Women & Men in Management

1. Women & Men in Management Chapter 5 – Working in Diverse Teams

2. Work Teams Today • Current increase in organizations’ use of work teams to: • Achieve strategic objectives • Produce goods and services • Design new products • Solve organizational problems • Lead organizations • Teams are used across all industries and global organizations

3. Sex Effects in Mixed-Sex Teams • Definition: When men’s and women’s behavior in teams or experiences as team members differ • In mixed-sex teams: • Sex is a distinguishing factor between others • Influences interactions • Influences the evaluation of behaviors

4. Dimensions of Communication and Behavior • Communication style • Self-assertion and dominance (male associated) • Deference and warmth (female associated) • Behavior types • Task behaviors • Males devote a somewhat higher percentage of communications to task behavior • Social behaviors • Women display a higher percentage of positive social behaviors

5. Evaluation of Task Contributions and Group Influence • Men: • Have more positive evaluations of their task contributions • Tend to have more influence in mixed-sex teams • Are more likely to become informal leaders

6. Evaluation of Task Contributions and Group Influence • Women: • Tend to devalue their own performances • Are judged on a higher standard • Receive less social support from team members when recognized as better performers • Are more influenced than men

7. Increasing Evaluations of Influence • Female behaviors • Confidence, assertiveness • Receive less feedback, makes a woman less influential, especially among male team members • Increases influence among other women • Viewed as less likeable than male counterpart • Assertiveness combined with “friendly, nice” behaviors • Demonstrates a desire to help the entire group • Combination not required of men

8. Sex Similarity Effects • How does team composition affect women’s and men’s experiences as team members? • Factors to consider: • If the individual’s sex in the group is a minority • Women vs. men in the minority • Exact number of each sex within the group

9. Four Major Work Groups Two Extremes: Uniform and Balanced groups • Uniform groups • All males or all females (no sex issues) • Balanced groups • Approximately equal numbers of women and men

10. Four Major Work Groups Between Uniform and Balanced • Skewed groups • Ratio of one sex to another 85:15 to nearly 100:0 • Dominants vs. Tokens • Tokens are viewed as representatives of their sex • Tilted groups • Ratio of one sex to another 65:35 to 85:15 • Minorities tend to ally, and are distinguishable from each other and the majority

11. Tokens in Skewed Groups • How are tokens treated? • Seen as representatives of their sex, not individuals • Receive special treatment detrimental to: • Performance • Attachment to the group • Face performance pressures, due to high visibility • Work harder to have accomplishments recognized • Excluded from social activities • May experience stereotyping effects

12. Male vs. Female Tokens • Research has shown that… • Women typically feel the negative effects of token status, especially in male-intensive settings • Men experience attention that works to their advantage in female-intensive settings • Nursing example • Men are very (negatively) sensitive to sex composition changes from male-dominance to a more balanced group

13. Sex Diversity Effects • Pessimistic view • Identification with similar others causes members to reject those who are different • Leads to: • Factions • Conflict • Communication breakdowns • Group performance and member satisfaction are impaired

14. Sex Diversity Effect • Optimistic view • Differences among members enhance creativity and problem-solving ability • More likely to occur on complex tasks and innovation • Greater diversity increases interaction and decreases prejudice and stereotyping • Improves relations among team members

15. Which Has More Prevalence? • Mixed results • Recognize: sex diversity has advantages and disadvantages • Set goals: maximize the advantages and minimize the disadvantages

16. Importance of Situational Factors • Team demographic composition • More subgroups = less negative effects • Team longevity • Greater team longevity = less importance in sex composition • Sex-neutral, cooperative tasks • Electronic communication technologies • Reduce sex-based categorization • Benefits women more than men

17. Importance of Situational Factors • Demographics of the larger organization • Sex composition of the top management team • Can influence the relative status of women and men in smaller teams • Organizational culture and values • A cooperative culture reduces negative effects of sex diversity • An inclusive diversity culture stresses equality and recognizes merits of all types of individuals • Societal culture

18. Making Mixed-Sex Teams Work

19. Making Mixed-Sex Teams Work

20. Making Mixed-Sex Teams Work

21. Chapter 5 Terms • Sex effects • Sex similarity effects • Sex diversity effects • Self-assertion and dominance • Deference and warmth • Task Behaviors • Social Behaviors • Task contributions • Social support • Influence • Informal leader • Uniform groups • Balanced groups • Skewed groups • Tilted groups • Tokens in skewed groups • Pessimistic view of sex diversity effects • Optimistic view of sex diversity effects • Overall demographic composition • Longevity • Sex-neutral, cooperative tasks • Electronic communication technologies • Demographic composition of the larger organization • Top management team sex composition • Cooperative culture • Inclusive diversity culture