What prompted IIM-A to embark on the study?
Professor Kaul says IIM-A embarked on the study to analyse the level or extent of politeness or type of principles used/abused to solicit cooperation in e-mails by males and females in India. The study is an attempt to get an understanding of e-mails written by men and women in India, claims Professor Kaul. An analysis of gender-segregated written communication patterns within e-mails would lead to a better understanding of how men and women approach task oriented communication, she pointed out. IIM-A academic associate Vaibhavi Kulkarni said they were interested in the study because with the increasing number of women at workplace, task-oriented interaction between men and women has increased. Getting work done requires cooperation from other colleagues and external clients, etc where it becomes essential to maintain politeness , she said. At the same time, Kulkarni pointed out that as e-mails are being used frequently to communicate at work and they take the form of intellectual writ
