Identifying Successful Interpersonal Communication Strategies for Women in Masculine Settings

Women in masculine fields such as engineering often face a paradox when it comes to interpersonal communication: if they speak like a woman they may be perceived as weak or emotional, but if they speak and act like a man they may be perceived as difficult to work with. This project attempts to uncover the tacit knowledge that successful engineering women have accumulated about communicating successfully as an engineer so that we can pass this knowledge down to students. Discourse completion interviews with 23 female engineering professionals and 19 female undergraduates asked participants to identify how they would respond to situations where a teammate is dominating a project. We find that while students tend to either avoid conflict or correct teammates’ behaviors, professional engineers used structured, semi-formal procedures and appealed to team and individual goals to drive the conversation forward. They focused on presenting solutions, rather than dwelling on problems, and avoided mentioning feelings or needs to prevent appearing emotional. We also found that professional women strategically used flattery to accomplish their ends and rehearsed difficult conversations. Such strategies need to be shared with engineering undergraduates to help them develop and draw upon range of successful interpersonal strategies for handling difficult situations.