Fichas
23. Romance at Work
Fichas del conjunto (15)
- 1Define romance at work→ Mutually desired relationships between two people at work, in which some element of sexuality or physical intimacy exists.
- 2Explain the nature of the topic of romance at work→ The topic has been mainly ignored despite the fact that sexual bantering, flirting and dating are common behaviours at work.
⇒ Most of the research has been carried out in US.
⇒ It is also thought to be occurring with greater frequency, as people marry later and there is a higher divorce rate. - 3Romance at work - how common is it, and why?→ We like and are attracted to people like us – we are likely to meet those people with similar attitudes to us in the occupations (or courses…) we choose to be in.
→ We like people who are similar to us and in close proximity, research shows (Festinger et al., 1950).
⇒ Research also shows that:
• 15% of people have met their current sexual partner at work.
• 24% of managers have been romantically involved with an office colleague at least once.
• A survey recently showed that of 1,274 employees across the UK, 79% have had a workplace relationship.
• 73% said they had tried to keep it a secret.
• Most employees report that they have observed or participated in workplace romance. - 4Two different views of romance at work View 1: Positive1. Most people think that romantic relationships at work are acceptable if the couple maintain professional behaviour. Managers have no right interfering in employees’ private lives. Attractions are enjoyable and enhance work relationships and productivity. They can inject excitement, enhance communication and cooperation, stimulate creativity and create a happier work environment.
- 5Two different views of romance at work View 2: Negative2. Workplace romance can results in conflicts of interest, biased decision making and “preferential treatment” that can negatively affect performance and careers. People are distracted form their work and other employees are ignored. It can cause late arrivals, early departures, long lunches, can increase gossip, arouse jealousy and suspicion about favouritism. If the romance ends, there can be a negative “fallout” e.g. sexual harassment claims
- 6Sex and romance at workWomen are more at risk of negative evaluations than men are in romantic relationships, e.g. accused of “sleeping their way to the top” and are more likely to find employment terminated.
- 7What do organizations do regarding romance at work?→ Some prohibit all intimate involvements among employees.
→ Some explicitly seek out and invite family members.
→ Others enforce an anti-dating policy on supervisors and subordinates. IBM for example requires employees to inform management if they are dating a subordinate and to submit a job transfer. - 8Example of where organizations were not able to control employees' relationships⇒ The case of Wal-Mart in Germany: The company in Germany lost a court appeal over its attempt to ban office romances. The company’s “ethics rules” which proposed that “lustful glances and ambiguous jokes” and “sexually meaningful communications of any type” were forbidden, were found to be in breach of German law.
• The code also advised employees “You should not go out with or have a relationship with someone who could influence your employment situation or whose employment situation you could influence”.
• Lawyers said that the “no romance” clauses were also highly unlikely to stand up in the UK and may well be in breach of human rights law. - 9Romance at Work - What does research find?→ “At some times workplace romances present a threat to organizational effectiveness through their negative effects on participants and co-workers. At other times, workplace romances enhance workplace effectiveness through their positive effects on participants.
- 10Two kinds of romances have the most damaging effect on group morale and organizational effectiveness.1. Hierarchical romances in which one participants directly reports to the other and
2. Utilitarian romances in which one participant “satisfies personal / sexual needs in the exchange for satisfying the other participant’s task related and / or career-related needs” - 11Critique of Romance at Work Literature Today→ Literature to date is very functionalist. It is popularist and written for the benefit of practitioners. Most is about advising managers about why they should ban workplace romance or how to handle it.
→ Literature to date is usually survey based. It also often uses third parties, MBA students, or people waiting at airports. It also often uses a fictional approach or vignettes and tend to focus exclusively on heterosexual people. It also does not reveal much about how people think about it, their experiences, the realities and the complexity of the topic. - 12More recent research - What they did→ Their research set out to look at how workplace romance is defined, experienced, discussed and described. In particular, they wanted to see how constructions of workplace romance are negotiated in the discourse of managers and workers. What soon appeared of interest were the “rules of engagement” and the consequences for women.
→ The research setting was a chain of bars. The pub sector employs about 545 000 people in 60 000 public houses. We looked at one chain that owns over 1 400 outlets in the UK. In this chain, there was no formal written company policy on workplace romance. The researchers taped interviews with 48 managers and workers. - 13More recent research - methods⇒ This research used statements rated on a five point scale, indicating; agree strongly (scored 1) through to disagree strongly (5) as a basis for discussion, e.g. statements like “There is nothing the organization can do to stop romantic attractions between men and women working together” and “romance involvement of married bosses dating subordinates should be of no concern to employers”. People were also asked about their own experiences of workplace romance.
- 14More recent research - Findings- romance a normal aspect of work (flirting, humour and sexual banter accepted features of work)
- most managers and workers thought romance should be acceptable at work --> managers did not try to stop it
- romance is not the company's business unless it interfered with productivity
- bar work especially conductive to romantic relationships (often one night stands)
- encouraged not to start anything with managers (informally) or customers (risk of free drinks)
- some managers thought: Romance = better teamwork - 15More recent research: Conclusion⇒ Altogether, there could be both positive and negative outcomes for the same person. There was also evidence of unequal treatment for females. If a relationship between two people at different levels broke up, the junior person should leave. Usually, this person appeared to be female, as females were construed as over-emotional and unstable. Also, females suffered from the double standard where the female would be classes as a “slut”, “slag” or “tart” for participating in a one-night relationship.
⇒ The research concluded that rules are not prescribed, so both workers and managers have to learn how to manage – and this can be done in very creative and varied ways.
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- (Part 3) Business and Management 2B Fichas sobre 23. Romance at Work, creado por Nina Olsson el 02/05/2018.
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- Nina Olsson
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