Envy Curtails Productivity

Ever sensed a colleague on the job didn't deserve the promotion and that your talents were overlooked? Envy can easily flow like acid reflux. Initial reactions may lead you to swallow pride and offer congratulations or you might ignore your colleague and talk to others who may share your sentiments. Remarkably, envy's often veiled within us because it's socially unacceptable.

Four factors feed envy and cause it to ferment in today's offices, according to Judith Sills, a Philadelphia-based clinical psychologist:

A highly competitive workplace culture

An emotional dunce of a boss

Favoritism in our families of origin

Exceptional achievement that ticks off everyone else.

“Envy is the fear of losing social standing. ... It can affect people in subtle and unseen ways. People don’t want to admit to it. ... If you’re admitting that you’re jealous, you’re admitting that you have a sense of inferiority,” Robert Vecchio, professor of management at Notre Dame, contends.

Managers often shy away when it comes to envy because they don't want to deal with "emotions" in the workplace. "It's considered childish or inappropriate to talk about," Robert Vecchio, says.

Envy costs in the end.. it affects more than just emotions within a firm. A perceived slight can lead a worker to fume and impede productivity. And, if the worker seeks to get even -- files might disappear or...

Unfortunately it's hard for people to forget perceived social put downs...

Our brain's cerebral cortex easily replays scenes that created envy. Though complex thinking, perception and language processing is the primary function of the cerebral cortex, it may have an unintended effect of allowing humans to relive, re-experience, and suffer social pain. You can see why incidents are hard to put away, unlike physical pain that's soon forgotten.

Then how would a supervisor, manager or boss turn an environment racked with jealousy upside down? Since envy breeds in a highly competitive environments, how about starting here...

1. Share decision making.

2. List clear job descriptions and performance expectations and stick to these consistently based on employees' performance.

3. Delegate work to people demonstrating talents, who follow through to finish with timeliness.

4. Take time to chat with employees to really listen and know their concerns.

5. Encourage good work accomplished.

6. Demonstrate respect for colleagues and employees daily. Start by using their names more and smiling when you pass them.

7. Invite diverse views at project roundtables.

8. Lead interactive sessions on ways to work collaboratively. Draw most input from employees.

9. Play together. Create such opportunities based on employees' input.

10. Alternate "drudgery" tasks so these are shared more.

How do you handle over-competitiveness and its fallout at your organization? What solutions would you add?