The Office: Business Lessons: Season 4 Episode 9

Written by Ron Desi on April 11, 2008 – 3:07 am -

The post-writer’s strike episode of the ‘The Office’ premiered last night. In this episode, Michael Scott and Jan hosted a dinner party. Jim and Pam and Andy and Angela were invited. Dwight, however, was left out (though makes an appearance later in the show). The episode focused on Michael and Jan’s completely dysfunctional relationship. Though funny, everything about this episode felt awkward. During the dinner party there were the awkward silent moments, embarrassing innuendos, and heated arguments between Jan and Michael. It ended with Jan throwing one of Michael’s prized “Dundee” awards at his super tiny plasma TV.

What business lessons can be learned from an episode focused on Michael’s dinner party? Respect, not friendship, is what is needed to build a strong office environment. Michael is a “country club” manager and wants to be everyone’s friend. According to Jim, “Michael has asked Pam and me to dinner at least nine times and every time we’ve been able to get out of it.” This dinner party is an effort on Michael’s part to befriend his subordinates who don’t want to reciprocate the close friendship (accept for maybe Andy). Jim and Pam give plenty of non-verbal cues that they want to remain co-workers, not friends.

Not everyone who works together will like each other. That is a fact of human nature and organizational dynamics. Some individuals work well together and become best friends, invite each other to dinner parties, and attend each other’s weddings. Others, however, may work well together but would damage their work relationship if they tried to establish a personal friendship. You don’t need to like everyone at work. You may dislike or “can’t stand” a project teammate. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you respect that person for the role they play in the project, their skill set, and the fact that both of you are working toward the same common project or organizational goal.

In addition, you must be able to pick up the non-verbal cues as to whether or not someone at work wants to establish a friendship with you. If you were like Michael and asked a co-worker nine times if he would like to grab a beer after work and that person turned you down each time, there is a strong likelihood that the person does not want to engage in a personal friendship with you. In the opposite situation, if someone who you do not want to become friends with pulls a Michael Scott, you may need to tell the person that you respect her as a co-worker and want to keep the work relationship professional.

We spend more time with co-workers during the week than we do with our family. Therefore, it is essential to have great working relationships. However, you don’t need to be friends with co-workers in order for your working relationships to be rewarding.


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