Incivility in the Workplace

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore the essence of the lived experiences of individuals who self-identified as having experienced workplace incivility in corporate settings and to understand how their experiences affected them on personal and professional levels. This research gained not only the perspective of those individuals who self-identified as being on the receiving end of workplace incivility, known as "targets, but also those who initiated incivility in the workplace-individuals known as "instigators"-and those who were spectators to incivility being done to others, called "observers." Prior research shows over the last couple of decades, workplace incivility has increased and continues to worsen (Pearson & Porath, 2005) with nearly all employees having indicated they have been on the receiving end of incivility and or having directly witnessed it (Porath & Pearson, 2010). Of the 15 individuals who participated in this research, 12 were female and three were male. The participants worked in the Human Resources field in diverse organizations and in various locations throughout Northern California. Three research questions guided this research study: (a) What workplace incivility behaviors do employees experience in organizations? (b) How do employees respond to various forms of workplace incivility? and (c) What are the antecedents and consequences of workplace incivility? The findings identified that (a) workplace incivility continues to thrive in the work environment, (b) workplace incivility has negative consequences, (c) responses to workplace incivility by organizations can vary, and (d) Human Resources employees many times have no one to turn to when they find themselves as targets. More research is needed to determine how best to make organizations aware that workplace incivility is alive and thriving and can have detrimental effects not only upon the organization, but its employees. In addition, companies need to be trained on how best to deal with workplace incivility and implement strategies to best address the phenomenon. Lastly, further research is warranted to determine if emotional intelligence can help organizations, in particular leaders, effectively deal with workplace incivility.