职场人际关系的重要性

You might think you left the world of cliques¹ and in-crowds behind when you left high school.

你或许以为高中毕业就告别了拉帮结派和成群结队的生活。

You’d be wrong. The benefits of being popular extend all the way into the adult workplace, based on research in the latest issue of the Journal of Applied² Psychology³.

你或许错了。最新一期《应用心理学》(Journal of Applied Psychology)刊登的一项研究结果显示，良好人缘带来的好处会一直延续到成年人的职场生涯。

Just like children on the playground, co-workers not only agree on who’s popular, but they also afford those lucky few more favorable treatment. This includes more help and courteous⁴ conduct, and less rudeness and withholding⁵ of helpful information, based on a study of 255 employees and their co-workers in hospital, restaurant, sales and administrative⁶ jobs.

就像儿童在操场玩耍一样，同事之间不仅会就谁受欢迎达成一致，还会给那些少数幸运儿更多友善对待。研究显示，这些幸运儿会得到更多的帮助和善待，还会遭受较少的粗鲁对待和信息隐瞒。在这项研究中，密歇根大学(Michigan State University)的斯科特(Brent Scott)和佛罗里达大学(University of Florida)的贾奇(Timothy Judge)对医院、餐馆、销售和行政职位上的255名员工以及同事进行了调查。

The researchers, Brent Scott of Michigan State University and Timothy Judge of the University of Florida, said popular workers drew more co-worker support regardless of their status on the organization chart. They also may gain an unfair advantage over less charming colleagues, the researchers suggest, which may hinder a meritocracy. “By valuing popularity, organizations may be promoting a certain ‘clubby’ atmosphere that mimics⁷ school culture” rather than rewarding merit, the researchers write.

研究人员表示，无论在组织中的地位如何，人缘好的员工总是会得到同事们更多的帮助。两位研究者暗示，这些员工还会比魅力较弱的员工获得不公平的优势，这可能会阻碍唯才是举。研究人员写道，如果以受欢迎程度为评判标准，组织可能就会推崇一种类似学校文化的俱乐部气氛，而非任人唯贤。

I’ve been fortunate in working in meritocracies most of my life, but that’s not the norm. Among fictional⁸ examples, consider the television comedy “The Office:” Who in his or her right mind would promote the cold, manipulative Angela Martin over the amiable⁹ Jim Halpert? The popular paper salesman proves the study’s point, rising fast on the Dunder Mifflin organization chart with his smart “people skills,” despite his indifference¹⁰ to his job.

我很庆幸自己大多数时间都工作在唯才是举的环境，但这不是普遍现象。如果要找个虚构的例子，可以想想电视喜剧《办公室》(The Office)里的情况：思维正常的人谁会提拔冷漠苦干的安吉拉•马丁(Angela Martin)而不是和善亲切的吉姆•哈本特(Jim Halpert)？这位广受欢迎的纸品推销员以自身经历验证了上述研究结果：尽管对工作漠不关心，但哈本特却以聪明的“为人处事”在Dunder Mifflin公司迅速窜升。

In fact, what these researchers call popularity, career coaches might call savvy¹¹ office politics the art of getting people in your corner. And it’s clearly a big deal in many workplaces. A Salary.com survey last fall found dealing¹² with office politics was one of the top two time-wasters at work, after “fixing someone else’s work.”

实际上，这些研究人员所谓的人际关系，职场教练可能会称之为“办公室政治”──让人站到你这边的技巧。这在很多工作场所显然非常重要。Salary.com去年秋天的一项调查发现，应对办公室政治排在“替他人收拾烂摊子”之后，成为职场第二大分散工作精力的烦心事。