4 ms·

So obviously relationships are bad when there's a power dynamic, In what sense is this obvious? And according to which substantial notion of power?

tfha 8y ago
Yeah I never understood this either. Does that mean a bachelor US president can't date a US citizen? Yes, power can be abused. But anyone with a knife at home can abuse that knife by stabbing someone. That doesn't make it wrong to own a knife.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  >That doesn't make it wrong to own a knife. There exist a subset of people in the UK (and in other places but the a subset of the UK subset is particularly vocal and influential) who believe the opposite with varying degrees of passion and with various exceptions carved out. Edit: Pun not intended but I like it so I'm keeping it there.
  - jgh 8y ago
    There are already restrictions on knives like switchblades, butterfly knives, bowie knives, stilettos, etc.
  - ben509 8y ago
    > ... and with various exceptions carved out. ISWYDT.
- davidf18 8y ago
  What it definitely means is that President of the US can't have sex with an intern (as Bill Clinton did with Monica Lewinsky).
- dbt00 8y ago
  The president is not the boss of citizens the way a CEO is employees at her firm. If that's your view of american civics, time to update your civics lessons.
- PurpleBoxDragon 8y ago
  >Yeah I never understood this either. Does that mean a bachelor US president can't date a US citizen? Is the difference in power between a US president and the given citizen larger than the difference in power between a 18 and 15 year old? If so, and if relationships should be banned based on power differences, then it seems the only logical conclusion is such a relationship should be banned. Then again, our laws and social morals are rarely so consistent.
fareesh 8y ago
From what I have understood of this topic: If the relationship continues, the power could be used to favour the subordinate over other subordinates (give them good reviews, etc). If the relationship ends poorly, the power could be used to spite the subordinate over other subordinates (give them poor reviews, etc).
- fastball 8y ago
  Right, so the it's an issue only if the power dynamic is abused. The power imbalance itself is not intrinsically going to cause problems.
  - nAwYz 8y ago
    Such a "power dynamic" can lead fast to various forms of dependency
  - toast0 8y ago
    It's a problem for the company even without misconduct. If a coworker claims a promotion went to a romantic partner instead of them because of romance, the company has to spend a bunch of time looking into that, even if there was no misconduct. It's the same thing with conflicts of interest. The clear possibility for misconduct is a problem that at least must be declared, and at best is avoided.
  - jerf 8y ago
    I suspect you're imagining a single relationship in your head, and imagining that it could go well. Yes, indeed it could. But you have to think at scale. If you have ten of these sorts of relationships in your company, the odds of one of them going kerflooey in an expensive or damaging way is effectively 100%. Heck, the odds of five of them going kerflooey in an expensive or dangerous way has to be at least 90%. You can't write policy based on imagining single incidents. At scale, power dynamics will be abused, full stop.
- tomp 8y ago
  But really, how is that different from any other decision an employee might do that prioritises their own personal gain over their company’s benefit?
ben509 8y ago
I'm more wondering, when is there not a power dynamic?

tfha 8y ago

Yeah I never understood this either. Does that mean a bachelor US president can't date a US citizen? Yes, power can be abused. But anyone with a knife at home can abuse that knife by stabbing someone. That doesn't make it wrong to own a knife.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
>That doesn't make it wrong to own a knife. There exist a subset of people in the UK (and in other places but the a subset of the UK subset is particularly vocal and influential) who believe the opposite with varying degrees of passion and with various exceptions carved out. Edit: Pun not intended but I like it so I'm keeping it there.
- jgh 8y ago
  There are already restrictions on knives like switchblades, butterfly knives, bowie knives, stilettos, etc.
- ben509 8y ago
  > ... and with various exceptions carved out. ISWYDT.
davidf18 8y ago
What it definitely means is that President of the US can't have sex with an intern (as Bill Clinton did with Monica Lewinsky).
dbt00 8y ago
The president is not the boss of citizens the way a CEO is employees at her firm. If that's your view of american civics, time to update your civics lessons.
PurpleBoxDragon 8y ago
>Yeah I never understood this either. Does that mean a bachelor US president can't date a US citizen? Is the difference in power between a US president and the given citizen larger than the difference in power between a 18 and 15 year old? If so, and if relationships should be banned based on power differences, then it seems the only logical conclusion is such a relationship should be banned. Then again, our laws and social morals are rarely so consistent.

fareesh 8y ago

From what I have understood of this topic: If the relationship continues, the power could be used to favour the subordinate over other subordinates (give them good reviews, etc). If the relationship ends poorly, the power could be used to spite the subordinate over other subordinates (give them poor reviews, etc).

fastball 8y ago
Right, so the it's an issue only if the power dynamic is abused. The power imbalance itself is not intrinsically going to cause problems.
- nAwYz 8y ago
  Such a "power dynamic" can lead fast to various forms of dependency
- toast0 8y ago
  It's a problem for the company even without misconduct. If a coworker claims a promotion went to a romantic partner instead of them because of romance, the company has to spend a bunch of time looking into that, even if there was no misconduct. It's the same thing with conflicts of interest. The clear possibility for misconduct is a problem that at least must be declared, and at best is avoided.
- jerf 8y ago
  I suspect you're imagining a single relationship in your head, and imagining that it could go well. Yes, indeed it could. But you have to think at scale. If you have ten of these sorts of relationships in your company, the odds of one of them going kerflooey in an expensive or damaging way is effectively 100%. Heck, the odds of five of them going kerflooey in an expensive or dangerous way has to be at least 90%. You can't write policy based on imagining single incidents. At scale, power dynamics will be abused, full stop.
tomp 8y ago
But really, how is that different from any other decision an employee might do that prioritises their own personal gain over their company’s benefit?

ben509 8y ago

I'm more wondering, when is there not a power dynamic?