The Cost of Bad Behavior: How Incivility Is Damaging Your Business and What to Do About It Hardcover – July 9, 2009

Those familiar with Think Like a Black Belt know that the fundamental principle underlying everything I talk about is the simple, powerful concept of "Respect." The continual decay of respect and rise of incivility is threatening contemporary society- most people have no clue as to the extent of the damage.

"The Cost of Bad Behavior" by Christine Pearson and Christine Porath quantifies the clear and present danger in stark detail and they support their argument with irrefutable data that is both compelling and horrifying.
"As we look across society today, an important question for us becomes: Is incivility really as bad as it seems? The answer seems to be yes..."

Their assessments of the high dollar cost of disrespectful behavior, particularly in the workplace nothing short of sickening. From the introduction:

Percentage of people in the United States who:

*Believe incivility is a problem: 80 percent
*Have experienced incivility at work: 96 percent
*Experience stress because of workplace incivility: 60 percent

The cost? The authors cite that 12 percent of workers leave their jobs because they were treated uncivily.

Average price of replacing each of those employees: $50,000
Annual cost of job stress to U.S. corporations: $300 billion
Amount of time Fortune 1000 executives spend resolving employee conflicts: 7 WEEKS per year (emphasis added)

In one particularly compelling case study Pearson and Porath detail the efforts of Cisco Systems to analyze the cost of incivility in their company. Note that arguably, the fact that Cisco was so pro-active in their approach indicates that their results probably represent the lower end of the damage spectrum as they are obviously an example of a company with a very positive workplace culture. Still, Cisco found that "the organization wide costs for potential time lost by targets who worried about additional uncivil incidents and future interactions with offenders totaled nearly $2 million per year. With estimates for the costs of weakened commitment (also calculated as lost productivity value) and job changes (calculated on the basis of cost per hire) added in, the total topped $8 million."

They add that this is not the ultimate cost- it's just the "starting point" and doesn't include secondary costs!

You may not run a global corporation like Cisco. For the small business person the cost in proportion to the total output of the business may be even more devastating. If you have 4 employees, what is the impact of losing one employee to incivility? The authors provide a detailed accounting procedure to help you analyze this cost no matter what size business you operate.
The damage does not stop there.

"The Cost of Bad Behavior" explores the damage to our society on every level including our education system. Perhaps the most disturbing is the cost to the individual. Incivility and disrespect it seems actually alters your brain chemistry. "It seems that whether the snake is in the garden or in the next cubicle, flight or fight responses kick in."

Unchecked, this condition can destroy your health. "Incivility may spark an effect similar to post-traumatic stress disorder." Continued exposure to stress induced by an offender can cause "brain burn." Quoting Dr. Edward Hallowell, the authors claim that "This leaves a scar that is not only psychological but physical. According to Hallowell, high levels of adrenaline pumped through the body under these conditions actually burn a hole in the brain, creating a permanent `tatoo.'"

This damage is lasting and untreated can leave an indelible mark on one's life.

While I greatly appreciate "The Cost of Bad Behavior" for saving me the trouble of having to conduct expensive scientific studies to support the value of my work in workplace respect, my endorsement is really inspired by the solutions the authors offer. They're not leaving us to wring our hands and wait for the imminent collapse of civilization; they detail clear steps you can take to cultivate and maintain a respectful environment at work or on campus.

For the record- incivility and disrespect does not necessarily include playful teasing, welcome flirting or even scathing comedy in the proper context. It does not include firm but warranted criticism and even appropriate expressions of anger. Political correctness is no solution and neither is the attempt to sanitize our language or culture.

The solution is to empower people to be more confident and resilient and less susceptible to the damaging effects of incivility while also enforcing clear standards of civility and respect where appropriate, particularly at work and on campus. To be blunt, you don't go to work or school to be abused.

The continuing advance of communication technology that can create barriers of anonymity and remove us from the direct face to face interaction we're designed to handle, this problem will likely grow- unless we're willing to commit to a sincere effort to restore respect and civility to our culture.

"The Cost of Bad Behavior" is an essential addition to your Black Belt Mindset library- and one that may just save you lots of money, help you keep your health and sanity and most important- inspire you to be part of the solution!

Jim Bouchard
Author of THINK Like a BLACK BELT

I have long been fascinated by how individuals get away with behavior in the workplace that would not be tolerated in grade school. The authors have done a fabulous job bringing attention to this acute problem in many businesses along with the emotional and tangible costs that result. But to me the subject of 'incivility' goes beyond inappropriate texting and conversation interruptions. The least beneficial behavior is far worse and may have once been called "office politics". It is when individuals or factions fight it out with each other using petty tactics like withholding information, CC:ing a large number of people to embarrass or denigrate someone's performance, or voicing support for an initiative publicly but doing all to derail it behind the scenes. This behavior remains incredible to me even after 20+ years in corporations especially since all it does is benefit one's competitors in the market where the real fight should take place. The book is well researched and the authors are cautiously optimistic regarding human behavior. However, I am left wondering if it is the corporation's responsibility to correct the behavior of employees who have patterned themselves in a negative way from their formative years.

This book should be required reading in every business course in the country. It's a reminder that trust and consideration for fellow employees are the foundations for successful organizations. Of all of the books about business and management that are available this book succinctly targets the biggest problem of all with developing successful organizations, the toxic Machiavellian and political roles people wrongly think that they must use to get ahead. Employee law suits, EEOC and Unions would not be necessary if the principles in this book were practiced and the cost of running the business would be a damn sight cheaper in terms of cost, time and attitudes. Some very good examples are included to emphasize this point.

What a great and fast read. What I liked was the evidence presented by the authors about the costs of bad behaviors in our organizations. One fact that resonated was the high percentage of people who will get back at the offendor. We see these exchanges going on in our organizations every day, often masked as organizational politics. Often it is the executive team that has to be convinced of the price that the organization pays when bad actors are allowed to behave in an uncivil disruptive manner. What can be a challenge is convincing management that the highly competent person (in terms of their technical ability to get the work done) with disruptive behaviors is detrimental. In fact there is a price to pay and oftentimes these people make the team 30 - 40 % less productive. A colleague bought this book for the entire senior team as a way to address some disruptive behaviors in the company. Personally I site this book all of the time in my work.

This is a must read for anyone dealing with customers. It should be required reading to work in the customer service fields. I wholeheartedly believe it contributed to my ability to cross the gender pay gap and make more than my male coworkers.

Christine Porath and Christine Pearson understand good leadership practices in the workplace and how much it means as far as productivity and bottom lines results are concerned.
This book is an important read for executives, OD and HR professionals. Too few companies have winning organizational cultures, most won't admit it, rather they blame the economy and or competition. This book identifies the the adverse effects of negative energy. I hope it causes those of us who are bosses to realize the difference we could make by creating a high energy, excited, collaborative and loyal team.

Great enlightening book would definitely recommend others to read its provides detailed and interesting information of the impact of deviant "bad" behavior in the workplace

love it - all organizations should read this