The Psychology Of Workplace Envy

Here is a post on envy. Normally, I would try to find a post that relates envy to greed and the resulting pitfalls for investors. However, today I would like to present this brief piece on workplace envy. As you read the article think about the current financial crisis- the brokers, agents, agencies, and bankers- and the environments where they are forced to make decisions. (Click Here To Skip The Introduction & Read The Full Article On Workplace Envy)

Article Introduction (Via Psychology Today)

Green may be the millennial workplace virtue, but when it shows its face as envy, it is the time-honored office serpent, the worm in the apple. In envy’s grip, you view your colleagues through the distorted lens of your own competitive failings. And should your successes awaken your colleagues’ envy, it wears so many disguises it’s difficult to avoid its acid bath.

Envy is the bile on which we choke when we want something that belongs to someone else. (Its cousin jealousy is the toxic sensation that someone might take from us what we already possess, notably the affections of an important person.)

Article Excerpts (Via Psychology Today)

“Generally, envy derives from a complex cocktail of competitiveness, emotional insecurity, and situational dissatisfaction. Four factors favor its flourishing at the office:  a highly competitive workplace culture, an emotional dunce of a boss, favoritism in our families of origin, and, of course, exceptional achievement that ticks off everybody else.”

“Some institutions, whether by ignorance or tradition, are built on an underground swamp of envy that erodes their very professional foundation.”

“Sadly, these are often the most prestigious of workplaces, where the best and the brightest battle to prove whose is the biggest.”

Signs Of Workplace Envy