'13' Reasons Why People Are Jerks At Work

Everyone has a bad day now and then.  There are people, however, who don’t simply have a bad day. They have a bad decade.  Where does this come from?  Sue Pivetta of Professional Pride has identified 13 instances that if not addressed can lead to perpetual negative behavior.

Take a look at the list below. The first element is the cause followed by the behavior.

Do any of these stand out to you?   Do co-workers or management suffer from these pernicious feelings?  The first step to improvement is identifying the problem.  Let the games begin….

1. Lack of control causing people to exert control in inappropriate ways or hold on with a death grip to any areas of control that they believe that they have.
2. Inability to set boundaries resulting is others feeling steam rolled or violated by comments that are personal attacks.
3. Feelings of abandonment causing people withdraw and not share information.
4. Feelings of dependence resulting in people unable to make independent decisions or act without first getting permission-not matter how minor the action.
5. Need to be liked or listened to causing people to avoid conversations, agree with whomever is in the room. OR repeating, repeating, repeating, repeating the same story or complaint over & over & over again.
6. Authority and power Issues causing individuals to take actions on either side of a broad spectrum. On one end, if they love power and authority they will try and make people bow down to their ideas, proposals, ways of doing things because “I am the boss” or “you have to pay your dues” or “this is the way it was for me, it will be the way it was for you.”  Alternatively, there are folks who HATE people who have authority over them. They will be contrary simply to assert their own independence as a way to say “You are not the boss of me” even if you are.
7. Need for excitement and chaos.  Yes, there are drama queens and kings out there. They will create drama to show how valuable they are. They need something to focus on.  They need to create a driving force to stir up the daily routine.
8. Loyalties and protectiveness. Resulting in coalition building and backing individuals or ideas simply to back the person.
9. Low professional or personal self-esteem causing individuals not to contribute, take calculated risks and become the “go along, get along” lump.
10. Disappointment over being unfulfilled resulting in individuals withdrawing emotionally and physically from the work. Increase absenteeism. No participation in meetings. Work pace slows & performance suffers.
11. Personal professional needs not met resulting in frustration and job/life dissatisfaction.  May become shorter tempers, time on the internet searching for new jobs, push back on new initiatives at work or statements that “it doesn’t matter anyway!”
12. Personality type, learned behavior causing individuals to play the role of victim or bully.  Increased complaints & water cooler conversations.
13. Follower personality, lack of personal power resulting in minimal amount of engagement. Follower characteristics are good.  This situation is bad because the follow is completely overshadowed the leader who may be a handful themselves.  The follower will not take any action against or contradict the leader.  The follower is assimilated into a coalition and voiceless.