Relationships in the team. Psychology of relationships at work

Relationships in a team have a tremendous impact on the efficiency of the work process—every competent manager knows this. For many, work has long become a second home. That is why knowledge of the psychology of relationships in a team plays an important role.

Each employee is individual, has his own, sometimes difficult, character, preferences and wishes. Therefore, it is not surprising that conflicts and quarrels often occur within the team. How to avoid them and create an atmosphere of mutual understanding?

Social psychology of the team

The team at work is a social environment. It consists of many different people. They have different views on life, upbringing, goals for the future and abilities. However, they have to spend some time together and solve common issues. Interaction in this case is a direct path to the success of the company.

A person learns to find a common language with a team from early childhood. First comes kindergarten, then school, then university and, finally, work. And every time you have to adapt to new people. However, this is not always easy to do. As often happens in adulthood, people leave their jobs due to the fact that they do not fit into the team. And such cases are not uncommon.

The relationship between colleagues can be demonstrated with a clear example. Let's say a new employee comes to the company - a young and beautiful girl. What will those who have been working here for a long time experience at this moment? Most likely, there will be interest and, at the same time, tension. An employee can be compared to a foreign body that is at the stage of exploration by the body (in this case, the team). It is examined, studied and evaluated.

People will treat a new person differently. Some people will like the girl for her professional and personal qualities. For others it will irritate and irritate. In both the first and second cases, you will have to put up with the new employee, since relationships in the team as a whole and the activities of the company depend on coordinated work.

Love

Love can strike anywhere, including at work. I propose to analyze typical situations.

How to understand that a man likes you?

There are a number of signs that indicate that a colleague is interested in you:

he often approaches you on business or just because;
talks to you whenever possible;
calls constantly, including for all sorts of nonsense;
gives compliments;
touches, takes by the palm, by the shoulders, by the waist.

If you fell in love with a man at work

If you are married or he is married, then an office romance is not a good idea. But when both are free, there is something to think about. First, estimate his age.

If there is a big difference between you, then most likely the relationship is not worth your energy and nerves.

If the man is the same age or a little older, you have every chance. Show him your interest. Dress stylishly and beautifully, always be well-groomed. You should behave with dignity towards a male colleague: do not complain, do not shout, do not create scandals or hysterics.

If you (a man) fell in love with a co-worker

Start a relationship with a colleague only if you are both single. There is no point in getting involved in an affair when you are married or she is married. It's unlikely that you need extra gossip at work.

Show the girl that you are interested in her. Give compliments and accompany you home from work. Invite on a date. But don’t rush, give your colleague time to think and evaluate you as a man, and not as a co-worker.

Psychology at work and team relationships

The branch of psychology that studies relationships in a team is rightfully considered the most difficult. And this is not surprising, because misunderstandings constantly arise between colleagues. There are several reasons for this state of affairs:

doubts about the professional qualities of another person;
setups in front of management;
gossip and denunciations.

Similar problems happen in every team without exception. You can not only easily get rid of them, but also turn them to your advantage. This requires minimal knowledge of the psychology of communication and relationships with colleagues.

And the last rule - take an interest in the professional and personal lives of your colleagues

If you notice that someone on your team is looking to advance their career or has found an exciting hobby in their personal life, talk to them about it. Find out about his goals, endeavors, desires and interests. You may even be able to give some useful advice .

Introduce colleagues with similar interests and recommend mentors.

When you show this kind of involvement in their lives, your colleagues will feel valued and important. This will contribute to the creation of not only good working relationships, but also friendly ones.

Also try to get involved in relationships not only as a professional, but also as an individual, showing your qualities, interests and virtues.

Tell us about your hobbies, values and skills that do not relate to work. Invite colleagues with the same interests to take online courses together, participate in an online marathon, or learn new professional tools. All this will help build an emotional connection and make the relationship stronger.

Types of relationships at work

Relationships with work colleagues vary. They are built according to three main schemes, each of which has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages.

Psychology of equal or friendly relationships

This is the closest communication. People praise each other, but will make reprimands if necessary. This type of relationship is not suitable for a manager and one of the employees. And there are reasons for this.

The friendship between the boss and one of the team members sets the latter apart from the rest. He occupies, so to speak, a privileged position, which others will definitely not like. This is a direct path to conflict.

Psychology of relations between elder and younger (from the position of the elder)

This type of relationship at work is divided into two subtypes:

The mentor is the student. The first helps the second with advice, but does not guide him in any way, much less participate in his work. A student is unlikely to listen to advice if it comes directly from a boss who is poorly versed in work processes. A mentor gives you the opportunity to improve and move in the right direction.
The leader is a subordinate. The boss evaluates the work of employees, controls it, and, if necessary, punishes or rewards it. Here we are not talking about close relationships, because they will destroy discipline in the team.

It is worth noting that the same person cannot be a leader and a mentor.

Psychology of the relationship between junior and senior (from the position of the junior)

Like the previous type of relationship, this one is divided into subtypes:

The subordinate is the leader. The main task of the first is to take responsibility for his duties and follow the instructions of the second. He also needs to respect the leader, no matter what kind of leader he is.
The student is the mentor. Relationships in a team of this type presuppose that the first one listens to the advice of the second. And he not only listens to them, but thinks about them and tries to put them into practice. If a student argues and refuses to listen to the work mentor, he is not ready to learn. In this case, all conversations are useless.

Each of the listed relationship development schemes makes it possible to build a healthy atmosphere in a team and establish communication.

Types of management relationships

Depending on how developed a particular type of management relations is in an organization, one can judge the efficiency of production.

Relations between centralism and independence

Under centralism, higher authorities determine the activities of lower ones, as, for example, in the relations between the state and industries, industries and enterprises, enterprises and departments.

Independence assumes that subjects of activity can determine their own tasks, but such work should be aimed at achieving common goals.

Relationships of coordination and subordination

Subordination presupposes the subordination of subordinate structures to higher structures and the issuance of directives “from above.” Coordination provides more opportunities to defend one's interests while performing common activities. The main indicator of coordination is the adaptation of subjects to each other's needs.

Responsibility Relationships

They imply the fulfillment of the rights and obligations of subjects to the fullest extent. Relationships of responsibility are realized, for example, through the dependence of work results on the correctness of management decisions made. They appear as a result of the demands that the parties (employees and managers) put forward to each other. Such relationships are consolidated through regulations, instructions, informal rules, systems of rewards and sanctions.

Rules of good manners

Relationships at work with colleagues should be built according to a few simple rules. The first concerns friendliness. You shouldn’t be rude or rude to others because you’re in a bad mood. Being polite and grateful isn't that hard. These qualities endear people.

However, caution must be exercised here, since close relationships in a team and informal communication can play a cruel joke. For example, a young employee will seem like a rival to women from the team. Men, because of her too free behavior, will consider her flighty and will lose all respect.

The second rule is a logical continuation of the first. You should not tell your work colleagues personal information about yourself. Good intentions and trust easily turn into gossip, speculation and envy. It is enough to tell the generally known minimum.

The third rule is similar to the expression “don’t run ahead of the locomotive.” Of course, it’s good if your abilities allow you to do the work quickly and at the same time with high quality. However, the team consists of different people. Some people work faster, while others, on the contrary, spend more time completing tasks. You should not try to correct or retrain your colleagues. They may take it as a challenge.

And finally, the fourth rule. It calls not to ignore the rituals and traditions of the collective. Joint dinners and holidays will only improve the relationship.

Let's summarize

For any manager, employee conflict is a test of strength, a kind of exam. The boss should take a neutral position and, through negotiations, help employees come to a mutually beneficial solution. There are 5 main strategies for behavior in a conflict situation: conflict avoidance, concession, competition, cooperation and compromise. Compromise and cooperation are considered constructive ways out of conflict; they should be strived for in resolving controversial situations. But this does not mean that other strategies should be rejected. Taking into account all the circumstances of the conflict, weighing all the pros and cons, choose the optimal solution in a particular situation.

Separate from work conflicts is the phenomenon of bullying in a team - psychological pressure directed at a specific person. The manager must be aware of the problems of the team and prevent such phenomena.

Conflicts negatively affect work - tension increases, instead of working, employees find out who is right and who is wrong, orders are lost, profits fall. If the team is conflictual, staff turnover occurs, a lot of resources are spent on training new employees and getting them up to speed.

At the same time, some disputes can improve the company's performance. If there are conflicts regarding the division of responsibilities, this is a reason to refine business processes and draw up a clear algorithm for employee actions. If unfair wages cause negativity, you need to create a system of evaluation criteria, bonuses and fines. If disputes arise because workers are overworked, a time and attendance system can be installed to analyze the situation.

Often conflicts are a result of the growth of an organization; it is better to overcome them while the organization is small, so that when the business scales, these problems no longer interfere.

First day: fatal success

Relationships in a team at work largely depend on the first impression of an employee. He will have to pass a kind of test, the results of which will be the basis for his further communication with colleagues.

So, on your first day of work you need to follow a number of simple recommendations:

Dress as modestly as possible, even if in real life your clothing style can hardly be called modest.
Don't forget about the rules of etiquette. The minimum is a greeting and words of farewell.
Do not flirt with male representatives. This will only ruin relationships with them and with women.
Don't argue trying to prove you're right.
Don't reveal too much about yourself.
If necessary, ask colleagues for help.

It is not difficult to follow these tips. It's enough to just relax and try to enjoy your work.

The influence of leadership style on the psychological climate of the team

A work collective is a group of people united by one labor and professional activity, place of work or belonging to the same enterprise, institution, or organization.

The work collective is the main unit of society, which unites all employees of an enterprise, institution, organization to achieve a certain specific goal of their joint labor activity [24].

All work collectives have common properties:

the presence of a common goal, unity of interests of members of the work collective;

organizational design within a social institution;

socio-political significance of the activity;

relations of comradely cooperation and mutual assistance;

socio-psychological community of team members;

controllability;

the presence of a clearly defined structure of interactions and a certain range of responsibilities, rights and tasks.

The classification of work collectives can be based on several criteria, according to which they can be divided as follows [24]:

by type of ownership (state, private);

by form of activity (production and non-production);

by duration of existence (temporary and permanent);

by stage of development (forming, stable, decaying);

by subordination (primary, main, secondary).

Work collectives are designed to perform the following typical functions:

The function of production management is carried out through various formal bodies of collective management, public organizations, special elected and appointed bodies, and the direct participation of workers in management.

Target - production, economic: production of certain products, ensuring economic efficiency of activities, etc.

Educational - carried out by methods of socio-psychological influence and through governing bodies.

The function of stimulating effective work behavior and responsible attitude towards professional duties.

The function of team development is the formation of skills and abilities of collective work, improvement of operating methods.

Function to support rationalization and invention.

From the content side, a work collective is defined as a community in which interpersonal relationships are mediated by the socially valuable and personally significant content of joint activities. With this understanding of the work collective, its structure always (to varying degrees) contains three main elements: a leadership group, a core, and a peripheral part.

The leadership group is represented by members of the work collective who are functionally assigned the function of leadership, or by a member of the team who, due to his personal qualities, enjoys authority among the majority of its other members. The core is those members of the work collective who have already established themselves in the team, identify themselves with it, that is, they are bearers of collective consciousness, norms and values.

The peripheral part of the structure of the work collective is formed by its members who have either recently joined the system of collective relations and have not yet identified themselves with it, or are present in the collective only functionally. It is this part of the team that is primarily the object of “manipulation” by the leader.

We are so different and yet we are together

Building healthy relationships at work isn't easy. This is due to the fact that each person is individual. There are several types of employees:

Angry or grumpy. Unfriendly people who are always dissatisfied with something and easily lose their temper. For them, every word or reaction of others is an opportunity to throw out negativity. Such people have no desire to talk about good things.
Envious people. The favorite pastime of such team members is spreading gossip, both at work and outside of it. They discuss everything from new lipstick to professional activities. These people are simply bored. When communicating with them, you need to avoid talking too openly about yourself and your family.
Rigid colleagues. They don't like change. Even if the new one is many times better than the old one, they will not change anything. Relations with such employees should be based on strict adherence to established rules and instructions.
Advisers. They constantly teach those around them, giving out advice left and right. They are harmless. The worst thing that their behavior leads to is a quarrel at work. When communicating with colleagues of this type, you need to take the initiative and ask for advice first.
Pedants. React to the slightest inaccuracies and details. It is quite easy to moderate their ardor. It is enough to shift some of the responsibilities that require great attention and scrupulousness.
Artists. They love to be the center of attention. Scandals at work are a way for them to recharge their energy. A couple of compliments and attention will turn them from enemies into allies.

These are just a few types of employees. In fact, there are many more of them. And if you can’t find a way to build relationships with them, you also need to pay attention to yourself. Perhaps the problem lies in your character and actions

Interaction with colleagues

Overcoming communication barriers in a team is very important for many reasons. Good relationships between colleagues:

facilitate collaboration when working on common tasks;
make your work with colleagues more interesting and rich;
impart team spirit and provide support;
Because you enjoy your work, you devote more effort to it and achieve better results.

How to join the team at a new job?

So, you got a new job. It's time to think about how to build relationships with new people. Many of us believe that this is the most unpleasant period of working life, while you still don’t know anyone and don’t know the norms accepted here.

However, psychologists are confident that if you follow the instructions below, the problems of establishing connections will bypass you.

Observe and observe again. Try to notice how new colleagues behave in a given situation.
If you're not sure, don't hesitate to ask. For example, where to store those document folders or where to place your clothes. This way you will kill two birds with one stone: get an accurate answer and start communication.
If suddenly a colleague doesn’t tell you anything, ask someone else for help.
Remember everyone by name and face. This may be difficult for you. But believe me, this is task No. 1 now. In the first couple of days in a new place, you have the right to ask again the name and patronymic of a colleague if you are not sure that you remembered correctly.
Find out if the organization has a general chat where it is customary to communicate and transfer information. If yes, then join it immediately.
And finally, have lunch with your new colleagues. This way you will quickly find a common language, get acquainted with their style of communication and norms of behavior. Don't be afraid that you will be rejected. Most companies treat newcomers favorably.

Ways to achieve respect in a team

Let's talk about how to communicate correctly with colleagues at work. Here are 10 fundamental principles.

Be honest in communication, tell the truth, avoid lies. Most people will appreciate your directness.
Stay positive while working. This will help establish good relationships with co-workers. Agree, no one likes whiners.
Be an open and friendly person. Even if you don't want to communicate with colleagues, it may be worth overpowering yourself.
Maintain conversations on any topic, not just professional ones. If a colleague wants to discuss movies or the weather, do not refuse him. Remember that common interests bring people together.
In continuation of the previous point: take an interest in the lives of your colleagues. For example, ask how your vacation was, where your colleague went, etc.
Just don’t pry into his soul and ask for details of his family life.
Don't be shy about asking your colleagues for help if you really need it. The main thing is not to abuse it.
In turn, be prepared to help your colleagues. This way you can easily establish contact.
Show sincere respect for each team member. Remember, everyone has their flaws. You should be more tolerant of them.
Keep your word. If you promised to complete a project by Thursday, keep your promise. Colleagues will trust you and know that they can rely on you.
Don't try to please everyone. This is simply impossible. There will always be people who will be unhappy with you. The main thing is to perform your duties conscientiously, be humane and polite in the workplace.

There are so-called special working conditions when you are in a non-standard environment. For example:

Are you a woman in a male team?

There are now unexpectedly many representatives of the stronger sex around you. Some consider you a “blonde” and are sure that there is no place for a woman in this job. Others show signs of respect and make timid attempts at courtship. Still others immediately take it as an equal.

Now you need to keep yourself in good shape and take care of your appearance more than usual.

You may also have difficulty presenting yourself as a professional and may experience an arrogant attitude.

Well, alas, you’ll have to forget about talking with the girls from the next department about manicure, new fashions and other “feminine” topics. To establish a relationship with a male colleague, you will have to work hard.

Are you a man in a women's team?

Now you are surrounded by many charming (and not so charming) representatives of the fair sex. On the one hand, you enjoy being in their company. On the other hand, you feel increased attention to yourself, which can interfere with normal work.

When interacting on shared tasks, keep conversations going. Remember, women love to talk. Even if you can’t find a common language right away, don’t give up trying.

Watch your speech. Obscene language is now completely prohibited.

Also try not to accidentally offend any of the ladies with your words. Women are by nature more touchy than men. You don't want to make an enemy, do you?

Present

A work team is made up of people who have a lot in common. Therefore, it is customary to congratulate colleagues on various holidays and important events, such as:

New Year;
Birthday (for men and women);
March 8;
February 23;
wedding;
birth of a child;
retirement.

It is important to give gifts chosen from the heart. So that your colleagues will sincerely rejoice at your presentation.

What to do if a co-worker does not communicate with anyone?

Every organization employs single people. They don’t go to corporate events, have lunch alone, communicate little and only about work, and don’t say anything about their personal lives.

Why do they behave this way? Maybe this is a sign of arrogance? Don't rush to conclusions. Here are the main reasons that force people to be single:

They are introverts and don't need a lot of communication. Moreover, it stresses them out. They prefer to work with concentration and relax in silence. It’s better not to touch such people, you won’t be able to change them.
These are very shy people. They would be happy to establish contacts with colleagues, but they don’t know how and are embarrassed. If you have such a colleague, help him, invite him to go to a cafe together for lunch break, approach him, ask about his business.
They perceive the atmosphere in the team as tense and unfriendly. They are afraid that any word spoken could be used against them. Therefore, they avoid getting close to colleagues. If gossip and intrigue really flourish at your work, then it’s time to think about yourself, and not about your silent colleagues.

If you yourself do not communicate with others

We have already talked about the reasons that could prompt you to behave this way in the previous paragraph. It remains to be seen whether this is normal or if something needs to be done urgently?

If you don't want to communicate with colleagues because of your personality traits, try to find a compromise.

Understand that we all live in a society. And at work we have our own circle of colleagues, with whom it is necessary to maintain relationships. Try to be involved in collective life at least minimally.

Attend joint events, even if you are bored. This way you will at least demonstrate your willingness to be a member of this team.

If you avoid communication due to shyness, urgently start working on yourself.

Shyness is not that hard to overcome. Don't rush, take things step by step. Find articles by psychologists on this topic, read books. Better yet, go to a live training session. It will be easier for you to relax there.

What can provoke colleagues into conflicts?

According to psychology books, healthy relationships in a team are sometimes threatened. There are many reasons for this:

unsociability, reluctance to make contact;
complaints and denunciations against colleagues;
bad mood spilling out on others;
excessive self-confidence and straightforwardness;
fear of overworking;
comparison of former work with current one;
excessive curiosity towards colleagues;
loud conversations on the phone, elevated tone when communicating with others, strong aroma of perfume.

Another reason for a possible conflict lies in workaholism. Sometimes the desire to do quality work is perceived from the outside as a desire to curry favor with management or stand out from the crowd.

Relationships in a men's team: let's set priorities

In a male team, as well as in a female team, conflicts often occur. There are several ways to prevent them:

Always look perfect. The best clothes for work are a formal business suit.
Extra attention from colleagues or even flirtatiousness surprises and baffles. There is no need to be rude in response. It is better to remain silent or move the conversation to another topic.
It is worth remembering that each member of the team is an employee like everyone else. Therefore, demanding special treatment for yourself is not nice.
Do not react to provocations too emotionally. It is important to remain calm even in cases where emotions are brought out on purpose. This requires resilience.

The most important thing is to show respect to all colleagues at work without exception. We can say that this is the key to a good relationship.

conclusions

How to make informal relationships work for the benefit of business?

Understand and shape the company culture. Hire people who share your values. Get rid of those who act against them.
Regularly work on team building. Create and develop formats in which people can establish informal relationships.
Respond to disruptive deviations. Remember that you are a manager and therefore the guardian of your company's culture.

And most importantly: get to know your people! Competently weave informal relationships into working relationships. This will give you a complete picture, which in turn will allow you to make more informed decisions.

How to build relationships after a conflict: advice from a psychologist

Knowledge of the psychology of relationships in a team at work does not guarantee the complete absence of conflicts. What to do if it happened?

Calm down, relax. Focus your thoughts on the good qualities of the provocateur or offender. This will help, if not forget the situation, then at least restore good relations.
Look at the controversial situation from the outside. Thanks to this, you can control yourself, preventing your opponent from disturbing the balance and thereby achieving what you want.

You can only disarm a person who plans to continue the conflict with calm and balance. These qualities, together with a sober look, make it possible to destroy all the intentions of the offender.

So, what are the relationships in a team like? Usually complex, since each person is a formed personality. Everyone has their own views on life and what is happening around them. The team includes advisers, provocateurs, envious people, pedants and even artists. If you find an individual approach to each of them, the relationship will become harmonious and healthy.

Strategies for resolving conflict between employees

Strategy is the line of behavior chosen by the parties to the conflict. It has a decisive influence on the outcome of the dispute. The manager, working with a conflict situation, must guide his subordinates to choose the most productive strategy. Some of them do not involve open confrontation, but avoidance of solving the problem. These sources of tension can subsequently lead to a crisis, so it is also important to pay attention to such “hidden” conflicts. Five basic strategies for dealing with conflict situations:

1. Competition - opponents are focused only on their own goals, ready for open struggle, imposing their point of view on the other side. A concession in a conflict is perceived as a loss. When is such a position justified? In cases where the situation is dangerous and there is no time for negotiations. The chosen solution must be constructive and beneficial for the entire organization, and not for a specific person. In other cases, this strategy is destructive and leads to a deterioration in relations.

2. Concession – refusal to fight, voluntary or under the influence of circumstances. By choosing this strategy, the conflict participant seeks to maintain good relations, avoiding open confrontation. Avoiding a conflict is necessary in cases where one realizes that one’s position is incorrect, one is dependent on one’s opponent, and when the damage received during the confrontation is greater than the possible benefit. In this strategy, the conflict between employees is obvious, but one of the parties deliberately avoids it.

3. Compromise - each opponent concedes something in order to come to a common decision. It is used when there are equal opportunities, but mutually exclusive interests of the parties to the conflict. To choose this strategy, you need a desire to meet each other halfway. Although this is not a constructive approach, employees may be satisfied with the decision because they are forced to give up something.

4. Avoidance of conflict - denial, the desire to turn a blind eye to the tension that arises. This strategy is used to gain time to decide on a line of behavior before the conflict moves into the open phase. Conflict is also avoided if its subject is not important for the employee; he hopes that the situation will resolve itself.

5. Cooperation – finding a solution that will suit everyone. Finding a solution requires a complete and open analysis, discussion of disagreements, and a desire to resolve the conflict to the benefit of all colleagues. This is the most effective behavior, but also the most difficult.

Let's look at these strategies using an example:

The manager promised the client that the website design would be ready in a week. The designer can manage to complete this work if he refuses other projects, but will let other customers down. The manager insists - the client is large, long-term cooperation is possible, we can “move” the others in line. A conflict arises.

If a competitive strategy is chosen in this situation, the manager and designer can spend a lot of time figuring out whose position is correct, involving colleagues, and discussing the situation with the manager. Time will be lost, relationships will be ruined.

The designer can work on weekends or stay longer so as not to aggravate the situation. In the end, why spoil the relationship with the manager, you can give in by sacrificing your free time. This method of resolving a conflict between employees cannot be considered winning, since the designer is forced to rework it due to someone else’s mistake.

The manager can ignore the designer’s words and hope that everything will somehow be resolved on its own—the client will forget about the deadline or the work will take less time. He will avoid conflict, but the consequence may be the loss of the customer.

If a compromise solution is chosen, the parties make mutual concessions: the manager asks the customer to wait a little, and the designer is late at work a couple of times or moves non-critical tasks in favor of the required project. As a result, all agreements have been fulfilled, but some tension remains.

When choosing a cooperation strategy, the manager and designer can analyze the designer’s workload, the possibility of moving some orders or delegating them to other performers, and also consider increasing the lead time for a large order. This analysis will allow you to choose the optimal solution that suits all parties. To prevent employee conflict in the future, the manager can optimize the work process, for example, oblige the manager to clarify the deadlines for completing the order with the designer before announcing them to the customer.

Alexander Alariysky , founder of toxoff.net:

“The task of a manager is to identify and stop conflicts in the organization. Carry out a fair policy and do not violate the rules of law and morality yourself. It is important for a leader to reconcile the parties to the conflict, find out the reason, analyze the explanations, determine the real reason and eliminate the source of conflicts. The cause of collisions is often hidden from the observer. In my practice, the organizer of the confrontation often hides behind the conflicting people. Especially if the dispute is accompanied by negative emotions: anger, hatred, resentment. First of all, you need to find someone who benefits from it. There is a benefit from conflict, but it depends on the actions of the leader: the boundaries of behavior are outlined and labor discipline increases. As a result, work is getting better. Fair punishment for pests calms and motivates the work team.”