I ran across an article after Googling on the topic, which happened to be an interesting read. Marty Nemko, the author of “Career Center: Cubicle love: Tips for workplace dating” (2006), handles the biased issue of workplace romance. Wait a second, don’t deny it. I’m sure we’ve experienced a fling or two, and if not our own, we’ve at least witnessed a fellow employee’s affair within the company. Why are office relationships significant to employee behavior issues?

Several weeks ago, I realized that one of my managers began a workplace relationship with one of my cashiers. While I’ve been a spectator of all sorts of office romances since my first job in high school; they never really bothered me. And to this day, I accept them as the norms of any human and business element. Of course however, more recently, they’ve become more and more of an inconvenience, a nuisance if you will, that has restricted some of my employees’ productivity and workmanship. Okay, I lied, honestly, it has become exceptionally disturbing. Why you ask? Because this time, it’s my business, and my capital on the line. And, not only has this infected a portion of my employees, and not to mention, workplace sentiments, I now find myself in an unfortunate situation that ends with an employee’s job loss. (There’s even a bigger story behind this, nevertheless, back to the topic)

To quote Robbins and Judge, “A number of forces have contributed to blurring the lines between employees’ work life and personal life” (2007, Helping Employees Balance Work-Life Conflicts section); and I believe, the office fling is one of these forces. Workplace romances and associated behaviors should never affect the rapport of employee professionalism. Meaning that, employee romances should be kept separate from normal job duties; and should never cross the line that affects a professional relationship. According to these types of behaviors, and the repercussions of creating all classes of complex “ethical dilemmas,” some organizations or entities address the issue by controlling workplace relationships with regulations that outline fraternization principles, or a standard similar.

For instance, the military makes an interesting example. I have had friends, who have become husband and wife in the same command, with the same rates (jobs), and were required to change their orders (commands). Despite the fact that the military does allow dating, specific situations, laws, legal principles, and articles must be understood, such as fraternization amongst enlisted and officer ranks. The military is insensitive on dating within its chain of ranks, for the reason that a personal relationship may strongly influence a professional relationship or even one’s career.

References:

Nemko, M. (2006, Feb 6). Career Center: Cubicle love: Tips for workplace dating.

Robbins, S., & Judge, T. (2007). Organizational behavior. Chapter 1: What is Organizational Behavior? (12th Ed.). [Electronic Version].