Workplace incivility and its effects on employees

Workplace Incivility and its Effects on Employees & the Organisation Works place incivility is a growing phenomenon with many negative consequences when it comes to employ performance. Incivility common place in our institutions and even colleges where it is also negatively affecting the performance of affected learners. As a witness I have experience incivility in the workplace setting where a colleague in a hospital where I was working repeatedly used a language that was intimidate to fellow nurses. This particular nurse assumed that she was more knowledgeable than others and as such looked down on colleagues and her language was rude and demeaning to others.
2. As a result of the uncivil behaviour of the nurse towards others in the workplace the team and organisation at large suffered many consequences. Firstly the nurse was detested by others and as such not any one was willing to work with her. Those who were scheduled to work with her as per the demands of the business did not feel good being at work; they spent a lot of time avoiding her. Communication between this particular nurse and colleagues was therefore severely impaired with consequential negative outcomes for patients. There is no doubt therefore that workplace incivility adversely affects works place relations and organisational performance as a result of diminishing service to customers.
3. My experience with workplace incivility relates with a lot of literature on the topic which has associated incivility in the work environment with negative consequences on productivity. According to Hutton, S., Gates, D. (2008), mobbing that is aimed at intimidating adversely affects the health & welfare of co-workers and also work performance. Other forms of incivility also negatively impact on performance and coherence in the workplace such as bullying. Consequences include an increase in employee absenteeism, lowered productivity; reduce incidence reporting, poor organisational commitment and even the feeling among employees of separation from employees.
4. Faced with workplace incivility, employees respond in different ways which combined adversely and severely affect organisational performance. As a response to the uncivil nurse co-workers tended to avoid her at all costs so as to avoid the embarrassment of being intimidated. They avoided being in the same office with her, attending to patients with her, and even just talking to her. When scheduled to work at the same time with her some colleagues even opted to be absent from work. The ultimate effect was poor communication and poor service to customers.
5. The manager on his part responded to the problem by inviting all employees in a meeting where the problem was approached head on. The manager apprehended the reported uncivil nurse and warned her of severe consequences in case of a repeat of the same. He then reminded the entire team on the importance of teamwork, respect for colleagues and working with organisational goals in the mind. He also read to the entire team the organisations position on incivility and encouraged immediate reporting of any uncivil acts.
6. I think the manager’s manner of handling the situation was very appropriate and concurred very well with available literature on how to respond to incivility in the workplace. According to literature the vice can be eliminated by setting zero tolerance standards, approaching it in an honest manner, teaching civility, weeding it out before it affects the entire organisation, listening to what is on the ground, heeding warning signs swiftly and hammering incivility when it occurs (Kerfoot, 2008).
7. In conclusion therefore incivility refers to acts of deviance with a permeating intention of harming victims against norms of the workplace such mutual respect for one another. The outcomes are obviously negative and affect both the targets and the entire organisation. Communication is impaired, teamwork killed, and the moral of employees decreased. This translates into poor organisational performance as a result of the incoherence in the team which translates into poor service to customers and ultimately poor public image for the organisation.
Works Cited.
1. Hutton, S. A. Workplace Incivility: State of the Science. Journal of Nursing Administration, 2006: 36(1), p 22-27.
2.
Hutton, S., Gates, D. Workplace Incivility and Productivity Losses Among Direct Care Staff. AAOHN Journal, 2008: 56(4), 168-175.
3.
Kerfoot, K. M. Leadership, Civility, and the No Jerks Rule. Urologic Nursing, 2008: 28(2), 149-150.