A lot is said about the modern workplace being a collaborative environment whereby employees support and help one another, but the reality is often that we have rivals at work and it’s a dog-eat-dog kinda place.

A fascinating new study suggests that we’re very bad at understanding just who our rivals are in such an environment.

“We looked at whether people understood what other people in the workplace thought of them,” the authors say. “You tend to know who likes you. But, for negative feelings, including competitiveness, people had no clue.”

Friend or foe

The research consisted of a couple of studies, the first of which was in the field, whilst the second was in more of a lab environment.  In both, participants were quizzed on their coworkers, and how they believed those coworkers thought about them.  A general theme of the questions was to gauge how we think about competition in the workplace.

When the data was analyzed, it revealed that we tend to have very little idea about the competitive urges of our peers.

“Some people show their competitiveness, some people you can tell have it out for you, but others have it out for you and act like they’re your close friend,” the authors say. “Those two effects wash out, and people on average have zero idea about who feels competitively toward them.”

Behind the mask

The paper suggests that this occurs for one of two main reasons.  Firstly, we tend to be as polite as possible at work, and therefore mask our levels of competitiveness towards other people.  There is also a strong sense of reciprocity at work.

“For liking, reciprocation is a good thing,” they continue. “You keep dates, you give gifts, you have shared, positive experiences. But to get the benefits of competition, such as promotions or perks, you don’t need it to be reciprocated. And when you don’t get that feeling back, it’s hard to gauge who’s truly competing against you.”

With so many managers striving to create a cohesive team environment, a strong level of transparency is therefore likely to be key.  Friendly competition is fine so long as there are clear boundaries over which employees do not cross.

If you wish to improve your perceptive capabilities, the authors suggest that the key is to focus more on what people do than what they say.  Often, people will be too polite to say something to your face, but a good network will enable you to tap into what other people really think.