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Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons

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Organizational Communication

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Jonathan A. Hess

2015

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Full-Text Articles in Speech and Rhetorical Studies

Turning Points In Relationships With Disliked Co-Workers, Jon A. Hess, Becky Lynn Omdahl, Janie M. Harden Fritz May 2015

Turning Points In Relationships With Disliked Co-Workers, Jon A. Hess, Becky Lynn Omdahl, Janie M. Harden Fritz

Jonathan A. Hess

Although most people begin their employment with the education and on-the-job training to handle the tasks their jobs entail, few long-term employees boast that they feel competent in dealing with all the difficult people they encounter in the workplace. Unpleasant coworkers range from annoying nuisances to major sources of job frustration and career roadblocks. Given that periodic preoccupation with unlovable coworkers is nearly a universal feature of organizational life, it is not surprising that such relationships are given due attention in the media and popular press (e.g., Bramson, 1989; Topchik, 2000). What is surprising is how little scholarly attention has …


Dealing With Co-Workers We Don't Like, Jon A. Hess May 2015

Dealing With Co-Workers We Don't Like, Jon A. Hess

Jonathan A. Hess

When we take a job with a company, we instantly develop a large network of new acquaintances. The relationships we have with co-workers are called “nonvoluntary relationships” because as long as we hold a job with that organization, we have no choice but to interact with the other people who work there. As long as we like our co-workers, the nonvoluntary nature of these relationships is unremarkable, but for most of us it is inevitable that we won’t like a few of those people. This can cause a difficult situation. Relationships with co-workers we don’t like are stressful. The stronger …