The influence of promotion on relations of friendship in the workplace

Abstract

In a stressful workplace, friends can provide support and understanding. Losing a friend at work means no longer have a source of help (Sias, Heath, Perry, Smith and Fix, 2004). The breakup of a relationship of friendship, in an organization, can occur for several reasons, such as personalities of friends, conflicting expectations, betrayals and promotions. In this research, we chose to explore the promotion and understanding, from the perspective of couples surveyed, their influence in the relations of friendship. It was used a qualitative approach with semi-structured in-depth, applied to six dyads in four large companies, analyzed using content analysis. The study pointed to questions about the existence of a relationship of friendship in the workplace and highlights the lack of consensus on the characterization of this type of relationship.