["A good person does not feel envy"--envy in nursing communities]

The purpose of this study was to describe the nature, manifestation, and amount of envy among the staff of a nursing community. The definition of envy is commonly based on views of essence of envy and organisational culture. The population study consisted of random sample of 120 subjects drawn from among the employees in the Kainuu Central Hospital. Frequency and percentage distributions were used to present the data. The correlations between the variables were examined using cross-tabulation. Summarized variables were formed for nature of envy, and the Cronbach alpha coefficient was used to test the internal consistency of those. Factor analysis and cross-tabulation were also used. Open-ended questions were analysed by qualitative contact analysis. These results were used to complement quantitative data. The results of this study indicated that the employee's view of his/her official position in the nursing society, his/her relations with his/her fellow workers and the management as well as the relations to other nursing societies are all related to enviousness. The employees's view of his/her official position intensified his/her feelings of envy, if he/she had other negative feelings (anxiety, dissatisfaction with him/herself, and feeling if looks could kill). If the employee was ambitious and hard-working, his/her envy manifested in a comparison of his/her own work and the work of other employees. The major object of envy was fellow workers' salary. Envy was also caused by new, proficient, and senior co-workers and possible favourites or proteges of management. Envy towards other nursing community was generated by alleged differences in the amount of labour, or by the charge nurse's greater interest in other section. Employees coped with envy by hiding these feelings and being modest. Women coped with envy by being silent.