The problem of relations between colleagues, between subordinates and management will always be important as all of us have co-workers and everyone is a leader or subordinate and some people can appear in both these roles in the same time.
So why does our relations with colleagues spoil?
The Recruiting agency Business&Career conducted a research of reasons of unconstructive altitude of russian employees to each other.
Both structures of communication were considered. Formal structure reflects the standard (required) part of communication between colleagues while informal (unofficial) represents the system of interpersonal relations based on a «sympathy-antipathy» principle.
There are two main questions:
- Why do you think relations between colleagues spoil?
- What is the reason of growth of intensity in relations between subordinates and their direct head?
314 persons from various areas and spheres of business were in for the opinion poll (interview). Post level was limited by the ordinary qualified experts, supervisors and mid-level managers.
In the first case (relations with colleagues) answers were distributed in the following way:
- Because of envy to successes of each other -17 % respondents gave such answer;
- Provocations or mistakes on the part of administration leading conflicts between colleagues
- such point of view have 13 % respondents;
- Professional incompetence when a person lives for the account of other employees showing higher indicators in work, — this opinion belong to 23 % participants of the poll;
- Carelessness, indifference to colleagues’ problems, unwillingness to come to the rescue «at whistle» — 27 % respondents consider so;
- «squealing», unwillingness to cover over mistakes of colleagues in that case when that will cause no harm to the concealer — this position was expressed by 9 % of respondents;
- Answer «rest» gave 11 % of total number of participants of research.
We would like to attract special attention to this point: rather big part of respondents consider envy is a reason of spoiling of relations with colleagues.
It’s remarkable that the similar poll spent in one of developed European countries, has given only (!) 2 % of those who considers envy is a root of the majority of disagreements on workplace.
In the second case (relations with administration) distribution has appeared the following:
- Personal hostility (non-acceptance of personal qualities) — 24 %;
- Professional incompetence — 39 %;
- Fear of a competition from outside the subordinate (fear to lose the workplace) — 11 %;
- Employment «on protection» when the decision on employment is accepted by a higher management and as a result the subordinate cannot be dismissed on the same basis as everyone else as provided by the contract or the Law — 7 %;
- Other reasons — 19 %.
Elvira Gubaydullina, Alex Burov, Alexey Ogurtsov
Recruiting agency Business&Career