a variety of people and are required

to work in sometimes tightly knit

teams for extended periods. In col-
lege too, we often have group work
or spend long hours with classmates
in laboratories or classrooms for
projects. We have bosses at work,
teachers in college, seniors and ju-
niorsall roles and positions with
varying amounts of power.
Inside the classroom, the roles
are clear and usually, so are the ex-
pectations. In the office too, as long
as conversations remain focused on
work and professional responsibil-
ities, the lines are clear. But some-
times there are contexts where a
professional or collegial camarade-
rie gives way to friendly banter, and
suddenly, things begin to get
personal.
Peers and others
With peers, this transition from
the professional to the personal
may be acceptable and even wel-
come. After all, these are the spaces
within which we nd friends and
form strong bonds, often for life.
With peers, it should be possible
to negotiate the terms of the rela-
tionship on an equal footing. Where
the relationship is unequal, howev-
er, such a negotiation can be diffi-
cult. This is not to say that one cant
form good personal relationships
with people who are at a different
level in an institutional hierarchy.
But it is important to keep the pro-
fessional and personal aspects of
the relationships separate and
that is easier said than done.
Marking professional boundaries
is extremely important if work is to
get done in an efficient manner. If
you are working on a group project,
and you have friends in the group
who keep shirking their share of the
work, you may sometimes be under
pressure or even be tempted to
overlook their lack of responsibility,
while not doing the same for anoth-
er group member.
Conversely, if you are uncompro-
mising in your demand that your
friends do their bit, you may risk
M
ost of us, both men
and women, have
been affected in some
measure by the re-
cent conversations, in the media
and outside, relating to gender-
based violence and sexual harass-
ment. The events that have brought
about these issues vary widely in
terms of context but some of them
have thrown into focus the difficult
dynamics of workplace relation-
ships. The Vishaka guidelines on
sexual harassment in the workplace
may provide institutional and legal
recourse, but they still depend on
someone making a complaint and
someone taking action on the basis
of it.
Understanding harassment
Harrassment is about unwanted
attention, and often comes from ex-
ploitation of an unequal relation-
ship, where one person has more
power (physical, political, social, ec-
onomic, etc.). Its a deliberate cross-
ing of a personal boundary. While it
is crucial that we recognise and deal
with this kind of violation, we need
to also learn how to set and defend
boundaries in different contexts.
Sexual harassment is of course an
extreme form of boundary viola-
tion, but there are many situations
that we sometimes feel uncomfort-
able with but cannot analyse well
enough to give it a name. There is
also a class of behaviour that we see
often enough to think of as nor-
mal and, worse, accept as some-
thing we have to put up with if we
want to get ahead. Discussions
about appropriate behaviour at
work are rarely discussed in overt
terms, and we go through college
without learning how to handle
these situations until we have an
unpleasant encounter ourselves.
In professional contexts, we meet
damaging the friendship. In this
case, they are using their social
power to inuence you.
Setting clear rules
Good personal equations do lend
a lot of energy to work, whether it is
in college or on the job. They make
the task fun and also help ease ten-
sions when there are challenges to
be met. However, one has to develop
a sensitivity if these dynamics
start interfering with ones judg-
ments at work. You can learn to do
this while in college, by setting clear
ground rules when working on pro-
jects with friends. It is entirely pos-
sible to do this politely and
assertively, without getting un-
pleasant or overbearing.
To start with, collaboratively es-
tablish ground rules for everyone to
follow in such cases, getting every-
one to agree that these will apply to
all equally during the assignment.
During project meetings, keep the
conversation focused on the work at
hand, leaving the jokes and chatter
Mark your boundaries
for later. Demarcating time and
spaces for the professional and per-
sonal also helps keep interactions
within those boundaries. Holding
meetings in a classroom or a com-
mon space rather than in someones
home also helps keep it at a profes-
sional level.
Of course, there will always be
spaces that are ambiguous nei-
ther strictly work nor really play
and it is in these areas where the
marking and respecting of bounda-
ries can be tricky. We cannot con-
trol another persons behaviour, but
if we have been clear about drawing
our own lines between the personal
and professional, we will know why
we feel uncomfortable when we do,
and maybe, we will know what to do
about it.
The writer teaches in the
Department of Communication,
University of Hyderabad, and is
the editor of Teacher Plus.
Website: www.teacherplus.org.
Email: Usha.raman@gmail.com
PERSONAL SPACE: Drawing clear lines between the personal and the professional helps. PHOTO: SANDEEP SAXENA
Appropriate behaviour in
work spaces is being
widely discussed these
days. Are you sensitised
about this?
USHA RAMAN