The Ripple Effects of Assholes: When Women Are Treated Badly, Everyone Suffers

A reader named "Liz" alerted me to a fascinating new study in the Journal of Applied Psychology. According to the Research Digest Blog (a great blog that specializes in summaries of peer-reviewed psychological research  -- produced by the British Psychological Society):

"Witnessing the harassment or uncivil treatment of women at work is bad not only for female employees, but for the productivity of the whole organisation.

That’s according to Kathi Miner-Rubino and Lilia Cortina in America, who surveyed 871 female and 831 male university employees, including academic and support staff.

Male and female employees who said they had witnessed either the sexual harassment of female staff, or uncivil, rude or condescending behaviour towards them, tended to report lower psychological well-being and job satisfaction. In turn, lower psychological well-being was associated with greater burn out and increased thoughts about quitting."

They offer additional details; I also suggest checking out the blog in general, it is wonderful. The complete reference to the study is:

Miner-Rubino, K. & Cortina, L.M. (2007). Beyond targets: Consequences of vicarious exposure to misogyny at work. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1254-1269.

This research is so important because -- consistent with prior research on bullying -- it provides further evidence that allowing assholes to run rampant in an organization doesn't just hurt the victims, it hurts everyone.

Comments

[Jon Pincus]

Interesting research indeed, and a great resource in the BPS abstracts; thanks doubly for the link. I've certainly seen this kind of effect in myself (my blog post on this is titled "so it's not just me" :-)) and anecdotally in others; nice to have some solid data to back it up.

I agree very much with Lauren's point about how the "misogynistic" characterization detracts from the overall point. Whether or not the behaviors are classically misogynistic, or just a general tolerance for uncivil behavior which is intensified along existing power vectors (and thus in most organizations will fall more intensely on women), the result's the same. And my guess is that it we'd see similar dynamics along other dimensions of diversity; as you point out, this is consistent with findings related to bullying, and while of course there are some significant differences (for example, white males being noticeably less likely to have observed bullying than others) the overall pattern is that abuse takes a toll on witnesses as well as participants.

And unsurprisingly I also agree with Lauren (and your book) that a general culture of respect is the best antidote to this.

jon

[Lavinia Weissman]

This is a great piece of research and at the same time while I support the idea and study, I believe that the traditional definition of mysogyny robs the study of its power.

The traditional definition asserts that mysogyny is a behavior exercised by men who hate women.

In the workplace, I believe there is an undercurrent that ties more strategically to your "no arsehole rule," that robs the value of civil dialogue and inquiry that has become essential to learning to know to do and innovate.

What is described as mysogynist behavior as referenced in your entry and the research, I believe is more about the need any one person (man or woman) to be the "top gun", "the leader of the pack" or exercise control of the hero or heroine.

The 21st century of work anywhere is complex and productivity is growing in places where there is a blend of civil behavior that invites respect for expertise and respect for contribution and cooperation.

Most of the failures that I can identify in what we often describe as a "male dominated organization," have to do with lack of respect for the significant contributions based on expertise and learning that are key to assuring a culture of innovation.

Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for elevating the conversation of culture, change and work as an examination of behavior and opportunity to support the practice and behavior of wise organizations of people.

[Dawn Baird]

Fortunately, it is being less and less tolerated in modern, forward-thinking companies in Northern Ireland.