Chapter 1: Gender as A Deep-Level, Communicated, and Interactional Construct: Implications for Leaders, Subordinates, and Teammates

Although variance among individuals’ communication styles is considered by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM, n.d.) to contribute to organizational diversity as a unique individual characteristic, there remains little guidance on how workforce practitioners may effectively lead efforts associated with this form of deep-level, interactional diversity. This chapter will describe gendered communication styles (GCOM) as a form of deep-level diversity that has important organizational implications. The authors will initially introduce a typology of GCOM congruent with gender schema theory (Bem, 1974) and discuss the various multilevel influences that inspire GCOM styles in the workplace. Building on these models, a series of taxonomies will be presented in which GCOM is considered a social process that manifests as a variety of communicative orientations. The implications of these communicative orientations are discussed in terms of interactional effectiveness between two or more individuals, and several suggestions for leaders, managers, and their subordinates are offered.