BBC.CO.UK: The politics of the office tea round

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For Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Manchester University, this seemingly simple activity reflects the many dynamics in the office around gender and status.

"It's really about the expectations colleagues have of each other and the sociological and psychological factors under the surface," he says.

"I still notice in many tea rounds that while men may help make the tea, it is usually the women that do the washing up, or load the dishwasher.

"If I was to observe a tea round for a month I would be able to tell who gets on best and who is the outsider, as well as the fact that a so-called 'team' is very rarely a team."