ARE WORKPLACE ROMANCES UNETHICAL

In Partial Fulfilment
Of the Requirements in Human Resource 315
UM Tagum College

Submitted by:
BANGOY, JENIPER
DECENA, DENMARK R.
LAMANILAO, CRIZZELLE E.
MASILLONES, JOHN REX B.
RAMOS, CHARISSA T.
TURAN, DANNY JAMES N.

Submitted to:
PROF. BRENDA V. CORCINO, MBA

March 2019
 ARE WORKPLACE ROMANCES UNETHICAL

A large percentage of married individuals first met in the workplace. A 2005 survey revealed
that 58 percent of all employees have been in an office romance. Given the amount of time people
spend at work, this isn’t terribly surprising. Yet office romances pose sensitive ethical issues for
organizations and employees. What rights and responsibilities do organizations have to regulate the
romantic lives of their employees?

Take the case of former General Electric CEO Jack Welch and Suzy Wetlaufer. The two met
while Wetlaufer was interviewing Welch for Harvard Business Review article, and Welch was still
married. Once their relationship was out in the open, some accused Wetlaufer of being unethical for
refusing to disclose the relationship while working on the article. She eventually left the journal. Other
accused Welch of letting his personal life get in the way of the interest of GE and its shareholders.
Some even blamed the scandal for a drop in GE stock.

Welch and Wetlaufer didn’t even work for the same company. What about when two people
work together in the same work unit? Chicago advertising firm, started dating Kevin, one of her
account supervisors. Their innocent banter turned into going out for drinks, and then dinner, and soon
they were dating. Kevin and Tasha’s bosses were in house competitors. The problem: Sometimes in
meetings Kevin would make it seem that Tasha and Kevin were on the same side of important issues
even when they weren’t. In response, Tasha’s boss began to isolate her from key projects. Tasha said,
“I remember times when I would be there all night photocopying hundreds of pages of my work to
show that [Kevin’s] allegations [of her incompetence] were unfounded. It was just embarrassing
because it became a question of my professional judgment.”

These examples show that while workplace romances are personal matters, it’s hard to keep
them out of the political complexities of organizational life.
Questions:

1. Do you think organizations should have policies governing workplace romances? What would
such policies stipulate?

 We certainly believe that there should be policies governing romance in the workplace.
Some companies allow marriage couple within a company but there should be limitation
and policies to follow in order to control some personal conflict and interest.

These are policies that should be stipulated:

 Group Norms or shared guidelines for behavior should be strictly instructed to all
employees. Such restrictions should be written on the employee handbook, which may
include dress code and behavioral policies.
 Romance in the office may cause cliques and disrupt the professional environment due to
their task conflicts, being biased and too intimate. It can cause slowdown of achieving
their individual tasks and goals, which may hinder the work and productivity of the
company.

2. Do you think romantic relationships would distract two employees from performing their
jobs? Why or why not?

 Yes and No, yes because they cannot focus on their work and even in their workplace. It
can result on focusing on their own personal interest. It may also cause conflict between
other employees, so let’s take into consideration the “Jealousy”. No because some
couples work on the same company but different department and task, so no conflict of
interest can be seen however their time spent for each other within office premises can
be biased as well.
 Nowadays, some companies didn’t tolerate the romantic relationship of their employees.
In a way the company assigning one of them in other branches.
 Romantic relationship can distract you from the job that you do. But as time goes by, you
get to know how to maintain and balance between your personal and professional life as
if either of these is giving you problem then both will be affected. We suggest that
everyone should maintain a high profile professionally and prove yourself that you are
good at work no matter what is going on in our personal lives. It is very important that if
a relationship happens within office premises then give each other required amount of
space as this helps on keeping balanced and healthy relationship. Trust each other in an
office environment.
3. Is it ever appropriate for a supervisor to romantically pursue a subordinate under his or her
supervision? Why or why not?

 In all aspect, we believe that it is not appropriate for a supervisor to pursue subordinate
under his supervision. First and foremost, this may cause management issues, problems
with other peers, moral issues, and productivity hindrance within the department as
gossip spread out. Career can be destroyed and company dismissal may be given as a
legal action for those who neglects the company policy for those who are romantically
involved within office premises.
 It's against policy in pretty much any place of business. It could be interpreted as sexual
harassment (whether it is or not). It puts both of you under a microscope for the
possibility of impropriety in the workplace, including favoritism. If the romantic
relationship goes south, chances are the working relationship will as well. Let's say the
supervisor has to fire the employee, he or she could sue for wrongful termination, or go
to HR complaining that it was all because you broke up. It's just not worth it. One of you
would need to quit or change work assignments for it to have a prayer of being o.k.

4. Some companies like Nike and Southwest Airlines openly try to recruit couples. Do you think
this is a good idea? How would you feel working in a department with a “couple”?

 We think it is a bad idea, it’s a way too hard for a couple to not bring their home life into
their work life. It can cause discomfort for other employees and couples who work
together, never stay together. For example in Southwest Airlines, they operate 24/7. You
work days and nights, you may work away from home on an irregular schedule. It does
help to have family that understand and appreciate this out of the norm work
environment.
 That those carefully arranged plans for that weekend anniversary get tossed in the trash
because of a storm a thousand miles away. Are sometimes hard to explain to those not
in the industry.
 Coming home late because of delayed flight child care issues. A good time to book a
vacation and on and on.
 It is a bad idea to have them work near one another day in and day out. Southwest is huge
and even working at the same company they may not see each other during the work day
or even work the same days or shifts.
Analysis
This case is anchored in the hierarchy of needs theory which is in the third level “social needs”.
The social needs in Maslow’s hierarchy include such things as love, acceptance, and belonging. At this
level, the need for emotional relationships drives human behavior. Some of the things that satisfy this
need include:

 Friendships

 Romantic attachments

 Family

 Social groups

 Community groups

 Churches and religious organizations

In order to avoid problems such as loneliness, depression, and anxiety, it is important for people
to feel loved and accepted by other people. Personal relationships with friends, family, and lovers play
an important role, as doe’s involvement in other groups that might include religious groups, sports
teams, book clubs, and other group activities.

Workplace romance exists when two members of the same organization develop
a relationship with mutual attraction. Intermingling within the workplace may cause damages
to morale and productivity in the workplace. Along with this, businesses and companies are still
confused at whether or not they should interfere in the romantic relationship. If they do choose to
interfere, what department should be in control of handling the situation and what policies should be
set if workplace romances do happen. If there are not policies, should there be set guidelines? These
are still questions that many companies are trying to answer.

Social psychological theories

Explanations for how workplace romances develop are based on social psychological theories
of repeated exposure, interpersonal attraction, love, emotion, attitudes, social exchange, group
dynamics, and impression management. The main antecedent factors proposed to explain the
formation of romances between two employees include their degree of physical and functional
proximity to one another, repeated social interactions with one another, similarity of work- and
nonworking-related attitudes, physiological arousal in one another’s presence, physical attraction to
one another, favorability of attitudes toward workplace romance, and job autonomy.

Organizational Culture
Organizational culture has an impact on the formation of romantic relationships at work.
There are specific cultural components that add to the increased likelihood of romances developing
in the workplace. “Slow paced, conventional, traditional, conservative cultures typically discourage
workplace romances, whereas fast-paced, action-oriented, dynamic, liberal cultures, which often
contain an atmosphere of intense pressure and activity that stimulates sexual excitement”. Some
organizations encourage after office happy hours, which may increase the likelihood of sexual
attraction.

Solutions
 Considering the impact of workplace romances, organizations typically must manage these
liaisons. For example, depending on the level of work disruption caused by a romance,
managerial interventions may entail either no action; positive action such as counseling; or
punitive action such as a reprimand, suspension, transfer, or termination for one or both
participants.
 Organizations must advise workplace romance participants to sign a consensual relationship
agreement. Also known as love contracts, these written agreements are used to stipulate
terms and conditions of the romance and to prevent costly sexual harassment lawsuits.
Unfortunately, the advantages and disadvantages of using consensual relationship
agreements have not been studied empirically.
 Provide training for supervisors and managers about how to discreetly address overt sexual
behavior in the workplace. You will also want the supervisors comfortable coaching the dating
couple if the relationship results in lowered morale and productivity for themselves or co-
workers.
 Have a formal, written sexual harassment policy that is posted, appears in the employee
handbook and is listed on all company policy documents. The sexual harassment policy
should address how a sexual harassment claim will be handled.
 Train all employees that the company has zero tolerance for sexual harassment. Provide
information about the consequences of such behavior on their continued employment.