CorpComms Magazine

Do you suffer under a rude and surly boss in the workplace? Does your manager think that Alan Sugar's aggressive style in The Apprentice is the only way to motivate and inspire staff?

If the answer is a resounding yes, then you're not alone. A survey of more than 1,100 employees by workplace communications consultancy Colette Hill Associates shows that discourtesy and rudeness are common in the workplace, particularly when it comes to abuses of power by more senior figures.

The research, entitled 'Business behaving badly', reveals that nearly half the employees surveyed feel they have been bullied into doing things, and four out of ten employees believe that junior staff have been ignored in the workplace.

It is a sad indictment of UK businesses, but even the government isn't immune to discourtesy. In May, beleaguered deputy prime minister John Prescott suffered further ignominy when his staff had to go on workshops to learn how to tackle inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.

Managers don't come out of the report well. More than one third of employees claim that their boss rarely praises them, and four out of ten employees feel that their organisations haven't worked out how to give criticism constructively.

Case study - E.ON

E.ON is a global power company that employs 14,000 people in the UK. It launched a set of values last year known as OneE.ON. These values underpin the way the company does business, explains UK internal communications manager Lesley Kent. 'We developed new values in the middle of last year that are about integrity, openness, trust, mutual respect, courage and social responsibility, and they form the whole framework of how we expect our people to operate.'

The OneE.ON programme has a project team with staff represented from each business unit, sponsored by one of the directors. Since launching the programme, E.ON's UK internal communications team has ensured that OneE.ON is on every management conference agenda. The behaviours that exemplify these values are also embedded into the performance management system, adds Kent.

Clare Harbord, head of UK communications at the power company, adds that the values of the company are communicated at the induction stage. 'When people join us, they're given a briefing and then they are monitored on those values,' she says.

One way that managers are measured on their 'good' or 'bad' behaviours is through monthly meetings where these behaviours are flagged up, adds Harbord.

The values of trust and mutual respect have served the German-headquartered company well through a number of acquisitions over the years, claims Harbord. 'E.ON has bought companies in both Europe and the US in the last couple of years, and the integration has gone well as those companies have been treated as equal partners.'

Who's the boss?

Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at the Lancaster Business School, believes that managers are so consumed with delivering results that courtesy goes out the window. 'A lot of people are so bottom-line-driven that they don't think about the consequences of being rude,' reflects Cooper. 'Nobody wants to work in a place where they are undermined. They want to feel valued and not just a cog in the machine.'

Courtesy in the workplace is not static and reflects the culture of the time, suggests Khalid Aziz, chairman of the Aziz Corporation, a UK executive communications consultancy that works with FTSE 100 companies. 'While in the past, children were taught manners at school and then had the rough edges knocked off them at university and through general social interaction, this is no longer always the case,' he says. 'Today, business is fast-moving and time constraints mean that bosses are frequently too preoccupied to think about common courtesy.'

The survey found that public reprimands by managers remain a part of working life. More than half the respondents confessed that they sometimes or often resorted to reprimanding staff in front of others.

Sue Wright is founding partner of employee engagement consultancy NKD Group and has held board-level positions in the RAC, British Airways and Barclays. She believes the findings reflect the fact that the command-and-control style of management is alive and well in the UK. 'I talk to a lot of managers in their early to mid-40s and ask them, Which leaders do you admire?' she says. 'They often mention Alan Sugar and Gordon Ramsay. This is almost legitimising the idea that it's OK to get a bollocking.'

Culture clash

Who dictates the working culture? Cooper believes that senior management is responsible for setting the tone and culture of an organisation. 'The top people in the organisation must say that the following behaviours are unacceptable, and it's up to them to reinforce this by their own good behaviour.'

Aziz believes that managers are often promoted on the basis of their technical ability but lack the softer skills such as 'emotional intelligence' needed to motivate and communicate with staff. 'People who fail to appreciate the importance of emotional intelligence will struggle to get the best out of their employees,' he says.

One area where the clearest signs of rudeness are displayed is at meetings. The research revealed that four out of ten employees reported that junior staff were ignored in meetings. Other complaints raised included people trying to dominate meetings, cancellations at the last minute, people interrupting colleagues, and people checking e-mails or using their mobile phone during meetings.

Wright believes that internal comms has a vital role to play in establishing courtesy in the workplace. 'It also has a coaching role to play in encouraging staff to become more effective communicators,' she says.

Internal communications departments need to be aware that the values of trust and mutual respect mean nothing unless the behaviours underpinning them are brought to life within

the organisation, adds Wright: 'It's not about placing values on mouse mats or screensavers within the company.'

Top tips on corporate courtesy

? When it comes to difficult conversations, meet face to face in private where you won't be interrupted

? Start a difficult conversation by building a rapport and establishing common ground. Use collaborative language

? Praise people in the way with which they feel most comfortable. It may be a private conversation, a formal letter, a casual e-mail copied to a few interested colleagues, or even a full-blown public announcement

? Before you send an e-mail, stop to consider whether you should be communicating in a different way - for example, face to face or by letter

? Avoid aggression. Treat others as you wish to be treated and look at situations from both sides

Added values

In Wright's opinion, the companies that are successful at creating a culture of respect and courtesy in the workplace have become so through integrating those values and behaviours into their performance management systems. 'Unless you put the behaviours in your performance management system and link with some consequences that reinforce the idea that you're serious about behaviour, it's just wallpaper.'

But does courtesy matter in the workplace, particularly when it comes to the performance of an organisation? Wright believes that a lack of respect within the workplace has implications for a company's performance. 'It has an impact on retention rates; if you don't have employees who feel valued and who respect each other, you're not going to provide a high level of customer service,' she says.

Clare Harbord, head of UK communications for power giant E.ON, agrees that rudeness in the workplace can be detrimental to an organisation's success. 'I think if you have a disrespectful culture, it undermines teamwork and can have a real impact on motivation as well as stifling creativity within the workforce,' she says. 'People are fearful of coming up with ideas.'

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