By Guest Author Lizaura Rivera
Have you ever engaged in a workplace romance? The truth is most people have at some point, though interestingly most agree that a workplace romance carries negative implications.
In a survey of 140 employees, Horan and Chory explored interpersonal perceptions of peers who have been involved in a workplace romance and how that affected their other work relationship. They focused on four sets of variables:
- Trust-in the survey the word trust was used to demonstrate the feelings towards a person.
- Solidarity-used as a way to explain how people would feel towards someone in a given situation.
- Honesty-used to measure how a co-worker would relate and speak to someone who was in a work place romance.
- Deception-similar to honesty and solidarity deception was used as a way for people to describe their feelings towards a co-worker in certain situations, such as would they lie?
The data was used to describe how people would react, communicate, and feel towards a work place romance. Throughout these four issues in work place relationships is the idea that most workers respected and had a better rapport with people who were in a relationship with someone who was not a superior. Trust is a major issue for workers and according to Horan and Chory it dissipates towards people who are in a work place romance. People perceive workplace romances negatively–they divide people and often make the workplace uncomfortable. When one member of the team is not happy things quickly and surely fall apart.
Of course these things are not difficult to deduce even if one has never had to deal with a workplace romance. Most people that I know agree that this type of relationship is rarely good, as it creates unhealthy and un-productive levels of anonymity between people. But yet, workplace romances still happen…
Horan, S. M., & Chorry, R. M. (2009). When work and love mix: Perceptions of peers in workplace romances. Western Journal of Communication, 73, 349-369.