A GOOD PERSON DOES NOT FEEL ENVY - ENVY IN A NURSING COMMUNITY

The definition of envy is commonly based on psychoanalytical views of organizational culture. The purpose of this paper is to describe envy in a nursing community. The population study consisted of random sampl e of 120 subjects drawn from among the employees of one central hospit al in Finland. The study material consisted of data collected by quest ionnaires (response rate 65%). The data were processed by various stat istical methods. Open-ended questions were analysed by inductive conte nt analysis. The results of this study indicated that the employee's v iew of his/her official position in the nursing community, his/her rel ationships with his/her fellow workers and the management as well as r elationships with other nursing communities are all related to envy. T he employee's view of his/her official position intensified his/her fe elings of envy, if he/she had other negative feelings, anxiety, dissat isfaction with him/herself, and negative feelings towards fellow worke rs. The major object of envy was fellow workers' salaries. Envy toward s other nursing communities was generated by alleged differences in th e amount of labour, or by the charge nurse's greater interest in other sections. Employees coped with envy by hiding these feelings and bein g modest. Women coped with envy by being silent, while men denied the value of the object of envy.