An Ethnography of Romantically Involved Co-Workers - Research Paper Example

One Relationship Too Many: An Ethnography of Romantically Involved Co-Workers Introduction Many romantic relationships begin with a working relationship. However, most companies have rules prohibiting romantic involvement between co-workers and especially between salaried and hourly, rival departments, etc. My ethnography will explore the nature of the formation and discovery of employee romantic relationships and include information about the frequency of romantic involvements, the punishments (if any) after discovery, and perceptions based upon the hierarchies of gender, race, sexual orientation, salaried and hourly, etc. If similar cases have different results, then it would be necessary to make a short comparison and contrast to see what workplace aspects produced the different results, i.e. segue into a case study’s specific shifts in work productivity during the co-workers’ romantic involvement. Throughout the paper, field research will be conducted using various options, including- but not limited to- case studies, statistical integration, and other relevant supporting data from the fields of Psychology and Sociology, for example. Observation and Participation I currently work part-time in a Company that hires both full-time and part-time (hourly) workers. The Company has some strict rules against workers having romantic relationships: especially between the hourly workers and the full-time employees who fully understand that the part-timers are ready to enter into amorous relationship just to keep their jobs—this kind of exploitation is totally discouraged by the Company’s Management (Sandberg, 2004). Though over the months, I have observed that some of my co-workers were dating one another despite the laid-down stringent rules that prohibit such relationships. I interviewed ten co-workers that are reportedly dating one another: five men and five women. They were unwilling to co-operate at first; but applying the ethics of field research, I promised them that their responses would be kept confidential, and their accounts would only be used for my study purposes (Babbie, 2008). I eventually interviewed them and obtained interesting facts about the reasons behind their relationships. The data obtained in the course of these interviews are presented below with supportive sociological and psychological explanations. Errors due to emotional pressure are reduced as I decided to interview my co-workers when they are not on duties—most of the interview occurred during their return home after the day’s work, and where no other coo-worker could eavesdrop on their responses. Results/Data Analysis The working arrangement at my Company is organized in a way that part-timers would assist the full-time workers, who happen to stay in the offices and control how each working procedure is undertaken. Invariably, the part-time workers are totally dependent on the full-time workers to carry out their respective functions (or to get as many working hours as possible). Hence, previous experiences have indicated that some male full-time employees have abused this power to sexually molest their female part-time counterparts. Eighty percent (80%) of the female part-time workers interviewed explained that they decided to go into relationships with their full-time counterparts because they need good recommendations that would help them secure more working hours. Ten percent (10%) confessed that it was a natural experience which they are happy to engage in so as to feel fulfilled. Five percent (5%) said that they were coerced into dating their full-time counterparts, and they complied because they need the job to survive. Five percent (5%) thought it was just a problem of infatuation they could not just overcome. Almost half of them said that they knew that other co-workers are aware of their romantic relationships. Twenty percent (20%) confessed that they had been reprimanded or disciplined by the Company management because of their workplace romance. I spend some weeks to confirm the closeness between each pair of lovers in my workplace to identify how really they are close, and how their romance is affecting their performance in the Company. I also considered the impacts of workplace romance on the other non-romantic co-workers, weighing how this issue affected their concentration on their jobs. Discussion This ethnography study provides interesting opportunities to truly understand why workplace intimate relationships occur. Psychologically, people tend to make up for anything missing in their lives whenever they have the chance to do so (Gutek, 1985). Invariably, young female workers who do not have the privilege of having boyfriends would tend to welcome advances from male co-workers who they see every day. This explains that there is a kind of natural desire that could not be repressed; and this kind of relationship may occur between a quite beautiful lady and the ugliest male counterpart. As a case study, some randy bosses often want to hire pretty secretaries with the hope of converting them to their lovers later. However, not all these ladies eventually fall for such traps; and this incident would definitely put an end to such working relationship (Gutek, 1985). This theory may support the determination of ten percent (10%) of my co-workers who think it is natural to fall in love with the opposite sex, no matter where the meeting takes place. On the other hand, sexual harassment and the policy of gender inequality may socially affect the performance of female workers in a Company. Take for example, five percent (5%) of my co-workers complained that they were forced into this relationship—this demonstrates the problem of gender or sexual discrimination and the abuse of power on the part of our superiors (Sandberg, 2004). Socially, the need to survive has also forced female workers to accept love proposals from superiors at work, since this dictates how many hours of work they could get in a month. Being sexually linked to one’s boss or superior could also bring unexpected promotion and financial benefits (Conte, 2000). This may have been the main reason my Company made the stringent rules that forbid full-time employees from sexually exploiting their subordinates. The negative impacts of workplace romance include but not limited to (I) loss of concentration on the part of other employees due to jealousy and hatred; (ii) lack of self-respect among other co-workers; (iii) poor workplace performance as loving co-workers could not enforce the Company’s strict working regulations on one another; (iv) and, this could impact the quality of services or products offered to the public. One of the ways to curb workplace intimate romance is to institute a serious punishment against the offenders: the superior employees could be demoted, while the junior workers could be fired or place a salary-cut on them (Mainiero, 1989). This strategy has proved successful in many companies where the problems of workplace love affairs had nearly torn apart the entire organization. Conclusion Ethnography study helps in many ways to understand the nature of an organization, the main issue affecting its structure and the impacts of such problems and how to solve the problems. Workplace intimate romance has been one of the problems that has affected organizations in different countries and cultures, and its consequences have always been the same. However, instilling serious discipline on the offenders may help organizations cope with this workplace problem. References Babbie, E.R. (2008). The basics of social research. Florence, Kentucky: Cengage Learning. Conte, A. (2000). Sexual harassment in the workplace: law and practice. Washington, D.C.: Aspen Publishers Online. Gutek, B.A. (1985). Sex and the workplace. London: Jossey-Bass. Mainiero, L.A. (1989). Office romance: love, power, and sex in the workplace. New York: Rawson Associates. Sandberg, A.K. (2004). Workplace romance: the effects of sexual orientation, power dynamics, and organizational culture. Edwardsville, Illinois: Souther Illinois University. Read More