Male and Female Negotiators

In order to examine the differences between female and male negotiators and their implications, it was necessary to establish that gender is, in fact, a major consideration in negotiations. Affirming that, negotiation is defined as arranging or settling by conferring or discussing with another, and the negotiation process as, generally, a communications process whereby two or more individuals attempt to resolve an issue that may require mutual concessions. Throughout this process, gender differences may, unintentionally and unfortunately, become one of the issues as female negotiating qualities clash with male winning-oriented strategies.

Even before the process begins, there are preconceived ideas of female and male negotiators. These stereotypical notions add little to the knowledge of the real differences between them, but it does provide the opportunity to identify and list the attributes associated with women negotiators. From this point, the "partnership process"--women and men negotiating together-- is examined, and leads to the further examination of why women and men negotiate and the comprehensive skills that are required of a practicing negotiator.

In overviewing the differences between female and male negotiators, the cross-accusation of "indirectness" in negotiating is considered and assigned an uncertain status as a result of being equally contributed to by the parties. In the concluding paragraphs, the exceptionally controversial issue, "Are these female-m

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e opposite sex, whether negotiating on the same team or on opposite sides. Women, in general, do seem to place a high value on interpersonal communications that moves more toward community and away from competitiveness. Associated with their negotiating style as well are honesty, emotionality, compassion or empathy, and cooperation. In contrast, men are competitors, who seek to win, and thus, veer away from showing personal feelings. Cooperation with others is not regarded as a goal, but as a means to a goal called winning. A special attribute of women in the negotiating process, and seldom ascribed to men, is that of intuition, which has been described as a sort of radar system that searches below the surface of a situation to pick up and process hidden messages about other peoples' intentions, character, emotions, distractions, and motivations. Very often, women realize that their intuition has tried to alert them to underlying factors in a situation--negative or positive, dire warnings or special opportunities. Whether looking through the eyes of a man or a woman, there are very definite opinions about their respective negotiating styles: men see women as vulnerable and their sense of honesty, at times as a weakness; women ar

Category: Psychology - M