Women negotiate better outcomes when negotiating on behalf of others whom they care about, while men do not exhibit a difference in this respect.

‘Women focus on maintaining relationships and cooperation and fostering harmony, which are ripe circumstances for negotiations.’

For the study, the team paired 216 MBA students in single-gender teams, some of whom were friends and some of whom were not. 




The teams engaged in several multi-issue negotiations -- concerning pesticide products in one scenario, and airplane engines and parts in another.
"When we looked at the negotiation tactics and outcomes of these young professionals, we found several differences between men and women," Dotan added.
"However, the one condition under which we found no difference between men and women was when women negotiated in teams of friends," she said.
The study found that women negotiate better outcomes when negotiating on behalf of others whom they care about, while men do not exhibit a difference in this respect.
Advertisement
According to Dotan, the existing research shows that men initiate negotiations four times as often as women. While women negotiators generally achieve 30 percent less than their male counterparts, 20 percent of women do not negotiate at all even when they believe they ought to. Women also consider negotiations a chore rather than a pleasure.
Advertisement
"We know that women generally behave differently in the workplace. They focus on maintaining relationships and cooperation and fostering harmony, which are ripe circumstances for negotiations. This behavioural aspect and the process of negotiations have commonly been overlooked in existing research," Herbst stated.
In addition, Dotan believes that company management would benefit from fostering and encouraging personal relationships at work.
"Women naturally form relationships and these organic friendships shouldn't be touched, because they ultimately prove profitable for the company," Dotan concluded.
Source-IANS