INCIVILITY IN THE WORKPLACE IS UNACCEPTABLE
SAY “NO” TO INCIVILITY IN THE WORKPLACE
by, Nafije Prishtina
Do
you work in a place where disrespect and gossiping are a big part of the
culture?
If you answered yes, you already have first-hand experience with Workplace Incivility and this topic is not a surprise. If you have not experienced Incivility at your workplace or heard others’ tales of horrible work environments, you are lucky. All leaders must do their part to keep civility in the workplace. Read on to find out why.
When I was asked to create a leadership training on this topic, it was a great surprise to learn that incivility in the workplace remains one of the biggest social issues of the 21st century. Described as the “silent epidemic,” workplace culture is a growing concern for all leaders.
While researching this topic and sharing my findings with colleagues, I learned of a shocking example of how workplace incivility impacted Ben, the case-study for this training. Through his story and his thinking along his 6-year journey, participants will identify unacceptable behaviors and understand the unintended consequences of improper workplace behavior.
First, let’s investigate the meaning
and examples of Workplace Incivility.
Incivility is best described by Dr.
Jia Wang, associate professor of human resource development at Texas A&M
University. Dr. Wang gives us some uncivil behavior examples.
●
making demeaning comments
●
not giving credit to others
●
gossiping
●
disrupting meetings
●
insulting
●
yelling, bullying and harassing others ….
Uncivil behaviors demonstrate a lack
of respect for others in the workplace!!!
According to Dr. Wang, Workplace Incivility “is a growing silent epidemic affecting the modern workplace.” Her research shows the number of victims has been steadily increasing from 49% in 1998 to 55% in 2011 to 62% in 2016.
Defined as a social issue, all leaders are responsible to recognize the toxicity of workplace incivility and combat it to improve employee morale and the bottom line.
Exactly how does Workplace
Incivility impact employees?
As promised, this is Ben’s story of workplace incivility. Taking a promotion with his employer required relocation to HQ. Ben uprooted his family, moving across 4 states to relocate to Florida. It was an exciting time in his career and his morale was super high. Ben, an IT expert, soon found some of his teammates frequently speaking of others in the company and sharing gossip. His own team leader often yelled to his team members and talked about individuals who were not present at meetings; he called them names like “He/she is an idiot, dumb, moron etc., mentioning specific names saying, “so and so did something stupid.”
Ben did not like this combative culture, it made him very uncomfortable, and he had to wonder what they were saying behind his back. Initially his reaction was to ignore these antics and focus on his work. With these cultural conditions, he concluded that he could NOT trust his team.
Over a six-year period, Ben tolerated this uncivil
atmosphere. Why? In his case, Ben did not believe he had any power to impact
change as he was not the team leader. He did his best to stay out of gossiping
and felt guilty for not doing anything.
His frustrations had no outlet at work, so he turned to his friends and family
to vent his frustrations. The situation was not good for the work group, it
wasn’t good for Ben, and it greatly impacted his family. Many times, he wanted to quit, and yet did
not. Until one day, he became fed up. He
decided it was time to change his circumstances. He set himself a goal; to find
another job within 3 months and work with a team where they promote respect and
creativity!
Doesn’t it hurt to hear of someone having to quit their job
due to such a toxic work environment? It may seem a tiny piece of the workplace
experience, but you can see how serious it can be.
According to the 2017 Labor and Employment webinar on
Incivility in the workplace, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
conducted a study on harassment in the workplace resulting in new guidelines to
employers to promote greater civility in the workplace. Preventing harassment
lawsuits is one objective of improvements to workplace civility.
Dr. Wangs research, has identified 3 main causes for
Incivility in the workplace:
- The informal
workplace environment: Dr Wang reports,
“Nowadays, the climate of many organizations has become very
informal, and this informality is evidenced by the dress code, language
choice, conversation patterns.
As the workplace
becomes informal, the line between what is and is not appropriate has
become blurred. And some of the long standing cues about respect and
politeness have vanished.”
- Technological
advancements: Technology has enabled uncivil behavior via social media and
cyberbullying.
- Power and social status: People with more power, tend to have more
opportunities to be MORE UNCIVIL. And they often get away with it. And
the less powerful employee tends to be victims, or targets.
Consequences of Incivility for Employees and Organizations
A study from Public
Personnel Administration concluded that Workplace incivility can have
deleterious effects on individuals and organizations including decreased job
satisfaction and commitment, employee turnover, and reductions in morale and
performance. Moreover, these effects can be exacerbated for women and employees
of color. All this dissatisfaction spills over into the personal life of those
exposed to a distasteful work culture.
Ben’s experience is evidence of the penalty for his decrease
in job satisfaction due to incivility in his workplace. He just can’t stand his
team leader and how uncivil he is. He feels like he has to walk on eggshells
around him. As a matter of fact, Ben’s wife complains that “ Ben has been carrying his dissatisfaction from
work with him outside of work, and at times he shows his frustration and anger
at home with his family.” His wife has been trying to tell him to do something
about his anger but instead Ben has attempted to cover his issues by playing
chess and watching TV mindlessly after work.
As we can see this issue of Incivility is
particularly challenging requiring creative solutions and tactics to reduce
incivility. The EEOC is encouraging organizations to take the lead on training
individuals to be civil as this issue is affecting business organizations and
our entire society.
Research shows that managers can take
initiatives to combat Incivility and promote respect in the workplace. Leaders
must be on watch for uncivil behavior throughout the entire employee experience
from pre-hire to separation. It is the leaders’ responsibility to communicate
and reinforce
policies and promote civility during training as well as in everyday
operations. Email etiquette is an essential skill all employees need.
In a blog written by Bonnie Monych, a HR
Productivity Specialist, she emphasizes some important points on why Workplace
Incivility is challenging for managers to spot and offers some advice for
companies to overcome this challenge.
She said “Incivility tends to be more subtle
than workplace bullying, yelling or physical violence. Incivility may
present itself as eye rolling, interrupting or talking over someone in a
meeting, making dismissive comments, or speaking disrespectfully while not
saying anything that could cause legal action. “Another challenge she said is
that “incivility means different things to different people, so it can be easy
for a manager to overlook or miss. This conduct tends to be less of a
black-or-white issue compared to more blatant forms of undesirable work conduct
such as sexual harassment, stealing or lying.” (Bonnie Monych, Performance
Specialist, 2018)
Despite the challenges of spotting and dealing
with Incivility, we need to take actions to prevent all Incivility in the
workplace. The process for taking
actions to combat incivility starts with the organization’s leadership. To make
a change in the workplace, leaders need to develop behavior statements. These
statements define what qualifies as uncivil on both personal and organizational
levels.
I join the HR leaders like Monych, to invite
everyone, to be proactive and take steps to say “no” to incivility before it’s
too late.
Ben had a pretty good
week last week. His boss called him in with great news. The company gave everyone a bonus and of
course, Ben as top performer, was rewarded with a 5% raise. That made him
revisit his decision to leave the company. He thought, maybe I will stay here
after all. It is too much work changing jobs and I will continue minding my
business!
Leaders Role in Maintaining Civility in the
Workplace
It is a
privilege to be a leader and have the power to positively influence others to
embody civility. There are many benefits for leaders to embody good
interpersonal skills and habits in life. One important skill which helps
promote civility is through mindful communication. For more info about how leaders can imporve communication click this link to my previous blog.
As leaders we promote civility by creating and
maintaining policies. Having policies that promote acceptable conduct and
prevent unacceptable conduct is very important for an organization’s wellbeing.
According to the Employment and Labor webinar
leaders can use some examples of behaviors below to promote interpersonal
relationships that encourage civility in the workplace:
Examples
of behaviors expected from all Individuals at all times:
●
Greeting each other
(saying good morning, hi etc.)
●
Saying Please, Thank
you, Excuse me, I’m sorry etc.
●
Learn people’s names and
call them how they want to be called
●
Practice good
conversations skills (in the hallways and meeting)
●
Be attentive to those
around you and offer to help
What do you think, did Ben love his
raise and went back to his state of denial about his toxic work culture; or did
he in fact leave the company?
Bad behavior rarely dissipates without intervention. After
the raise, Ben continued investing his efforts in his work. Until that one day
when his boss, who is usually very nice, calls him yelling about a minor issue
found on a list from two years ago. Ben responded with a promise to immediately
fix the issue and apologized for the error. And right after he fixed it, he
applied for a similar job in three different companies. The proverbial straw on
the camel’s back broke. The boss’ yelling was perceived as disrespectful and
Ben is now interviewing for his next opportunity. His employer will suffer a
brain drain and perhaps a dip in their reputation. (What will Ben’s Glassdoor
reference say about the workplace incivility at this company?)
I invite you to make your mission to say “no” to
incivility in your personal and professional life. Will you
help your dissatisfied employees like Ben to stay and contribute to your
organization’s success? If so contact Shining Stars Connect to sign up for our
Workshop on Saying “no” to incivility and shining fully!
For more Info about becoming a leader in life, staying connected, self-managing and shine fully visit our Shining Stars CoachingCircle visit https://www.shiningstarsconnect.com/bookings-checkout/shining-stars-coaching-circle
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To learn more about the author: Contact Nafije @ ShiningStarsConnect.com to learn about her 4S Success System to help you shine fully and become a conscious leader in life!
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