Corporate Rudeness

A recent business forum I follow was focusing on rudeness in the workplace and how to create a better corporate culture. One participant suggested that HR professionals needed to introduce courses to teach employees how to behave.

The issues this brings up are numerous, but I will leave some of them for future posts. For now, I would suggest that if you did not learn how to treat others – friends or co-workers – when you were growing up, taking a course now is not going to help. It’s like teaching business ethics to MBA students: it’s already too late.

Rudeness and it’s related activities are part of any business’s corporate culture. That culture is created at the top. If the chief executive allows  it in the executive suite, it will be tolerated in every corner of the business.

If the CEO creates an environment based on civility his or her managers will run their departments the same way.

Examples are numerous but even this week the impact is clear. When the Chicago Tribune suspends an executive for sending an improper email just days after the New York times featured a lengthy report on the ‘bankrupt’ corporate culture at the newspaper the connection is obvious.

Unfortunately, chief executives often fail to see the connection and will ask a coach, or management consultant to come in and ‘fix’ the problem. I’m more than happy to take the corporate money, but unless the ‘fix’ starts at the top, anything I do will only be temporary.

Next: Corporate culture and productivity

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