1. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 1 The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace

2. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 2 Maleness as a set of principles, symbols, behaviour, strategies and objectives is predominant in the backbone of organizations and in their patterns of communication and interaction.

3. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 3  Why be concerned with the genderperspective at work and promotion in the workplace?

4. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 4 Communication, social arrangements and cultural practices in organizations  are connected to structures and mechanisms  that build the architecture of inequality and create the well known gender order and perceive it as natural and for granted. Three factors:Individual & social & organizational contribute to the phenomen of the „glass ceiling“

5. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 5 What are theoretical frameworks to explain significant cultural norms in organizations?  Gender Schema Theory and Social Role Theory!

6. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 6 Culture can be defined as a: „collective programming of the mind that is a manifestation of the value systems of various groups which is able to sustain itself over long periods of time.“ Hofstede (1991, p.5)

7. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 7 Sex is defined as the grouping of humans in two biological categories, males and females. Gender refers the meanings that societies and individuals ascribe to female and male categories and Gender roles are those social roles a society defines for women and men.

8. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 8 A schema Is a network of interrelated elements that defines a concept for individuals to define expectations. A gender schema defines expectations about behaviour of men and women.

9. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 9 Research demonstrates as well, that men are expected to have high levels of agentic attributes (independent, masterful, assertive, competent) and women to have high levels of communal attributes (friendly, unselfish, emotionally, expressive).

10. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 10 Many aspects relating to sex and gender can probabely understood by means of structure and power, established by the „gendered substructure“ (Acker 1992:225) and through genderspecific communication in public life. Therefore promotion in the workplace should be linked positively to genderspecific style of communcation.

11. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 11 Is there a male & female talk – and is promotion in the workplace and for leadership positions connected with linguistic styles?

12. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 12 Communication may be defined as „the process of using verbal and nonverbal cues to negotiate a mutually acceptable meaning between two or more people within a particular context and environment.“ (Lumsden & Lumsden 2000)

13. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 13 Productive styles Faciliative/Commanding/ Equal……………………………………………………………Autoritative responsible confirming appropriate Tactfully assertive………………………………………Directly assertive

14. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 14 Unproductive styles Passiv/hostile/ aggressive………………………………………………….divisive not responsible disconfirming inappropriate Aggressive/ Non participative………………………………………..indirect

15. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 15 What do we know from current research on Gender and Communication ?

16. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 16 - as status asserting, dominant and negative - display of high levels of visual dominance, power and status - keeping people in eyecontact and time control, - intrusive interruption of others to gain the floor in conversation adapted to wide variety of social and professional contexts - associated with formal leadership and authority in groups Male communication

17. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 17 - disclose more personal information - collaborative, warm and more supportive and open - encourage others´ speech and reinforcing by minimal verbal responses - mitigated speech - tentative manner including tag questions e.g. Carli (2000), Mulac (1998), Grob et.al. (1997) Female communication

18. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 18 Female leaders - display a more democratic style - encouraging collaboration - involving subordinates in decisions - higher level of transformative leadership: mentoring, empowering Male leaders - display a more autocratic style - discouraging participation of subordinates in decisions - asserting leader´s control and authority - higher level of transactional leadership: reward and punishment (e.g. Eagle et al 2003)

19. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 19 Are there situational factors in workplace that moderate male and female talk? Look at:  Gender Composition  Power  Social influence !

20. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 20 Meta-analytic findings show that the gender differerence in smiling, social behaviour, verbal reinforcement, encouragement, self-disclosure and lower levels of task behaviour interacts with gender composition such that gender difference is bigger in same-than in mixed-gender interactions. (La France et al 2003)

21. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 21 Differences in mitigation and dominance have been more pronounced in mixed gender interactions, reflecting greater mitigation and less dominance toward men. That means: People display greater mitigation and less visual dominance to men than to women. Men speak in a more mitigated manner when talking to other men than when talking to women. (Sayers & Sherblom 1987)

22. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 22 Research suggests that, legitimate power may mediate gender effects on communication. Studies also suggest that, expert power may affect gender differences in communication.

23. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 23 These findings suggest: 1.The typical gender differences in agentic communication derive from the male advantage in power and authority. 2.But typical gender differences can however be reduced in contexts where women posses high power relative to men.

24. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 24 Various studies have revealed that, -Both men and women exert greater influence when communicating in a gender stereotypical manner. -And other research show that women face far more serious consequences than men when they violate gender-role norms. -Highly dominant behaviour by women is not surprising ineffective. -Apparently dominant, assertive, direct or even merely competent communications are particularly problematic for women. -As a result, women have a narrower repertoire of behaviours for gaining social influence than men.

25. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 25 As a result: Women who are too agentically competent may be disliked as people evaluate women who exhibit an exeptional level of managerial competence more negatively than their exceptionally competent male counterparts- seeing the competent female manager as having a less desirable personality. Display of communal behaviour can blunt the threat of female competence. (Heilman et. Al. 2004)

26. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 26 The double bind of competence can be particularly problematic for women who want promotion in the workplace or for female managers and leaders. Female managers and leaders have responded to this dilemma by displaying higher levels of transformative leadership (Low et al 1996) as a means to overcome the double bind and excelling as leaders.

27. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 27 1.Women have more constraints on their style of communication in order to be effective influence agents in the workplace than men. 2.Women who look for promotion and female managers must adhere more closely to gender-role-prescriptions to avoid penalties. 3.Women leaders must display exceptional levels of competence to overcome the presumption that women lack agency, competency and leadership abilities of men. Implications

28. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 28 4.Women who exhibit exceptional levels of competence may be evaluated unfavourably because such behaviour violates prescriptive gender-role-norms particularly in domains as management and leadership which are seen stereotypically as masculine. 5.Gender stereotypes thus create a double bind for women, who can be penalized for showing too little or too much agency. 6.Women may overcome the double bind by displaying communal behaviour, which can reduce resistance to female promotion, authority and influence. Female managers have shown to employ a transformational leadership style, which effectively combines communality with competent leadership. Implications II

29. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 29 What does micro-level analysis of communication factors tell us on formal promotion and other processes underlying women´s advancement at work?

30. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 30 Double Devaluation of women´s linguistic style and business communication.

31. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 31 It has been documented that, women and men have different notions of what constitutes interruption of a turn at talk.

32. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 32 In relation to (western) values of individualism and gendered hierachy in society,men prefer sole-speaker-turns interpret any invasion into their turn as violation of their sole- speaker-right favour competition in talks it is important to achieve a dominant position in hierarchy Male perceptions and preferences:

33. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 33 Female perceptions and preferences In relation to socialization and segregation of private and public spheres in society,women prefer inclusivness and egalitarianism prefer ensemble or melded conversation floors achieve collaborative floors through overlapping speech and completion of another woman´s utterane share knowledge and experience. (e.g. Coates 1994; Coates 1996)

34. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 34 It is claimed that women could succeed in the workplace through performing in a range of styles, effectively representing masculine as well as feminine identities through communication. (e.g. Case 1995) Performing Androgenity?

35. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 35 Women should develop communication skills that they can draw on in business settings, meetings and decisionmaking boards, and where they can perceive that androcentic model will be effective in promotion situations.

36. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 36 According to a male genderlogic in organizations Women, who want promotion are required to sacrifice major elements of their gender identity. So promotion is possible only at higher costs and by perpetuation of the traditional male gender oder in the workplace.

37. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 37 Will the „New Paradigm for Management and Leadership in the 21. Century“ offer women better promotion in the workplace?

38. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 38 The new paradigm is described as a „feminine one“ (Burton and Ryall 1995, p.8) as „more femine than masculine practices are claimed on and factors such as relational rather than competitive values are important and the need for organizations to seek for interdependence rather than dominance in the marketplace.“ New Management and leadership model is regularily described in gender images and according to Tom Peters „the time has come for men to move to learn to play women´s games“ (Fierman 1990, p.71)

39. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 39 As long as tokenism in the workplace (Kanter 1977) exists, that means that relatively few women hold prominent positions in a particular occupational setting and therefore women in senior and top positions hold minority and outsider status, there will be no significant change for promotion in the workplace. Men and women will evaluate that tokens are not part of the „club“ and the members of the organization could state: We still can use the usual course of events and communication, tokens do not interrupt our traditional dominant culture.

40. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 40 The success of the new organizational paradigm in the workplace depends on how the senior male management will articulate it and dissolve gender stereotypes for promotion.

41. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 41 For women is recommended to translate experience-based skills into learned skills  through processes such as formal training  or education programs  or mentoring programs that are either internal to their organization or offered by external institutions. This will authenticate the skill base and will enable women to gain acknowledgement that is reserved for learned skills.

42. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 42 So the great man or „hero“ still dominated criteria for leadership positions. Anyone embarking on a quest for membership on to executive culture was considered to be on „a Ulysses-like Journey: full of grand-scale trials of endurance and tests of strenght- the modern equivalent of the heroic quest“ (Sinclair 1994, S.15)

43. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 43 1.Through charismatic leadership: the unic example beeing Joan of Arc 2.Through inherited leadership positions: example include women who become heads of family businesses or queens of kingdom 3.Through achievement of professional eminence: women who become leading figures in their discipline because of their professional and/or scientific achievement 4.Through becoming a selected leader – that is, elected, appointed or nominated through important public offices such as prime minister, senator: examples include Merkel, Thatcher, H. Clinton (e.g. Apfelbaum & Hadley 1986) Four main ways forms women to become leaders:

44. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 44 A fifth path to leadership: Selection by merit through the adoption of equal opportunity laws in many countries The interpretation of merit depends largely on the assumptions perceptions and values of the people and organizations applying the principle, but one particular view sees it as the relationship between a person´s job-related qualities and those genuinely required for performance in particular positions. (Burton et al 1994)

45. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 45 Women gain under merit interpretation, and lose under the non-merit-one.

46. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 46 Merrill & Kolb (2001, p.2) conclude „THAT SPECIFIC SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES IDENTIFIED AS BEEING IMPORTANT FOR EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP DO NOT MIRROR THE ASSUMPTIONS AND IMAGES PEOPLE HOLD OF EFFECTIVE LEADERS.“

47. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 47 The result is a paradox: Women are rated as having the required skills, but are not seen culturally as leaders in comparison with men. Even the concept of post-heroic-leadership or shared leadership (Huey and Sookdeo, 1994) does not advance women´s interest according to Fletcher (2002).

48. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 48 We agree with Fletcher that, The „transformational call for new leadership“ has already been incorporated into the mainstream discourse according to the rules of the old paradigm. The result: is yet another idealized image- the post-heroic heroes- gender: male

49. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 49 The male hero provides a symbol of career success and it can be seen as a form of communication management that attempts to control and homogenize executive identity… (Salzer-Morling, 1998, p.112) „and organizations foster their corporate masculity and perpetuate assessments of who looks like leadership material.“

50. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 50 Women lack neither leadership nor charisma, But rather an archetypal profile as leaders!? „XENA“ While gender remains a continuing given of social constructions and interactions, gender content evolves and changes. Olson (2002)

51. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 51 One of the ways of affirming change, of making it happen, is by women telling their stories under four interrelated headings: Emotions Stereotypes Sexuality/ Age Leadership By communicating distinctive images of women leaders, arising of their expressed voices.

52. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 52 „If no-one´s speaking out and showing how things are progressing then we´ll never get anywhere“.

53. © Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe, Kiel The relevance of the gender perspective on communication at work and promotion in the workplace 53 Thank you for your attention ! Contact for further questions or remarks: Prof. Dr. Ingelore Welpe Institut für Frauenforschung und Gender-Studien Sokratesplatz 2 24149 Kiel Tel.:(49) (0)431 210 1780 Email:ingelore.welpe@FH-Kiel.deingelore.welpe@FH-Kiel.de www.frauenforschung.fh-kiel.de © 2007