The Enactment of Envy within Organizations

Abstract

This article focuses on uncovering the process bywhich envy, which Melanie Klein has described as the most negative of all emotions, is enacted in organizations, with special reference to peer evaluation mechanisms. The authors do so bydrawing upon the experiences of a high-achieving lecturer in a tertiaryeducational institution in New Zealand. The studyis framed in the context of a broader, long-term investigation into the “tall poppysyndrome” (which is an Australasian “modernism for envy, jealousyand covetousness”) that has been labeled “a notable anti-talent” with regard to the push toward knowledge-based economies in Australia and New Zealand. The authors also relate their findings to Kleinian thinking on envyand to extant literature on the use of peer ratings and scapegoating in groups.