On Jan 20, 2009, at 8:46 PM, [email protected] wrote:
I would much rather the ladies with whom I work on projects were competent rather than likeable. I think most people I know feel this way but none of them are in universities.I have become friends with some of the people I have worked with but this was after and it is a pattern often followed by others. Some of the people I like best are death on projects.
It really wasn't a matter of competence, per se. As I said, it's not really that women are more likable-oriented than men, or that men are more teamwork-oriented. Both groups accomplish similar things, liking each other and working together, but in different sequences.
I used to go bonkers when I had to work with a largely female work group, because they would spend a good deal of time at the beginning in conversations that had more to do with sizing up each other's congeniality and sense of camaraderie, whereas when I worked with mostly men, they would want to set up the plan and put it into action. After the women got a take on each other's personality, demeanor, etc., they'd get down to work (in a somewhat circuitous route, btw), and finally pull it off. After the men started doing the work, they'd test each other's mettle and competence in the job, and afterwards, they'd develop a sense of friendliness and concern (in a correspondingly circuitous route, btw).
I appreciate the men's way. Do good work, then feel good about it and each other. I was criticized in work reviews because others felt that I was blunt and sometimes inconsiderate when starting on a project. The first department I worked in had about 100 employees (60 staff, 40 faculty), of which about half were men and half women (but the faculty was about 75% men and the staff 66% women); at the second department I worked in, the total complement was upwards of 300 (in eight years, it fluctuated between about 235 people on the low side to 385 on the high side), and it was 84% women (5/6 exactly--I calculated it twice), a fraction that hardly varied.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Michael Brady [email protected]
