THROWING STONES AT THE GLASS PARTITION: RESPONSES TO COWORKERS' CROSS-SEX WORKPLACE FRIENDSHIPS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Issues of gender and sexuality enhance and complicate organizational life in part through our pre-conceived notions of what is “normal” or “appropriate” for men, women, and male-female workplace relationships. The present study addresses this issue by examining perceptions of and responses to coworkers' cross-sex workplace friendships, i.e., platonic friendships between male and female organizational members. Cross-sex workplace friendships are especially salient for women due to their ability to help women advance in the organization and their potential to be perceived as romantic. If cross-sex workplace friendships are thought to be romantic, workplace romance research suggests coworkers will view and treat the friends, especially the female friend, relatively poorly. Our analysis of 96 working adults' written responses to open-ended items revealed that organizational members perceive cross-sex workplace friendships as 1) being no different than same-sex friendships; 2) yielding benefits, as well as causing problems; 3) having a romantic/sexual component; and 4) leading coworkers to behave in a more mindful manner toward and around the friends. Our results underscore the care that managers and organizational systems must take in addressing interpersonal workplace relationships. Keywords Workplace Friendships, Workplace Romance, Gender, Sexuality, Justice