Study Political Discussion at Work Strengthens Employee Satisfaction

Study Political Discussion at Work Strengthens Employee Satisfaction According to a recent study of couples on the work-and-home-life impact of political discussions in the office, talking politics at work can actually strengthen a workers job satisfaction and his or her commitment to the organization. These benefits are only if the discussion is an exchange of perspectives with give and take, as opposed to political pressuring to agree with a managers political ideas. The Nov. 1 study of 304 workers and their spouses was conducted by two professors at Utah State Universitys Jon M. Huntsman School of Business Merideth J. Ferguson, assistant professor of management and human resources expert and John Ferguson, lecturer of management and expert on the First Amendment and ethics.Political speech at work is not necessarily a bad thing, said Ferguson. In fact, when supervisors engage employees in a pol itical discussion characterized by a sense of give and take, those subordinates experience more job satisfaction and higher commitment to the organization.Results also showed just how much political discussions at work can influence an employees life outside the office, including family life. Openly talking about politics can positively affect a workers family life, while political pressuring conversations can have negative effects.Possible negative effects includeDefiance against a supervisorWork-family conflictsSpouses concluding employees will look elsewhere for workEmployees considering ways of getting revenge on the coworkers if colleagues engage in political pressuringForty percent of the participants reported their supervisors pressuring them to accept his or her political ideas and perspective 55 percent reported a coworker pressuring them to do the same (accept coworkers views). Reversely, 55 percent reported to having a give and take conversation about politics with superv isors, while 79 percent reported the same type of conversation with a colleague.So many workplaces have policies in place restricting political speech, but with no real research to support these restrictions, said Ferguson. Many workplaces and workers could be missing out on the benefits of political discussion, especially when that discussion is handled appropriately.