Hannah Riley Bowles

Resources for Teaching: When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations

https://case.hks.harvard.edu/negotiate-well-case-collection/

Negotiate WELL (work, education, life, and leadership) has a teaching plan, slides, and video materials for teaching about gender in negotiation.  It also has research-based resources for teaching about negotiations beyond pay, including role and workload.  

Teaching Plan: When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations (Price: FREE)
Length: 18 pages
Teaching Slides: When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations (Price: FREE)
Length: 27 slides
Learning Objective: The overarching learning objective is to help students recognize the situational circumstances that moderate gender effects in negotiation. Core lessons include: (a) A person’s gender is not a reliable predictor of their negotiation behavior or outcomes, (b) Gender effects in negotiation are most reliably predicted by situational factors, and (c) Two general categories of situational factors that tend to predict gender effects in negotiation are (i) the salience and relevance of gender in context (e.g., social-cultural context, intersecting identities) and (ii) ambiguity on what is negotiable, how to negotiate, and who are the parties. The lesson concludes with prescriptive suggestions for individuals and organizations to mitigate unwanted effects of gender in negotiation. See Related Reading on When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations. 
Related Readings: “When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations,” by Hannah Riley Bowles, Bobbi Thomason and Immaculada Marcias-Alonso, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, January 2022. Links to external site.
Webinars: “When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations,” with Hannah Riley Bowles, Harvard VPAL event, June 2, 2022.
“When Gender Matters in Organizational Negotiations,” with Hannah Riley Bowles, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, 2022.
Abstract: A person’s gender is not a reliable predictor of their negotiation behavior or outcomes because the degree and character of gender dynamics in negotiation vary across situations. Systematic effects of gender on negotiation are best predicted by situational characteristics that cue gendered behavior or increase reliance on gendered standards for agreement. In this review, we illuminate two levers that heighten or constrain the potential for gender effects in organizational negotiations: (1) the salience and relevance of gender within the negotiating context and (2) the degree of ambiguity (i.e., lack of objective standards or information) with regard to what is negotiable, how to negotiate, or who the parties are as negotiators. In our summary, we review practical implications of this research for organizational leaders and individuals who are motivated to reduce gender-based inequities in negotiation outcomes. In conclusion, we suggest future directions for research on gender in organizational negotiations.