The Cost of Bad Behaviour: How Incivility is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It By Christine Pearson and Christine Porath
How do you define incivility? If you think that it’s the exchange of inconsiderate words and deeds that violate conventional norms, then you won’t be surprised to learn that incivility is a common complaint in today’s workplace. Authors Christine Pearson and Christine Porath claim that incivility has huge economic and personal costs. Their new book “The Cost of Bad Behaviour: How Incivility is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It” should be required reading for any business manager or supervisor.
Pearson and Porath discovered that incivility flows downward, which means that a person who has received a slight or insult is more likely to be rude to someone of lower status in the organization. It’s a negative example of the “pay it forward” theory with a big difference because if you “pay it forward” you ask that your good turn be repaid to someone else. In the case of organizational incivility, the person who has been slighted is likely to target someone under them. The result is a chain of rudeness that travels downward until it reaches someone who interacts with and is uncivil to the organization’s customers. The impact doesn’t even end with the customer because anyone who is been insulted by a service provider is likely to take it out on family members or complete strangers.
In addition to damaging the organization’s customer relations, incivility also affects productivity. Someone who has been victimized is more likely to suffer from a loss of motivation and focus because people tend to spend time dwelling upon slights and insults so even a remark delivered in a rude tone or a flippant remark can be damaging. Workplace stress can have an adverse impact on an employee’s health and may result in increased sick days and health care costs. Overall organizational performance suffers because people who work in uncivil environments are less likely to be altruistic and courteous to other employees. At the extreme end, people are prepared to resign from organizations that tolerate bad behaviour and allow bullies to operate unchecked.
The estimated economic cost of incivility in the workplace is around $300 billion in the United States. The figure is based on the cost of lost productivity, job training for lost employees, and health care costs. Although most of the statistics and examples in the book come from the United States, the authors have conducted studies in Canada which revealed that 50% of Canadians workers have suffered from incivility directly from fellow employees as frequently as at least once a week. That’s a shocking fact and one that we should strive to change.
The good news is that there’s a lot that can be done to curb bad behaviour in the workplace. Pearson and Porath provide examples of organizations that have changed their corporate culture so that mutual trust and respect have become non-negotiable core values. They provide a list of things that businesses can do to create a civil workplace and offer special tips for leaders and those who have been targeted by workplace bullies.
If you want to read more about good management and leadership training, your local library has a wealth of information available. The online catalogue is available on the internet at www.city.kawarthalakes.on.ca/library and allows you to place a hold on any item in the system.
Linda Kent is the Chief Librarian at the City of Kawartha Lakes Public Library
