New research on workplace affairs and social ostracism from Pakistan

6/14/23

It’s important to note that different cultures handle familiar problems in particular ways. Fascinating new research on service workers in Pakistan describes how romantic relationships between co-workers may result in ostracism, disapproval, and even sabotage from their other co-workers, who witness the budding romance..

Previous research indicated that being involved in a workplace romance may shape your work-related attitudes and behaviors — including your level of job satisfaction and performance. However, the relationship between any given workplace romance and the disapproval of their co-workers has never been explored previously in clinical research.

Chinese researcher Jun Qiu from the Nanchang Institute of Technology and his research team studied how romantic relationships between co-workers can result in their ostracism. The research team collected time-lagged, multi-sourced data from service sector employees in Pakistan.

The research team surveyed the study subjects every 2 months, on three occasions.

In all, they collected responses from 343 people for a positive rate of nearly 70%. The surveys asked workers about their relationship status, and also attempted to measure workplace ostracism (defined in this research paper as (“being ignored at work”), as well as knowledge sabotage, for example, a co-worker deliberately supplying inaccurate data or the wrong documents. After collecting the final surveys, results researchers crunched all of the data using statistical software.

Romantically involved co-workers felt ostracized and marginalized

The research described a revealed a workplace dynamic in which romantically involved co-workers felt shunned, ostracized and even sabotaged by other employees who perceive their relationship as a threat.

Researchers point out, however, that further studies might determine whether or not the data from these service workers in Pakistan were indicative of a shift in cultural assessment, or were unique only to the workplaces in question.

I have to admit, the methodology used by these researchers seemed puzzling and inadequate.

A weakness in the study methodology is that the study authors did not say how many of the 343 participants were currently involved in a workplace romance. That seems like such a fundamental question. The study also failed to explain how gender differences in the workforce relate to the nature and degree of the ostracism.

However, the Chinese researchers were particularly keen on studying whether perceived ostracism increases or decreases if a the workplace romance runs its course..

This makes sense, because when I presented a literature review on infidelity to a large group of Chinese couples therapists in February of 2021, they expressed a keen interest in understanding connection between workplace infidelity, stress management, and workplace productivity.

“Though workplace romance should be a cornerstone of organizational interventions, a review of existing literature accentuates that only a few organizations maintain a workplace romance policy. Workplace romance is a committed and consensual relationship among two members and can have a range of implications on the constructive spectrum too.

Organizations should conduct interpersonal training, which helps employees discern acceptable versus unacceptable behaviors in the workplace. An intimate relationship may disrupt an intimate flow of knowledge in the absence of appropriate HR policies.“ Press release from the Chinese research team.

Western researchers do not tend to include such obvious inclinations toward social engineering in their findings. They also tend not to include such specific advice to management.. LOL.