Rude business

from WAtoday.com.au

It’s often said that people are a lot ruder today than they were 20 years ago. You see it everywhere. On the roads, people littering, people pushing in at queues, various sorts swearing on the streets and, in some instances, rude service by people at the counter. Melbourne architect Dimity Reed bemoans how rude society has become. At the same time, however, it seems that society is becoming more tolerant of rudeness. Indeed, workplace rudeness seems to be glorified on television by the programs like The Apprentice and the likes of Gordon Ramsay whose empire, according to The Wall Street Journal, is experiencing financial troubles. It just seems to be accepted as the way things are.

Still, the reality is we live in a faster-paced society. Things are more informal and people are interacting in ways that never used to happen before. Rudeness comes with the territory. But what sort of impact does that have on companies and people in general?

A new book, reviewed in the Management Issues site, says it can do all sorts of damage to a business and result in $300 billion in lost productivity. Those affected let their performance slip, they lose interest in doing that bit extra or they just look for jobs elsewhere. The research also suggests that eight out of 10 employees who are victims of insults or bullying in the workplace lost work time worrying. A similar proportion felt that their commitment declined as a result. Management Issues writes: “The impact of rudeness [which they define as ranging from "taking credit for others' efforts" to throwing a temper tantrum] isn’t just felt by those directly affected by it. Even those who witness such incidents are likely to be affected by them. Critically, if it is a customer who sees an instance of incivility among staff, there is a fifty percent chance that they will not patronise that business again.”

Think about it. How many times have you walked out of a shop because staff were ignoring you or being off-hand and unhelpful?

Some companies are now taking this seriously. Cisco, for example, has introduced a formal training program based on civility.

But why is there such a rudeness epidemic? As the Financial Times notes, the researchers argue that there might also be economic reasons, all to do with the changing nature of jobs. The fact that jobs today are less permanent might have something to do with it. “ ‘Skilled employees … build their own career paths and establish their relationships with employers on their own terms. One consequence is that employees have become more accustomed to getting what they want and more uncivil when they don’t,’ the authors say. ‘When workplace relationships become transactional rather than loyalty based, civility can seem like a giant waste of time.’ ”

Which raises another question: maybe many of us are rude without actually knowing it. Added to that is one other problem: what might seem rude to some might be seen as acceptable by others. Texting or taking a call on your mobile while in a meeting, or turning up late can be seen by some as perfectly normal behaviour. Others would disagree.

CNN provides six examples of workplace rudeness that some would deem to be perfectly reasonable behaviour: interrupting people, forgetting to say thank you, failing to clean up after yourself, swearing, failing to keep your private phone conversations private and failing to acknowledge other people.

How big a problem is rudeness where you work? Are people ruder now than what they were before? Have you stopped going to certain stores because staff were rude? Are we in the throes of a rudeness epidemic?