Incivility in the workplace has been a simmering topic in the U.S., one that became more prominent with the 2020 presidential election. Several opinion polls show evidence that at least perceptions of incivility in society have worsened, and the majority of employers report concerns about political conversations at work getting ugly. The recent presidential election raised questions about whether employers had better do something to head off political conflicts at work before they exploded.
We had a discussion about this with employers at our Center for Human Resources at Wharton to dig a little deeper in the reality. My read is that, to the extent that there were noisy and disruptive disputes in recent years, they were not about the election but about specific issues: Black Lives Matter a few years ago and perhaps now the Israeli/Palestinian conflicts. That is probably not surprising because the specific hotspots are focused, so it’s harder to see shades of gray in them. Elections involve many issues, as well as perceptions of particular candidates, but we know—or at least we used to—that they will end with the election.
It seems to me that the most effective employer responses to hot-button issues have, frankly, ignored trying to find peace on any particular issue. In fact, there is some evidence that when employers take positions on issues, debate—but also conflict—within the workplace increases. Even universities, including mine, are now saying they will avoid taking positions on political issues, much to the consternation of students.
What seems to have worked best is to try to change the norms about conflict by articulating standards for behavior: Talk about whatever you want—we aren’t going to police speech—but you have to be civil with each other, and that means treating the other person and their ideas with respect.
My personal view of the state of civility—or incivility—is much more positive than what most of the public thinks. It is based on how people are actually treating each other in a revealing context: passenger behavior at airports and on flights, a situation almost designed to generate bad behavior.
Why is that? First, most airports do not have anywhere near the space needed to board flights. Crowds are everywhere, signage is bad, announcements are inaudible. I started writing this column from a departure gate at O’Hare, which might be one of the better airports, and there were only 40 seats at the gate to board a flight that holds about 200 people. Passengers inevitably had to stand and jam up waiting to get on the plane.
Second, there is now much less competition among airlines, given that the big three—Delta, United, American—have absorbed so many of their competitors, so flights are almost always full. Third—the big one—we pay now (a lot) to check bags. If you can carry them on, you save not only time skipping baggage claim (and the possibility of lost bags) but money. That means most people are trying to carry on bags they might have checked before, and there is not enough space for all of them.
Putting these three factors together—more bags, more crowded flights, scrums to get on the plane early—we should expect pushing, shoving and generally rude behavior. Because if you do not get on the plane early, you will have to check your bag.
This past month, I took about 10 flights in the U.S., running an experiment to examine these claims of incivility. I can report two interesting results: The first is that passengers seem much more cooperative than they used to getting on the plane. They do not push or jump in front of each other, they are less likely to crowd the gate and it is actually possible to move to something like a line when one’s “zone” or caste is called. (These were not Southwest flights where free checked bags and lining up by seat number reduce these pressures.)
The second, more remarkable, is the norm for getting off the plane. Passengers now tend to wait for everyone to get out of every row in front of them before they charge down the aisle. I have also seen them reach back behind them to pass bags ahead to passengers who needed to store them toward the back of the plane, sometimes creating bucket brigades passing bags one passenger to another. They are also waiting to let passengers off who are in a rush even when the flight attendants did not ask them to do so. I even forgot my jacket in an overhead bin, and another passenger brought it up to me as I was getting off the plane.
How do we square at least some evidence that people are not behaving worse toward each other with polling results suggesting deep divisions in values and politics, and the perception that manners have declined and that conflict is up? There has long been a conflict between what people believe about society and their own experience with it. Some of the survey respondents complaining about manners and conflict say that they personally get along with their immediate colleagues fine—just like the surveys where people report that public schools are collapsing but their own schools are fine. It’s news to report things are getting worse; it’s not news to say that they aren’t.
We will see throughout the election fallout if I’m right. Let’s hope.
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