The impact of a supportive group at work may be complicated by the politics of promotion and status, a study from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business recently posited.
A supportive team may actually make the sting of status loss — like being passed over for a promotion or making a costly mistake — even worse, authors at UMD said. That’s because workers reported feeling conflicted emotions about those relationships in the wake of the status loss.
“They start to feel both positive and negative feelings about their co-worker relationships — both supported and, at the same time, disrespected,” Jennifer Carson Marr, associate professor of management and organization at UMD and co-author of the study, said in a statement Oct. 31.
Ambivalence in a relationship can feel even worse than an adversarial relationship, the researchers noted, as it can foment anxiety, uncertainty and hurt feelings — overall leading to less engagement at work, Marr said, in part because workers feel uncertain about leaning on their group members in the wake of that ambivalence.
To help ameliorate this, managers can “be proactive” and reach out to the affected worker to help them, Marr said.
“Their co-workers probably do not realize, in many cases, that this has created some ambivalence for the individual grappling with the worry that others have lost respect for them,” she noted.
Managers can ensure they reach out to all of their team members and not just high performers, the study noted, especially since these events happen on a regular basis.
Workplace relationships are a key driver of engagement, studies have shown. Workers told KPMG in a report published in September that they would work at a job 10% below the market rate in exchange for working with close friends; 87% of those surveyed said close friendships at work are highly valuable.
Work friendships could also be key to fighting burnout, a KPMG U.S. leader wrote in an op-ed published in March — giving managers even more reason to ensure relationships between team members are solid and respectful.