Wirtschaftsimpulse von Frauen in Forschung und Technolgie

Think tank on the w-fFORTE study careers@communication

Creative thinkers discuss innovative study

The impetus programme w-fFORTE treads new paths of coming up with ideas: the think tank convened on the occasion of a w-fFORTE study on 17 April 2009 to find a completely new point of view on scientific insights.

 

Electronic media as a communication trap for women?
careers@communication – digitised communication in organisations; career obstacle or career opportunity for women? by sociologists Christiane Funken and Cosima Ingenschay deals with the question whether digital communication (email, Internet, texting) constitutes a career opportunity or a career obstacle for women. The survey involved ten large Austrian companies. Around 300 members of staff were asked about how they handle the new media. The result: Work-related dealings in western national economies these days principally involve communication. "Impression management" is important, too: "Do good and talk about it." This is why, despite the fact that the electronic communications network keeps growing more dense, face-to-face interaction still remains the most relevant type of communication for one’s own career, as another insight from the study reveals. This puts women doing groundwork at a disadvantage: they must use pre-structured digital channels of communication and database systems, which means that their achievements remain invisible and opportunities to present themselves are limited. They are cut off from those "hot" flows of information that are imparted almost exclusively in face-to-face encounters.

 

Leaving well-worn ways of thinking behind by means of the think tank
Strategies to circumvent this digital communication trap were discussed in the w-fFORTE think tank as well as the question of how women may best use the new media for their career. Think tanks are a commonly used tool in the USA while the format is barely known in Austria. Headed by Cordelia König-Teufelberger (focus change consulting), the think tank brought 14 scientists and out-of-the-box thinkers together. A creative discussion process served to examine polarising standpoints. New ways of looking at things were explored so as to no longer regard one’s own point of view as the only truth. Then followed creative dialogues and supervised role plays to develop a deeper sense of curiosity for the perspective of others and to better understand them. Finally, the participants took part in a so-called “world café” encounter: here, participants had to argue according to contrasting perspectives as determined by the moderators, in order to come up with original solutions.

 

Courage to permit original solutions
The think tank initiated by fFORTE academic and w-fFORTE worked out various recommendations to break up the new career barriers established by electronic communication media. At the end of the one-day process the following strategies were devised:

  • Download Recommendations for organisations and the public sector (only in German language)


The careers@communication study and the think tank have created refreshing strategies of thinking and further contribute to breaking up existing gender hierarchies. Using this model of coming up with ideas makes it possible to view scientific insights in a different light. w-fFORTE is treading innovative paths as a learning programme, and the think tank has proven to be a creative tool in this endeavour.

 

Participants in the think tank for the careers@communication study: