Relationship Development and Workplace Integration: An Evolutionary Perspective

Abstract

In this article, the authors argue that recent scholarship emanating from the field of evolutionary psychology (EP) promises to further current understanding of relationship development processes in organizations. To this end, they briefly review EP’s core assumptions about human nature and behavior and then examine three adaptive mechanisms that underlie close relational functioning in the workplace. Specifically, the authors describe how reciprocal altruism and preference for similarity, coupled with sensitivity toward prestige hierarchies, underscore the exchange and coordination activities of employees’ relationships at work. The proposed model of relationship development is discussed in terms of employee adjustment and integration processes. In conclusion, the authors highlight the potential of EP as both (a) a metatheoretic framework through which seemingly disparate areas of scholarship can be unified, and (b) a vehicle for theoretical development, a catalyst of novel predictions about communication in organizations, grounded in ultimate, rather than proximate, causation.