Negotiation
for
Women Physicists
Jane Ammons
Georgia Tech
2010 AAPM Meeting
Philadelphia, PA
July 19, 2010
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Motivation
• In surveys, 2.5 times more women than
men said they feel "a great deal of
apprehension" about negotiating.
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Motivation
• Men initiate negotiations about four times
as often as women.
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Motivation
• When asked to pick metaphors for the
process of negotiating,
• men picked "winning a ballgame" and a
"wrestling match," while
• women picked "going to the dentist."
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Motivation
• Women will pay as much as $1,353 to
avoid negotiating the price of a car,
which may help explain why 63 percent
of Saturn car buyers are women.
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Motivation
• In surveys, 2.5 times more women than
men said they feel "a great deal of
apprehension" about negotiating.
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Motivation
• Women are more pessimistic about how
much is available when they do
negotiate and so they typically ask for
and get less when they do negotiate—
on average, 30 percent less than men.
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Motivation
• 20 percent of adult women (22 million
people) say they never negotiate at all,
even though they often recognize
negotiation as appropriate and even
necessary.
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Objectives
• Individual negotiators
• Overcoming discomfort
• Knowledge and strategies
• Mentors of women negotiators
• “Situational awareness”
• Strategies for success
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
What Negotiation ISN’T
• Process to guarantee fairness
• Process to make all sides happy
• Process that must be nasty/painful
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
What Negotiation IS
• Process to determine terms that are
acceptable to both sides
• Format ranges from very formal to very
spontaneous
• Process that always requires preparation
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
http://blog.iqmatrix.com/mind-map/negotiation-through-tactical-advantage-mind-map
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Preparation
Women often don't know the market value
of their work:
• Women report salary expectations
between 3 and 32 percent lower than those
of men for the same jobs;
Men expect to earn
• 13 percent more than women during their
first year of full-time work and
• 32 percent more at their career peaks.
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Preparation
• Knowledge is power
• Your own situation
• Other side’s situation
“reconnaissance, inventory, espionage”
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Key concepts
• BATNA – best alternative to negotiated
agreement
• Reservation price or walk-away price –
worst terms you are willing to accept
• Zone of possible agreement – range at
which two opposing parties can possibly
agree
Source: McGrath, Jane, “How Negotiation Works,” http://money.howstuffworks.com
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Power
“Power in a negotiation comes from the
ability to walk away from negotiations.”
“ .. the party with the best BATNA is the
more powerful party in the negotiation.”
“Generally, the weaker party can take
unilateral steps to improve their
alternatives to negotiation.”
Source: Glaser, Tanya, “Book Summary of Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without
Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury. New York; Penguin Books, 1983.
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
My amateur hypothesis
Taking unilateral steps to improve
alternatives to negotiation–
may have unintended consequences
that affect men and women differently
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Important considerations
•
•
•
•
Who
When
Why
How
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Pair-share exercise
Given a mentoring scenario,
• One minute: contemplate your advice
• One minute: first partner shares
• One minute: second partner shares
• Two minutes: discuss
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Scenario
A tenured female colleague seeks your confidential
advice on how to handle a troubling situation.
When writing a joint proposal with several
collaborators, the draft budget revealed that she is
paid significantly less than any of the others,
including two non-tenured and less accomplished
faculty members. The university has been
experiencing significant budget pressure and there
have been no salary raises in the past two years.
The female colleague is married to another tenured
faculty member at this university and they have two
small children, so moving would be difficult.
What do you advise?
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”
Concluding thoughts….
• Always practice negotiating, always
• Always continue to improve your
BATNA, always
• Information is power; preparation req’d
• Timing is critical
• Tough is not the same thing as effective
• Unintended consequences matter
2010 AAPM - Philadelphia
“Negotiation for Women Physicists”