Gender Differences in Communication In The Workplace

During spring and summer of 201 I underwent a six month internship in the information services department of a major company in my country Botswana. The company , Botswana power corporation is the sole producer and distributor of electricity in Botswana. As a company with branches all over the country it is easy to understand why communication would be crucial to the day to day operations of this company as a whole. For the sake of clarity however I’m going to limit the focus of this paper to the Information servives departmentin which I worked.

My internship position was at the companies head office in Gaborone .As intern it did not take me long to realize that almost all the departments needed the services of the IS department in one way or the other.The IS department was essentially responsible for user support,themaintainance ,repair and upgrade of computer systems and training of company personnel.

By far the greatest responsibility of the department was user support.Employees from departments all over the complex would call in any problems they had with their computers. These problems would be written down on a work order form and the handled in due course.Because of this members of the department staff had to have effective listening skills .I realized that when dealing with a user it was important for me to solicit as much feedback as possible from them. I would ask questions and paraphrase what they were saying so as to better understand the nature of the problem.This was important because many a time the problem would be Just a simple matter of rebooting the computer and could easily be resolved over the phone.When trying to get to the root of the problem it was important that I display as much patience as possible with the users often vague responses to my questions. I made a conscious effort not to interrupt them and to refrain from distractions that would hinder my ability to listen effectively.Effective listening was also important because it allowed take notice of paralanguage signals in a persons voice allowed us to judge the urgency of the situation .We were also conscioutioas of the paralanguage signals that we relayed to users.We use a phone friendly voice ,being careful to maintain an even steady tone of voice.

Verbal communication within the department was limited because most of the time members of the department worked outside t...

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...er being a white south African had to be quietly advised to start greeting people.In my culture it is considered rude to commence talk to someone without going through the ritual greeting first.Although we were not required to wear uniforms we were however encouraged to dress smartly.Men were required to not required to wear ties to work but they were required to wear long sleeved shirts.This was done so that we could feel comfortable as we moved about the complex but at the same have a professional efficient look about us.When we had meetings with top officials in the company we wore jackects to inhance their image.

In my country the gender differences in communication are greatly determined by the culture.I my women are still pretty viewed as children.When it comes to important issues the expectation is that they are to be seen not heard.There are still very few women in top government positions.Being the only women in the department,I often that my gender limited my communication with my co workers.Even the users were often reluctanctancr

To ask for my assistance simply because I was a woman.I often felt out because as a woman I am used to a higher selfdisclosure than men.