Maximizing the Good and Minimizing the Bad: Relationships in Organizations

Like them or loathe them we cannot escape the people we work with. Working adults spend around a third of their waking lives at work, and much of this time interacting with colleagues either directly or virtually. Further, our colleagues can become key players in our social life, through romantic liaisons, family links, or guanxi relationships that bridge organizational boundaries. Our colleagues can provide us with social support and advice, but they can also be a source of negative behaviors such as bullying. Thus, while we may seek to establish relationships with our colleagues, these work relationships will vary greatly in how and why they develop as well as in the outcomes they produce. Workers will form strong bonds with some colleagues that are enjoyable and mutually beneficial, while with other colleagues they may form more neutral or even negative relationships, and may try to avoid interactions where possible.