You might think you left the world of cliques and in-crowds behind when you left high school.

    你或許以為高中畢業就告別了拉幫結派和成群結隊的生活。

    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.

    你或許錯了。最新一期《應用心理學》(Journal of Applied Psychology)刊登的一項研究結果顯示，良好人緣帶來的好處會一直延續到成年人的職場生涯。

    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. 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.

    就像兒童在操場玩耍一樣，同事之間不僅會就誰受歡迎達成一致，還會給那些少數幸運兒更多友善對待。研究顯示，這些幸運兒會得到更多的幫助和善待，還會遭受較少的粗魯對待和信息隱瞞。在這項研究中，密歇根大學(Michigan State University)的斯科特(Brent Scott)和佛羅里達大學(University of Florida)的賈奇(Timothy Judge)對醫院、餐館、銷售和行政職位上的255名員工以及同事進行了調查。

    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. “By valuing popularity, organizations may be promoting a certain ‘clubby’ atmosphere that mimics school culture” rather than rewarding merit, the researchers write.

    研究人員表示，無論在組織中的地位如何，人緣好的員工總是會得到同事們更多的幫助。兩位研究者暗示，這些員工還會比魅力較弱的員工獲得不公平的優勢，這可能會阻礙唯才是舉。研究人員寫道，如果以受歡迎程度為評判標準，組織可能就會推崇一種類似學校文化的俱樂部氣氛，而非任人唯賢。

    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.

    我很慶幸自己大多數時間都工作在唯才是舉的環境，但這不是普遍現象。如果要找個虛構的例子，可以想想電視喜劇《辦公室》(The Office)里的情況：思維正常的人誰會提拔冷漠苦干的安吉拉•馬丁(Angela Martin)而不是和善親切的吉姆•哈本特(Jim Halpert)？這位廣受歡迎的紙品推銷員以自身經歷驗證了上述研究結果：盡管對工作漠不關心，但哈本特卻以聰明的“為人處事”在Dunder Mifflin公司迅速竄升。

    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.”

    實際上，這些研究人員所謂的人際關系，職場教練可能會稱之為“辦公室政治”──讓人站到你這邊的技巧。這在很多工作場所顯然非常重要。Salary.com去年秋天的一項調查發現，應對辦公室政治排在“替他人收拾爛攤子”之后，成為職場第二大分散工作精力的煩心事。