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Types of Peer Relationships
Although peer relationships strongly shape the quality of our work lives, not all peer relationships are the same (Fritz & Dillard, 1994). Information peers are equivalent-status coworkers with whom our communication is limited to work-related content. Information peer relationships typically are created through assignment rather than choice, and as a result, they lack trust and intimacy. Although these relationships are common, especially in large corporations, many people view information peers as less open and less communicatively skilled than collegial or special peers, discussed below (Myers, Knox, Pawlowski, & Ropog, 1999).
Collegial peers are coworkers whom we consider friends. When we communicate with collegial peers, we talk about work and personal issues, and we feel moderate levels of trust and intimacy toward these individuals. Scholars sometimes describe these relationships as “blended” because they incorporate elements of both professional and personal relationships (Bridge & Baxter, 1992).
Special peers are equivalent-status coworkers with whom we share very high levels of emotional support, career-related feedback, trust, self-disclosure, and friendship (Sias et al., 2002). The rarest type of peer relationship, special peers are considered people’s best friends in the workplace.
Professional peer relationships can evolve from lesser to greater levels of intimacy over time. The first and most significant relationship transition is from information peer to collegial peer (Sias & Cahill, 1998). Workers who spend extended periods of time together, are placed in proximity with each other, or socialize together outside of the workplace inevitably form stronger bonds with each other. However, sharing time and activities together is not enough to ensure that a coworker relationship will evolve from information to collegial peer. Like personal friendships, perceived similarity in interests, beliefs, and values is what decisively pushes a workplace relationship from acquaintanceship to friendship (Sias & Cahill, 1998).
The evolution of the relationship from information peer to collegial peer is similar for virtual peers, coworkers who communicate mainly through phone, e-mail, Skype, and other communication technologies. For virtual peers, the progression from information peer to collegial peer hinges on how much time the peers spend interacting and working on shared tasks together. Given the familiarity that many modern workers have with communication technologies and the availability of such technologies in the workplace, it’s commonplace for virtual peers to become virtual friends.
The transition from collegial peer to special peer is different, however. Perceived similarity, shared time and tasks, and socializing are all important, but are not sufficient to push coworker friendships to the level of best friend (Sias & Cahill, 1998). Instead, the evolution of a coworker friendship to a higher state of intimacy is usually spurred by negative events in partners’ personal lives (serious illness, marital discord) or serious work-related problems that require an exceptional level of social support. As demonstrated by the workplace relationship described at the beginning of this chapter, Silvia Amaro and Vivian Derr became special peers in response to personal life challenges each faced. The same thing happened for Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis: their professional and personal partnership was amplified when they both were fired.