Rudeness Like A Virus Can Create An Epidemic, Study

By R. Siva Kumar - 01 Sep '15 08:48AM

Rudeness is similar to a virus that can easily spread and infect workers, thus creating a negative environment.

Rude behaviour in the workplace spreads like wildfire, with even courteous people who meet rude people tending to react in the same way later, according to a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

"When you experience rudeness, it makes rudeness more noticeable," said Trevor Foulk, study lead author and a doctoral student in management at the University of Florida's Warrington College of Business Administration, in a university release. "You'll see more rudeness even if it's not there."

Studying 90 students who were practicing negotiations with their classmates, the experts set up a questionnaire, asking them whether they found their partners to be rude.

The study showed that those who felt their partners were rude tended to transfer it to the next person, which made them all rude. The perception remained after a week, even if they had finished multiple negotiations, according to hbr.

Moreover, even watching other people being rude could transfer it. In a second experiment with 47 students, they were asked to select "real words and nonsense words" after they watched a video showing rude and neutral workplace interaction. Students who saw the rude interaction picked up the "real" rude words quicker than others who had seen the neutral exchange.

Rudeness is thus like a virus that can spread really fast, setting up a negative environment.

"Part of the problem is that we are generally tolerant of these behaviors, but they're actually really harmful," said Foulk. "Rudeness has an incredibly powerful negative effect on the workplace."

For a peaceful and healthy work environment, it is necessary to remove rudeness.

It could affect the performance of workers. Another study by Harvard Business Review had half the people being treated rudely at least once a week, which made reduce their work efforts or the time they spent at work, according to hngn.