Friends are friends: business is business?

Abstract

This study aimed to examine how male executives of the financial sector conceive friendship in the labor environment and perceive the social support they receive from friends. Ten executives of the financial sector responsible for the strategic area were interviewed seeking information about the influence of friendship at work in the construction of instrumental, emotional and informational support of these executives. The type of research is qualitative and the method used was the case study using the narrative interview technique. Therefore were conducted structured interviews with the executives. The gathered data was analyzed qualitatively. Despite the impersonal and abstract nature attributed to people in the labor environment by some contemporary theoreticians and by organizations, that consider the organizational environment as a neutral place and free from manifestations of a social and affective order, all participants acknowledged the presence of friendship relations in the labor environment. Although, the concept of friendship varies depending on the researched person, but, independent of the concept adopted, all interviewees said that the friendships represents an important source of social support, in its instrumental, emotional and informational forms.