaboratively. In addition, the male employees were valued on their performance, and their ability to achieve results. While the female employees were evaluated on their emotional responses, and their means of communicating effectively.

In general, I believe there needs to be a greater awareness concerning the differences in gender communication. This recognition can than succor in eliminating the complications that occur throughout gender communication. These obstacles among men and women in the workplace include; resentment, anxiety, uncertainty, and decreased productivity.

Above all, I feel both sexes need to understand the inherent differences in their conversational styles. With this in mind, several effective strategies can be used to resolute the dilemma in gender communication. For example, a few techniques include: conflict resolution, the acceptance of others perceptions, and the ability to acquire an open mind. Likewise, all of these methods can help in reducing the the gender barrier that is present in the workplace today. Most importantly, they can assist in establishing a desirable work environment not only for males, but for females as well. : )