Page 108 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

Diversity and the Effects of Culture 91

Third, there are differences in forcefulness. This kind of behavior concerns how
much a member talks, interrupts others, claims personal space, or otherwise calls
attention to him- or herself in the conversation. It also reflects the degree of assertive-
ness and directness in the communication. Men tend to talk more than women, inter-
rupt more, engage in more self- promotion, claim more space, and are more assertive.
Men are more likely to say, “OK, here is what I think we should do,” versus “This
seems like a good idea, but what do the rest of you think?”
Finally, differences have been observed between individual and group orienta-
tions. Women show more collectivist behavior that emphasizes the group as a whole:
“We have done a wonderful job of gathering all the information we need.” Men tend
to spotlight their own accomplishments and personal status with comments like,
“I think I did a great job of researching our topic.”
While there may be tendencies for men and women to demonstrate the behaviors
we have presented, these are actually gender orientations that can be held by either
males and females. Martha, in our opening case, displayed more masculine communi-
cation directed at highlighting her abilities, which were read by the others as “ thinking
highly of herself.”
Interestingly, biological sex itself seems to function as a status characteristic
in small groups. Propp found that, in mixed sex groups, information provided by
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women is evaluated more stringently. Information introduced by males was twice
as likely to be used by the group in its decision- making process, especially when
that information was not known generally by the rest of the group. Propp suggests
that biological sex is used as a status cue, and this puts women’s expertise at a dis-
advantage during decision making. Taps and Martin discovered that in all- female
groups, women who gave internal accounts for their opinion (e.g., “Based on my
previous experience, I think . . .”) were more influential and well liked by other
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members. However, in male groups with one woman, only external accounts
(e.g., “Based on research by Dr. Smith, I think . . .”) were judged more influential.
In sex-balanced groups, the type of account did not matter to the judgments of
influence and liking.
This issue of sex balance is an important one. Randel and Jaussi found that when
there is only one male or one female in a group, that lone representative will perceive
a high level of relationship conflict, particularly if that group member has a strong
gender social identity. This finding was more true for men than women. Because
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relationship conflict can affect both individual and group performance, the authors
suggest considering sex balance in assembling a group.
Women appear to understand this relationship between sex and perceptions
of status. In a study in which group members interacted anonymously via
computer- mediated communication, men were more likely than women to reveal their
sex. Women hid identifying information or even represented themselves as men,
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preferring to remain anonymous during computer- mediated interaction because they
believed they had more influence that way.
Again, generalizing about male and female behavior is misleading for all sorts of
reasons. For one, as we have seen, although men and women can and do behave
similarly in groups, what might matter most is how those behaviors are perceived.

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