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A REVIEW STUDY OF COMPETITIVE AND

DESTRUCTIVE ENVY IN ORGANIZATIONS

A Final Semester Project Report
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
Award of Degree of Master of Business Administration
2012 2014


Under the guidance of: Submitted By:
Dr. SANGEETA MALIK MEGHA NAGPAL
04714803912


DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMNT
MAHARAJA AGRASEN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
(Affiliated to G.G.S.I.P. University)
Sector-22, Rohini, Delhi-110086
An ISO 9001:2008 Certified Institute
AICTE NBA Accredited Institute
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DECLARATION

This is to certify that I, MEGHA NAGPAL had completed the project titled A Review Study of
Competitive and Destructive Envy in Organizations under the guidance of Dr. Sangeeta Malik
in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of degree of MBA from Maharaja
Agrasen Institute of Technology (Affiliated to G.G.S.I.P University), New Delhi. This is an
original piece of work and I had neither copied nor submitted it earlier elsewhere.


MEGHA NAGPAL
MBA (Batch 2012- 2014)
Dated -










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CERTIFICATE FROM GUIDE

This is to certify that the project titled A REVIEW STUDY OF COMPETITIVE AND
DESTRUCTIVE ENVY IN ORGANIZATIONS is an academic work done by MEGHA
NAGPAL submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the Degree of
MBA from Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology (Affiliated to G.G.S.I.P. University), New
Delhi under my guidance and direction. To the best of my knowledge and belief the data and
information presented by him/her in the project has not been submitted earlier.



Dr SANGEETA MALIK
(Professor)














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Acknowledgment

I hereby take this opportunity to thank Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology for
providing me an opportunity to do a Major Project on A Review Study of Competitive and
Destructive Envy in Organizations.

I express my sincere gratitude to my mentor and guide, Dr. Sangeeta Malik who always
provided me with necessary inputs, guidance and direction to carry out this project. She
provided me access to different domains of knowledge from where I collected inputs for this
project.

Last but not the least, my million thanks to all the people whose work I have taken as inputs
to move ahead and complete this project.










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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Envy is a drive or an urge to compare oneself invidiously with another. To compare oneself
invidiously is to compare oneself to another in an unlikable, alien, hostile producing way. It is an
envy producing comparison. Invidious once had the meaning of envy. Envy is a pervasive
feeling that can be found in every society. A Danish proverb states that if envy were a fever, the
entire world would be ill. Envy may be either destructive or constructive or a combination of
these two dimensions.
In this project report, envy is studied in detail through the use of secondary data available on the
the topic. Another objective of this project report is to know the difference between competitive
and destructive envy and their impact on the organization as a whole. Secondary data has been
collected through various published sources like Harvard business review etc. The main findings
of the projects is that there are many factors that lead to rise of envy, out of which some are
controllable and some are not. But once, the envy has arisen, it depends on the individuals and
the organizations will power to develop envy into a competitive way which will help both
individual and organization to grow together. Thus it is suggested that organization should
closely work on this aspect of their organization and help its employees to use envy as their
strength instead of using its destructive side.







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Table of Content
S.NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.
1. Chapter I Introduction 7
2. Chapter II Literature Review 21
2. Chapter III Research Methodology 30
3. Chapter IV Findings & Analysis 33
4. Chapter V Limitations of the Study 40
5. Chapter VI Suggestions 42
6. Bibliography 44











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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION






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WHAT IS ENVY?
Envy (from Latin invidia) is an emotion which "occurs when a person lacks another's superior
quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it" Envy
means "to bear a grudge toward someone due to coveting what that person has or enjoys." In a
milder sense, it means "the longing for something someone else has without any ill will intended
toward that person." Envy is the emotion when you want a possession someone else has.
An envious person is the worst kind of person because he will kill you. Envy is sneaky. It
wears many faces or disguises. Envy is an emotion that is directed towards another. Without the
other, (a target, a victim) envy cannot happen. Envy becomes possible when two people become
capable of mutual comparison. It is how one compares his (or her) self to the other that
determines whether or not envy occurs.
Envy is a drive or an urge to compare oneself invidiously with another. To compare oneself
invidiously is to compare oneself to another in an unlikable, alien, hostile producing way. It is an
envy producing comparison. Invidious once had the meaning of envy.
The envier sees the possessions of others; both material and immaterial. The envier would like to
see the one he (or she) envies dispossessed or deprived of his or her possessions. Moreover, the
envier would also like to see the envied humiliated and/ or hurt for having had those possessions.
Yet the envier, wants no envy in return. The envier feels that what you have in some way injures
himself (or herself), regardless to how justly you may have gained what you have. You may have
spent years, developing that skill, or saving for that house, that you have. It makes no difference
to the envier. He, or she, feels pained that you have what you have. The envier feels a lack or
feels in some way inferior to you for the fact that you have whatever you have.
Vindictiveness, malice, aggression, unjust anger, self-torment, and selfishness are elements of
the frame of mine and state of emotion of the envious person. An envious person is insidious
and secretive. Some of the most eminent people in the world are filled with envy, because others
have a little more glory than they. You can see envy in the theatrical and film professions, among
artists, writers, politicians and everywhere else
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Envy is an emotion or a state of mind that hinders the good the envier could do for himself or for
others. It is an obstacle that obstructs its owner in the way of self-benefit. Envy is a disturber of
the peace. It could never be among the qualities on which you could build a lasting society. Envy
indicates a weakness of the character. Where envy is there is the absence of generosity, charity,
and brotherliness.
In fact, it is impossible to feel both envy and kindness towards the same person at the same time.
Love, in the fullest and best sense of the term is the opposite of envy. Love and hate can have
redeeming features, depending on what is being loved or hated and why. Envy, however, has
nothing in it to recommend it under any circumstances.
Envy is a complex and puzzling emotion. It is, notoriously, one of the seven deadly sins. It is
very commonly charged with being (either typically or universally) unreasonable, irrational,
imprudent, vicious, or wrong to feel. With very few exceptions, the ample philosophical
literature defending the rationality and evaluative importance of emotions explicitly excludes
envy and a few other nasty emotions as irredeemable. Indeed, some authors who are prepared to
defend even jealousy insist that envy is beyond the pale. Yet there is considerable controversy
over what precisely envy is, and the cogency of various specific criticisms of envy depends on
what view of that subject is adopted.
This entry follows the widespread assumption that envy is an emotion. That is not to say that it is
a mere feeling. Emotions are generally agreed to be more than feelings. Most emotion theorists
could agree on this vague characterization: emotions are syndromes of thoughts, feelings,
motivations, and bodily movements, loosely enough bound together that a given emotional
episode may not require the occurrence of every element in the syndrome. The specific contours
of the emotional syndrome of envy are controversial. It is agreed that envy involves an envier
(Subject), a party who is envied (Rival)this may be a person or group of personsand
some possession, capacity or trait that the subject supposes the rival to have (the good). The
good might be something that only one party could possibly possess (the crown jewels, or being
the world's best go player), or it might be something easily duplicated. It is sometimes held that
the good may even be utility, happiness, or some psychological state that Subject could attribute
to Rival even if there were no material difference in their possessions or capacities. Most
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philosophers who have sought to define envy agree in identifying it as a form of distress felt by
the subject at the thought that he does not possess the good and the rival does. Many, but not all,
go on to add that envy involves a desire that the rival not have the good. This disagreement is
explored below, [see benign and invidious envy]. Envy is widely agreed to be a symptom or
instance of the human tendency to evaluate one's well-being comparatively, by assessing how
well one is doing in comparison with others. Influential definitions of envy include:
Envy is pain at the good fortune of others. (Aristotle, Rhetoric, Bk II, Chapter 10)
Envy is a propensity to view the well-being of others with distress, even though it does not
detract from one's own. [It is] a reluctance to see our own well-being overshadowed by another's
because the standard we use to see how well off we are is not the intrinsic worth of our own
well-being but how it compares with that of others. [Envy] aims, at least in terms of one's
wishes, at destroying others' good fortune. (Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals 6:459). Envy is
that passion which views with malignant dislike the superiority of those who are really entitled to
all the superiority they possess. (Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, p. 244)
Envy is a pervasive feeling that can be found in every society. A Danish proverb states that if
envy were a fever, all the world would be ill. Envy may be either destructive or constructive or
a combination of these two dimensions. We showed that the dominant dimension varies among
goods and domains and that destructive (constructive) envy is more (less) attributed to others
than to oneself. According to the dominant dimension, the behavior of individuals and their
consequences differ significantly. Starting from this basic tenet, incorporating envy
systematically into economic analysis can provide a refreshing way to consider conventional
issues, such as transition and development or at a lower level, human relationships in
organizations. Even if the use of envy as a basis for public policy (frequently advocating for
more egalitarian outcomes) remains a contentious issue, understanding how envy can determine
policy outcomes is crucial. On the empirical side, we also suggested a low-cost strategy to
overcome superiority and optimism biases by combining surveys on oneself and others.
Envy is a micro-motive that generates macro-effects. We contend that the literature on transition
and development has not devoted sufficient attention to the role of moral and psychological
factors. Indeed, constructive or emulative envy may be considered as conducive to economic
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development and growth while destructive envy may be detrimental to promoting the same
outcomes. According to the prevailing feeling in a given society, policymakers willing to
promote growth cannot use a one size fits all policy. In societies or domains dominated by
constructive envy, policies helping leaders to emerge may emulate others to join them.
Conversely, in societies dominated by destructive envy, more egalitarian policies are likely to be
more effective than policies oriented towards leaders. Such effects may partially explain why
policies of developed countries failed to promote a similar development path in developing
countries characterized by a different dominant envy (Grolleau et al., 2009). An important and
intriguing issue relates to the dynamics of envy and process (es) or path(s) by which destructive
envy may be transformed into constructive envy.
Moreover, in societies dominated by constructive envy, successful people are more likely to
publicize their success and have less fear of being envied by others. Conversely, in destructive
envy societies, people may be more likely to avoid or hide their success to not be envied by
others, except if they feel themselves sufficiently protected against destructive strategies of the
others from the reference group. Such effects may explain why monetary incentives may be
public information while individual results remain secret to prevent destructive strategy by
reference group members (Bebchuk and Fried, 2003; Charness and Kuhn, 2005). Indeed, such
destructive strategies and the subsequent protective devices are negative sum games.
Man the Envier
THROUGHOUT HISTORY, in all stages of cultural development, in most languages and as
members of widely differing societies, men have recognized a fundamental problem of their
existence and have given it specific names: the feeling of envy and of being envied. Envy is a
drive which lies at the core of man's life as a social being, and which occurs as soon as two
individuals become capable of mutual comparison. This urge to compare oneself invidiously
with others can be found in some animals but in man it has acquired a special significance.
Man is an envious being who, were it not for the social inhibitions aroused within the object of
his envy, would have been incapable of developing the social systems to which we all belong
today. If we were not constantly obliged to take account of other men's envy of the extra pleasure
that accrues to us as we begin to deviate from a social norm, 'social control' could not function.
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Man the envier can, however, overshoot the mark and arouse or release inhibitions which have a
retarding effect on the ability of a group to adapt to new environmental problems. Envy can also
turn man to destruction. Almost all the fragmentary literature which has hitherto dealt with envy
(essays, belles-lettres, philosophy, theology, psychology) has constantly seen its destructive,
inhibitory, futile and painful element. In all the cultures of mankind, in all proverbs and fairy
tales, the emotion of envy is condemned. The envious person is universally exhorted to be
ashamed of himself. And yet his existence, or the belief in his ubiquity, has at the same time
always provided enough latent apprehension of other people's views to allow a system of social
controls and bahinces to evolve.
The loneliness of the envious man
The extent to which envy is a social form of behavior, i.e., necessarily directed at someone else,
is also apparent from the fact that without the other person the envier could never envy. Yet as a
rule he specifically rejects any social relationship with the envied person. Loves, friendliness,
admiration-these approaches to another person are made in the expectation of reciprocity,
recognition, and seek some kind of link. The envier wants none of this: he does not-exceptional
cases apart-wish to be recognized as envious by the object of his envy, with whom, given the
choice, he would prefer not to associate. The pure act of envy can be described thus: the more
closely and intensively the envier concerns himself with the other person, the more he is thrown
back on himself in self-pity. No one can envy without knowing the object of envy, or at least
imagining him; but unlike other kinds of human emotional relation- ships the envier can expect
no reciprocal feelings. He wants no envy in return. As people have always realized, however, the
envier has little interest in the transfer of anything of value from the other's possession to his
own. He would like to see the other person robbed, dispossessed, stripped, humiliated or hurt, but
he practically never conjures up a detailed mental picture of how a transfer of the other's
possessions to himself might occur.
The pure type of envier is no thief or swindler in his own cause. In any case, where that which is
envied is another man's personal qualities, skill or prestige, there can be no question of theft; he
may quite well, however, harbor a wish for the other man to lose his voice, his virtuosity, his
good looks or his integrity. The motives for envy, the stimuli of envious feelings, are Ubiquitous,
and the intensity of envy depends less on the magnitude of the stimulus than on the social
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disparity between the envier and the envied. The kind of maturity achieved by an individual
which enables him to conquer his own envy does not seem to be a universally attainable
attribute. The reasons for the varying role or effectiveness of envy in different societies must be
sought, therefore, in the ethos of the respective cultures. Both the envier, who must somehow
come to terms with observed inequalities in his life, and the envied person in trying to ignore the
other's envy (and both these emotional processes can sometimes occur simultaneously in one and
the same person) will make use of creeds, ideologies, proverbs, etc., which will tend to reduce
the power of envy and thus allow daily life to proceed with a minimum of friction and conflict.

NATURE OF ENVY
Envy is the most difficult form of enmity to handle. To understand envys insidiousness, it is
necessary to understand the nature of envy. Oxford Dictionary describes envy as both a feeling
and a desire; a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's
possessions, qualities, or luck and a desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable thing
belonging to [someone else]. In other words, envy arises when one starts to think of the things
others have that we lack look, talent, health, height, money, connections, and so on. And we
think we have a problem with the person who possesses what we lack.
Parrott and Smith expanded further the depth of envys insidiousness saying the envious person
will go to the extend to wish that the other lacks it. In other words, if one cannot have it, than
the other person does not deserve to have it too. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines envy as,
the painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to
possess the same advantage.
THE INSIDIOUS NATURE OF ENVY
Envy is everywhere... we are surrounded by envy at every turn George Foster described envy
as a pan-human phenomenon, abundantly present in every society, and present to a greater or
lesser extent in every human being. While it seems envy is prevalent, envy has also been known
to have her dark side. Writer, Limberis said, Envy looks insignificant from the outside, but no
suffering more destructive than envy grows in the souls of humanity.
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In fact Limberis called envy, the most insidious of the evils. The Catholic Church calls envy
one of the seven deadly sins. Bob Sorge considered, envy the most underrated weapon in
Satans arsenal.
The Early Church Fathers used strong words to decry envy. Saint Cyprian, bishop of Carthage
and Saint Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea, described envy as deeply rooted, taking on a
relentless life of its own within the hidden recesses of the self. Both portray envy as linked in an
entire chain of vices, and as ultimately driving its subject towards violence or murder. Saint
John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople said, As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy
consume a man. In Gregory the Greats enumeration of the offspring of this deadly sin, he
points out that envy gives rise not only to malice and misery, but also to rumor-mongering,
gossip and hate

ENVY AND RELATED CONCEPTS
There are many words that may sound like envy but in reality they dont actually fit in the
criteria of ENVY. Some of these words are Jealousy, Benign Envy, Invidious Envy,
Resentment etc.
ENVY AND JEALOUSLY
The Oxford English Dictionary' treats 'envy' and 'envious' as 'jealousy' and 'jealous.' 'Envy' and
'envious' in modern English are derived from the Latin invidia and invidious, which have the
same meanings. The verb 'to envy' corresponds to the Latin invidere. In Spanish, Portuguese and
Italian there are similar derivatives from the Latin to denote the same states of mind.
Jealous means "apprehensive or vengeful out of fear of being replaced by someone else." It can
also mean "watchful", "anxiously suspicious", "zealous ", or "expecting complete devotion." The
last is normally applied to God. Jealousy is the emotion when you fear you may be replaced in
the affection of someone you love or desire.
Ordinary language tends to conflate envy and jealousy. The philosophical consensus is that these
are distinct emotions.

While it is linguistically acceptable to say that one is jealous upon hearing
about another's vacation, say, it has been plausibly argued that one is feeling envy, if either, in
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such a case. Both envy and jealousy are three-place relations; but this superficial similarity
conceals an important difference. Jealousy involves three parties, the subject, the rival, and the
beloved; and the jealous person's real locus of concern is the belovedthe person whose
affection he is losing or fears losingnot his rival. Whereas envy is a two party relation, with a
third relation that is a good (albeit a good that could be a particular person's affections); and the
envious person's locus of concern is the rival. Hence, even if the good that the rival has is the
affection of another person, there is a difference between envy and jealousy.

Roughly, for the
jealous person the rival is fungible and the beloved is not fungible. So he would be equally
bothered if the beloved were consorting with someone else, and would not be bothered if the
rival were. Whereas in envy it is the other way around. Because envy is centrally focused on
competition with the rival, the subject might well be equally bothered if the rival were consorting
with a different (appealing) person, but would not be bothered if the good had gone to someone
else (with whom the subject was not in competition). Whatever the ordinary meaning of the
terms envy and jealousy, these considerations demonstrate that these two distinct syndromes
need to be distinguished.
BENIGN AND INVIDIOUS ENVY
One way to resolve the dispute over whether envy necessarily involves a desire that the rival lose
the good is to hold that, while envy sometimes involves this desire, it need not. Many authors
pursue this strategy by positing a fundamental distinction between two kinds of envy: a
malicious or invidious form, and a benign, emulative, or admiring variety of envy.

Invidious
envy is envy that involves the unsavory motivation, where benign envy does not. Other
philosophers claim that the latter is not envy at all. Like many disputes over the nature of
emotions, this one threatens to devolve into competing stipulations, but it can be understood as a
substantive question about the character of an empirical phenomenon.
Some of the examples advanced on behalf of the suggested bifurcation threaten to obscure the
issue. It will not do, for instance, simply to point out that people commonly say they envy
someone's skill, say, in cases where it is quite implausible to suppose that they have any desire
that the person loses the skill. There is undoubtedly a common tendency to use the term envy
for any desire for something that is possessed by another. But, given the looseness of natural
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language noted above, we must not simply assume that these are really cases of the emotional
syndrome of envy. All parties to the debate would grant that not every case in which someone
would like something that someone else possesses is a case of genuine envy. First, envy is agreed
to be a form of pain or bothermentan unpleasant emotion. To fancy someone else's linens is
not yet to envy them. So proponents of benign envy don't or shouldn't count every such desire as
a case of benign envy. Furthermore, even a painful desire for what someone else possesses might
be better described as longing than envy. If you badly (painfully) want the new Mercedes
convertible, only to discover that your neighbor has bought one, it is a substantive psychological
question whether you envy her for it. Envy should not be permitted to follow as a trivial
consequence of the conjunction of your painful desire with the belief that she has (an instance of)
its object.
Still, it is often rightly observed that in many cases of genuine envy, the actions the subject
actually performs are directed at securing the good (or a comparable one) for himself, rather than
at undermining the rival. Success at such projects sometimes resolves the situation by
eliminating the envy. If such positive steps can satisfy some envy, this may suggest that those
instances of envy involve nothing more than a positive desire for the good. Furthermore, even
decent and strong-willed people sometimes envy the talents of their more accomplished friends.
Surely such people do not want those friends to lose those talents. This, again, is supposed to
suggest the possibility of benign envy. However it is not clear that defenders of the negative
view of envy need to deny any of this. They may be best understood as holding a disjunctive
view of envy's constitutive desire. On this view, the characteristic dissatisfaction of envy
supplies or embodies some level of motivation toward whatever would ameliorate the situation:
in other words, toward either outdoing or undoing the rival's advantage.
[8]
It is entirely
compatible with this view to grant that a given episode of envy might only produce actions
directed toward the positive aimand even that a given person might act exclusively toward the
positive aim. The question is whether such episodes are entirely benign, or whether they involve
a motivational tendency toward undoing the rival's advantage that was left unexpresseddue
perhaps to the subject's unwillingness even to entertain destructive action, or perhaps to less
noble considerations. Settling this question may be difficult in practice, but failure to recognize
its significance mars a number of arguments offered in the present dispute.
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Envy vs. Resentment
Although much of the psychological literature on envy supposes that envy is concerned with
matters of perceived injustice, most philosophers reject this suggestion.

The received view is that
envy is to be distinguished from resentment. The latter is held to be a moral emotion, whereas
the former is not. What makes a given emotion a moral emotion has been glossed in various
ways. Roughly, the idea is that moral emotions are ones that somehow embody moral principles
or appraisals. Resentment is a moral emotion because a given emotional episode does not qualify
as a state of resentment unless the subject holds some moral complaint against the object of the
state. The claim that envy is not a moral emotion may be understood strongly, as the claim that it
never involves a moral complaint per se, or weakly, as the claim that it need not embody such a
complaint.
It seems clear that in many (perhaps even most) cases of envy, the subject is liable to find some
moral complaint with which to justify negative feelings toward his rival. This would explain
various experimental findings that correlate feelings of envy with complaints of injustice. But, of
course, such complaints may be defensive rationalizations of rancorous feelings, rather than
elements in envy. Claims about which of the various thoughts that commonly attend a given type
of emotion belong in a characterization of that emotion type are best defended within the context
of a general theory of how to individuate emotion types, which is beyond the scope of this entry.
Egalitarianism and Envy
A recurring suggestion in the history of philosophical and political thought has been that envy
supplies the psychological foundations of the concern for justice, and, especially, of egalitarian
conceptions of justice. Both the proponents of this charge and those who contest it have
commonly taken it to be a damaging suggestion for egalitarianism. It is worth distinguishing
genetic versions of the charge from occurrent ones. Genetic versions concern the historical or
developmental sources of a concern for equality. Freud, for instance, held that concern with
justice is the product of childhood envy of other children leading to concern for equal treatment,
and thereby to group spirit: If one cannot be the favorite oneself, at all events nobody else
shall be the favorite. (p. 120). Nietzsche can be read as tendering an account of the origins of
egalitarian values or ideals in envy in his account of the "slave revolt in morality." Whatever
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their merits, these claims should be distinguished from the claim that those who defend
egalitarian views of justice are motivated by occurrent bouts of envy or propensities to them.
Defense of the charge that egalitarianism is occurrently motivated by envy hinges both on the
commitments of egalitarianism and on the nature of envy. The common motif is that egalitarians
wish to do away with the advantages of the better off, and that they wish to do this because they
are bothered by the very fact that the better off are better off. This is supposed to show that
egalitarians are motivated by envy. Whether this is a fair characterization of any prominent
egalitarian position is certainly open to question. But in any case, in light of the distinction
between envy and resentment, it is clear that there can be no direct move from the claim that
egalitarians are bothered by the advantages of the better off to the claim that they are envious.
For another possibility is that what they feel is resentment, occasioned by the thought that the
present distribution is unjust. Note that the claim that what is felt is resentment does not depend
upon showing that the resentment is fittingthat the distribution really is unjust. It would suffice
to show that the response really is a moral evaluation, justified or not.
It seems clear that the occurrent version of the charge is only damaging to egalitarianism if the
basic distinction between envy and resentment is accepted. Otherwise, envy could be granted to
motivate egalitarianism, but this would not impute any concern aside from concerns with justice
to the position. With the distinction in hand, however, the charge is difficult to defend. Envy
does not arise in cases where inequalities favor the subject. So defenders of the charge appear to
be committed to the falsifiable thesis that egalitarians are inconsistent in their commitment to
inequality. If the charge were true, egalitarians should oppose only the inequalities that are
unfavorable to their own interests. To the extent that egalitarians are sincere and consistent in the
embrace of their principles, this counts against the charge that their occurrent motivation is envy.

Envy and emulation
A masterly definition and description of envy is found in the Encyclopedia of Religion and
Ethics, published in 1912. Therein, William L. Davidson, Professor of Logic at the University of
Aberdeen, has this to say: Envy is an emotion that is essentially both selfish and malevolent. It is
aimed at persons, and implies dislike of one who possesses what the envious man himself covets
or desires, and a wish to harm him.
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Graspingness for self and ill-wi11 lie at the basis of it. There is in it also a consciousness of
inferiority to the person envied, and a chafing under this consciousness. He who has got what I
envy is felt by me to have the advantage of me, and I resent it. Consequently, I rejoice if he finds
that his envied possession does not give him entire satisfaction-much more, if it actually entails
on him dissatisfaction and pain: that simply reduces his superiority in my eyes, and ministers to
my feelings of self-importance. As signifying in the envious man a want that is ungratified, and
as pointing to a sense of impotence inasmuch as he lacks the sense of power which possession of
the desired object would give him, envy is in itself a painful emotion, although it is associated
with pleasure when misfortune is seen to befall the object of it.
Emulation is merely the desire and hope of equality with, or superiority over others, with whom
we compare ourselves. To desire the attainment of this equality or superiority by the particular
means of others being brought down to our own level, or below it, is, I think, the distinct notion
of envy.
According to Adam Smith, envy, malice and resentment are the only passions which could bring
someone to injure another's person or reputation, yet few people succumb frequently to these
passions and the worst scoundrels only on occasion. And even if one does give way to such
feelings, little is gained. Therefore, Smith opines, in most human beings envy is restrained by
rational reflection.
COMPETITIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE ENVY
Envy can be satised in two major ways: by increasing own outcome (constructive envy) and by
decreasing the outcome of the reference group (destructive envy).
Destructive envy and the fear of it
The threat of destructive envy naturally leads to a rational fear of it that motivates envy-
avoidance behavior. Numerous examples of such behavior come from anthropological research
on small-scale agricultural communities around the world. According to Foster (1972), in
peasant societies a man fears being envied for what he has, and wishes to protect himself from
the consequences of the envy of others (p. 166). People are reluctant to exert eort or innovate
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since they expect sanctions in the form of plain destruction, forced redistribution, or envy-driven
supernatural punishment.
Constructive envy and keeping up with the Joneses
A very dierent strand of evidence comes from developed economies, in which the constructive
side of envy is predominant while the fear of destructive envy is virtually non-existent.
Envy and Schadenfreude
If envy insidiousness is left unchecked, the emotion may leads to Schadenfreude, the emotion
thatdelight in anothers failure or defeat. (Epstein, 2003) Wikipedia defines it as the
rejoicing at, or taking joy in, or getting pleasure from the misfortunes of others. Some
psychologists believe that Schadenfreude is fueled chiefly by envy. Some psychologists of
Schadenfreude tend to believe that those who feel it most strongly are likely to be people who do
not have a good opinion of themselves and thus exult unduly in watching other people drag
down.




21




CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW






22

COMPETITIVE V/S DESTRUCTIVE ENVY
Constructive and destructive envy are not mutually exclusive and frequently co-exist. One
stream of the literature emphasizes the destructive consequences of envy (Schoeck, 1966), when
an envious person prefers that others have less, and he might even sacrifice a little of his own
wealth to achieve that end. (Zeckhauser 1991, p. 10). Rawls (1971, p. 532) describes destructive
envy as the propensity to view with hostility the greater good of others even though their being
more fortunate than we are does not detract from our advantages .We are willing to deprive them
of their greater benefits even if it is necessary to give up something ourselves .The individual
who envies another is prepared to do things that make them both worse off if only the
discrepancy between them is sufficiently reduced. Destructive envy has been supported by
experimental evidence (Kirchsteiger 1994; Mui, 1995; Zizzo and Oswald, 2001; Beckman et al.,
2002; Zizzo, 2007). Zizzo and Oswald (2001) show that people dislike other individuals wealth
sufficiently that they would be willing to pay some of their own money to reduce it. Using
experimental techniques in an international setting, Beckman et al. (2002) show that opposition
to Pareto gains may reach 60% in some transitional countries, due to envy and malice. In a
detailed study (Lehman, 2001), individuals have to report satisfaction with the results of a sales
competition between two stores in the same market for various combinations of sales. The
individuals were more satisfied when the sales were equal but low for both the stores than when
their own sales were higher but the sales of the competitor were even greater.
A contrasting and less developed stream of literature argues that envious feelings may lead to
invest more in order to achieve a status similar to the envied person. Envy that is a private vice
but a public virtue, might generate social benefits insofar that it encourages productive
activities (Mandeville, 1714; Frank and Sunstein, 2001; McAdams, 1992; Zizzo, 2007). Marglin
(2002, p. 23) describes envy as a virtue that serves an economic purpose in motivating
individuals to maximum exertion and effort. The desire to improve ones relative status is the
engine that drives the economic train. Envy [is] functional in promoting hard work, accumulation
and economic growth. Indeed, the desire to get more, or at least the same amount of the envied
thing, may motivate people adopting a productive behavior. This form of constructive envy has
been considered as a powerful driver of the development of the American society (Matt, 2003)
and as the drive wheel of our modern world (Palaver, 2005 and references therein; Tyler,
2004). Corneo and Jeanne (2001) argue that envy can stimulate growth. Simply put the
23

mechanism is as follows: savings determine relative wealth and individuals are forced to save
more in order to catch up with the Joneses. This beneficial rat race feeds the engine of growth,
namely savings. In a similar vein, Fershtman et al. (2006) show that status concerns increase
efforts and may lead to a rat race among workers.
Paths of Envy
Understanding what can trigger envy, what separates envy from jealousy, and how we can
resolve our envy helps us to cope with our feelings. The following figure illustrates choices we
have and paths we can take to either prolong or resolve our envy.





24

ENVY IS INSIDIOUS
Envy is so insidious, because envy is often denied. As a result, envy is difficult to manage, in
part because its hard to admit that we harbor such a socially unacceptable emotion. Our
discomfort causes us to conceal and deny our feelings, and that makes things worse. Sorge said,
We resist pinning the label envy on the struggles of our soul because of the implications that
word carries with it. If we own up to envy, we are giving admittance to some powerfully
indicting weaknesses. Writer Bedeian posited one such weakness, Admitting to envy is
tantamount to conceding inferiority with respect to another. Such an admission, of course, is
often difficult without damaging ones ego.
Secondly, envy is above all the hidden emotion so hidden that, often, one isnt aware oneself
that is, as it frequently can be, the motive for ones own conduct. Thirdly, the source of envy,
[Book of] James tells us, is not from above. It is earthly (rooted in the natural realm); sensual
(based from data received from the five senses rather than from the Spirit of God); and it is
demonic [inflame by demonic activity]. Envys carnality manifest itself in ways that contradicts
the life in Christ. Envy often leads people to devalue those they envy, and can increase
schadenfreude, or pleasure at anothers misfortune.
DAMAGES OF ENVY
Envy damages relationships, disrupts teams, and undermines organizational performance. The
damaged relationships involved both the envious and the envied. When you are obsessed with
someones success, your self-respect suffers, and you may neglect or even sabotage your own
performance and possibly your career. The envied will resort to negative measures if he realizes
that he is the cause of workplace disharmony. Envy not doing damaged relationships but has
adverse impact on the organizations too. Below are some examples the adverse impact of envy
on damaged relationships and the organization.
Impact on Envious
Envy can have unpleasant implications for individuals interactions with others and for their
own general happiness. Because they persist in comparing their own situations with those of
others, enviers seem to experience unflattering comparisons with greater frequency than their
25

less envious counterparts. As a result the envious person resent the fact that somebody who
was supposed to be similar to them is actually better than them on a dimension that is important
and desirable to them. This resentment may get manifested through decreased personal
interactions towards the envied person At one investment bank, a senior banker was so envious
of a colleagues position and power that instead of talking to the colleague directly, he
communicated through a go-between. Similarly, people also tend to distance themselves from
the objects of envy the [envious] has difficulty learning from and collaborating with others.
This can lead to disruptions or oversights at work. Furthermore, in an effort to protect
themselves from being demeaned, envious individuals may venture to undercut their rivals by
disrupting the efforts of competitors, negatively distorting competitors successes, or positively
distorting their own accomplishments. Likewise, Mishira concurred that an envious person
would direct his ire on the envied because the latter makes the former look bad.
So the envious person may attempt to spoil the reputation of the envied, through malicious
gossip and backbiting. Author Epstein found that the very envious person is insatiable. The
[envious] have a restless competitiveness, which will not cease nagging away at them until they
feel themselves clearly established as first among unequal. Similarly, Schmidt found, envious
people spend their lives fighting for their fair share of lifes success, security, and happiness. The
more they go after these things from others, the harder it becomes to be satisfied with what they
have. Hence, envious people dispense a huge amount of their energy, resources, and time in
futility to feed an insatiable appetite. Payton found that in the envious person the hatred
engendered by unfulfilled entitlement and the aggressive desire to destroy what cannot be
tolerated in others, masks a deep feeling of unworthiness and vulnerability the not-good-
enoughness which accounts for the inbuilt failure of envy.
Another adverse impact is the envious capacity of rational thinking and decision making will be
impaired. Envy blocks out clarity, both about oneself and the people one envies. Envy clouds
thought, clobbers generosity, precludes any hopes of serenity, and ends in shriveling the heart.
Likewise, Richard posited, the envious becomes unable to acknowledge anything interesting or
valuable coming from someone else. The envious will also loose the capacity to handle setbacks
with wisdom. When confronted with a serious setback or unchangeable sadness in ones life,
one is inclined to ask the obvious question, Why me? For the envious person, though, the
26

question, when he or she sees someone who has had greater good fortune, is, Why not me? As a
result, the envious person is pained at not having the good object, and envious of those who
have. Last but not least, Dogan and Veechio found envious behaviors result in both direct and
indirect costs .The direct costs are the time and energy expended by the resentful employees.
The indirect costs are the unpleasant consequences that flow from the actions resulting from the
emotions. The indirect costs of envy include the possibility of retaliation, a loss of reputation,
and the emotional costs of possible discipline. Another important indirect cost is the loss of
employee performance.Also employees often have control over many additional discretionary
behaviors that are not included in formal job descriptions (such as going out of their way to help
a coworker, protecting and conserving organizational property and assisting the supervisor in
minor ways). Actions that are characteristic of good citizenship may be diminished if
employees are feeling resentment that is brought on by envy
Impact on Envied
When envied people are threatened by destructive envy, they can adopt several non-mutually
exclusive strategies that can lead to the degradation of their situations. First, they can simply
avoid success, because the costs of success are perceived to exceed the benefits, because of
others envy. Likewise, Scheok found several cases where institutionalized envy prevented
farmers from introducing innovations or more effective practices because no one dares to show
anything that might lead people to think he is better.
Second, successful and envied individuals can attempt to disguise or deny their success. By
doing so, they divert some resources from productive uses and deprive potential followers of
useful information on the success route. Third, envy-avoidance strategies can be complemented
by apologizing for someones success in order to appease the envious individuals or by sharing
the success fruits with the envious people.
Fourth, another related artificial mechanism or strategy for constraining envy is to maintain
everyone at the same level, e.g., by leveling all incomes. In other words, everyone is treated
equal. However, when destructive envy is not restrained and even encouraged or
institutionalized individuals who innovate and have an entrepreneurial spirit are stigmatized and
sometimes punished by others. The threat can prevent people from doing something that will
27

improve their relative position. As a result good workers potentials are never maximized or
realized.
Impact on Organization
Hill and Bus in their research with a group of students found that, although celebrities,
millionaires, and rulers may be in the most envious positions, individuals appear to reserve most
of their envious feelings for those individuals with whom they directly compete in day-to-day
transactions. This findings show that envys negative impact are mostly felt between colleagues
working in the same organization. As a result, the organizations performances are affected.
Envy in the workplace can have many consequences, typically dysfunctional in nature. Menon
and Thompson found that envy spreads negativity throughout the organization. Likewise,
Michael Mitsopoulos has found in his research that there is a correlation between envy and
market and institution growth. According to equity theory, people are motivated to balance
inequities through change in work inputs or work outcomes. In other words, employees will
regulate their performances to balance perceived or real inequities in the company. As a result,
company outputs will be negatively impacted.
Envy is above all a great waste of mental energyenvy tends to diminish all in whom it takes
possession. Wherever envy comes into play, judgment is coarsened and cheapened. Thus,
employees looses huge amount of mental energy to envy and this will diminish his performances
thereby impacting the company too.
According to Jennifer Read, Envys Latin derivative is Individia, which means imitation. The
effects of envy is a corporate culture that fails to innovate, and falls into the trap of imitating
competitors. In other words, because of envy, the company strive to imitate her competitors
successes instead of developing her own innovative strategies and products to stay ahead.
Because of envy that strained working relationships, the desire to remain at arms length from
successful colleagues leads to missed opportunities and organizational inefficiency.
Menon and Thompson have found where envy breeds within the organization, People want to
learn more about ideas that come from other companies than about ideas that originate with
rivals in their own organizations. The dislike of learning from inside rivals has a high
28

organizational price. Employees instead pursue external ideas that cost more both in time (which
is often spent reinventing the wheel) and in money (if they hire consultants).
Besides the envious and/or the envied lower productivity output, if the feeling of envy still
persists and employees reaction does not change the situation, the resultant negative emotion
may contribute to job withdrawal. According to Withey and Cooper, good people leave when
they are pushed out by dissatisfaction, low commitment, high voice costs, and the belief that
improvement is unlikely.
Mitsopoulos found that envy can have national economic impact, leaving countries
impoverished. Envy may motivate dictators and elites in some countries to block economic
development not only because they want to defend their revenue but because they want to
defend their position of dominance.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION TO ENVY?
According to I , Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and
slander of every kind. This is the first step. Likewise Pastor Stanley said, Ridding the heart of
[envy] begins with taking a long, hard look in the mirror, not across the street or across the aisle.
Focusing our emotion on somebody else fans the flame of [envy], focusing on our own hearts
begins the process of quenching it. Hence, the first step is to have an honest look at ones own
self and to get rid of anything that breeds envy.
The second step is the call for the envious person to celebrate or rejoice with the envied. Pastor
Stanley prescribed, You got to celebrate the success, size, and stuff of all those you envy. You
need to go out of your way to verbally express your congratulations over their accomplishment.
Sorge asked a very pertinent rhetorical question, If someone in our local church is suffering, its
comparatively easy to come alongside that person and suffer with them, weep with them and
comfort them. But if one member is honored- well thats a different story. The test of envy is
not another member suffers but when he or she is honored. Am I able to rejoice with that
member who is honored?
This bring to mind the words of the Apostle Paul, And if one member suffers, all the members
suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. The Apostle Paul
29

showed us the antidote to envy when he described in I Corinthians, Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. In other words, we are challenged to love
those whom you hated before; esteem those whom you envied with unjust disparagements.
Imitate the good, if you can follow them; if you cannot follow them, surely rejoice with them and
congratulate your better.
One of the greatest aspects of King Davids legacy to us is how he modeled a godly response
every time he met up with envy. He never avenged himself on those who envied him, even when
he had opportunity. He showed us that we must honor and prefer those who envy us and we must
never take our defense into our own hands.
Lewis Park beautifully describe the environment where envy can be destroyed is in the context
of a Christian community. He said, the final solution to envy is not an asylum where each of the
inmates is lost in private fantasy. The final solution is a thriving community where those who
live out their inner narratives before God ultimately experience community because God is one
and God is able to orchestrate the unique energy of each individuals experience of providence.
The reign of God is a party where the elder brother of the prodigal son does in fact go inside and
join the revelry.
In other words, it is there in the Christian community where Gods love and grace are
manifested and In him the whole building [all believers] is joined together and rises to become a
holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in
which God lives by his Spirit.



30






CHAPTER III
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY







31

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To understand the core concept of envy .
2. To understand the basic difference between competitive and destructive envy.


HYPOTHESIS
To provide findings on envy and subsequent behaviors, the following hypotheses are explored
related to the two dimensions of :
H1: Constructive and destructive envy matter in human decision making. In other words,
upward comparisons can lead people to undertake actions to reduce the gap between
them and others in their reference group, either constructively or destructively or both.
H2: Destructive (positive) envy is more (less) attributed to others than to oneself.













32

METHODOLOGY

Type of research: Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is specially important in the behavioural sciences where the aim is to
discover the underlying motives of human behaviour. Through such research we can analyse the
various factors which motivate people to behave in a particular manner or which make people
like or dislike a particular thing.

It may be stated, however, that to apply qualitative research in practice is relatively a difficult job
and therefore, while doing such research, one should seek guidance from experimental
psychologists.

Significance of research
All progress is born of inquiry. Doubt is often better than overconfidence, for it leads to inquiry,
and inquiry leads to invention is a famous Hudson Maxim in context of which the significance
of research can well be understood. Increased amounts of research make progress possible.
Research inculcates scientific and inductive thinking and it promotes the development of logical
habits of thinking and organisation.

SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION : Secondary Data
The report is wholly based on Secondary data which is collected from different sources online
as well as through books.


33




CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS








34

CAUSES OF ENVY
1.) Enmity and hatred: This is the one of the severest cases of envy because when a person
has hatred and enmity in his heart for someone animosity begins to settle in his heart.
This animosity needs to be treated and causes the person to desire revenge. If he is unable
to get some sort of revenge, this animosity turns into envy: the person yearns for his
enemy to lose any blessings that he has.
2.) Low Self-Esteem: This type of envy originates whenever someone else is blessed with
goodness the person feels inferior and this inferiority leads him to desire the blessings be
removed from the other person.
3.) Pride and Arrogance: This is when a person sees another succeeding beyond him and
considers this person unworthy of this blessing. He is proud, thinks himself better and
more deserving and wishes that the blessings be removed from his possession.
4.) Astonishment: This is when people are amazed and astonished that others are
distinguished from them, and question how someone like that can receive a blessing that
they themselves do not have.
5.) Fear of losing ones own aims: This usually is in the case when a number of people seek
a common goal. In such a situation each party is envious of the other when the other party
is blessed with something that helps to achieve their common goal. If rival gains
something for the common purpose, then one get jealous as they see this as
compromising their own goal.
6.) Love of leadership and status: The person who is very talented in his field, who is
accustomed to praise, compliments and flattery will find it difficult not to envy one who
is also up-and-coming in his field. As such, he will be saddened to hear of him being
praised or esteemed and will wish that this blessing be removed from him. His love of
recognition and a fear of losing this is for him a sufficient reason for and cause of envy.
7.) Impurity of the soul: An impure soul rejoices at the calamities of others and regrets their
blessings. This person is miserly with regards to Allahs provisions and blessings, and his
attitude is one which implies that the bounty, on others, diminishes Allahs provision for
him; he forgets that Allah favors whom He wills, without measure and that others cannot
limit that which is decreed by him already.
35

EXPRESSIONS OF ENVY
Envy can be expressed in the following ways:
Resentment towards others
Competition in relationships
Depression
Verbal criticism of other
Idolizing others
DAMAGING SIDE EFFECTS
1.) DISPARAGEMENT: When people have qualities we envy but cannot easily acquire,
then we tend to ignore those qualities and treat them as worthless. We feel better by
belittling the achievements or qualities of the person we envy.
2.) DISTANCING: People also tend to distance themselves from person they envy. It is
difficult for enviers to learn from and working with others. Enviers experience this more
intensely with people who are close to them. This leads to missed opportunities and
organizational inefficiency.
HOW TO MANAGE ENVY ON YOUR TEAM
As a manager, one need to deal with envy, directed not only at the top people but at yourself
also. Within a team, you might have to recognize and reward your team members for their
performances, this will inevitably generate envy. There are few techniques to manage this.
1. Share power: By sharing the glory with subordinates and rewarding them with responsibility
and credit earns you a reputation for developing motivated future leaders and also promotion for
building up others. Managers who share the glory with subordinates and promote others help
both their teams and themselves. One senior Unilever executive we studied always rewarded her
successful subordinates with responsibility and credit. She earned a reputation for developing
exceptionally motivated future leaders and created allies in the process. She was promoted
precisely because she built up others.
36

2. Make what is scarce plentiful: Giving time to each of the team member for discussion results
in more collaborative meetings. Also sharing resources with other teams will also help tame
down envy in an organization. Often, people on teams throw sharp elbows as they compete for
resources they perceive to be limited. While some resources are certainly finite (such as
budgets), you can enlarge other kinds more readily. For instance, one manager we studied
noticed that his team constantly engaged in one-upmanship at meetings in attempts to win scarce
airtime with him. Although meeting times were fixed, his personal time was flexible. Therefore,
he guaranteed every team member an hour of one-on-one time with him each week, which
resulted in more-collaborative meetings.
Sharing resources with other teams will also help tamp down envy in your organization.
Managers often believe they can guarantee their survival by hoarding resources, but in reality,
they only isolate themselves and lose allies, and may even set in motion their own demise.
Sharing resources, in contrast, lays the groundwork for reciprocity and future collaboration.

3. Give enviers and their targets different spheres of influence: Allot different tasks to both
envier and its target. It will allow two men to learn from each other, their work will not be
directly comparable because they are working in different departments. They cannot be
evaluated using the same metrics. Enabling enviers to mentally separate their roles and carve out
separate domains can curtail invidious comparisons.
4. Beware of linguistic triggers: Be careful about your use of language. Praising someone too
much is not right; it seems as if you overlook the importance of other fellows. Instead of singling
out innovators, encourage collaborative practices and reward creative thievery. Managers
unintentionally breed envy by signaling, through subtle cues, that they appreciate certain types of
traits and successes more than others that may be less attention-getting but just as valuable to the
organization. So be especially careful about your use of language. For instance, too much public
praise for a team members leadership can make it seem as if you over look the importance of
collaborative followers. (In one college that celebrated the culture of leadership, undergraduates
frequently founded clubs just so that they could become president. Lacking incentives for
followership, these clubs struggled to find members and rarely accomplished much.
37

Similarly, a word such as innovation sets people up to play the comparison game. Instead of
singling out innovators, encourage collaborative practices and reward creative thievery. Thomas
Edison celebrated the creativity needed to apply, modify, and improve ideas, noting that he
simply gave commercial value to the brilliant, but misdirected, ideas of others and that he
himself was more of a sponge than an inventor. At one time BP, in addition to rewarding
innovators, conferred a thief of the year award, honoring employees who recognized and
borrowed internal colleagues innovations.
Remedies for Envy & Jealousy on the Job
Focus on Your Strengths
Sometimes, jealousy and envy can motivate employees to work harder and more effectively.
Feelings of jealousy might encourage you to focus on your strengths and talents and help redirect
negative energy into positive channels. Instead of wasting your valuable time and energy feeling
resentful of others, direct that energy toward developing your own unique abilities. Focus on
your work and on accomplishing your own goals. Negativity won't increase your chances of
getting what you want, but becoming a more focused, productive and positive employee might
help you achieve recognition and success.
Manage Stress
Feelings of jealousy and envy can cause you to feel stressed, anxious and angry. Underneath
these feelings lies a deep-seated fear that something you value is being threatened, even if the
threat isn't real. Your body reacts to perceived threats with the fight-or-flight mechanism,
otherwise known as the stress response, which causes you to take action or flee. Since you
probably can't -- and shouldn't -- flee the workplace or fight with your coworker, your body has
no way to alleviate the physical and emotional symptoms caused by the stress response. Trying
to reduce feelings of stress might help you calm down and become more relaxed. Focus on deep
breathing, take a break and get some fresh air or talk to a trusted friend to obtain a healthier
perspective on the situation.
38

Change Your Outlook
Remembering the old adage -- "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" -- can also be helpful. Accept that
others will often be in the limelight and that sometimes they will achieve more or perform better
than you. This doesn't mean you should resign yourself to feeling defeated. It does mean that it
isn't in your best interest to dwell on your envious and jealous feelings. Try to put a different spin
on the situation and put yourself in your colleague's shoes. If someone is antagonistic toward you
and rubs his accomplishments in your face, there's nothing wrong with addressing his
inappropriate behavior immediately. But if he's simply being recognized for a job well done, try
to accept what is and feel happy for his achievements. You'd probably want him to feel the same
for you if the situation were reversed.
Therapy
In some cases, feelings of workplace jealousy can become overwhelming and affect your
performance, productivity and well-being. Jealousy might even lead to the development of
mental health disorders like depression or anxiety. If your feelings of jealousy and envy cause
you to avoid the workplace or result in other problematic or unhealthy reactions, you may want
to consult a qualified mental health professional. It's possible that there's a deeper, underlying
issue being triggered by your feelings of jealousy. Discussing the situation with a professional
might help alleviate your feelings, give you a healthier perspective and circumvent the
development of serious mental health problems.







39

The findings of this study can be summarized into the following points:
Envy is a pervasive feeling that can be found corner of the society.
Envy is pain at the good fortune of others. (Aristotle, Rhetoric, Bk II, Chapter 10)
Constructive and destructive envy are not mutually exclusive and frequently co-exist. It
depends on individuals mindset how he interprets that envy.
Envy can be satised in two major ways: by increasing own outcome (constructive envy
and by decreasing the outcome of the reference group (destructive envy).
The most common causes for the rise of envy are:
o Enmity and hatred
o Low self esteem
o Pride and arrogance
o Astonishment
o Fear of losing ones own aims
o Love of leadership and status
o Impurity of the soul
Envy impacts the following at a very huge scale :
o Envious
o Envied
o Organization
It is very important for a team leader to manage envy in its team and it can be done
through the following ways:
o Share power
o Make what is scarce plentiful
o Give enviers and their targets different spheres of influence
o Beware of linguistic triggers
There are also remedies available for an individual to manage envy on the job:
o Focus on Your Strengths
o Manage Stress
o Change Your Outlook
o Therapy
40








CHAPTER V
LIMITATIONS OF THE
STUDY







41

In this project Secondary data is used. Secondary data in itself has a number of limitations. They
can be as:
There is difficulty of timely availability of published data from various government and
other agencies doing this job in our country. Researcher also faces the problem on
account of the fact that the published data vary quite significantly because of differences
in coverage by the concerning agencies.
Library management and functioning is not satisfactory at many places and much of the
time and energy of researchers are spent in tracing out the books, journals, reports, etc.,
rather than in tracing out relevant material from them. There is also the problem that
many of our libraries are not able to get copies of old and new Acts/Rules, reports and
other government publications in time.
Research studies overlapping one another are undertaken quite often for want of
adequate information. This results in duplication and fritters away resources. This
problem can be solved by proper compilation and revision, at regular intervals, of a list of
subjects on which and the places where the research is going on. Due attention should be
given toward identification of research problems in various disciplines of applied science
which are of immediate concern to the industries.








42




CHAPTER VI
SUGGESTIONS











43

Envy can cause real damage both to an individuals career and to organizations success.
Denying and concealing envy will make the problem worse. It can be controllable, by
confronting your feelings and replacing negative habits of thinking with more productive ones,
you will become more open to others, more receptive to change and more fulfilled at work. By
practicing new habits you can turn an undignified and harmful emotion into means of improving
both your own performance and your teams. Thus, it is important to realize ones own feelings
and keep them under control.
















44

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Robert E. (2002). Envy & Jealousy. American Journal of Psychotherapy,
56(4), 455-479.

Bedeian, Arthur G. (Spring 1995). Workplace Envy. Organizational Dynamics, 23(4),
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Blowers, Paul M. (January 2009). Envys Narrative Scripts: Cyprian, Basil, and the
Monastic Sages on the Anatomy and Cure of the Invidious Emotions. Modern
Theology, 25(1), 21-43.

Coles, Robert. (August 1995). The Hidden Power of Envy. Harper's, 20-23.

Menon, Tanya, & Thompson, Leigh. (April 2010). Envy at Work. Harvard Business
Review, 88(4), 74-79.

Olsson, K. A. (1962). Seven Sins and Seven Virtues. New York: Harper & Brothers.

Park, Lewis A. (Spring 2003). Envy: a Study in Church Leadership from an Alternative,
Biblical Vision. Journal of Religious Leadership, 2(1), 87-110.

Schoeck, Helmut. (1987). Envy: A Theory of Social Behavior. Indianapolis: Liberty
Fund.

Teck Boon LimThe Insidious Nature of Envy