Workplaces That Work
Improve Decision-making by Leveraging Diverse Perspectives
Women and men, working together, will have a wider range of perspectives than either group working alone, which can lead to better decision-making.
Having greater diversity in the workforce can lead to better decision-making, if the diversity is valued and properly leveraged.
However, the mere presence of women in the workplace will not guarantee positive outcomes. Experts suggest that it requires a variety of best practice changes to ensure a work culture in which diversity is valued and effectively leveraged for better performance.
Success in the new economy depends on new styles of management – those same styles that create workplace cultures attractive to women. And, many of the behaviours in the new styles are traditionally associated with women.
It has become common wisdom that businesses need new models of leadership and new organizational structures and processes to succeed in an environment of increased competition and economic globalization. The recommended style of leadership today is more adaptive and participative, emphasizing approaches that are flexible, non-hierarchical, cooperative and holistic.
Success story
IBM Canada is well known for best practices in encouraging women’s participation in technology occupations. An example is their “Men and Women in Communication” workshop, a one-day event for the company’s most senior 100 men and women, with each required to invite someone of the other gender to accompany them. The purpose of the workshop was to highlight gender differences in communication styles and subtle stereotyping that interferes with collectively achieving optimal results. For example, one group observed a tendency in their team meetings for all the administrative tasks to be assigned to the women and the more business-oriented tasks to the men, regardless of role or hierarchical level. Regardless of whether the leader’s behaviour reflected stereotyping or an accurate judgment of the individuals’ ability to get things done, it was agreed that this had a negative impact on the work culture. Participants report that, after the workshop, the leader’s behaviour changed markedly.
The International Labour Organization points out that this shift aligns closely with the types of workplaces that encourage women’s participation: “Such environments de-emphasize the old rigidities which have been restrictive to women and allow a more positive appreciation of so-called ‘feminine’ management qualities and styles: being less combative; being more consensus and solution oriented; being more practical and supportive of other staff and so forth.”13 Changing workplace cultures to attract more women will foster the very changes being demanded of successful organizations in today’s global economic context.
Tip
Involve women in generating approaches for: interacting with male colleagues in ways that foster acceptance, clarifying mutual expectations for success, creating realistic portrayals of what life on the job will be like for women and providing women with a formal welcome to the organization; and, initiating culture change by providing an orientation guide for all new employees that outlines the organization’s norms, values and code of conduct.
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