Rudeness is defined as a display of disrespect by one person to another by failing to comply with the social norms that have been established as essential boundaries of normally accepted behaviour within a group of people. The word accepted is vital in the definition of rudeness, as it means different things to different people or organizations. Incivility is associated with behaviour that is unpleasant, unprofessional and inappropriate and has the potential to cause distress, hurt feelings or disturbance to other people. Workplace rudeness, therefore, refers to disrespectful behaviour displayed in the workplace; it has been highly associated with the devastation of a firm’s morale and the creation of a toxic working environment. It is a costly affair that is highly contagious if no proper controls are put in place. This paper looks at the different forms of workplace rudeness, the effect on the employees and their job performance and ways of controlling/stopping the behaviour. More focus will be on the biblical opinion on rudeness comparing it with the secular thoughts.
Workplace environments have witnessed an increase in the percentage of employees who believe they are treated rudely at work in the last 20 years. According to Vartorella, (2018) in 1998, an approximated 48% of employees felt that they were treated rudely by their fellow employees at least once a month. The rudeness was experienced through disturbance, insults and use of crude language. Fast forward to 2016; research showed that the percentage of employees who felt they had rude encounters at their workplaces was at 62%. After the rude encounters an approximated 80% of the employees claimed that a lot of their time at work was lost thinking of the incident while 48% stated that the rude behaviour immensely decreased their work effort and morale.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Rudeness at workplaces is displayed in different forms/ways. Some of these include; Interrupting a person when they are speaking, replying to comments or emails in a hostile tone, belittling a person’s ideas or skills, hostility in response to constructive feedback, performing other tasks, e.g. checking the mobile phone when someone is talking or even taking credit for another person’s work or ideas. This, therefore, raises the question as to why people tend to be rude at workplaces. Rudeness is closely associated with low-self-esteem where the rude people have low confidence and lack understanding of human behaviour. Therefore, the way they treat people reflects how they feel about themselves. Personal problems also play a role in increasing workplace rudeness. When people are going through personal issues, they may sometimes lash out their frustrations on others. Learned behaviour/family background refers to the environment under which a person was brought up in. Most people who were brought up in homes where rude language was a norm may view it as acceptable behaviour, therefore, they end up exerting it on others. Also, cultural differences play a significant role in the enhancement of rude behaviours; people are brought up differently, different cultures have their own set of values and etiquettes, therefore what may be appropriate to one person may appear rude to another. Finally, personality disorders such as narcissistic behaviour and Borderline Personality Disorder may cause people to be rude, insensitive and even lack empathy.
Workplace rudeness tends to be subtle ( Wallace, 2018) thus, inappropriate behaviour may occur regularly without knowledge of the appropriate personnel. Employees who are constantly subjected to rudeness on a daily, tend to have built up feelings and resentment which at the end of the day reflect on their job performance. Workplace rudeness is therefore costly for any business. Rudeness fosters unproductive and unfocused employees; some employees spend most of their time internalising their feelings and thinking of revenge that they get distracted from their duties. This leads to a loss of productivity at workplaces. According to Schmidt, (2017) , research conducted at the Michigan State University discovered that employers lose an approximate $14000 per employee due to incivility at work. Rude employees or employers who may have had nasty encounters at workplaces, tend to be rude to customers as well. Due to the built-up rudeness, employees may treat customers with disrespect, answer them rudely or completely avoid/ignore them. Harper (2017), states that customers who experience incivility from employees end up cutting ties with the organization and take their businesses elsewhere. A loss of customers means a loss of revenue for the company.
We live in a world where many people use social media for different purposes. Disgruntled customers may turn to social media to express their concerns or complaints. With the high number of people with access to social media, the reputation of a company may be tainted and this directly affects its sales as many customers will refrain from associating with it. Where acts of rudeness from supervisors or fellow employees are common, the environment created at a workplace is unpleasant and unhealthy. It, therefore, reduces the morale and general enthusiasm of employees. Their job satisfaction is adversely affected, and this leads to a high employee turn over rate. The company, therefore, incurs extra costs in the hiring of replacements.
According to CTVNews (2017), workplace rudeness also has an adverse effect on an employee’s health and general wellbeing. When people are disrespected at work, they tend to feel more embarrassed or timid. This, in turn, affects their feelings and may lead to the occurrence of stress. Stressed employees lack focus and therefore are unable to process new information or make sound decisions, it leads to a decline in their overall performance and productivity at work. The physical and emotional effects are worse especially where the rude behaviour comes from a supervisor as opposed to a fellow employee. Rude encounters impact an employee's sense of belonging and job security at workplaces. Where an employee does not feel valued or wanted because of constant rudeness either from fellow employees or supervisors, the chances that they will stay in their job is low. There are also physical complications that arise from persistent incivility at workplaces; this includes stomach aches, sleeplessness, and constant headaches. When employees’ health and well-being is affected, it directly reflects on their performance as they may fail to be as productive as they were expected to be. Sometimes when the physical complications are adverse, employees may end up missing work causing them to miss deadlines and increasing costs for the firm.
In Romans 1:28-30, the Bible provides a list of unrighteous behaviour that Christians are supposed to refrain from. Among these acts are malice, slander, insolence, ruthlessness and heartlessness. These are all different forms of meanness; the Bible has made it clear through some verses that it does not condone rudeness. In Mathew 5; 22 Christians are made aware that anyone who is rude towards their brother is liable to judgement. In Titus 3.2 Christians are urged to be gentle towards each other and show courtesy at all times. There are many instances of rudeness in the bible, one of the greatest is seen during Jesus’ crucifixion in Mark 14:62-65 where the high priest tore Jesus’ clothes and everyone condemned him while spitting and blindfolding him. Most Christians believe that the increase of rudeness in the society today is as a result of the absence of fear of God from man. People who lack Christ in their lives, do whatever their wicked hearts lead them to do since they lack restraint over themselves.
When it comes to comparing the Christian opinion of rudeness to that of the secular world, it is clear that both sides are against rude behaviour. The secular world considers rudeness as an unhealthy and uncouth manner, while the Bible completely denounces it. However, the Bible requires Christians to react to acts of rudeness with kindness and to treat those who have been rude to them as their brothers by showing them the right way/ thing to do. Today’s society, however, teaches people to be themselves and always express themselves freely, this most of the time results to people being rude and showing disrespect towards others. The secular world also displays understanding or justification to people who were offensive to others because they were initially rude to them, unlike the Bible that insists on showing kindness in return for rudeness. Both the Bible and the secular world do not condone rude behaviour; they associate it with negative attitudes and outcomes. However, they differ in the handling or response towards the behaviour as the secular world justifies in certain circumstances.
Workplace rudeness goes beyond the workers; it is sometimes also exhibited to the clients. Due to the adverse outcomes of rudeness at workplaces, it is, therefore, necessary for organizations to have in place policies or plans on how to minimize rudeness and its effects (Crampton & Hodge, 2008) . How firms may do this may be through company policies, identification and reaction to behaviour, and implementation of action plans. Workplaces should have among their policies, one that addresses workplace disrespect and rudeness. It is necessary for employees to be educated on appropriate behaviour including the proper use of language, communication skills and civility. With a policy in place, employees will be more aware of their actions and the risks they face if they fail to adhere to the policies. Other forms of training that employees may be put through to help curb rude behaviour at work are emotional intelligence, harassment, personal wellness etc. A firm’s leaders have the responsibility of exhibiting positive actions at all times, therefore, allowing employees to model them. Where leaders are rude, employees may, in turn, end up being stressed or frustrated and lash out on each other; it also makes it hard for them to report other cases of workplace disrespect. Employees need to be assured that they can report any problematic issues that they may have experienced to their leaders at any time. It is the responsibility of leaders to ensure that the information provided by employees is treated with confidentiality to allow them to discuss their issues in details. When concerns are raised, employers should act with immediate effect and investigate the situation before summoning the accused. Workplaces that provide channels for employees to report cases of rudeness without any fear can kill the habit and avoid repeat once action is taken.
Consistency in reacting to policy violations also helps in reducing the rate of workplace rudeness. Action plans are necessary to document the occurrence of the rude behaviours and provide room for follow up. When rude incidents are reported but not addressed, they may become more regular; it is, therefore, necessary to use action plans to ensure that all cases are resolved and closed. Where an employee is constantly reported as rude, adverse discipline action should be taken. Rudeness at workplaces is very contagious, people who experience incivility from others, tend to get frustrated and may, in turn, be rude towards others. Companies should, therefore, strive to address all issues related to rudeness to break any chains that may occur as a result.
It is also essential for organizations to set up expectations on how the workplace will operate and which behaviours will be condoned. The expectations should be clearly defined and communicated allowing all employees to be aware of them. This allows for the shared concept of respect to reign at work environments. When employees have a clear concept of the expectations, they become aware that in the case of ay transgressions, they may be held accountable. This helps them refrain from acts of disrespect, therefore, reducing overall rudeness at work. The most important factor that supervisors need to note is that civility must be taught, whether through teamwork training, conflict resolution training, negotiating training etc. It should not be ignored. With high instigators of rudeness at workplaces being people in power, the response has to occur from the organizations to deter the act.
Workplace rudeness has become a common act that mostly goes unreported; this is because rudeness can be in subtle forms that people may not deem as quite an issue (Wallace, 2018) . The overall effect, however, results to the build-up of feelings of frustrations that may have an adverse impact on an employee. Employees may lash out on their fellow employees or even worse on their customers. Rudeness also creates a hostile working environment that kills people morale and enthusiasm, therefore, leading to a high employee turnover rate. It also directly affects productivity, and when adverse it can cause health issues on the employees such as stress, headaches etc. (Leiter, 2013) . It is necessary for organizations to come up with ways meant for deterring/ reducing workplace rudeness, this could include company policies, action plans etc. When employees can report such acts comfortably, it becomes easier for the company to identify and deal with them appropriately. Rudeness is considered an unpleasant act both in the secular world and in the Bible. It is attributed to negative outcomes, and none encourages it. However, the two differ in the reaction to rudeness where Christians are urged to respond with kindness while the secular world seems to offer justifications for rude responses in certain situations. Generally, workplace rudeness should not be tolerated in any manner as the effects it has on an organization are adverse and costly.
References
American Bible Society. (2000). The Holy Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments . New York: Bartleby.com.
Crampton, S. M., & Hodge, J. W. (2008). Rudeness and Incivility in the Workplace. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics , 1-8. Retrieved from http://www.na-businesspress.com/JLAE/crampton.pdf
CTVNews. (2017, February 16). Workplace rudeness can affect employee health, well-being: study. Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/workplace-rudeness-can-affect-employee-health-well-being-study-1.3289431
Harper, M. G. (2017, September 8). Workplace Rudeness Affects Business Costs, Employees and Customers. Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://onlinecareertips.com/2017/09/workplace-rudeness-business-costs/
Leiter, M. P. (2013). Analyzing and theorizing the dynamics of the workplace incivility crisis (1st ed.). Springer Netherlands.
Schmidt, C. (2017, September 8). Workplace Rudeness Affects Business Costs, Employees and Customers. Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://onlinecareertips.com/2017/09/workplace-rudeness-business-costs/
Vartorella, L. (2018, January 17). Workplace rudeness is on the rise, and it is on bosses to stop it: 3 things to know. Retrieved November 29, 2018, from https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/workplace-rudeness-is-on-the-rise-and-it-is-on-bosses-to-stop-it-3-things-to-know.html
Wallace, J. B. (2018). The Costs of Workplace Rudeness. The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-costs-of-workplace-rudeness-1503061187
