Civility and Respect towards Employees

Civility and Respect towards Employees

Research on Civility by Christine Porath revealed that the 20,000 respondents (employees from all over the world) ranked "respect" as the most important leadership behavior.
However these same 20,000 respondents also report disrespectful and uncivil behavior is increasing each year!
Porath's quite current book in these times of President Trump shows what incivility is costing organizations in an entertaining mix of statistical data and anecdotal evidence about the cost and reward to incivil and civil behavior. While some of the civility strategies discussed in the book could be considered somewhat basic (Say please and thank you, Don't interrupt, Share credit, Ask questions rather than barking orders), a surprising amount of leaders, managers, and organizations don't always practice them 😉.

According to Kristy Rogers, the main reason for this remarkable disconnect” between the importance and current practice of respect is that some managers could be unaware of the difference between "owed respect" and "earned respect":

• OWED RESPECT is given equally to all members of an organization. It includes civility and a culture that each employee is considered inherently valuable.
  A lack of owed respect is typical for following situations/environments: Taylor-like, micromanagement, uncivil, abuse of power, sense that employees are interchangeable.
• EARNED RESPECT recognizes specific individuals who are showing valued qualities or behaviors, or are achieving good results. It distinguishes employees who have exceeded expectations and, particularly in knowledge work settings, affirms that each employee has unique strengths and talents.
  A lack of earned respect is signaled by phenomena like: stealing credit for other peoples’ success, failing to recognize (and reward) individual achievements by employees.

Sources:
Christine Porath, "Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace", 2016, Grand Central Publishing
Kristie Rogers, “Do your Employees Feel Respected? Show Workers that they’re Valued, and your Business will Flourish”, HBR Jul-Aug 2018, pp. 62-71

		Comments Sort by date Sort by rating Rating
		2 KOEHL Maryse Professor, France
	Respect in Organizations Interesting this approach of owed respect and earned respect in managing. Respect is a base of the r... Sign up

		1 Paramathmuni srinivas Kumar India
	Owed Respect in Recogntion of Potential If one recognizes the potential of each employee (in terms of inherent capacity to grow etc.), then ... Sign up

		4 Ivan Kohlinsky Management Consultant, United Kingdom
	Don't we Expect This Universally? Isn't it that the respect that we should give and show (and really expect in return) in every aspect... Sign up

		3 Steven Cooke, Philippines
	What Causes the Lack of Civility/Respect? As noted in the examples for each type, a general lack of civility and respect in any form is an ind... Sign up

		1 Graham Williams Management Consultant, South Africa
	Civility and Respect Towards Employees A bit of a chicken and egg problem; is civility and respect a manifestation of values or does the pr... Sign up

		2 Riphagen Financial Consultant, Netherlands
	Respect in Times of Radical Change What if one wants to increase the performance of a business and if a small or incremental increase i... Sign up

		1 Emmanuel Rasesia Teacher, Botswana
	Owed Respect versus Earned Respect Thanks for providing the distinction between the two (owed versus earned respect). I have always be... Sign up

		3 Graham Williams Management Consultant, South Africa
	Respect Towards Employees is not a Means to an End I believe that respect comes from the inside out - and is not a tool to be used to influence perform... Sign up

		3 Bernhard Keim Business Consultant, Germany
	The Importance of Respect in Organizations and Society If you want to be heard you must pay respect to others. Listening is the hallmark of an OPEN ORGANIZ... Sign up

		4 Steven Cooke, Philippines
	Sincerity / Respect is not a Method @Graham Williams: That's a VERY pertinent and important point in many "management" discussions! Resp... Sign up

		3 Jaap de Jonge Editor, Netherlands
	Is Respect Innate or Acquired? @Steven Cooke: Thanks for your contribution to this topic. I agree for many people being civil or re... Sign up

		1 Steven Cooke, Philippines
	Acquiring Respectability @Jaap de Jonge: I agree that some people are unfortunately deficient in "respect" characteristics. ... Sign up

		2 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	Recognition Shows Respect How do we show respect towards and employee? Through recognition. Recognition is based on considera... Sign up

		1 Bill Boynton Teacher, United States
	New Operating Norm I believe the value of respect is a critical component for self-realization, of becoming all that on... Sign up

		1 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	Respect is Earned not Owed Replace “respect” with “civility”; the messages are the same. No-one is “owed” respect; it is not a... Sign up

		0 Steven Cooke, Philippines
	Civilization and Honor @Maurice Hogarth: I agree that there is a necessary but subtle distinction between attitudes that ar... Sign up

		0 Graham Williams Management Consultant, South Africa
	Civility and Respect Towards Employees Here's an article I've written quite recently and I believe it is relevant to this discussion: Show ... Sign up

		1 Maurice Hogarth Consultant, United Kingdom
	Respect Dissed @Steven Cooke: Yes. It seems also to be demonstrated by gang leaders who demand "respect" and punish... Sign up