Porath and Pearson (2013)

        Several statistics were able to be formed through a survey conducted by Porath and Pearson (2013), one being that workers on the receiving end of incivility decreased their effort at work by forty-eight percent. This is definitely something that should draw concern to businesses because this is evidence that it affects the bottom line. In this paper I will address how a case of incivility influenced the workplace. To begin with, I’ll inform you of a time that I encountered incivility in the work place and then I’ll describe the perceptions of the fairness due to a manager’s decision. Next, I’ll review how the decision affected the perceptions of the employees in the workplace and then conclude with some options that could have prevented the situation from happening or changed the perception of the outcome.

One of my previous positions I had was in a production office of a manufacturing plant owned by a private company. The production office four co-workers and one small room for the plant manager. This plant manager was a very vocal individual and literally spoke his mind and did what he wanted to do. One of the decisions he made sticks out like a sore thumb to me and I’m positive my co-workers will remember distinctly too. At one of the monthly production meetings the plant manager assigned the warehouse supervisor the task of coming up with a plan to safely store ladders throughout the warehouse. Then, at the next quarterly meeting, the plant manager brought up the issue again and wanted to know how the project went as the warehouse supervisor had supposedly been given ample time to complete the project. The warehouse supervisor expressed that he wasn’t able to give the project the time it needed due to his other responsibilities and then it started – the plant manager completely disrespected this man by turning the meeting into a public display of humiliation on a personal level. However; it didn’t stop at the meeting, myself and my co-workers then got to listen to the verbal rampage continue for another hour in his office following the meeting until the manager rudely excused him from the room. The incivility, known as rude behavior (Walsh, 2014), that the manager displayed was astronomical in comparison to anything I’ve witnessed in a professional environment.

        It went without saying that most everyone that witnessed this event had the perception that this was disrespectful, unprofessional, and unfair treatment. After doing some research I’ve been able to make a few more connections on why it was unfair. In a podcast, it was mentioned that a few important components of procedural fairness are consistency, having an advanced notice, and interactional justice (Brockner, 2008). The plant manager displayed a lack of all three of these as he had not treated another individual similarly in previous meetings. Additionally, the warehouse supervisor never received a notification that this project would be addressed in the meeting as was obvious by the lack of preparation in addressing the safety subject. Lastly, there was a huge lack of interactional justice in the choice to be disrespectful and verbally degrading to the warehouse supervisor. There were certainly better options that could have been used in dealing with the problem; however, first I’d like to mention how it affected the workplace. ^[a]

        The treatment that the warehouse supervisor received carried over to other individuals that witnessed the situation because we were able to apply Immanuel Kent’s categorical imperative which is relative to the golden rule: treat others how you would want to be treated (Nelson & Quick, 2013). My coworkers and I felt sympathetic for the supervisor because we knew we wouldn’t like to be treated in that manner. Additionally, we felt like we were now being led by an individual that wasn’t educated in business ethics or just didn’t care – the latter being the most likely case. The plant manager’s tantrum or display of low emotional stability led to the workplace to having less respect and confidence in him; emotional stability being one of the big five personality traits is defined as an individual that is calm, self-confident, and cool (Nelson & Quick, 2013). Also, the behavior exhibited by the manager placed constraints on communication due to the fear of being treated improperly. Some of this fear could have been avoided if the business established a lower power distance, defined as promoting equality (Walsh, 2014). Now, I will cover some options that could have prevented the situation or made it better.