Are there any downsides to having friendships in an office environment?
There are a few things that managers ought to be aware of when it comes to friendships in the office. First, office cliques could arise from friendships. The danger in office cliques is that other people in the department might feel left out of the friendship ‘clique’ that has formed. This can have a negative effect on morale in a department. It is helpful if managers can watch these friendships and make sure that friends are not excluding other people in the department. One way that managers can deal with this is to create teams outside of the friendships to work on projects together. Another risk is ‘group-think’ taking over. This is when a group of friends get together in a meeting and they are so close that they always agree with one another. This can stifle productive brainstorming sessions since sometimes it is beneficial to have members of the group disagree and bring out opposing viewpoints. Friends may genuinely agree with one another, or they may not want to rock the boat of
