Anyone who has worked with, played with, lived with, or exchanged communication with someone from the opposite gender has little doubt that men and women come from different cultures. While it may not be true that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, it is often the case that men and women struggle to effectively communicate and work with each other. This Cultural Detective will help participants explore how early socialization patterns can lead to differences in values, styles and behaviors across gender differences.

While gender differences are affected by national culture within any country, our goal is to provide information and tools to help you look at gender culture within any larger national culture group to identify whether men and women could be expected to respond differently, how and why they might respond differently, and how to build bridges across any differences identified to develop effective work environments.

Cultural Detective Women and Men contains the following stories and critical incidents:

• Requesting a Promotion:

  A woman considers leaving her company after her request for promotion is denied.

• TGIF (Thank Goodness It's Friday):

  Four colleagues, three men and one woman, differ about how to relax after a hard week's work.

• United Nations Health Care Team:

  A meeting of ten international women encounters challenges in planning a conference.

• Vrouen, vrouen!:

  The sole male member of the Board of a largely women's organization encounters difficulties influencing the Board's agenda.

• Wahoo Catering:

  A male expatriate Marketing Director and female expatriate Production Manager in a Hong Kong catering company experience differences in values and communication styles.

• Women Hold Up Half the Sky:

  A woman bank employee in a small village fears for her job and looks to important men in her life for support.

• Visiting Professor, The:

  A male professor frm Iran, newly arrived in the United States, seeks advice from his female Department Chair.

• Protégé, The:

  A section head of an engineering firm runs into trouble in his attempts to mentor and support a junior woman in his section.

• Building Customer Satisfaction:

  A long-time employee challenges the newly appointed president of a German financial institution because he views her customer-service orientation as inappropriate.

• Expatriate Spouse, The:

  The promotion and transfer of the woman partner causes unresolved anxiety in the relationship.

• Hans and Hansel:

  Generational differences between a father and son result in differing expectations from shared values.

• Launch Date:

  The nature of disagreement between two men on an advertising team results in distress and confusion on the part of a new woman teammate.

Cultural Detective Women and Men was authored by Donna Stringer, George Simons and Dianne Hofner Saphiere.