Page 188 - 6484

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/1846-business-buzzwords-2012.html
and a discussion of why slang is a problem:
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/speakforsuccesscourse/a/speechlesson5.htm.
Gender Differences

Gender differences in communication have been documented by a number of
experts, including linguistics professor Deborah Tannen in her best-selling book You
[9]
Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. Men and women work
together every day. But their different styles of communication can sometimes work
against them. Generally speaking, women like to ask questions before starting a
project, while men tend to “jump right in.” A male manager who’s unaware of how
many women communicate their readiness to work may misperceive a ready
employee as not ready.
Another difference that has been noticed is that men often speak in sports
metaphors, while many women use their home as a starting place for analogies.
Women who believe men are “only talking about the game” may be missing out on a
chance to participate in a division’s strategy and opportunities for teamwork and
“rallying the troops” for success. [10]
“It is important to promote the best possible communication between men and
women in the workplace,” notes gender policy adviser Dee Norton, who provided the
above example. “As we move between the male and female cultures, we sometimes
have to change how we behave (speak the language of the other gender) to gain the
best results from the situation. Clearly, successful organizations of the future are
going to have leaders and team members who understand, respect and apply the rules
of gender culture appropriately.” [11]
Being aware of these gender differences can be the first step in learning to
work with them, as opposed to around them. For example, keep in mind that men
tend to focus more on competition, data, and orders in their communications, while
women tend to focus more on cooperation, intuition, and requests. Both styles can be
effective in the right situations, but understanding the differences is a first step in
avoiding misunderstandings based on them.
Differences in meaning often exist between the Sender and Receiver. “Mean
what you say, and say what you mean.” It’s an easy thing to say. But in business,
what do those words mean? Different words mean different things to different people.
Age, education, and cultural background are all factors that influence how a person
interprets words. The less we consider our audience, the greater our chances of
miscommunication will be. When communication occurs in the cross-cultural
context, extra caution is needed given that different words will be interpreted
differently across cultures and different cultures have different norms regarding
nonverbal communication. Eliminating jargon is one way of ensuring that our words
will convey real-world concepts to others. Speaking to our audience, as opposed to
about ourselves, is another. Nonverbal Messages can also have different meanings.
Table 12.1 Gestures Around the Globe
Figure 12.7 1. “V” for victory. Use this gesture
with caution! While in North America it
signs victory or peace, in England and

188