You might think you left the world of cliques and in-crowds behind when you left high school. 你或许以为高中毕业就告别了拉帮结派和成群结队的生活。 You d be wrong. The benefits of being popular extend all the way into the adult workplace, based on research in the latest issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology. 你或许错了。最新一期《应用心理学》刊登的一项研究结果显示,良好人缘带来的好处会一直延续到成年人的职场生涯。 Just like children on the playground, co-workers not only agree on who s popular, but they also afford those lucky few more favorable treatment. 就像儿童在操场玩耍一样,同事之间不仅会就谁受欢迎达成一致,还会给那些少数幸运儿更多的友善对待。 This includes more help and courteous conduct, and less rudeness and withholding of helpful information, based on a study of 255 employees and their co-workers in hospital, restaurant, sales and administrative jobs. 研究显示,这些幸运儿会得到更多的帮助和善待,还会遭受较少的粗鲁对待和信息隐瞒。这项研究对医院、餐馆、销售和行政职位上的255名员工以及同事进行了调查。 The researchers, Brent Scott of Michigan State University and Timothy Judge of the University of Florida, said popular workers drew more co-worker support regardless of their status on the organization chart. They also may gain an unfair advantage over less charming colleagues, the researchers suggest, which may hinder a meritocracy. 该项研究的研究员,密歇根大学的布伦特斯科特和佛罗里达大学的蒂莫西贾奇表示,无论在组织中的地位如何,人缘好的员工总是会得到同事们更多的帮助。两位研究者暗示,这些员工还会比魅力较弱的员工获得不公平的优势,这可能会阻碍唯才是举。 "By valuing popularity, organizations may be promoting a certain clubby atmosphere that mimics school culture" rather than rewarding merit, the researchers write. 研究人员写道,如果以受欢迎程度为评判标准,组织可能就会推崇一种类似学校文化的俱乐部气氛,而非任人唯贤。 I ve been fortunate in working in meritocracies most of my life, but that s not the norm. Among fictional examples, consider the television comedy "The Office": Who in his or her right mind would promote the cold, manipulative Angela Martin over the amiable Jim Halpert? The popular paper salesman proves the study s point, rising fast on the Dunder Mifflin organization chart with his smart "people skills", despite his indifference to his job. 我很庆幸自己大多数时间都工作在唯才是举的环境,但这不是普遍现象。如果要找个虚构的例子,可以想想电视喜剧《办公室》里的情况:思维正常的人谁会提拔冷漠苦干的安吉拉·马丁而不是和善亲切的吉姆·哈本特?这位广受欢迎的纸品推销员以自身经历验证了上述研究结果:尽管对工作漠不关心,但哈本特却以聪明的“为人处事”在Dunder Mifflin公司迅速窜升。 In fact, what these researchers call popularity, career coaches might call savvy office politics the art of getting people in your corner. And it s clearly a big deal in many workplaces. A Salary.com survey last fall found dealing with office politics was one of the top two time-wasters at work, after "fixing someone else s work". 实际上,这些研究人员所谓的人际关系,职场教练可能会称之为“办公室政治”──让人站到你这边的技巧。这在很多工作场所显然非常重要。Salary.com去年秋天的一项调查发现,应对办公室政治排在“替他人收拾烂摊子”之后,成为职场第二大分散工作精力的烦心事。