Important Interpersonal Relationships in Organizations

Interpersonal relationships can be considered as one of the most important and inescapable reality for those who work in any organization. This can be defined as a strong and close association among two or more people at the workplace. There may arise various complexities when managing these interpersonal relationships among the employees in the workplace. This study will focus on the importance of the cognitive complexity in order to manage such interpersonal relationships at the workplace of any organisation. The overall study will focus on a literature review of five different articles related to this particular context, along with their relevance and findings.

At the end of this study, a brief conclusion will be provided based on the findings of the articles, which will be taken into consideration. Literature review Article 1 (Climate for conflict management, exposure to workplace bullying and work engagement: a moderated mediation analysis)

As stated by Einarsen et al. (2018), the climate of conflicts management in the workplace can be related to the decrease in the amount of workplace bullying and an increase in workplace engagement.

It is known that any kind of bullying and harassment at the workplace can be considered as one of the major reasons behind destroying a healthy work environment in the organisation. Therefore, it is very important to look for significant ways in order to eliminate any kind of harassment or any other negativity in the workplace environment. Maintaining a healthy and positive interpersonal relationship is crucial to enhance the motivation and productivity of all the employees within an organisation.

Get quality help now

writer-Charlotte

Verified

Proficient in: Employment

4.7 (348)

“ Amazing as always, gave her a week to finish a big assignment and came through way ahead of time. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

In this particular article, it has been found that conflict management can be considered as one of the major ways to reduce bullying in the workplace in any organisation. In case, the management authority of an organisation does not take proper action, increase in interpersonal conflicts over time can escalate into the instances of workplace bullying.

As stated by Einarsen et al. (2018), there is a negative relationship between work engagement and exposure to the bullying at workplace. If all kinds of conflicts are completely avoided and discouraged by the organization, it can be predicted that incidences of bullying will be less frequent. The authors of this article have also examined that once the employees feel safe in the workplace; they can engage themselves in all kinds of problem-solving activities. Einarsen et al. (2018) have expected that there is a positive relationship between work engagement and climate of conflict management. Moreover, in this article, it has been found that CCM or Climate of Conflict Management is associated with a lower amount of bullying. Therefore, it can also secure higher levels of work engagement among all the employees within an organisation. Article 2(Breaking the letter vs. spirit of the law: How the interpretation of contract violations affects trust and the management of relationships) As stated by Harmon, Kim & Mayer (2015), managing interpersonal relationships at the workplace can be considered as one of the important factors that allow any organisation to sustain and enhance their competitive position in their respective industry.

This article has mainly focused on the way by which interpretation of the violation of any contract can affect trust as well as the management of interpersonal relationship among employees. In this article, it has been observed that contracts can be looked upon as important instruments of coordination and control. As commented by Harmon, Kim & Mayer (2015), there are two major ways to interpret responsibilities generating from an agreement – the spirit of the law and the letter. Since violation of contracts has the potential of damaging relationships by reducing the trust of a violated party, the violator can subsequently attempt to recover the damage by issuing a response.

This article has also focused on the importance of cognitive complexities to manage interpersonal relationships at the workplace. It has been observed in this article that in case of violation of contract, the trust among the management authority and employees of any particular organisation breaks down. In this connection, the authors have suggested that in order to manage an effective and healthy relationship, it is important to consider the reactions of all the parties who are involved in a particular contract when the violation of that contract has occurred. It has also been noticed that the interpersonal relationship among employees depend on the contracts through which the employees are connected to the management authority of an organisation. Contracts have the ability to create certain expectations about the overall organisation and their working culture. Therefore, any kind of violation of contracts will ultimately lead to a violation of the trust and faith of the employees with the management authority.  (Exploring different operationalizations of employee engagement and their relationships with workplace stress and burnout) As commented by Anthony-McMann et al. (2017), the relationship between employee engagement and outcomes of a certain workplace is dependent on how the actual process of measuring employee engagement is constructed.

The authors of this particular article have suggested that when various engagement measures are conceptualized, different relationships along with variables of outcomes and predictors will become evident. According to this article, the concept related to engagement has emerged from a movement of positive psychology in which many researchers have started to begin focusing on understanding all the factors, which can lead to a positive behaviour of human being. As stated by Anthony-McMann et al. (2017), there is a consistent relationship between work engagement and complicated burnout as well as stress at the workplace. These authors have considered the issues of complicated burnouts at the workplace because of heavy stress at the workplace. These authors have found out that burnouts have the ability to mediate the so-called negative relationship between employee engagement and stress in the workplace.

These are important to reduce cognitive complexities to manage interpersonal relationships as well. In this particular article, it has been observed that both the burnouts and stress at a workplace can affect the engagement of employees negatively. As stated by Anthony-McMann et al. (2017), such kind of negative relationships is specifically strong either in emotional or affective subscales of the work engagement. Such kinds of dimensions are assumed on the pretext of optimism, enthusiasm as well as positive emotions at the workplace.  (The space between us: A social-functional emotions view of ambivalent and indifferent workplace relationships) As stated by Methot, Melwani & Rothman (2017), interpersonal relationships at the workplace can be considered as a vital part of the social environment of the respective workplace. Interpersonal relationships can define the social environment of the workplace by shaping the way employees think, feel as well as act. Along with this, such kind of relationships at a workplace can also influence significant organizational outcomes as well. In order to understand these relationships, the authors have concentrated on two specific building blocks, which can constitute and define relationships.

As commented by Methot, Melwani & Rothman (2017), they are emotions and interactions. According to this article, there are mainly four different kinds of relationships at the workplace of any organisation. They are the positive relationship, negative relationship, indifferent relationship and finally, ambivalent relationship. The overall study has mainly focused on these different kinds of relationships and a social as well as functional view associated with these kinds of relationships. As commented by Methot, Melwani & Rothman (2017), positive relationships can be defined as maintaining pleasant interpersonal emotions and interactions and involving a sense of mutuality among all the workers at the workplace of an organisation. On the other hand, negative relationships can be defined as a toxic or complicated relationship among co-workers. This kind of relationship is mainly associated with the criticism, rejection, and jealousy. Ambivalent relationships actually involve feelings of both negativity as well as positivity towards one or more relational partner.

Lastly, it has been observed that different relationships are actually associated with lower frequency of any contact, emotional intensity or involvement. Such kind of indifferent relationships actually includes consequential strangers, casual co-workers, and information peers. Article 5 (The relationship between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying) This particular article has mainly stressed the process of conflict management in order to prevent any kind of conflict, which is usually escalated into bullying. In this article, it has been observed that there are some significant implications for the occupational health of managers as well as other practitioners. As commented by Leon-Perez et al. (2015), workplace bullying can be defined as a social interaction through which others attack one or more individuals on almost a regular basis. According to this particular article, the intensity of conflict is appeared to be the actual process mechanism, which underlines an association between workplace bullying as well as interpersonal conflicts. This article has also focused on the important role of various styles of managing conflicts and cognitive complexities. As commented by Leon-Perez et al. (2015), more intense as well as long-lasting complications and conflicts can cause various negative behaviours, which can constitute workplace bullying.

The authors have observed that styles of conflict management can moderate the oath between relationships conflict and task conflict. These authors have also predicted that styles of conflict management can restrain the mediating effect of the relationship conflict on workplace bullying as well as task conflict. Conclusion It can be said that all of the above articles which have been taken into consideration, can be considered as a helpful material in order to understand the importance of cognitive complications in order to manage interpersonal relationships at a workplace. All of these articles have majorly focused on various kinds of interpersonal relationships, which can be observed at a workplace. Two of the articles have concentrated on workplace bullying, which is a prevalent issue and has a strong relationship with work and employee engagement. Bullying is also observed to be inversely proportional to the overall productivity of any organisation as well.

From the overall literature review, based on the above five articles, it can be concluded that in order to lead a successful business, it is very important to maintain a healthy environment in the workplace. I think this will be possible only when there will be a positive and healthy interpersonal relationship among the employees. Healthy workplace environment not only helps in enhancing the enthusiasm of each individual employee but also helps in increasing the overall productivity of any organisation. Therefore, I have learned that the management authority of all business organisations should monitor all the kinds of interpersonal relationships among employees. It can also be concluded in this context that the department of human resource management can play an important for maintaining as well as managing healthy interpersonal relationships. Whenever there will be any cognitive complexities or conflicts in maintaining interpersonal relationships at a workplace, it will be the primary responsibility of the human resource management to resolve all of the issues related to such complexities.

From one of the above articles, it can also be concluded that CCM or Climate of Conflict Management can be considered as one of the ways to reduce bullying at the workplace. I think this actually has the ability to prevent both the negative outcomes as well as workplace bullying. However, it is important to consider the right climate for managing conflicts at a workplace. Relationships at a workplace are fundamental parts of an employee’s life. The above literature review has also suggested that bullying at a workplace may be conceived of as a process of conflict escalation, which is perceived as threatening and stressful. All of these factors can lead the employees of an organisation to experience some kind of negative emotions. Therefore, it can be said in this context that a complete preventive approach can be helpful in order to counteract bullying in the framework of managing conflicts at a workplace.