1. Developing Effective
Techniques for Successful
Communication between
Women and Men in the
Click to edit Master subtitle style
Work Place
Jessica Yang
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3. Maybe It's All in Our Heads.. Literally
The brain is made primarily of two different types
of tissue, called gray matter and white matter. Men
think more with their gray matter, and women think
more with white.
In general, men have nearly 6.5 times the amount
of gray matter whereas women have nearly 10
times the amount of white matter related to
intelligence compared to men. - Richard Haier,
Psychology professor at the University of California.
(1)
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4. Gender Roles
In essence, the traditional feminine gender role is a social orientation that emphasizes
closeness and solidarity, whereas the traditional masculine gender role is a social
orientation that emphasizes power and status (Tannen, 1987, 1990).
As Tannen has been careful to note, it is not that traditionally masculine men are
unconcerned about their degree of closeness or connection to others; nor is it the case
that traditionally feminine women are unconcerned about their level of power or
status relative to others.
Rather, the difference is one of emphasis and priority: The masculine disposition is to
attend to the status and power implications of a social exchange before considering
its implications for solidarity and closeness, whereas the feminine disposition is to do
the reverse.
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5. Gender Miscommunication
Much of the relevant theory and research on female/male miscommunication
Tannen (1990) has proposed that a communicative act includes both "the
message—the obvious meaning of the act" and
"metamessages—that is, information about the relations among the people
involved, and their attitudes toward what they are saying and doing and the
people they are saying or doing it to" (p, 32), According to Tannen, female/
male miscommunication results when females and males use different frames
when speaking and listening to each other.
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6. The assumption is that males tend to frame communicative acts in terms of power and status, whereas females tend to frame them in
terms of closeness and solidarity (Tannen, 1987, pp. 93-109), The reason this difference sets the stage for miscommunication is
that although most communicative acts can be meaningfully interpreted within either frame (like the reversible figure of the vase
and the faces), an interpretation within one frame tends to preclude, or occur at the expense of, interpretation within the other
According to Tannen (1987. p. 128), "a lot of trouble is caused between men and women by, of all
things, pronouns. Women often feel hurt when their partners use 'I' or 'me' in a situation in which they would use 'we' or 'us.'"
Presumably, men are using these pronouns within a frame that reflects their need for independence, respect, power, and status,
whereas women are interpreting these pronouns within a frame in which their need for closeness and solidarity is threatened
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7. Gender Culture
Genderlect: That masculine and feminine styles of
discourse are best viewed as two distinct cultural
dialects rather than as inferior or superior ways
of speaking. Deborah Tannen - cross-cultural
communication
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8. Top Three Communication Strengths/Weaknesses
Males:
Females:
+ Ability to read body language and pick up nonverbal cues.
Physical presence.
+ Good and to-the-point interactions.
Direct listening skills.
+ Effective display of empathy.
Body language signals of power
- Overly emotional.direct.
blunt and
- Meandering - won't get to the point.
Insensitive to audience reactions.
- Not confident in own opinion.
Too authoritative.
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10. References
Carey, Bjorn. Men and Women Really Do Think Differently. Livescience. 2005. http://www.livescience.com/3808-men-women-differently.html,
March 30, 2012. Or also NeuroImage-Journal
N.A. Culture Gender. Oregon State.http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/comm321/gwalker/Culture-Gender.htm. March 30, 2012.
Goman, Carol. Men and Women and Workplace Communication. Businessanalysistimes.
http://www.batimes.com/articles/men-and-women-and-workplace-communication.html. 30 March 2012.
Images
Image 1. http://www.google.com/imgres?start=60&num=10&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-
US:official&biw=1280&bih=920&tbm=isch&tbnid=rk3_lYtia92wZM:&imgrefurl=http://www.impactlab.net/2008/09/09/gender-gaps-
widen-as-some-barriers-disappear/&docid=zQx9ghG9GGq4WM&imgurl=http://www.impactlab.com/wp-
content/uploads/2008/09/gender-gap.jpg&w=600&h=405&ei=4nSIT7KmEYroggfhv6y-
CQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=320&sig=100308274981936478840&page=3&tbnh=141&tbnw=209&ndsp=27&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:60,i:65&tx
=96&ty=64
Image 2. Hotz, Robert. Mars, Venus and the brain; Researcher finds fundamental differences between men, women. Los Angeles Times. 2005.
http://archives.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/06wellb.htm. 30 March 2012.
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