Working around men may make women feel worse about mistakes, study finds
We all make them, and we all make them at work: Mistakes on the job happen regardless of line of work, experience or gender. How employees feel about them and how they are perceived by others, however, differs. Women are more likely than men to perceive mistakes negatively—but this depends on whom they share the office with, a new study in Frontiers in Organizational Psychology has shown.
The study published in Frontiers in Organizational Psychology reveals that women may perceive mistakes more negatively than men when working in predominantly male teams. Despite the fact that mistakes carry the same consequences regardless of the person who makes them, this research found that women feel less comfortable admitting mistakes and less confident that they will be viewed as opportunities to learn in male-dominated work environments.
The study surveyed over 1,400 employees from the UK financial services sector, with 81% of the participants being women. Being in a team where more than three-quarters of the members are men amplified these negative perceptions among women. The researchers suggest that extremely male-heavy teams might foster a climate of fear, perfectionism, and a "no mistakes" norm, which could hinder innovation and progress.
Men, on the other hand, reported more positive views of mistakes across all measures, regardless of the gender composition of their team. The study's lead author, Dr. Grace Lordan, emphasized that changing the workplace climate by openly discussing one's own mistakes and creating safe spaces for discussing errors could help bridge the gap between men and women in terms of how they perceive and handle mistakes at work.
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