Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

the ones described by Sias and Perry?
13.4 Romantic Relationships at Work
Learning
Outcomes
2. Reconstruct Charles Pierce, Donn Byrne, and Herman Aguinis’
model of romantic workplace relationships.
3. Describe Renee Cowan and Sean Horan’s four reasons why
romantic workplace relationships develop.
In 2014 poll conducted by CareerBuilder.com and The Harris Poll, researchers found that 38% of
U.S. workers had dated a coworker at least once, and 20% of office romances involved someone who
is already married. 47 According to the press release issued by the researchers, “Office romances most
often start with coworkers running into each other outside of work (12 percent) or at a happy hour (11
percent). Some other situations that led to romance include late nights at work (10 percent), having lunch
together (10 percent), and love at first sight (9 percent).” Furthermore, according to data collected by
Stanford University’s “How Couples Meet and Stay Together” research project, around 12% of married
couples meet at work. 48 Meeting through friends is the number one way that people meet their marriage
partners, but those who met at work were more likely to get married than those who met through friends.
In essence, workplaces are still a place for romance, but this romance can often be a double-edged
sword for organizations. In the modern organization, today’s office fling can easily turn into tomorrow’s
sexual harassment lawsuit.
According to Charles Pierce, Donn Byrne, and Herman Aguinis, a
occurs when “two employees have acknowledged their mutual attraction to one another and have
physically acted upon their romantic feelings in the form of a dating or otherwise intimate association.” 49
From this perspective, the authors noted five distinct characteristics commonly associated with workplace
romantic relationships:
1. Passionate desire to be with one’s romantic partner;
2. Shared, intimate self-disclosures;
3. Affection and mutual respect;
4. Emotional fulfillment; and
5. Sexual fulfillment/gratification.
In their article examining romantic workplace relationships, Pierce, Byrne, and Aguinis propose a model
for understanding workplace relationships. Figure 13.6 is a simplified version of that basic model. The
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