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The Nature of Workplace Relationships

How organizations’ cultures, networks, and climates work

Whether it’s a church, a branch of the military, a corporation, or a nonprofit charity, an organization exists and functions because coworkers communicate and form relationships with one another (Contractor & Grant, 1996). All of the information sharing, decision making, and emotional and practical support that occurs in the workplace does so in the context of coworker relationships (Sias, Krone, & Jablin, 2002). Consequently, interpersonal communication and relationships are an organization’s lifeblood.

Any affiliation you have with a professional peer, supervisor, subordinate, or mentor can be considered a workplace relationship. These involvements differ along three dimensions: status, intimacy, and choice (Sias & Perry, 2004). First, most organizations are structured hierarchically in terms of status, with people ranked higher or lower than others in organizational position and power. Thus, a defining feature of workplace relationships is the equality or inequality of relationship partners. Second, workplace relationships vary in intimacy. Some remain strictly professional, with interpersonal communication restricted to work-related concerns. Others, like the relationship between Vivian Derr and Silvia Amaro, become deeply personal. Third, workplace relationships are defined by choice, the degree to which participants willingly engage in them. Although most of us don’t get to handpick our coworkers, we do choose which coworkers we befriend.

Interpersonal communication and relationships are an organization’s lifeblood

Like all interpersonal involvements, workplace relationships provide us with both benefits and costs. On the plus side, workplace relationships can enhance our professional skills through the insights others provide, and increase the speed with which we rise through the organizational hierarchy (Sias & Perry, 2004). They make work more enjoyable, bolster our commitment to the organization, improve morale, and decrease employee turnover (Sias & Cahill, 1998). On the negative side, workplace relationships can spawn gossip and cliques (Albrecht & Bach, 1997). They also can add additional stress to our lives by forcing us to shoulder not only our own professional burdens but the personal challenges of our workplace friends.

As we’ve stressed throughout this book, interpersonal relationships are forged and maintained within the broader context of social networks and surrounding ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic class cultures. Workplace relationships are no exception. However, in addition to being shaped by all of the above-mentioned forces, workplace relationships are also strongly influenced by each organization’s unique culture, networks, climate, and technology.