This write up talks about importance of managing friendship in a professional environment so that the organization yields better result.

1. Friendship Management
The moment we speak this word friendship, we start dreaming of our friends in the childhood
days. Our first set, of friends are those residing within our residential vicinity during our growing-
up years. Eventually, thicker bonds are formed when we venture into our school and college lives
respectively. And of course, when you spend a majority of your waking hours in office or at work,
it is quite natural that you start sharing a special bond with some of your colleagues and co-
workers.
Friendship Management in itself is a very vast topic. As we have different friends at different
stages of life and we have to strike a balance amongst all of them so that they all remain our
friends forever. Since human beings are gregarious by nature, we all tend to form groups or aspire
to join some groups so that it brings us some prestige and sometimes power. We feel pride if we
belong to a group that has a higher social status. Basically we have three sets of friends. The first
set includes the school friends, the second one includes the college friends, and finally the third
set includes the friends at work. Managing friends at these stages of life and then striking a
balance amongst all these sets of friends at one particular time is a difficult job as we cannot
ignore any of these groups at any point of time.
These different friends at different stages of life help us differently. The school friends help us
with our homework, sometimes save us from punishments, play with us and share special
moments with us which we cherish throughout our lives. Similarly with the college friends, we
enjoy bunking classes, visiting canteen, sharing secrets and many more moments which we recall
every time when we are in a bad mood. Lastly, the friends at work could keep you informed about
the organisation, make you familiar with the work culture and ethics of the organisation, provide
feedback on your performance and at times, help you in your tasks and give valuable suggestions
too; thus enhancing your performance and fostering productivity levels in you. Having good
friends at work help you to settle down quickly and remain connected and productive at work.
The corporate GURUS say that when like minded people work together, it makes the firm more
conducive to productivity. Organisations also encourage employee bonding and healthy
relationships at wwork.Buddy programmes, team outings celebrations at workplace etc. Provide a
platform for people to come together and make friends with each other.
But yes, there is aflipside of the story too.Sometimes friends look for favours from each other or
might get into conflicts due to various reasons.Having a good friend at work is certainly beneficial
in personal capacity but may prove counter-productive in certain cases. Best friends at work may
contribute to lower productivity as they may get involved in personal issues thus resulting in lack
of focus and poor time management. Another potential risk of having best friends at work is that if
one resigns, the other one may also consider moving out depending on the extent of involvement.
Experts suggest that managing friendship well is the solution to tackle such issues. There may be
ways when friends have arguments or differences of opinion, but they must sort it out themselves
without hampering work or could seek the help of manager. According to me work place
friendship should be encouraged but personal conflicts must not get into the way of
performance.Good relationships at work are a key to happiness that ensures higher levels of
productivy.But managing it well and keeping it within boundaries are vital for happy friendship.