Evidence-Based Recommendation 3

Diminish women’s anxiety about negotiating and women will begin to discover strength as negotiators.

In many studies and research, women are stereotyped as not asking questions during negotiation, and the outcome is that women lose money and opportunities to move forward in their careers. Margaret A. Neale said in her lecture on “Negotiation” that women are simply uncomfortable with asking (2013). Michele Gelfand, Deborah Small, and Heidi Stayn did several different studies on gender differences in the workplace. In one study, men negotiated twice as often as women; in another study, men negotiated nine times more frequently (2012, p. 1). In addition, Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever told in the interview, “Women Don’t Ask,” that women have much more anxiety toward negotiation than men. This is because the way women were taught when they were young is different than how parents teach boys (2011).

            After looking at some studies, it can be seen that an anxiety to ask is one of the greater barriers for women in negotiation. There are some studies which were conducted by Linda Babcock and her team that showed when a woman’s anxiety rises to 25 percent, the likelihood that she will go through with a negotiation decreases by 11 percent, while a 25 percent increase in a man’s anxiety decreases the likelihood he will ask for what he wants only by 3 percent (Babcock & Laschever, 2003, p. 115). Furthermore, Babcock established consensus by using web surveys as the scientific method to construct the supporting evidence. The survey established that women indeed feel more anxiety and discomfort than men feel about negotiating (Babcock & Laschever, 2003, p. 113). According to Babcock and Laschever (2003), in the survey, respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement with statements such as: “I feel anxious when I have to ask for something I want” and “It always takes me a long time to work up the courage to ask for things I want” (p.114). Then, Babcock and her team created a scale to measure each respondent’s level of negotiation apprehension. The result showed that women scored significantly higher than men on the scale, with 2.5 times as many women as men’s anxiety (Babcock & Laschever, 2003, p. 115). This is not the only evidence. Another consensus from a survey of experts was also conducted in Babcock’s project. The survey of experts is “when an organization seeks expert opinion, sometimes that consensus could result from a literal opinion poll” (Fiske & Borgida, 2011, p. 263). The survey took place in a negotiation workshop with about 20 female physician executives – women doctors in high-level managerial position such as the chief medical officer of a hospital and the vice president of an insurance company. This survey aimed to allow these physicians to discover their feelings when they negotiate. The result concluded that a full two-thirds felt that “negotiating made them nervous and a total of 86 percent expressed strong negative feelings about negotiating, such as it makes them feel insecure and defensive. Only 14 percent of these accomplished and successful women expressed any positive emotions about negotiating, such as saying that it makes them feel powerful and assertive” (Babcock & Laschever, 2003, p. 115).

What can organizations do to help your female employees take away from anxiety? – Organizations can raise awareness that women should be honest with their feelings, allow women to be aware of negative effects after they do not ask for things they want, and also, let them think about pros and cons of not negotiating. Organizations may provide a workshop or supply training about negotiation for women. Then their fear of being too aggressive and their anxiety will decrease.

This recommendation is reliable, and also has the potential to be established as a best practice for the manager because some scientific data have been reviewed and referenced as the examples. Some information that was examined is from the scientific method: web survey, and survey of experts. It is not often seen that organizations use evidence-based management in managing the companies, solving problems and conflicts, or making a decision. In Pfeffer and Sutton’s book Hard Facts Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense, they argued that many companies and leaders show little interest in subjecting their business practices and decisions to the same scientific rigor they would use for technical or medical issues (2006, p. 12). This can make companies lose an advantage over the competition. “Evidence-based management is based on the belief that facing the hard facts about what works and what doesn’t, understanding the dangerous half-truths that constitute so much conventional wisdom about managing, and rejecting the total nonsense,” while non-scientific evidence like common wisdom, potential hunches, or personal experience can lead organizations to poor performance (Pfeffer & Sutton 2006, p. 13).

There are some small weaknesses found in both scientific evidences. Respondents may not provide accurate and honest answers. The study that was conducted by web survey used questions that require respondents to indicate their level of agreement with statements, which could lead to unclear data. Certain answer options may be interpreted differently by respondents. One suggestion that could be applied to develop this weakness is using the suggestion from Margaret A. Neale’s lecture “Negotiation.” Neale implied that negotiating face-to-face works better than negotiating via email or phone call. That is a similar thing as if you to wanting to ask someone for answers. Using a survey in person may give researchers more accurate answers; furthermore, researchers can also read respondents’ physical reactions.

References:

Babcock, L., & Laschever, S. (2003). Women don’t ask: Negotiation and the gender divide. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Babcock, L., & Laschever, S. (2011). Women don’t ask. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcZn7zYGrp8

Fiske, S. T., & Borgida, E. (2011). Best practices: How to evaluate psychological science for use by organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior, 31, 253–275. doi:10.1016/j.riob.2011.10.003

Neale, M. A. (2013). Negotiation. Retrieved from Lecture Online Web site:  http://leanin.org/education/negotiation/

Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, I. R. (2006). Hard facts: Dangerous half-truths, and total nonsense. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Program on Negotiation: Harvard Law School (2012). Training women to be leaders: Negotiating skills for success. Special Report, 1. Retrieved from http://www.pon.harvard.edu/free-reports/thank-you/?freemium_id=25518