Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ABSTRACT
This study investigates the link between perceptions of negative workplace relationships and organ-
isational outcomes. Respondents (n = 412) spanned a wide range of occupations, industries and
nationalities. Data were collected using an Internet-based questionnaire. Results indicated that
those with at least one negative relationship at work were significantly less satisfied, reported less
organisational commitment, were part of less cohesive workgroups and were significantly more like-
ly to be planning to leave their job.
etal 1979; Nielsen, Jex & Adams 2000; Warr et al often results in conflict and incivility which can
1979). The impact of negative social relations, or be both time consuming and stressful to resolve.
enmities, is a topic that has received less atten- Dealing with conflict between workers may
tion, particularly in the work environment. This account for as much as 13 percent of a managers’
impact of negative relationships on organisational time, or nearly seven weeks per year, per manager
outcomes has seldom been examined previously (Johnson & Indvik 2001).
and is the focus of the current study. In addition, As well as unpleasant verbal communication,
the question of which organisational variables are negative relationships may also be characterised
most strongly associated with the presence of by poor behaviour (Johnson & Indvik 2001).
negative relationships is addressed. Thus, the cur- Workplace behaviour within negative relation-
rent study seeks to explore the extent to which ships can include sending a nasty note, under-
negative relationships in the workplace are related mining credibility, sabotaging another’s work,
to job satisfaction, organisational commitment, unfairly withholding or distributing valued
workgroup cohesion and intention to turnover. resources or giving ‘dirty looks’. Einarsen (2000)
While there is little empirical research docu- adds to this list, describing a hostile work envi-
menting the effects of negative relationships at ronment as one where behaviours such as insult-
work, the literature on negative workplace behav- ing, teasing, offensive remarks or silence and
iours such as aggression, injustice, unfairness bul- hostility when entering a conversation take place.
lying and incivility will be briefly reviewed here. Einarsen describes workers being socially exclud-
Although these constructs do not completely ed from their work group and having their work
overlap with that of the negative workplace rela- and efforts devalued. Some individuals are even
tionship, they are sufficiently related to inform subjected to physical abuse, or threats of such
hypotheses on these relationships. abuse, from co-workers or supervisors (Einarsen
2000). Some behaviour may be interpreted dif-
Conceptualising negative ferently by different individuals or by those from
relationships other cultural backgrounds (for example, behav-
Although no standard definition of negative rela- iour interpreted by one individual as rude or
tionships yet exists they can be defined in terms brusque may be viewed by another as efficient or
of the verbal interaction within a dyad; with no-nonsense) (Johnson & Indvik 2001). Thus, as
communication ranging from ‘……passive to workplaces become more diverse, the potential
active dislike, animosity, disrespect, or destructive for misunderstandings and hostility increases
mutual interaction’ (Dillard & Fritz 1995: 12). along with the number of negative relationships.
Andersson and Pearson (1999) define incivility as Moerbeek and Need (2003) have published
low intensity deviant behaviour which violates one of the few studies specifically looking at the
organisational norms for mutual respect. A nega- effects of negative relationships in work environ-
tive relationship is one where interactions such as ments, providing an alternate conceptualisation
concealment, manipulation, conflict, disrespect, of negative workplace relationships. Rather than
disagreement, incivility and/or animosity are fre- focusing on interactions between individuals,
quent. These relationships have been shown to Moerbeek and Need define negative relationships
affect both individuals (Moerbeek & Need 2003; in the context of social capital. The people a per-
Rook 1984) and organisations (Dillard & Fritz son knows, their social network, can be either
1995) adversely, causing stress and turnover helpful or harmful to their future career. Moer-
(Leather, Beale, Lawrence & Dickson 1997; beek and Need term relationships which have a
Miner-Rubino 2004). The lack of respect and negative effect ‘sour social capital’, and they use
courtesy which exemplifies negative relationships the term foes to refer to a person’s sour social capi-
tal, stating that almost anyone in a person’s social 2001). Thus, aspects of work (such as overload
network can become a foe. and stress) can cause people to behave in ways
Moerbeek and Need (2003) state that the one likely to create negative relationships. Downsizing
major difference between friends and enemies is and rapid organisational growth create situations
that people do not choose to have foes in their where fewer people are doing more work. If
social network; relationships with foes will be employees are unable to handle the increasing
involuntary relationships. When a relationship pressure and are under stress they are less likely to
degrades or turns sour in a workplace the individ- exercise good judgement in terms of their interac-
uals concerned often have to continue to interact. tions with colleagues and more likely to view oth-
The workplace is one of the few environments ers as enemies (Johnson & Indvik 2001).
where people are ‘forced’ into relationships with Combined with other factors, such as personality
others and, as a result, it is an ideal environment or an unhealthy organisational climate, the work-
to examine these negative relationships. Negative place can cause a previously benign relationship
interactions, along with the involuntariness of the to escalate into a hostile one.
relationship comprise the two aspects of the defi- Additionally people may obstruct each other
nition of negative relationships used in this study. for reasons of jealousy or envy (Cohen-Charash
2001). Envy is common in businesses and organ-
T h e c a u s e s o f n e g a t i v e re l a t i o n s h i p s isations, and may be defined as an emotion
Although it is the outcomes, rather than the caus- occurring when a person begrudges another for
es, of negative relationships that are the focus the having something that he or she does not have, or
current study, some antecedents of these relation- seeing another individual gain advantage and
ships are worth noting. An important study was viewing it with displeasure (Bedeian 1995). The
conducted by Sias, Heath, Perry, Silva and Fix way that limited resources are distributed creates
(2004). These authors outline five specific causes an environment where envy is not only possible
of deteriorating relationships; personality, dis- but almost inevitable. For example, people may
tracting life events, conflicting expectations, pro- have to compete for resources or individuals
motion and betrayal. The sheer proximity of might have incompatible goals. Envious people
work colleagues is probably the most common are likely react with hostility and violence towards
antecedent of negative relationships. People are the other (Cohen-Charash 2001).
seldom in a position to choose who they work
with so, if an individual continually has to inter- T h e e ff e c t s o f n e g a t i v e w o r k p l a c e
act and work with a person with whom they do relationships
not get along, the potential for increasingly It is reasonable to expect that the presence of a
antagonistic behaviour exists (Dillard & Fritz negative relationship will adversely affect an indi-
1995). vidual’s experience of work. If someone is experi-
Organisational environments may provide encing rudeness, undermining and/or incivility in
other elements conducive to the development of the workplace, they are likely to be less satisfied,
negative relationships. Work demands, particular- committed or happy in their job than someone
ly in situations where workers are in direct com- not having to deal with interpersonal negativity.
petition with one another, can create situations
where negative relationships are likely to form. In Job satisfaction
addition, the demands of electronic communica- Job satisfaction may be defined as a pleasurable,
tion, to which many feel obliged to respond positive emotional state resulting from the
immediately, creates pressures that encourage appraisal of one’s job or job experiences (Levy
workers to behave rudely (Johnson & Indvik 2003). Levy states that consequences of satisfac-
tion include better performance and a reduction cent of the total annual operating budget. In addi-
in withdrawal and counterproductive behaviours. tion, the costs of turnover increase further up the
Previous research with a focus on negative behav- organisational hierarchy, ie replacing a senior
iours including unjust treatment (Donovan, manager or a surgeon represents a more significant
Drasgow & Munson 1998; Moorman 1991), ver- cost than replacing a secretary or a nurse (Richer,
bal abuse and bullying (Einarsen 2000), and psy- Blanchard & Vallerand 2002). An American study
chological aggression and harassing (Einarsen & by Lozada (1996) found that 90 percent of dis-
Raknes 1997) has linked these behaviours with missals are the result of poor attitudes, inappropri-
lowered satisfaction with work, supervision ate behaviour and difficulties with interpersonal
and/or co-workers. Although it has not been relationships rather than deficient technical skills.
examined previously, negative relationships are The finding that people are so often dismissed for
likely to be differently related to the extrinsic and reasons other than being unable to do their jobs
intrinsic aspects of job satisfaction. It is probable highlights the importance of informal interperson-
that intrinsic satisfaction (satisfaction with al relationships at work; being good at your job is
aspects of the job itself, that is positive evalua- not sufficient if you cannot with people. Thus,
tions of the variety in one’s job or the opportuni- the informal relationships employees have at work
ty to use one’s abilities) will be less affected by are likely to have a significant effect on turnover;
negative relationships than satisfaction with the both on whether employees choose to stay in their
more extrinsic factors, such as ‘immediate boss’ or jobs (Campion et al 1993; Mobley 1997; Mowday
‘fellow workers’. That is, people may be able to et al 1979; Nielsen, Jex & Adams 2000; Warr et al
separate their satisfaction with the actual activi- 1979), and on whether organisations want them
ties, achievements or recognition in their jobs to remain or decide to end their employment
(intrinsic satisfaction) from their satisfaction with (Lozada 1996).
other aspects of their day to day work life (extrin- Donovan, Drasgow and Munson (1998)
sic satisfaction). Hypotheses a and b focus on the report that turnover intentions would be
link between negative relationships and job satis- increased with the presence of negative workplace
faction. behaviours. This finding was supported by Moer-
beek and Need (2003), who found that people
Hypothesis a: The presence of negative relation-
who experience a bad atmosphere at work leave
ships within the workplace will be associated
more quickly than people who experience a good
with reduced job satisfaction.
atmosphere. Hypothesis c focuses on the link
Hypothesis b: The presence of negative relation- between negative relationships and intention to
ships within the workplace will be more turnover.
strongly associated with extrinsic job satisfac-
Hypothesis c: The presence of negative relation-
tion than intrinsic job satisfaction.
ships within the workplace will be associated
with increased intention to turnover.
Tur nover intentions
Turnover represents one of the most important Or g a n i s a t i o n a l c o m m i t m e n t
issues for any organisation. The money and time Porter, Steers, Mowday and Boulian (1974) define
invested in hiring and training an individual who organisational commitment as a strong belief in,
leaves the organisation is lost forever. These costs and acceptance of, the organisational goals and
are considerable, recent research by Waldman, values, a willingness to exert effort on behalf of the
Kelly, Arora and Smith (2004) within the medical organisation and a desire to remain in the organi-
industry, revealed that the minimum cost of sation. Consequences of organisational commit-
turnover represented a loss of more than five per- ment include a reduction in withdrawal
behaviours such as absenteeism (Levy 2003; workgroup. Hypothesis e focuses on the link
Mathieu & Zajac 1990) and intention to leave. In between negative relationships and cohesion.
addition Levy suggests that commitment will
Hypothesis e: The presence of negative relation-
result in a reduction in counterproductive behav-
ships within the workplace will be associated
iours such as theft and sabotage. Another conse-
with less workgroup cohesion.
quence of commitment is improved performance,
although, because of the complexity of perform- In sum, the overall research question posed in
ance, the relationship between performance and the current study is; to what extent are negative
commitment is not strong (Levy 2003). Both relationships in the workplace related to job satis-
intention to turnover and job satisfaction are faction, intention to turnover, organisational
strongly related to organisational commitment commitment and workgroup cohesion?
(Campion et al 1993; Mobley 1977; Nielsen, Jex
& Adams 2000; Warr et al 1979). If negative rela- M ETHODS
tionships are associated with lower satisfaction and
Par ticipants
increased intention to turnover it is also reason-
able to assume that organisational commitment Data were collected from 412 individuals; the
will be reduced. Barling and Phillips (1993) found demographic data indicated that the respondents
a link between perceptions unfair treatment and were very diverse, there was a wide range of ages
decreased organisational commitment, and and industries and 31% were male. Most respon-
Leather et al (1997) examined violence at work, dents were from New Zealand (68%) with 13%
also finding (perhaps unsurprisingly) that those on being from the United States. Respondents
the receiving end of these behaviours experienced ranged in age from 19 years to 64 years, with a
lowered commitment to the organisation. mean age of 35 years. There was a great deal of
Hypothesis d focuses on the link between negative variety in the industries/sectors respondents
relationships and organisational commitment. reported working in. The largest reported sector
was tertiary education (universities and polytech-
Hypothesis d: The presence of negative relation-
nics, n = 92) followed by health care (including
ships within the workplace will be associated
psychology, psychiatry and physiotherapy n = 53)
with lowered organisational commitment.
(refer Table 1). As there were no exclusion criteria
(other than having a job) the variety in responses
Cohesion to the question asking what job type individuals
Odden and Sias (1997) found that climates per- had, was almost as varied as the number of
ceived as being highly cohesive were associated respondents. Respondents were from a wide
with larger proportions of collegial and special range of professions, from medical doctors, to
peer relationships, ie more friends. The cohesion secretaries, to academics, to police officers.
dimension in the workplace reflects a general lik-
ing of one’s co-workers, as well as perceptions Materials
that an employee shares a great deal of common
N e g a t i v e re l a t i o n s h i p q u e s t i o n n a i re
ground with his/her colleagues. Although Odden
and Sias (1997) did not examine a link between To establish if respondents had negative rela-
negative relationships and cohesion, the fact that tionships in the workplace they were given the
cohesion reflects friendly relations and liking as definition below. Respondents were then asked
well as cooperation and positive communication, if there were any people who they work with,
suggests that the presence of negative relation- with whom they had a negative relationship
ships would mitigate perceptions of a cohesive and, if so, how many.
TA B L E 1 : D E M O G R A P H I C D ATA
Va r i a b l e F re q u e n c y ( n ) Va l i d p e r c e n t
Sex (6 missing)
Males 127 31.3
Females 279 67.7
Countr y o f o r i g i n (5 missing)
New Zealand 277 68.1
USA 52 12.8
United Kingdom 33 8.1
Australia 20 4.9
Canada 5 1.2
Other 20 4.9
Note: Values are presented in percentages excluding respondents who declined to answer
This person is not one of your friends. You do information with other team members about our
interact with this person on a fairly regular work). Items measuring cohesion were selected
basis but you would definitely not continue from a 54-item Work Group Characteristics
the relationship if you did not work here. Your Measure developed by Campion et al (1993).
interactions with this person are characterised Only those items from the Work Group Charac-
by disrespect, disagreement, dislike, conflict teristics Measure relating to cohesion were used
and/or animosity. You would rather not have in the current study. The items used are termed
to interact with this person. process characteristics by Campion et al and are
those relating to (1) social support, (2) workload
As discussed earlier, negative interactions and the sharing and (3) communication/co-operation
involuntariness of the relationships comprise the within the work group. Campion et al provided
two aspects of the definition of negative relation- evidence that a composite of these items reliably
ships. The definition was written by the researcher predicted effectiveness criteria (productivity and
to include these two characteristics of negative rela- manager judgements of effectiveness (P < 0.05).
tionships, and was based on Kram and Isabella’s In addition Campion et al found the sub scales
(1985) definitions of organisational peer types. had adequate internal consistency reliability
( = 0.78, 0.84 and 0.81 respectively).
Workgroup cohesion scale
Cohesion was measured using a nine-item work- Or g a n i s a t i o n a l C o m m i t m e n t
group cohesion scale rated on a 5-point Likert Q u e s t i o n n a i r e (OCQ)
type scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree Originally designed by Mowday, Steers and
(eg Members of my team are very willing to share Porter (1979), this is a commonly used measure
TA B L E 2 : D E S C R I P T I V E STAT I S T I C S
TA B L E 3 : B I VA R I ATE C O R R E L AT I O N S
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
using them in later analyses. Thus, confirmatory maintains that the RMSEA is one of the most
factor analysis was carried in AMOS (Arbuckle informative indices in SEM. The RMSEA is sen-
1999) in order to confirm the factor structure of sitive to the complexity of the model; values less
the measurement models used. than 0.05 indicate excellent fit, and values less
A two stage approach was adopted to model than 0.08 represent a good fit.
the data (Anderson & Gerbing 1988). First, Where the fit indices did not indicate a good
measurement models were constructed using fit to the model, the modification indices and
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to obtain the expected change statistics related to the covari-
best fitting set of items to represent each measure. ances for each model were inspected for evidence
The second stage involved the specification of the of misspecification. Large modification indices
full baseline structural models. represent misspecified error covariances, which
Assessment of model fit was based on multiple indicate systematic rather than random measure-
criteria, reflecting statistical, theoretical and prac- ment error in item responses. A high degree of
tical considerations (Byrne 2001). Pedhazur overlap in item content can trigger correlated
(1982) states that there have been numerous arti- errors, which occur when two items, although
cles, both criticising existing indices and propos- worded differently, ask the same question (Byrne
ing new ones. Although there is little agreement 2001). Thus, if there was evidence that the model
about the value of various fit indices, Pedhazur was misspecified, the ‘problem’ items (ie those
claims that there does seem to be unanimity that that had overlapping content with other items)
no single fit index should be relied upon. The were first examined to ascertain if there was a
indices used in the current study were (a) the Chi substantive justification for respecification and, if
squared (2) likelihood ratio statistic, (b) the there was, the items were either removed in a post
Comparative Fit Index (CFI) (Bentler 1990) (c) hoc analysis, or respecified with the overlapping
the Parsimonious Comparative Fit Index (PCFI) parameter being freely estimated. For example,
(Mulaik et al 1989), and (d) the Root Mean the parameter in the Organisational Commit-
Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) ment Questionnaire exhibiting the highest degree
(Browne & Cudeck 1993). Each is described of misfit represented correlated error between
below. items 10 (I am extremely glad that I chose this
The 2 value divided by the degrees of free- organisation to work for over others I was consider-
dom should be below five to indicate good fit ing at the time) and 15 (Deciding to work for this
(Hair, Anderson, Tatham & Black 1998). The organisation was a definite mistake on my part (R)).
CFI is a revised version of the Bentler-Bonnet Clearly there is a substantive rationale for allow-
(bentler & Bonett 1980) normed fit index that ing relationship between these two items to be
adjusts for degrees of freedom. It ranges from freely estimated. The alpha levels and indices of
zero to 1.00 and provides a measure of complete fit for the measurement models used in the cur-
covariation in the data; a value > 0.90 indicates a rent study are presented in Table 4. All indices
good fit to the data (Byrne 1994, 2001). The indicate good fit of the data to the models. The
PCFI is calibrated from the CFI; it weighs the consistency reliability (coefficient a) of all the
parsimony of the model against its use of the data scales was acceptable, ranging from 0.73 (job sat-
in achieving goodness of fit. Mulaik et al (199) isfaction subscale) to 0.91 (organisational com-
state that PCFI values are often lower than what mitment questionnaire) (refer Table 4).
is generally considered acceptable on the basis of The OCQ had only one factor, supporting
normed indices of fit; goodness of fit indices in Mowday et al’s (1979) original factor analysis
the 0.90s accompanied by PCFI indices in the (rotated to Kaiser varimax solution) which also
0.50s are considered adequate. Byrne (2001) resulted in a single factor solution and suggested
the 15 items of the Organisational Commitment was conducted using negative relationships as the
Questionnaire are relatively homogeneous with independent variable and all the organisational
respect to the underlying attitude construct they outcome variables as dependent variables. The
measure. Both the cohesion scale and the satisfac- data were divided into those who had no negative
tion scale were found to have two distinct factors. relationships (n = 181) and those who had at least
two factors in the satisfaction scale were, (1) satis- one (n = 231) to perform the MANOVA. Justifi-
faction with interpersonal interactions and work- cation for grouping the data in this way is that (a)
place, and (2) satisfaction with aspects of actual it is the presence of negative relationships, rather
job performed; variety/fulfilment. The two satis- than the number of ‘enemies’ an individual has,
faction factors relate closely to the ‘extrinsic satis- that is the variable of interest in this study and
faction’ and ‘intrinsic satisfaction’ clusters of (b) there are some groups with very few cases
items, identified by Warr et al (1979). The two (70% of respondents have either one negative
cohesion factors were, (1) social support and relationship or none).
cooperation and (2) workload sharing. The work- The results of the MANOVA showed a statis-
load sharing factor is identical to that described tically significant difference in terms of the pres-
by Campion et al (1993), while the remaining ence of negative relationships on the combined
items loaded together as a single factor, combin- dependent variables: F (6, 405) = 10.56, P <
ing Campion’s ‘social support’ and ‘communica- 0.001; Wilk’s Lambda = 0.865; partial Eta
tion/co-operation’ factors. squared = 0.135. To control for the increase in
the family-wise Type I error, a Bonferroni correc-
P re v a l e n c e o f n e g a t i v e re l a t i o n s h i p s tion was used, and the significance level was
The number of negative relationships respon- adjusted to P = 0.008.
dents reported having is presented below in Table Table 6 shows the F values, the significance
5. Fifty-six percent of respondents reported hav- levels and partial Eta squared values (a measure of
ing at least one negative relationship. effect size). There was support for hypothesis a; a
significant difference was found between those
R e l a t i o n s h i p w i t h o rg a n i s a t i o n a l who did and did not have at least one negative
variables relationship at work in terms of their extrinsic F
To assess whether there were mean differences in (1, 410) = 55.42, P < 0.008 and intrinsic F (1,
the variables of interest in terms of the presence 410) = 7.97, P < 0.008 job satisfaction scores.
of negative workplace relationships, a MANOVA The partial Eta squared values indicate that the
TA B L E 5 : P R E VA L E N C E OF N E G AT I V E R E L AT I O N S H I P S
N e g a t i v e re l a t i o n s h i p s 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8+
N u m b e r o f re s p o n d e n t s 181 106 54 34 10 11 3 2 11
relationship between having negative relation- closely related to the presence of negative rela-
ships is weaker for intrinsic satisfaction than tionships than intrinsic job satisfaction. The
extrinsic satisfaction (0.120 and 0.017 respective- results also lend support to the construct validity
ly), strongly supporting hypothesis b. It is worth of the measure of negative relationships created
noting that intrinsic job satisfaction had the for, and used in, this study. The frequency of neg-
weakest relationship with negative relationships, ative relationships (over half of the respondents in
only barely achieving significance at the 0.008 this study had at least one, and many had several)
level. As expected, the relationship between nega- means that examining how negative relationships
tive relationships and the remaining dependent form, looking at the impact of negative relation-
variables were significant, P < 0.008, supporting ships and determining how they might be man-
hypotheses c–e (see Table 6). These findings indi- aged are certainly areas that warrant attention
cate that those with at least one negative relation- within workplaces.
ship at work are significantly less satisfied, report Stress is another likely outcome of negative
less organisational commitment, are part of less workplace relationships. Although not directly
cohesive workgroups and are significantly more measured in the current study this outcome bears
likely to be planning to leave their job. Of the some discussion as, in both New Zealand and
variables measured, negative relationships are Australia, there is legislation around stress in the
most strongly associated with lowered satisfaction workplace. In New Zealand the Health and Safe-
with the work environment (extrinsic job satisfac- ty in Employment Amendment Act 2002 came
tion), and reduced organisational commitment. into force on the 5 May 2003 (Amendment to
the Health and Safety in Employment Act 2002).
D ISCUSSION In Australia the government authorities hold that
The research question asked: to what extent are that stress is caused by work and, as such, is a
negative relationships in the workplace related to management responsibility and is part of the duty
job satisfaction, intention to turnover, organisa- of care which is fundamental to every OHS regu-
tional commitment and workgroup cohesion? lation. Thus, employers have a duty of care to
The results supported hypotheses a–e and indi- provide a healthy and safe work environment
cated that those with at least one negative rela- where employees are free from harm. One pur-
tionship at work were significantly less satisfied, pose of the HASE Act includes confirming that
reported less organisational commitment, were harm can be caused by work-related stress. Where
part of less cohesive workgroups and were signifi- an employee alleges workplace bullying (an
cantly more likely to be planning to leave their extreme form of negative workplace relationship)
job. Further, extrinsic job satisfaction is more there may be a claim that the resulting stress is
TA B L E 6 : U N I VA R I ATE F T E S T S C O M PA R I N G R E S P O N D E N T S W I T H A N D W I T H O U T N E G AT I V E R E L AT I O N S H I P S AT
WORK
workplace stress and is therefore actionable under results also indicated that some organisational
the amended HASE Act (although in the legisla- outcomes are more strongly related to negative
tion there is no recognition of ‘workplace bully- relationships at work than others. It is perhaps
ing’ per se). In spite of legislation such as this, not surprising that ‘extrinsic satisfaction’
which is aimed at protecting employees, it is per- (employees’ satisfaction with their work environ-
haps unrealistic to think that the day to day inter- ment and colleagues) is more profoundly affected
actions between co-workers would be impacted by enemies than satisfaction with the work itself
by government legislation. Negative relationships (intrinsic satisfaction). It makes intuitive sense
will still occur; however the Act may encourage that the intrinsic rewards individuals get from the
employers to take an active role in intervening or work they do will be relatively less impacted by
managing these relationships. poor collegial relationships, and this notion has
Although every situation will be different, in been confirmed by the current study. Organisa-
Western cultures accepted strategies used to min- tional commitment is variable that has a strong
imise the impact of negative relationships include affective or emotional component, and commit-
engaging in open discussion of the parties’ inter- ment too, is strongly related to the presence of
ests and synthesising multiple issues (whatever negative relationships at work.
they may be) with the aim of achieving an inte-
grative outcome (Tinsleya & Brett 2001). Inter- Limitations of the study and
estingly these authors found that managers from directions for future research
a collectivist culture (Hong Kong) were more The nature of the data analysis in the current
likely to rely on traditionally Chinese norms of study means that causality not clear, ie are dissat-
concern for collective interests and concern for isfied individuals more likely to engage in nega-
authority and to involve higher management in tive behaviours towards others, creating negative
conflict resolution. Whatever the strategy, given relationships or do negative relationships reduce
the current legislative framework within Australa- job satisfaction? Perhaps many of the respondents
sia, the onus is on managers to engage in conflict in the current study were, themselves, engaging
resolution where appropriate. in negative behaviours against their colleagues!
As discussed previously, turnover is a particu- Although this question can not be answered with
larly important area of organisational functioning certainty, it seems reasonable to propose that fre-
that can be affected by workplace relationships. If quently it is the negative relationship (however it
negative relationships cause people to leave, and has arisen) that causes dissatisfaction and inten-
over half of the respondents had at least one neg- tion to turnover and not the other way around.
ative relationship, the importance of these rela- This may be a worthwhile direction for future
tionships should not be underestimated. research in this area.
Targeting interventions or resolution strategies The presence of negative relationships in the
towards workgroups or dyads where negative current study was assessed by giving respondents
interactions such as concealment, manipulation, a definition of these relationships and asking that
conflict, disrespect, disagreement and/or animosi- respondents indicate how many (if any) they had
ty are frequent may be a way to improve job satis- at work. To better tap into the ‘negative work-
faction and commitment. place relationship’ construct it would be worth-
The findings in the current study suggest that while to develop and test a more complex scale,
the effect of enemies on an individual’s experi- composed of several items based on existing defi-
ence of work can be profound; both in terms of nitions of negative relationships (ie concealment,
their subjective sense of well-being and in terms manipulation, conflict, disrespect, disagreement,
of measurable organisational outcomes. The incivility and/or animosity).
It is worth noting that eleven respondents judgements of effectiveness, and that negative
reported having eight or more negative relation- relationships are associated with lower cohesion
ships in the workplace. If an individual has a scores, does suggest that negative relationships
poor relationship with this many people at work will indeed have a negative impact on perform-
it may indicate something about them rather than ance at work. This is also an area that warrants
their colleagues or their workplace. For this rea- further investigation.
son the MANOVA described in this study was
run again, removing those who reported more A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
than seven negative relationships. The effect sizes The author appreciates and acknowledges the
were largely unchanged. In spite of this, it may be assistance of Professor Stuart Carr (Massey Uni-
interesting in the future to focus on individuals versity), Dr Terry Nolan (AUT University), Dr
who report engaging in large numbers of negative Richard Fletcher (Massey University) and Profes-
relationships with their colleagues with a view to sor Michael O’Driscoll (Waikato University) who
perhaps identifying characteristics or perceptions provided important insights, suggestions and
of these individuals. In addition, the possible assistance. Thanks also to the reviewers, the paper
organisational outcomes of having these people in was much improved by the review process.
a workplace could be examined. An early version of part of this paper was pre-
This study suggests that negative relationships sented at the joint APS and NZPS Psychological
in the workplace are very common, and their Society conference, September 2006.
impact profound. Delving more deeply into how
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aspects of their jobs (eg the ‘work itself ’) are New Zealand.
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