Jealousy at Work

Jealousy is one of the natural emotions that exist in all people, and even like stress, when felt to a certain extent and occasionally, it provides motivation to the person and fuels the determination to succeed. However, if jealousy has become that person's basic emotion, if the focus has always been on the actions, position and status of others rather than on what they can do, this may pose a problem.

In business life, we cannot talk about separating jealousy according to gender. Any working individual, whether male or female, may feel jealousy towards that person if their colleague achieves something they dream about, if they are promoted or rewarded. Or, if various unhappiness and negative emotions prevail in areas outside of business life, even the happiness of others at work may be a reason for jealousy. In other words, what a person generally feels in his inner world, how he evaluates and perceives himself, is also reflected in his perspective on others. For example, an individual who lacks self-confidence may see himself as a complete failure and enter a pessimistic mood, instead of accepting himself with his pros and cons and making an effort to complete his shortcomings. In a way, this is sabotaging one's own potential. In this state of mind, he cannot prevent feelings of jealousy towards high performers.

Workplaces are places where delicate balances exist. For example, a person working in any position has to perform well, be energetic, and keep these in balance, because people who seem overly ambitious and focused on success are among the most likely candidates for jealousy in the work environment. This situation is especially common in parent-child relationships. Since everyone's primary and basic need is to protect and defend their own place, the successes and earnings of a person below them may create a "threat" perception in someone working in a higher position.

Jealousy can be seen more frequently in corporate companies with hierarchical structure and job rankings. . In such companies, the success and performance of employees are frequently measured and evaluated, which causes employees to frequently compare themselves with other colleagues. It is. Thus, competition among employees becomes inevitable.

Employees generally do not express their feelings of jealousy, they believe that this will be shameful and wrong. However, everyone has this feeling within them; Jealousy is one of the emotions such as joy, happiness, sadness and anxiety. Sometimes people cannot even admit to themselves that they feel this way. In fact, if these people accept their feelings of jealousy within themselves rather than ignoring them, they can manage their next steps better and more usefully. For example, a person who learns that a colleague at the same level has received a promotion may feel jealousy towards that person, but instead of allowing this feeling to grow within himself, he may accept it and convince himself that this is a normal reaction. Afterwards, he can go to his employer/manager and ask for feedback on his own performance and what he can concretely do to increase his success. In this way, he not only prevents his emotions from harming him, but also feels more in control of his work and reduces his anxiety in general.

In order to prevent jealousy from reaching harmful levels in the workplace, bosses/managers should be at an equal distance to each of their employees and It should create a basis where everyone's needs and demands are taken into account. If employees see that they work in an environment where everything is structured, where their individual contributions to the workplace are seen and voiced, rather than in an environment where anything can happen at any time, their confidence in themselves and their employers will increase. In this case, the risk of being caught up in damaging and destructive emotions is reduced.

Dr. In an article he wrote on workplace jealousy, Robert Vecchio emphasizes that the emotional maturity of employees should also be evaluated during recruitment. In addition, creating team spirit in the workplace, encouraging open communication, and mentoring high-performing people to their colleagues were also mentioned as methods that can prevent jealousy from taking a destructive form.

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