Differences in the Male and Female Communication Styles

Running Head: Differences in the Male and Female Communication Styles
Differences in the Male and Female Communication Styles
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Abstract
This paper explains the difference that exists in the communication styles between men and women both at work and in the social life. It is aimed at gaining an understanding of the different communication styles people in leadership positions may use in the workplace and the corresponding value placed on each. It would also help one learn more strategies leading to more effective workplace communication between women and men. The paper is dived into different parts each focusing on a particular characteristic and is accompanied by vivid elaborations.
Introduction
Communications can be literally defined as the process of exchanging meanings between individuals. Ones people have been fully understood they feel that they have effectively communicated. Effective communication enhances self-esteem, health, nurtures relationships and helps people maintain a sound mental health.
When one cannot communicate effectively they feel frustrated, misunderstood and may even become hostile these consequently end up increasing their stress level and cause health deterioration. Individuals who do not communicate effectively are more vulnerable to diseases. The faults and flaws in communication affects not only the individual but also people whom they interact with in all levels from the most intimate to the most distant acquaintances.
People from every aspect have different communication styles that are influenced by their age, parents, class and gender. In most cases people do not realize that their way of speaking is influenced by their background. Men and women both have vast differences in their conversational rituals. However while looking at the communication differences between men and women it is important to be careful not to stereotype and assume that all men will act in a given way and the women also in particular manner. All are in a continuum and some women may have qualities that resemble men or there could be times when it would be necessary to use the female style and same for men.
Communication styles in men and women
Conversation
Men have not always been great conversationalists. In most circumstances it takes a real disagreement to get them talking. For example if they went to a movie and liked, they would say simply its good. But if they did not like it and someone liked, they would say tell the man off as being crazy.
Women on the other hand do not have a problem of long conversations. For instance if one asks a man a question that is intended to initiate a conversation, if it is agreeable you get a non response like for a question like “That piece of art above mantle looks lovely?” Or “That was a good dinner, wasn’t it?” the answer would be “Mmmh” and so on. However with women you could expect something else. For the same question would get an answer like, “Oh my goodness, I love it, the colors of the flowers really go well with the furniture, and drapes” Or for the dinner it would be something like “Yes, I wish I had bigger stomach so I could have eaten more; what was the sauce on the fish made of? It was good.”
It is important to note that the differences in the communication styles are not what ways men and women communicate but the difference in the way they perceive the messages (DF, 2007).
How men and women perceive messages
To begin with, both women and men are more sensitive to the interpersonal meanings that lie between the lines in the messages they exchange with their spouses. These meanings come from societal expectations that make women responsible for regulating intimacy. Women seem to pay more attention than men to the underlying meanings about intimacy that messages imply.
According to DF, men on the other hand tend to be more sensitive to the “the between the lines meanings” for status. This implies that women perceive intimacy while men perceive the hierarchy. This means that women look for common ground, ways to relate, while men communicate in the more competitive way. Furthermore men emphasize more on the common differences between them and others.
Difference in communication in the corporate world
Men and women communicate everyday in the workplace. Work hours are filled with conversations about the job done though they may not always succeed. Decision making is a norm in many offices. Males in the corporate world often use a complex combination of business, sports and military jargon. They behave in competitive manner. Women on the other hand are generally more demonstrative and frame their speech with qualifiers, questions and questioning intonations. They tend to express doubt, uncertainties and emotions more frequently than men. In addition women wait for men to speak first, creating an image of incompetence. This sometimes causes men to fall into stereotypically treating women as incompetent. However this is not true.
According (Pranja, 2008) many women tend to crack the...