Managers need to be aware of this danger in order to avoid it

Oct 8, 2011 10:02 GMT  ·  By

University of British Columbia (UBC) investigators have determined that managers who fail to keep their workforce connected and engaged amongst itself risk losing coherence. This can further result in the emergence of unwanted behaviors in the workplace, including sabotage and forms of rivalry.

While competition is to be desired to some extent, it must not be achieved by pitting workers against each other. In order to be most productive, the workforce has to stay engaged with what it's doing, and this is not achieved by longer shifts and overtime.

The new study was carried out by researchers in Canada and the United States, who learned that employees who feel disconnected from others tend to engage in subversive types of behaviors, even if unintentionally. These also include efforts to undermine their peers and their performances.

At the modern workplace, employees have enough to deal with in terms of stress and workload so as not to have to worry about being further distracted and obstructed by their colleagues. It's the job of management to ensure that this does not happen.

“We often hear that people who feel envious of their colleagues try to bring them down by spreading negative rumors, withholding useful information, or secretly sabotaging their work,” research scientist Karl Aquino, PhD, says.

The UCB expert was the leader of the new investigation. Colleagues from the Georgia State University, the Clemson University in South Carolina and the University of Minnesota were also a part of the study, PsychCentral reports.

But being envious of colleagues is not enough to make most people go out of their way to carry out sabotages or mix-ups at the workplace. “The match is not struck unless employees experience what psychologists call ‘moral disengagement’,” the team leader says.

This phenomenon is “a way of thinking that allows people to rationalize or justify harming others,” Aquino believes. This is precisely the behavior that managers can avoid by keeping their workforce coherent at all times.

Details of the new research study will appear in an upcoming issue of the esteemed Academy of Management Journal. “The working world typically necessitates that people develop strong connections with co-workers in order to thrive,” explains Michelle Duffy, PhD.

“To stray from this path ultimately puts success at risk, so most suffer from envy in silence,” adds the University of Minnesota expert, who was also the lead author of the study.