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It is not always easy to work with a smile on your face, as the worries of daily life affect your morale. A bad night’s sleep or a tiring commute can quickly make us lose our cool, much to the dismay of our colleagues. While these bloodshed are regrettable, they could, in the long term, encourage us to show more kindness in the office.
This is what asserts a study published in the Journal of Business Ethics. Its authors looked at the repercussions of incivility at work. If management literature has repeatedly shown that rudeness spreads quickly in companies, few studies have focused on how a lack of courtesy affects the people who are victims of it and those who perpetuate it.
American researchers asked employees to remember times when they were rude to a colleague. They found that employees who lose their temper in the office tend to quickly feel guilty. They often talk about their misconduct to their partner once they return home. Nothing surprising in itself: it is not uncommon for couples to tell each other about their respective working days over a drink or a good dinner.
But what is more surprising is that these conversations influence their behavior. Indeed, employees who showed rudeness in the office the day before tend to be particularly pleasant the next day. “Because you feel guilty, the next day at work you work harder and you are more careful not to be rude again“, explains Klodiana Lanaj, co-author of the study, in a statement.
This shows that employees are much more concerned about their professional reputation than we imagine. They don’t want their faults to follow them and for their colleagues—and especially their superiors—to see them as “the cad in the company.” “When you are rude, you are also hurting yourself. Guilt is a complex phenomenon. It is heavy, but it can also help us pull ourselves together by fighting against incivility and pushing us to be more involved at work.“, underlines Daniel Kim, also co-author of the study.
Bad mood at work could therefore be good. But it is worth remembering that we must try, as much as possible, to show courtesy and respect in the professional sphere. It is much more pleasant to have friendly relations with your colleagues than to fear that one of them will let their frustration explode in the middle of an open space. We want to work more in a light atmosphere, where good manners are valued, than in a tense climate.
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