Head of Chartered Management Institute suggests "sports chat" be "curtailed" at work

[VincentHanna]

A bit of Monday madness for you all

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51261999

Chat about football or cricket in the workplace should be curtailed, a management body has warned.

Ann Francke, head of the Chartered Management Institute, said sports chat can exclude women and lead to more laddish behaviour.

"A lot of women, in particular, feel left out," she told the BBC's Today programme.

"They don't follow those sports and they don't like either being forced to talk about them or not being included."

"I have nothing against sports enthusiasts or cricket fans - that's great," she said.

"But the issue is many people aren't cricket fans," she added, arguing bosses should crack down on sports banter.

Ms Francke is concerned that discussing football and, for example, the merits of video assistant refereeing (VAR) can disproportionately exclude women and divide offices.

"It's a gateway to more laddish behaviour and - if it just goes unchecked - it's a signal of a more laddish culture," she said

"It's very easy for it to escalate from VAR talk and chat to slapping each other on the back and talking about their conquests at the weekend."

I don't particularly even like sports, and my office is 95% women, who talk about Love Island and **** like that, but I wouldn't want any of this stuff "curtailed"

 

[Maccy]

I really must resist the urge to make a joke about her name :/

 

[vanpeebles]

My missus lives for football and knows more about cricket than I ever will, or would want too. Her mam is the same too, they know all the sports stars and watch tons of sports.

 

[Hades]

******* hell when will this crap stop?

I generally hate sport but don't care if people around me talk about it. So why does she feel like women need protecting from it? She's bordering on sexism.

/triggered

 

[chroniclard]

Its like this at work with my boss, as soon as we finish talking about how Spurs suck and Liverpool are great we start talking about how many ho's we pulled at the weekend.

 

[VincentHanna]

Its like this at work with my boss, as soon as we finish talking about how Spurs suck and Liverpool are great we start talking about how many ho's we pulled at the weekend.

 

[enkoda]

"It's very easy for it to escalate from VAR talk and chat to slapping each other on the back and talking about their conquests at the weekend."

Looks like someone didn't get conquered at the weekend....

 

[Semple]

I don't particularly even like sports, and my office is 95% women, who talk about Love Island and **** like that, but I wouldn't want any of this stuff "curtailed"

It's a very fair point to make in our equal society of today.

If she's proposing scrapping sport talk, then same should be applied to whichever reality TV show is currently running, or a number of other things that women talk about that men "don't like either being forced to talk about them or not being included".

Can you imagine the sheer silence on a Monday morning in an office as all of the employees have very little they're allowed to talk about. Perhaps that's what Ms Francke is aiming for.

 

[Thekwango]

what a ******* clown.

"It's very easy for it to escalate from VAR talk and chat to slapping each other on the back and talking about their conquests at the weekend." really? don't ever recall footie chat naturally escalating to who i humped at the weekend. what a bizarre thing to say and makes me question her mental ability.

similarly i suppose, in her mind, that it's also very easy to escalate from Love Island talk and chat to talking about the size of the new guys knob.

 

[robfosters]

It's a very fair point to make in our equal society of today.

If she's proposing scrapping sport talk, then same should be applied to whichever reality TV show is currently running, or a number of other things that women talk about that men "don't like either being forced to talk about them or not being included".

Can you imagine the sheer silence on a Monday morning in an office as all of the employees have very little they're allowed to talk about. Perhaps that's what Ms Francke is aiming for.

To be fair though, people with her name generally like to keep the noise down.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Ah, a student of the “staff beatings will continue until morale improves” school of management. I bet she was fun to work for.

 

[Maccy]

To be fair though, people with her name generally like to keep the noise down.

Ahhhh you went there

 

[Roar87]

This is where group identity politics and "equality" lead us, people of extremely average IQs suggesting that our conversations at work should be moderated

 

[Freakbro]

How the **** do you know what her IQ is?

Since she has a BA with distinction from Stanford University and MBA and MS degrees from Columbia University in New York I'm going to make an informed assumption her intelligence is somewhat above average as well as yours.

 

[Mason-]

A bit of Monday madness for you all

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51261999



I don't particularly even like sports, and my office is 95% women, who talk about Love Island and **** like that, but I wouldn't want any of this stuff "curtailed"

There argument can be boiled down to:

"If there is a single person in the office who doesn't enjoy/take an interest in a certain topic/hobby/muse then it can not be discussed at work".

What a load of ****.


Also Magnolia style response:

Just LOL if you don't finish off your football conversation with the LADS at work by opening up some tinnies and rating the women in the office out of 10. Noobs.

 

[Roar87]

How the **** do you know what her IQ is?

Since she has a BA with distinction from Stanford University and MBA and MS degrees from Columbia University in New York I'm going to make an informed assumption her intelligence is somewhat above average as well as yours.

Quoting her degree's as if that gives her above average intelligence LOL

 

[Drollic]

I wonder if she's one of those with little interests or hobbies outside of work with her topic of conversation revolving around some mundane activity she did at home the night before.

 

[Maccy]

Also Magnolia style response:

Just LOL if you don't finish off your football conversation with the LADS at work by opening up some tinnies and rating the women in the office out of 10. Noobs.

Magnolia approves of this post

 

[BowdonUK]

Looking at her picture on the OP BBC link she's an older woman.

I think more women are either in to sports these days, especially with the rise of womens football, or at least can hold there own.

But is she really suggesting that a group of majority female workers would sit silent while a minority of males in the group dominate the conversation about football?

I think shes very sexist to both men and women. Women have a whole host of conversations we're not interested in either.

 

[randomshenans]

I really must resist the urge to make a joke about her name :/

She isn't a fan of people just standing around gassing.