7th Labyrinth - Gender Dynamics In The Workplace

Is your job what you feel you want to be doing for the rest of your life? How much do you love your job? How does your job make you feel when you are there? Is it the job that you love doing? Or is it the people in the job that make the difference to you?

I know I have hesitated at times. It’s only been when I have questioned my job satisfaction persistently where I have felt that red flag go up in the back of my mind. That it was usually a time to reach a higher level of knowledge, experience, and responsibility.

On the one hand, I have loved what I do and enjoyed the people around me I have worked with very much, and on the other hand, I’ve been where I’ve wanted something more challenging….more skill sets, more growth. But what I’ve really wanted is to feel needed and accepted, and not ignored and left behind by the ever-growing technological advancements. But that’s just one part of it. Other times where ‘dissatisfaction’ has appeared in my contracts has been when people within my contracts have contributed to making it challenging to get along with at times.

I think, as a woman working with a bunch of men in I.T., that there are significant differences in mentally and emotionally processing the relationships at work. There aren’t really environments of “hunter/gatherer” and “nurturer” between men and women working together on teams in I.T., but there are certain uncomfortable tensions at times that sends either gender seeking solace amongst like-sex peers. While men will show respect by not being too raunchy and giving credit to a woman’s intelligence and physical capability within the job, women will also respect a “man with a plan” type of leadership personality and voice their opinions on how to improve on working relationships more.

Could it be that male counterpart team mates feel like females have stepped onto their turf and henceforth feel powerless? Could it be that female counterpart team mates acquire over-achiever attitudes out of their natural tendency to balance everyone and everything around them?

So what happens when this dynamic builds over time and increases? My observations have been that the guys get together to get into some ‘action’ game, like Doom or Counter Strike, get together for a full-contact sporting event, or gather at a local happy-hour facility for food and beverages. Gals, on the other hand, will congregate in the cafeteria to chat about their home lives, call their best friends, schedule a ‘girls night out’ for a man-bashing session (or to forget men altogether), or get emotional if there is no outlet. Either way, both sexes seek connection in each other’s ‘like’ company, so to relate to each other.

If the tensions are enabled and allowed to increase by means of avoidance and selective ignorance, work relationship conflicts begin to form, the team is then laden with more pressure, and eventually someone becomes unhappy in their job and leaves…mentally and emotionally at first, followed by physically.

So how can these tensions in the work place be resolved, especially within co-ed I.T. teams who work together in the same room without cubicle separation?

I will leave you with an invitation to answer this question by posting your comments, and I will see you next week with my own evaluation.

In the last few years 7th Labyrinth has used Tony Robbins media material to overhaul her life and start focusing on and achieving goals that are her own and that have importance to her. Since 2007 she has doubled her income and developed her career in a field that she loves: I.T. Currently 7th Labyrinth is working through the Tony Robbins The Ultimate Relationship Program and her blog is the story of her journey. However, 7th Labyrinth is taking a different approach and rather than using the material for personal and intimate relationships, she is investigating the program with a view to building a better relationship with herself and with her colleagues in her career field.

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