Graduation Year
2025
Date of Submission
12-2024
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Economics
Reader 1
Jeffrey Flory
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2024 Bella C. Lynch
Abstract
Previous research has highlighted the implications of pervasive gender-based stereotypes in workplace environments. Women may face barriers to entry and advancement compared to their male counterparts, and can be undermined in assessments of competency and skill. Unconscious biases, shaped by societal norms and cognitive distortions, may perpetuate inequities and influence how workers communicate and collaborate, particularly in team settings. This thesis investigates the complex dynamics of workplace communication and behavioral patterns across varying gender pair compositions, using collaborative task completion as the focal point. I analyze transcriptions of work-team conversations derived from a pilot for a large natural field experiment and find significant differences in gender-based communication strategies. Key findings indicate that the presence of males in team settings increases the frequency of decision-switching and partner interruptions. These insights support existing gender-based communication theories, demonstrating that gender composition in collaborative task completion significantly influences both group effectiveness and the overall dynamics. This research underscores the importance of fostering more diverse and inclusive workplace environments to mitigate gender discrimination.
Recommended Citation
Lynch, Bella, "Gender Dynamics in Collaborative Settings: Analyzing Communication Variation in Same-Gender and Mixed-Gender Task Completion" (2025). CMC Senior Theses. 3752.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/3752
