recent paper on this topic<\/a> argues that the perception of women as inherently bad negotiators is a myth. Instead, women possess the same inherent skills as men, but they face various impediments that negatively affect outcomes. One barrier that Kennedy identifies is \u201ccognitive.\u201d Building on her earlier research that stereotypes about women in negotiations lead to more deception, Kennedy says that negative stereotypes about women negotiators depress their confidence and create a cycle of self-fulfilling prophecies that undermine women\u2019s performance.<\/p>\nAnother impediment that women face in negotiations is created by negotiating counterparts\u2019 motivations. This speaks to the psychological need for negotiation counterparts to believe that women lack skills in this area as a way to explain why women are often underpaid compared to men. \u201cWe generally need to believe that we live within a fair, stable, understandable, controllable social order,\u201d Kennedy says. \u201cThe idea that people doing the same type of job\u2014and performing equally well at it\u2014get paid differently is really threatening to most people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The third bias facing women in negotiation has to do with the way research has been conducted in this domain. Kennedy says studies in negotiation are often conducted using short-term contexts in which only economic outcomes matter. \u201cIn the real world, of course, we care about the relationships that we build through negotiation,\u201d she says. \u201cBecause our negotiation simulations aren\u2019t capturing the value that positive relationships bring within longer-term, higher-stakes environments, we may be underselling women\u2019s negotiating abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why it\u2019s important<\/strong>: The field of organizational behavior\u2014which draws from disciplines like political science, sociology and psychology\u2014started in part because researchers realized that people in organizations often don\u2019t behave in rational ways that maximize self-interest. Kennedy says they bring a variety of other motives that affect their behavior and attitudes toward others.<\/p>\nIn terms of her work on gender and negotiations, Kennedy says there are significant real-world issues involved. There is an economic toll in the sense that women may receive a lower salary or have to pay more for high-cost items like a house or a car. There is also a psychological toll in the sense that negotiators are less satisfied with their working relationships when deception is part of the interaction. Ultimately, biases against women negotiators damage relationship building and undermine the satisfaction of both parties with the outcome of the interaction. Because relationships are such an important part of why people enjoy working in business, these biases could ultimately reduce interest in the work at hand.<\/p>\n
Although she hopes to encourage negotiators to identify and correct the biases that may undermine women\u2019s performance, Kennedy has a few recommendations to help empower women negotiators. \u201cWomen perform as well as men in negotiations when they believe that negotiating skills are a product of hard work, rather than innate ability,\u201d Kennedy says. \u201cWomen negotiators should keep in mind that negotiating skills can be developed, and that a single negotiation isn\u2019t a test of their skill. Instead, it\u2019s a learning opportunity that can help them overcome the impact of some of these negative stereotypes that they face about their abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[responsive-embed id=0k4SuaXrdi8] Who: Jessica Kennedy is an assistant professor in organization studies who came to Vanderbilt in 2014, following two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School, which is also her undergraduate alma mater. Before embarking on an academic career, Kennedy worked as an analyst with Lazard and Goldman Sachs. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":361,"featured_media":10549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,60],"tags":[81,83,82],"class_list":["post-10548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-departments","category-intellectual-capital","tag-jessica-kennedy","tag-negotiation","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/361"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10548"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10627,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10548\/revisions\/10627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.owen.vanderbilt.edu\/vanderbiltbusiness\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a>What she\u2019s researching:<\/strong> Kennedy\u2019s research falls into two main areas. One involves studying power and status hierarchies, examining the factors that elevate individuals within organizations and how that influences their decision-making. \u201cIn organizations there are a lot of social dynamics that make the pursuit of excellence in one\u2019s work more complicated. I think that competition for social status is one such factor,\u201d she says. \u201cHierarchies can also hinder decision-making. For instance, I have research currently under review that looks at how holding a position higher in the hierarchy influences a person\u2019s willingness to express disagreement with an unethical course of action embraced by a group.\u201d<\/p>\n