How To Fight Incivility in the Workplace

Violence is a widespread phenomenon that is increasingly common in modern society. In addition to repression, wars and terrorist attacks, the media transmit daily reports of mutilation by people to each other, as in "civilized" and the more primitive societies. Arguably then, is it a real increase in violence or simply a more detailed coverage of topics. In the end, the violence - it is a characteristic feature of human relationships from prehistoric times. However, in modern industrial society, violence is a major cause of death, and some of the social strata - the leading cause, and more and more recognized as a problem of public health protection.

Inevitably, it also arises in the workplace. According to data collected by national surveillance system of vocational, from 1980 to 1989 murders took third place among the main causes of violent death in the workplace in North America. During this period, killing at work accounted for 12 percent of deaths from injuries in the workplace, their number exceeded only injury from the engines and machines. By 1993 the figure had risen to 17% and was 0.9 deaths per 100,000 workers. In second place is death, associated with vehicles (Toscano and Vindau, 1994). Among female workers, it remains a leading cause of death in the workplace, despite the fact that the percentage of them (0.4 deaths per 100,000) was lower than in men (1.2 deaths per 100 000).

These deaths, however, represent only the "tip of the iceberg." For example, in 1992, about 2,400 U.S. workers quite seriously injured in the workplace as a result of the attack and asked for a temporary release from work to undergo treatment. (Toscano and Vindau, 1994). Reliable and complete data are available, but it is estimated that for every death there of a few thousand cases of violence in the workplace. In his newsletter, "Unison" - a major British union workers on health and public service - said that the violence - "the greatest threat to workers. This risk, which often leads to injury and can result in unmanageable levels of stress, which humiliates the personal dignity and prevents people continue to work".

If rude behavior at work is not checked, this is a slow poison for productivity. A study by researchers at the University of South Florida has shown that 69 percent of the surveyed group of people is treated condescendingly at their workplace and this is reflected in their daily work. The present results in the study director Lisa Penney and Paul Spector at the annual conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, between 11 and 13 April in Orlando / Florida. The real danger lies, according to scientists is that rude behavior can increase even more negative behavior (Haines, Ted, et al, p. 141-152). Rude people are treated in the workplace; they tend to be counter-productive actions. For example, 72 percent of respondents due to disrespectful treatment in the company over other disparaging remarks about the ...