Research Design Connection: Envy at Work

Parrott effectively reviews, in the chapter available free at the web address noted below, the repercussions of people being envious in workplaces. As he details, “There [are] a multitude of…ways that a person can be perceived as enjoying advantages. Offices can be bigger or brighter and can have better windows or nicer furnishings…Envy can be even more intense when directed horizontally within organizational levels than it is when directed from lower to higher levels…In the context of organizations, the danger of envy is that it may hurt group performance more than it helps. A recent study of envy in business settings in a variety of Norwegian organizations provided evidence that envy was negatively related to group performance (Thompson, Glasø, & Martinsen, 2015). Envy was negatively correlated with job satisfaction, group cohesion, group performance, and with providing assistance and cooperation to others in the organization. Envy was found to damage relationships within work-groups and to direct energy away from group activities.”

Parrott. 2016. “Being Envied in Organizations.” In Richard Smith, Ugo Merlone, and Michelle Duffy (eds.), Envy at Work and in Organizations, Oxford University Press, available at http://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/benefits-and-threats-being-envied-organizations.

Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.