Organisational Climate and Gender as Correlates of Interpersonal Relationships at Work
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To find out the need for interpersonal relationships in the workplace
- To find out the factors affecting interpersonal relationships in the workplace
- To ascertain the relationship between organisational climate and gender interpersonal relationships at the workplace
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN FRIENDSHIPS
While friendship relationships for men and women are similar in many respects (Wright, 1988) and there are large variations within the genders in terms of their behaviour in same-sex friendships (Walker, 1994), there have been consistent findings in both the social psychology and organisational psychology literature of gender differences in friendships. Women’s friendships have been described as communal, and tend to involve more self-disclosure, supportiveness and complexity than do friendships between men (Markiewicz, Devine, & Kausilas, 2000; Winstead, 1986; Wright, 1988, 1991). Men’s friendships may be described as instrumental; they tend to be organised around shared interests and activities and be action-oriented rather than person-oriented (Markiewicz et al., 2000; Messner, 1992; Winstead, 1986; Wright, 1988, 1991). Men’s relationships with other men are often competitive (Bird, 2003; Messner, 1992) and are somewhat less likely to involve the sharing of personal feelings (Odden & Sias, 1997; Wood & Inman, 1993). On the other hand, both men and women have been found to derive emotional support and therapeutic value from their relationships with women (Sapadin, 1988; Veniegas & Peplau, 1997), possibly as a result of women’s greater comfort with intimacy and their emphasis on successful relationships as part of their self-concept (Markiewicz et al., 2000). Thus, findings generally indicate that friendships with women are rated (by both women and men) as more enjoyable, nurturing and of an overall higher quality (Sapadin, 1988). With respect to the function of friendships, literature with a focus on interpersonal relationships indicates that while men achieve and define closeness through the sharing of activities, women define and achieve closeness through the sharing of feelings and emotions (Odden & Sias, 1997; Wood & Inman, 1993). Similarly, Ashton and Fuerhrer (1993) found that males are generally less likely than females to seek emotional support when stressed or anxious. Flaherty and Richman (1989) also state that the provision of social and emotional support was more likely to be a function of women’s relationships, with women both receiving and providing more emotional social support than men in time of distress. 7 Established findings of gender differences in the level of emotional support sought and provided in times of stress or anxiety can be placed within a fresh conceptual framework; that of tend and befriend (Taylor et al., 2000; Turton & Campbell, 2005). The dominant paradigm for much of the current stress research is the fight or flight model proposed by Cannon (1932). The fight or flight response is well supported by research (most of it using males as subjects) and basically holds that the physiological response to imminent threat such as increased cardiovascular activity (Bartlett, 1998), heightened cognition (McEwen & Sapolsky, 1995), and an increased pain threshold (Amit & Galina, 1986) means that an individual perceiving themselves to be under threat is in an ideal state to either fight or to flee. The universality of this stress response is now under scrutiny with an alternate, more precise and gender specific, explanation of stress response behaviour having been put forward by Taylor et al. (2000) and, more recently, supported by Turton and Campbell (2005). Taylor et al. term their alternate stress response tend and befriend. Taylor et al. (2000) propose that physiological, neuroendocrine mechanisms would have evolved in females to facilitate behaviours that increase the survival of their offspring, and that these mechanisms not only facilitate tending and befriending but also “inhibit behavioural tendencies to fight or flee” (Taylor et al., 2000, p. 413).
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to organizational climate and gender as correlates of interpersonal relationship at work
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on organizational climate and gender as correlates of interpersonal relationship at work. 200 staff of Dangote group of company was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was on organizational climate and gender as correlates of interpersonal relationship at work. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of organizational climate and gender as correlates of interpersonal relationship at work Summary
This study was on organizational climate and gender as correlates of interpersonal relationship at work. Three objectives were raised which included: To find out the need for interpersonal relationship in workplace, to find out the factors affecting interpersonal relationship in workplace and to ascertain the relationship between organizational climate and gender interpersonal relationship at workplace. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of Dangote group of company. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made HRMs, administration staff, senior staffs and junior staffs were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
It might be that for women, friendships are viewed as an essential part of work so although they may increase dissatisfaction by their absence, they will not necessarily improve satisfaction by their presence. Alternatively, previous research on relationships suggests that men derive satisfaction and identity from being part of a team; so perhaps when men have friends at work, compared to when they do not, they will work better and more successfully within the team, achieve goals and thereby derive satisfaction from their job. Most likely, however, workplace friendships have a different function for men and women as women have been shown to derive more social and emotional support from their friends. Women tend to seek emotional support when they are unhappy in a way that men will not, and thus, may make more friends than men when they experience dissatisfaction.
Recommendation
Individual need to get along well with their fellow workers for a positive ambience in workplace and also for healthy interpersonal relationship
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