Male and Female Employees’ Patterns of Receiving and Responding to Criticism from Peers at the Creative Department of McCann-Erickson Philippines

Abstract

One factor that gives rise to ambiguity and confusion in communication in the workplace is the gender of the communicator. This study focused on the gender-related differences that affects one communication situation that is already complex as it is – the art of receiving and responding to criticisms from peers in the workplace. The employees of the Creative Department of McCann-Erickson Philippines were chosen to be studied, because the Department was deemed by the researcher to be fertile ground for criticism, primarily because of the nature of their work, and for the pervading sense of excellence and competence. Thus, the general objective was posed: To know if there is a difference between male employees’ and female employees’ patterns of receiving and responding to criticisms from peers at the Creative Department of McCann-Erickson Philippines. The research is descriptive-quantitative in nature and 52% of the employees from the Department were chosen, to whom survey questionnaires were administered. The data gathered were analyzed using frequency tables and percentile ranking, presented in tabular form and accompanied by textual analysis. The study revealed the patterns through which male and female employees receive and respond to criticisms from their peers at the Creative Department of McCann-Erickson Philippines. According to these patterns, male employees differ from female employees only in terms of their initial feelings about the criticism, and in terms of the concrete action they did about the criticism. Male and female employees have the same immediate verbal response to the criticism, and the same resulting relationship with the peer who criticized them. It was also revealed in this study that peer criticism does not have any major impact upon the state of interpersonal relationships at the Creative Department of McCann-Erickson Philippines. Mainly, this study ends with the conclusion that indeed, there is a difference between a male employee’s and a female employee’s patterns of receiving and responding to criticism from their peers at the Creative Department of McCann-Erickson Philippines.