The deadly cost of workplace rudeness

Teams from universities in multiple countries recently conducted five eye-opening studies about rudeness, uncovering that even mild instances of this behavior can significantly impair employees’ performance. This could have potentially life-threatening consequences in critical fields like health care.

What the researchers say: “Many workplaces treat rudeness as a minor interpersonal issue,” the lead author said. “Our research shows that it’s a major threat to productivity and even safety. Organizations should treat it as such.”

The researchers, who published their findings in the Journal of Applied Psychology, evaluated teams in various settings (including a medical simulation) and found that exposure to rude behavior dramatically reduced team functioning. Surprisingly, the impact of rudeness was disproportionate to its intensity. In one study, relatively mild rude comments from an external source accounted for 44% of the variance in medical teams’ performance quality.

The studies also discovered that rudeness functions as a social threat, triggering defensive responses in team members. This causes individuals to become less prosocial and more selfish, hindering the cooperation and coordination essential for effective teamwork. Specifically, teams exposed to rudeness showed reduced information sharing and workload sharing, which are two critical components of team performance. In medical settings, this translated to poorer execution of lifesaving procedures.

“Our research helps us understand the effect rudeness can have on team dynamics, especially in urgent, intense situations like in health care,” the researchers explained. “By understanding how rudeness triggers self-focused behaviors and impairs communication, we’re not just advancing academic knowledge; we’re uncovering insights that could save lives. It’s a powerful reminder that the way we interact with each other has real-world consequences, especially in critical situations.”

While the findings show that rudeness in the medical field could have deadly effects on patients, rudeness can also have severe implications for teams across various industries. Whether the rudeness comes from supervisors, colleagues, or even customers, it degrades team cooperation and coordination, leading to consistently negative impacts on team outcomes.

The researchers recommend that organizations seek to implement solutions that help teams prepare for dealing with perceived threatening situations like rudeness. Training aimed at building team member resilience and mindfulness, for example, may better prepare employees for dealing with these situations.

“As our understanding of workplace dynamics evolves, our research underscores a critical point: in the quest for high-performing teams, sometimes the smallest courtesies can make the biggest difference,” they concluded.

So, what? This is an important study. There has been much research into the effects of bullying at work and elsewhere, but little into rudeness. Rudeness triggers the sympathetic nervous system—the fight, flight or freeze response.

Obviously, this is antithetical to good collaboration, productivity and even safety.