The Science of Incivility

An anonymous reader writes: Stress causes health issues — we've known this for years. But what's harder to figure out is what exactly qualifies as stress. It's easy to understand that working as an EMT or police officer can be stressful. But as medical researchers are beginning to learn, minor stress events common to all workplaces eventually add up — the cumulative stress from workplace incivility can have huge consequences for both health and performance. "A study published in 2012 that tracked women for 10 years concluded that stressful jobs increased the risk of a cardiovascular event by 38 percent. ... In [another] study, the experimenter belittled the peer group of the participants, who then performed 33 percent worse on anagram word puzzles and came up with 39 percent fewer creative ideas during a brainstorming task focused on how they might use a brick." Many people brush off efforts to be civil, saying they have too little time, or too much on their mind. But further studies have shown it takes very little — a smile here and there, or the occasional "thank you" — to have surprisingly strong effects on how people are perceived. The article argues that it's worth the effort, given the costs for failure.

Comments

Be Nice

[Anonymous Coward]

Be nice to people on the way up, because you're going to meet them again on the way down :)

Re:Be Nice

[weilawei]

Moving parts in rubbing contact require lubrication to avoid excessive wear. Honorifics and formal politeness provide lubrication where people rub together. Often the very young, the untraveled, the naïve, the unsophisticated deplore these formalities as "empty," "meaningless," or "dishonest," and scorn to use them. No matter how "pure" their motives, they thereby throw sand into machinery that does not work too well at best.

-- RAH

Re:Most common reason not listed?

[Anonymous Coward]

Them: [escalation to manager/HR]

Then you escalate to your manager, and the managers resolve the issue and direct the subordinates to execute the task. Just because you have a good idea for another group's project/work doesn't mean they are required to implement it, even if your idea is better in every way and fixes said issue. It may seem necessary to you but if it doesn't affect their work, then it's optional to them (unless directed to execute). This is just common work flow, not people being 'snow flakes' who ignore criticism. People work for bosses and you are not their boss.