There are many different kinds of “Jerks” that can be found in the workplace. Every workplace can have jerks anywhere from the lowest ranked individual in the office all the way up to the managers and CEO. Having jerks in a workplace can be very toxic for coworkers and even jeopardize entire companies. Jerks at work can range from verbal jerks, to someone that doesn’t pull their weight on projects and takes credit for other people’s work. In the Everyday Ethics podcast “Jerks at Work,” they debate about how there are workers in every workplace that piggyback off of other workers and take credit for work that they have not been a part of. Toxic workers are usually better than average when it comes to productivity due to the amount of …show more content…
Personally, I have experienced a few. The first time I ever experienced a jerk at work was my first job when I turned sixteen. I worked a laid back job at a shooting park in a neighboring town. The jerk that I encountered at that job was a coworker of mine that was considered and equal to me even though he had been working there for a few years. He would load the trap houses while I would score keep. He would come to my station in the middle of a round and decide that it was his turn to take a break. He would leave for fifteen to thirty minutes and I would not see a sign of him for a few rounds in a row. This not only was a burden to me, but it was also a burden to the shooter that would have to wait for me to go and reload the traps in between rounds instead of them being ready to shoot as they pleased. I finally got fed up with his lack of work and decided to tell my boss. She spoke with him and he decided he did not want to work there anymore if he was not able to do what he wanted. Once he left, the person that took his spot was a great worker and ended up being a good friend of mine. The second time I experienced a jerk at work was during my farmhand duties last year. This time it was not an equal that was giving me troubles, but the farm owner was the jerk. I would do anything he asked of me and I did everything to my best ability, but he would still come around to the various jobs
Although I was the youngest employee in our department, my coworkers treated me as an equal. I was part of the team that must work together in a fast pace, quick turn-around time to meet deadlines and occasionally working long hours finishing reports. It was the type of jobs that can make or break anyone brave enough to endure, and I am grateful for the experience. While employed in this job, I also grew as a person. I learned integrity is everything in regards to human interactions, as well as self-respect and respect for my co-workers. I learned to value time and prioritize my daily tasks. At the same time, I learned to be ready for any wrench thrown my way. The gradual maturity I gained at KPMG rises above all else. These are lifelong lessons I take with me every day of my life, and most importantly, these are the values that will not be taken away from
The article, Why Being a Jerk at Work Pays written by Amy Reiter, really stuck out to me for the fact a women wrote the article, she talks about the double standard women face in the workforce. She does a very good job at explaining how men in a powerful position can be a jerk and be respected, but how women in that sort of position have to find what she calls a “middle ground” in terms of how they treat there colleges and employes.
This article describes how rudeness and incivility causes great damage to everyone in the workplace even if it was only intended at a certain person. One professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University states, “Incivility is almost like trapping people inside a fog.” (Gurchiek, 2015, para. 4) In this quote, incivility is explained as something employees are all affected from and are not able to get away from. Moreover, many surveys are presented throughout the article to show how people either lose or quit their jobs because of the rude treatment that they experience in the workplace. Because of those survey results, many experts believe that rude behaviors in the workplace will begin to worsen in the coming years. However, steps to establish an atmosphere of respect and consideration for colleagues are presented at the end of the article to assist with changing that prediction.
People must conduct professional behavior to be successful in their professional role and disruptive behavior threatens the patients’ safety. As defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the disruptive behavior is intentional actions that disrespect others and create unsafe environment in delivery of patient care (Juengel). Many factors contribute to the disruptive behavior in the work setting, for example, stress, fatigue, frustration or burn out. This type of behavior causes trouble in achieving desired goals and may delay in patient treatment. This paper will briefly explore how a healthcare professional shows disruptive behavior and ways to correct this behavior.
Be honest as possible. If the employee is on the verge of being fired, let them know. This might wake them up to the reality of their actions. If you feel a certain way about someone don’t try to be the bigger/better person and stay quiet. Be honest and say “Hey, I think you can do better.” Or whatever is on your
Workplace violence is scary and intense. It doesn’t matter who you are in the situation, the victim, onlooker, or even the committer, it is frightening. When something happens to push an employee over the edge into violent action, many other employees are inadvertently involved. I observed a case of workplace violence many years ago, but I will not forget it anytime soon.
There are many conflicts in the workplace, many of them are recognized and solve. However, most of the important ones are ignored. These problems are divided into four different sections: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, serious and minors. Simple examples of personal aggression at the workplace are sexual harassment, verbal assault, thieving or endangering co-workers. These examples of personal aggression are considered interpersonal and serious category.
Verbal aggression is message behavior which attacks a person's self-concept in order to deliver psychological pain.(Infante, 1995) Studies of verbal aggression have focused primarily on children and adolescents in educational and social settings. Very few studies were found to examine verbal aggression in adults in the workplace.(Ebbesen, Duncan, Konecni, 1974) The consequences of verbal aggression in the workplace can lead to social isolation, job related stress, health related problems, as well as problems in career advancement. It therefore should be considered important, for the individual and management, to identify and address the causes of verbal aggression.
The associate janitor was very enthralling person, his name was Rick. Everybody around me poked fun at at him, sometimes to his face and other times behind his back. This really didn’t matter to him due to the fact that he was mentally unstable.
I still went way out of my way and tried to leave a certain lasting impression on them. I perceived the other people in the situation in a number of different ways. First being the customers because in my job customers can make a huge impact and you don’t want to disappoint them. Also, coworkers played a part in how I acted in a situation because coworkers above me I needed to act better than I normally would or with a coworker who had the same status as myself. The attitude I had going into work affected how I acted and how hard I worked because at work I want to seem very professional and hardworking so I would go out of my way to try to be that type of
A toxic coworker is someone who demonstrates a pattern of behaviors at work that can negatively affect others. A toxic employee is someone that is motivated by personal gain, uses unethical and mean-spirited actions to manipulate and annoy those around them. Toxic employees do not recognize respect towards others in the organization they work for or their co-workers, as far as ethics or professional conduct go. A bully is someone that repeatedly mistreats a coworker by verbal abuse, threats, intimidation, humiliation, sabotage or a combination of these. The bully is trying to place the target in a powerless position so that the bully can have control and manipulate the victim; this in turn creates a negative work environment.
Robinson, S. L., & Bennett, R. J. (1995). “A typology of deviant workplace behaviors: A
Interpersonal Relationships are one of the most important things in business and everyday life. A positive interpersonal relationship provides countless opportunities while a negative interpersonal relationship limits opportunities. Interpersonal relationships can be built with many different forms of communication but self-concept and self-disclosure play two of the biggest roles in forming positive interpersonal working relationships.
Staff behaviors control the performance and capabilities of an organization. Most workers display productive or counterproductive productive behaviors that have effect on workers, clients, and programs. The ability to control these behaviors is a necessary part of delivering exceptional services. Many workers automatically adopt behaviors that fit in with the best interest of the organization. Although these behaviors are common, some employees fail to follow order and create havoc for others around them. Productive behavior allows workers to perform daily functions whereas counterproductive behaviors develop issues that are costly. Good behavior contributes to goals and objectives set by the organization (Britt & Jex, 2008).
How not to be a jerk at the workplace! You can save yourself a good deal of embarrassment if you just let go of your big fat ego and learn to exercise some self-control at the workplace. Conflicts at the workplace are not uncommon and knowing how to manage them well is a skill that everyone has to learn. Here’s the protocol for you to avoid being a jerk at the workplace: 1.