Man Up: How To Stay A Lady But Act Like A Man On The Job

Don’t Shy Away From Workplace Disagreements 

Women worry about getting along with co-workers and bosses. And if there is a disagreement, women sometimes let it fester. Men tend to enter into conflict and once it’s over, it’s over. “Men get to the underlying issue while women tend to worry about the interpersonal dynamics,” Sara Laschever, coauthor with Linda C. Babcock, PhD, of Women Don’t Ask, tells Woman’s Day. But if a women disagrees with a co-worker, she might tend to take it personally and feel attacked. So instead of being “attacked,” women back away from conflict.

But sometimes workplace conflict is necessary — it’s how new ideas and point of views are expressed.  “First, recognize that not all on-the-job conflict is bad,” says Emily Amanatullah, PhD, assistant professor of management at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. “It can often be very constructive in working through deadlocks. Sometimes you need to rock the boat to be productive.”