The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do about It

Citation

Pearson, C. (2010), "The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do about It", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 18 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/hrmid.2010.04418fae.002

The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do about It

Article Type: Suggested reading From: Human Resource Management International Digest, Volume 18, Issue 6

Christine Pearson and Christine PorathPenguin2009ISBN: 1591842611

Evidence of growing incivility is all around us, from road rage to presidential hecklers. Business in the USA also has an incivility problem. According to authors, Christine Pearson and Christine Porath, workplace incivility is at the top of the list of economic drains on American business. The problem is getting worse. Their research shows, for example, that in 1998, 25 percent of the workforce they polled had been treated rudely at least once a week. By 2005, that number had risen to almost 50 percent.

The two professors (Thunderbird School of Global Management and Marshall School of Business, respectively) have written an important work that stands out in the flood of books providing guidance on how to improve organizational performance through employee trust and engagement. The authors detail the incivility phenomenon (chapters 1-4); describe the costs of incivility and demonstrate how they can be estimated (chapters 5-11); and offer a wide range of solutions (chapters 12-17).

The study spans ten years and includes interviews, surveys, observations and workshops with people from all levels of organizations in the USA. More than 9,000 people contributed perceptions, insights and recommendations.

Pearson and Porath define incivility as “the exchange of seemingly inconsequential, inconsiderate words and deeds that violate conventional norms of workplace conduct”. They note that incivility is a subjective phenomenon that ultimately comes down to how a given action makes a person feel.

The manifestations of incivility that Pearson and Porath cite are wide ranging and include: failing to return telephone calls or respond to e-mails; checking e-mail during meetings; not listening; withholding information; talking down to others; taking credit for the efforts of others; shutting someone out of a network or team; belittling the efforts of others; passing blame for mistakes; spreading rumors about colleagues; and setting others up for failure.

The authors’ discussion of the manifestations of incivility does not provide the depth this reviewer was looking for. Not all incivilities are equal. Not returning a phone call is at one end of the spectrum and setting others up for failure at the other end. Given the depth and breadth of field research, I expected to see some type of analytic framework to help to make sense of the many manifestations of incivility.

A simple framework would facilitate the exploration of critical questions such as: What are the predominant types of incivility? Is there a link between root causes of incivility and the types of incivility? Which types of incivility have the greatest negative impact? Where should leaders focus their efforts in rebuilding and sustaining a civil culture?

Creating such a framework can help to guide further research. For example, one of the most powerful yet subtle forms of incivility might be the ultimate act of omission: pure neglect. How often, as coaches and consultants, do we hear stories about bosses who have little to no contact with their employees? This reviewer recalls a senior coaching client who said that his direct supervisor – a partner in a well-known management consulting firm – had not answered any of his e-mails in over a month.

Pearson and Porath provide some valuable insights into the nature of incivility. For example, 60 percent of the offenders have a higher job status than the recipients. Men are twice as likely to be an offender. Offenders are generally half-a-dozen years older than their targets. What I had hoped to see was a macro view of the problem. Specifically, are there any patterns around industry type, size of organization, organizational structure or culture?

The authors argue that the costs of incivility can be estimated. The authors walk us through a detailed calculation method used by Cisco. The estimate is based on quantifying the scope and impact of the following effects resulting from incivility: loss of work time worrying; loss of work time avoiding the offender; price for a weakened sense of commitment; price for intentionally reducing their efforts; decrease in time spent at work; loss of work time thinking about changing jobs; replacement costs caused by exit; increase in stress-related health-care costs; legal costs; cost of managing incivility; and absenteeism. Using the Cisco cost-estimation method, they calculated that the cost of incivility to a $1 billion health-care organization was $71 million a year.

If managers take up the challenge of calculating the cost of incivility, it will highlight the need to take immediate corrective actions and to develop a long-term strategy to address incivility.

The authors have done well in surveying the landscape on the tangible and intangible impacts of incivility. Their survey capably looks at the impact from several perspectives: on the individual in terms of stress and burnout; on the team in terms of lost productivity and creativity; and on the organization in terms of turnover and negative impact on reputation.

On turnover, they note that over half the employees treated uncivilly contemplate leaving the organization, and one in eight actually does. Further, damage to company’s reputation can have a significant effect on its valuation.

Cisco, the authors tell us, was “the first corporation to institute a formal program focused on civility”. At the heart of the program is a set of detailed guidelines to help people to recognize and respond to increasing levels of incivility. Starbucks uses an annual leadership conference to review values and guiding principles. DaVita Inc, a health-services company, takes extra care to hire “with its values firmly in mind”. Microsoft revamped its entire learning and development program with a focus on civility and respect. O’Melveny & Meyers, a global law firm, uses upward feedback to drive a positive civil culture.

Pearson and Porath’s case studies focus only on organizations that addressed the incivility issue before it became a significant problem. The research would have been enhanced if they had highlighted organizations that have overcome incivility challenges.

The authors devote the final section of their insightful work to a survey of solutions to the incivility problem. After providing a useful guide to creating a civil workplace, they discuss solutions from the lens of leadership, the target (i.e. the victim of uncivil behavior), the offender and society at large. Their “top ten things a firm should do to create a civil workplace” is one of the most valuable sections of the book and is worth listing here: set zero-tolerance expectations; look in the mirror; weed out trouble before it enters your organization; teach civility; train employees and mangers how to recognize and respond to incivility; put your ear to the ground and listen carefully (for example, through 360-degree feedback); when incivility occurs, hammer it; take complaints seriously; do not make excuses for powerful instigators; and invest in post-departure interviews.

The book’s great strength – its focus on the target of incivility – is also the source of its greatest weakness. In the chapters on the roots of incivility as well as the chapters on solving the problem, the focus on the offender (that is, the bully) is not as robust as it could be. In the overview of the roots of incivility, the focus is almost exclusively on external influences on offenders: indulgent parenting; the growing chasms in politics and the media; growing stress and anxiety levels; negative global economic trends; the pace of life; and the loss of employee/employer compact. The only mention of offenders themselves is the discussion of the cynical and narcissistic nature of Generation Xers. Should not the offender be asked to accept more responsibility for his or her actions rather than being allowed to attribute them to external sources?

Pearson and Porath have written an insightful book on a timely topic. They have provided the key elements of a plan of action to deal with one of the most disturbing and significant challenges we face in the workplace – the cost of bad behavior and the impact it is having on the quest for organizational excellence. The authors should be commended for their courage and tenacity in addressing a topic that most of us have faced and will face again in the future.

Reviewed by Chuck Appleby, The Monfort Institute, Monfort College of Business, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado, USA.

A longer version of this review was originally published in Journal of Organizational Change Management, Vol. 23 No. 2, 2010.