Civility Matters in Management, Too

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A friend recently complained to me about how uncivil the comments were that she was receiving on Twitter; and yes, as a longtime Twitter user, I can attest that there's plenty of dialogue out there that's not just "uncivil" but downright nasty and angry.

Of course, it's well known that the anonymity of social media makes it a cauldron for all kinds of unfiltered undesirable behavior. Combine that with the rancorous tone that is the hallmark of political discourse (if you call it that) these days, and it's reasonable to conclude that if civility isn't dead, it's at least badly ailing.

But there's another less-scrutinized area where civility matters, too—a lot. That's business management.

High costs in business

Over a period of decades Christine Porath, a Georgetown University management professor, has examined the issue of civility, and lack thereof, in the workplace. In one discussion of her work in Harvard Business Review, she summed up the human and productivity costs organizations suffered when employees felt they were treated uncivilly:

• 78% felt their "commitment to the organization" was reduced.
• 47% decreased their time spent at work.
• 66% believed "their performance declined."

Simply put, data shows that when people feel they're being treated rudely at work, they don't like it, they don't work as hard, and they have less loyalty to their company.

Responses to rudeness

It's not at all surprising that behavior that's widely modeled throughout society would show up in the business world as well. My own experience over decades in management leads me to fully agree with Porath. I've personally seen people shouted at, berated, and dressed-down—and employees in tears on multiple occasions. There's plenty of rude behavior in business and unquestionably it has substantive costs.

A few additional personal observations: The amount of nasty uncivil behavior can vary from company to company, and even from organization to organization within a company. People take their lead from senior management. When rude behavior is modeled by those with power it's readily repeated.

Further, and again not surprisingly, on the receiving end of harsh treatment variables of personality come into play. Some people are virtually impervious to criticism; they have, as my wife describes it, "the hide of an armadillo." Harsh words roll right off them and they just get back to work and move on stolidly with their day. But these leathery types aren't that common. Then there are the more sensitive folks. Rudeness and angry words immediately throw them off their game. Uncivil treatment upsets them; it's something they don't easily forget. Some would rather leave their jobs than deal with it—and they do.

In the end, it's important to remember that management has a serious job to do. It needs to get results. But how you do that matters. You can't be sweet as honey all the time and do your job properly. But there are many different ways to get a message across. Bottom line: Resorting to uncivil behavior just is not an effective way to do it.