Exploring gender's influence on observers' judgments of workplace conflicts.

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine, among college student samples, whether type of conflict, disputants' gender and the gender composition of the setting would activate gender stereotypes, and thus influence observers' judgments regarding conflict resolvability (Difficulty of Resolution Index, DRI) and motivations for intervention (Motivation for Intervention Index, MII). It was predicted that feminine stereotypes (e.g., emotionality) would be activated by relationship conflicts, by same-gender female pairs, and/or by female-dominated settings. Alternatively, it was predicted that masculine stereotypes (e.g., competence) would be activated by task conflicts, by mixed-gender pairs, and by male-dominated settings. Study 1 examined, independent of gender, judgments of task or relationship conflicts. The subsequent two studies examined whether gender stereotypes elicited by the disputants' gender (same-gender female, same-gender male, or mixed-gender pairs) would interact with the type of conflict (task or relationship - Study 2) and with the type of setting (male-dominated or female-dominated - Study 3) to influence conflict judgments. As predicted, the results suggest that individuals may hold gender theories that influence their judgments of disputants and conflicts; relationship conflicts may be seen as usually involving women and feminine-negative stereotypes, and task conflicts may be viewed as usually involving men and masculine-positive stereotypes. In Study 1 (<italic>n</italic> = 62), there were no significant differences on the DRI and MII. In Study 2 (<italic>n</italic> = 242), participants judged the same-gender female, task conflict, as the most difficult to resolve, and they were least motivated to intervene, in comparison to the other conflicts. These results suggest that people may not usually associate women with these types of conflicts and, thus, may judge them harshly because they do not possess the associated stereotypical attributes. In Study 3 (<italic>n</italic> = 190), there were no significant differences on the DRI and MII. As a post-hoc factor in Studies 2 and 3, the Masculine-Positive Stereotype Index, revealed that those who rated disputants highly on this index were least motivated to intervene in the same-gender female, relationship conflict as compared to the other conflicts. Future directions for further research and the implications for gender relationships in the workplace were discussed.