Situations that can Trigger Envy

Abstract

In the previous chapters, I have shown how organizational systems and management methods could contribute to a more or less damaging development of envy. The problem we drew attention to was the fact that when envy becomes a central component of the way an organization functions, its effects can be destructive. However, organizations do not all function like those described in Chapters 4 and 5. Envy is not always as systematic and deep-seated as it is in the examples I gave earlier. It can occur, but must then be seen as a production of the system at a given time, rather than as a permanent dimension of the latter. The challenge is then to be able to identify the events or moments, during organizational life, which are likely to trigger envy.