Monthly Archive for January, 2008

You’re probably aware of gender in your office: after all, you had to take that anti-harassment seminar just like everyone else. But does gender affect the way you play the game of workplace politics? Sara Stewart’s article in The New York Post’s “@ Work” section argues that it does.

“It’s a very hot topic, particularly for large company retreats or workshops,” says Bev Rosen, president of the Maryland-based consulting firm Wellness at Work. “I think after the ‘Mars and Venus’ stuff came out, people became sensitized to the issue that we really do work with different invisible rules.”

Rosen, who teaches a workshop on gender dynamics, says men and women have certain fundamentally different behaviors in the office – such as when it comes to problem solving.

“For men, when they have a problem, it threatens them because they’re all about living in a hierarchical culture, and it’s all about power and who’s on top. And they can’t show weakness publicly.”

So, she says, a man will often seclude himself in his office or his cubicle and work like a madman, alone, on a problem. Which is right about when his female co-worker thinks he might like a helping hand.

“The woman, seeing he has a problem, says ‘Can I help?’ and he barks at her to go away. She was attempting to share a resolution, but she played into his biggest fear, which is to be perceived as incompetent.”

While we’re smart enough to know that not every single person of every gender handles situations the same way, studies like the one cited in this article are thought-provoking and can provide insight into why people behave the way they do.