Conference turris::womannotes-v2

    What do you consider a "risk".  Are you talking only of taking risks
    at work, or radical risks in private life, or...
    
    Elaborate a bit, please.
    
    Marilyn
    

    I think women tend to "risk" less in the workplace than men, perhaps
    because they fear they have much more to lose if the risk does not
    pay off (i.e. if they "fail").  
    
    Risk can come in many forms:
    
    o	going to bat for a colleague because you believe in them, even
    	if others don't agree they'll do a good job on whatever
    
    o	planning something very new and experimental, and following
    	through on funding and actuation
    
    o	taking a chance on increasing your responsibilities, outside
    	what you would normally feel "safe" controlling/completing
    
    o	taking a chance by volunteering to work on a project in an area
    	that you know little about, but could really use the knowledge
    	you'd gain in other areas of your job
    
    I feel many women come into some areas of the workforce with a
    "handicap" at some companies.  They must continually prove themselves,
    re-sell their ideas, and make sure they always "do well" because
    within their surroundings they are highly visible - and many times
    failures are noticed and remembered much more readily than successes.
    
    This is just my opinion - I don't mean to say men are always accepted
    totally right off the bat - or that Digital doesn't accept women
    well - or any highly loaded relative topics and digressions that
    this could scamper off and rat-hole into.  
    
    -Jody
    
    p.s.  I'd love to proof your thesis.  E-mail it to me (or send it
    via interoffice).  I can be found in ELF.
    

I'd be glad to be a survey participant (do you want replies here or via mail?
mail saves our disk space.). I _love_ surveys.
	Mez

    I'll help with your survey and with the proof-reading.
    
    Cathy

    
    I'll try my best to answer the questions recently presented.  My
    apologies for the "formality" of the following text.  My thesis
    is a research paper and is supposed to represent the current
    literature.  Therefore, I'm refraining from including any of my
    original thoughts.
    
    According to the "American Heritage Dictionary" the word "risk" is 
    defined as "the possibility of suffering harm or loss; danger".
    For my thesis, I will define risk-taking as "taking chance with
    the possibility of harm or loss".
    
    Risk-taking should not be confused with challenge.  Challenge is
    defined as "the quality of requiring full use of one's abilities"
    as in "a career that offers a challenge"(1). Challenge doesn't 
    imply any danger or the possibility of getting hurt and is there-
    fore a more "comfortable" word for women.
                                            
    In a conversation with Paul McGowen who leads the workshop entitled
    "Women and Risk-taking", he stated several reasons why risk-taking
    is important to woman in the workplace.  The reasons are:
    
    o  "risk taking is a key attribute for success in the Digital
        environment"
    
    o  "there are often some unique dynamics for women in Digital when
       they take risks
    
    o  "there is no significant learning or growth without some related
       risk"  
             
    Some execellent examples of risk taking were mentioned by Jodi Bobbitt
    in the second note.  I'd like to encourage more women to write in
    with the examples of risks that they've taken.
                                                          
    As for surveys and proofs of my thesis.  I'm just starting this
    project so the work won't be done a number of weeks.  I'm keeping
    all your names and will mail you copies when the survey and/or thesis
    become available.
    
    
    
                             
    Footnotes
    ---------
    
    (1)  American Heritage Dictionary
             

    Count me in...
    
    Barb

    Recommended change to definition:
    
    Risk-taking - the taking of actions with knowledge of possible danger
    or harm.
    
    From .6 I gather only DEC women are sought?
    
    If not my wife might be interested in contributing to the survey.
    

    I'd be happy to read/comment on the paper..
    
    Additionally, I would refer folks to two allied pieces of writing.
    
    First, in the January/February Harvard Business Review, there is
    an article on the implications of a burgeoning emergence of
    women in the management ranks.  Today, in the Wall Street Journal,
    in the middle of the editorial page, there is a commentary
    referring to the HBR article.  Both items are well done and
    might be relevant to the thesis of .0
    
    
    
    

    This is a quick note to respond to comments and questions I've recieved
    pivately and in the notes file....
    
    The survey will be out in about a month.  It is open only to those
    women at DEC.  If men or the wives or girlfriends of DEC employees
    would like to participate, I could use one on one interviews to
    hear what their experiences are.  They can also recieve a hard copy
    of the survey however, I can't consider their input as part of my
    survey population.
    
    The survey results will be published in this notes file sometime this 
    summer.
    
    To Louis H. -  Thanks for recommending the WSJ and HBO articles.
    I've already gotten a copies and hope to use them in my thesis.
    
    Thanks to everyone for their continuing support!