Personal Relationships on Job, Essay Example

A1. One of the problems with personal relationships at work is that personal relationship may get in the way of effectively performing professional responsibilities. It becomes difficult to be fair when assigning tasks to subordinates who are friends and those who are not since friendly subordinates expect more favorable treatment. Similarly, subordinates may also resent receiving orders from bosses who are friends because it is difficult for them to see a friend with a greater authority. The personal relationships also get in the way of fair performance evaluations and even if they are fair, subordinates who are not on friendly terms with their boss may still suspect him/her of being more favorable to those he/she is on friendly terms. Thus, there is always a danger of work environment in which some may feel they get less-than favorable treatment. Another problem with friendly relationships is that it becomes difficult to give negative news or harsh assessment to subordinates and if manager does produce the courage to do so, his professional responsibilities may also hurt his personal relationships.

Similarly, romantic relationships also create many of the same challenges as friendly relationships but at the same time, they may also result in greater waste of time as well as lead to non-professional behavior at work which could make co-workers uncomfortable. The negative impact on workplace environment is even greater when romantic relationships are broken and ex-partners become hostile towards each other and cannot separate personal feelings from professional relationship.

A2. An online article provides several suggestions that could help employees effectively manage their personal relationships at work. First of all, employees should make sure to not take their friendships to the extreme such as divulging secrets or intimate stories that could be used against them on a professional level. Thus, even workplace friendships should have some formal rules because everyone is also a competitor in terms of advancement opportunities even if they are friends. In addition, one should also avoid workplace politics (Mehta).

Employees should also make sure they have friendly relationship with everyone instead of limiting them to few friends because work projects often require them to work with a variety of people. Workplace gossips are common so employees should try to avoid them as much as possible because one can never predict the impact of workplace gossips on them. Similarly, one should also be careful when interacting with colleagues online such as on social media (Mehta).

As far as workplace romance is concerned, employees should be aware of company policies regarding romantic relationships at work. In addition, even if romantic relationships do develop, one should remain discreet about romantic relationship at work including minimum physical contact. Moreover, one should also not take about his personal romantic life with co-workers because such news spread fast at workplace (Mehta).

Similarly, one should interact with his/her love interest carefully because couples are under constant scrutiny by co-workers. There may even be accusations of favoritism but one should not lose temper and handle such situations with calm. The co-workers with romantic relationship should also not let their personal relationship affect their work performance (Mehta).

Reference

Mehta, Mithila. Tips to handle personal relationships at the workplace. 19 November 2012 <http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/features/slideshows/et-slideshows-made-here/tips-to-handle-personal-relationships-at-the-workplace/tips-to-handle-personal-relationships-at-the-workplace/quickiearticleshow/6246834.cms>.