ENVY AT WORK

Article Presentation: Sania Yaqoob

AUTHORS

Tanya Menon

Associate Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicagos School of Business

Leigh Thompson

Professor of Dispute Resolution and Organization at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management

ENVY

Envy is the distress people feel when others get what they want

KEY LEARNING

Envy in relation to Economic Crisis

Intensifies in times of crisis

Effect on Individual Behaviour:

Inferiority Complex Damages Relationships Disrupts Teams Undermine Organizational Performance Harms the one who feels it A decline in Performance

WHAT ENVY DOES:

Marty and Scott were executives in an elite consulting firm, both considered to be valuable assets for the organization Marty was objectively smarter and hence, was the stronger performerbut Scotts personality and social network earned him more attention, opportunities and recognition Scotts charm pushed him higher in his performance. Martys envy lead him to leave the organization while Scott became more successful

THE DAMAGING SIDE EFFECTS

Disparagement and distancing When people have qualities that we envy but cannot easily acquire, we tend to dismiss the value of those qualities We treat those qualities with scorn, belittling the accomplishments of the person we resent Well, he is just lucky and He just got the plum assignment because he plays politics Enviers have difficulty learning from and collaborating with others

RESEARCH STUDY

Managers who felt threatened by another groups idea simply ignored it We experience this emotion more intensely with people who are close to us According to the psychologist, Abraham Tesser; people are unhappier when a close friend succeeds in a personally relevant domain than when a stranger does

RESEARCH STUDY
Paul McCartney (top right): I would bring in a song and you could sort of see John (top left) stiffen a bit. Next day he would bring in a song and Id stiffen. And it was like, Oh youre going to do that, are you?

RESEARCH STUDY
The desire to stay away from successful colleagues leads to missed opportunities and inefficiency People want to learn more about ideas that come from other companies than about ideas that originate from rivals in their own organization Elaboration on the above research

SOLUTION

How to manage envy in yourself:

Pinpoint what makes you envious Dont focus on other people, focus on yourself Affirm yourself

How to manage envy in your team:

Share Power Make what is scarce plentiful Give enviers and their targets different spheres of influence