Lack Of Respect For Superiors At Work

Superiors: Respect is a premise that should govern all of our relationships. Despite everything, we are aware that socializing inevitably involves complex relationships, disagreements, impulsive reactions… that make coexistence, and even more, so labor relationships (where we do not choose the people with whom we interact) are complicated.

Lack of respect for superiors is an example of how the rules of coexistence can be diluted until they disappear, and it poses a significant threat to organizations.

The figure of the leader

A superior should not be a boss but a leader for his team. We are talking about a figure who, knowing his team, can motivate every one of the members, making them give their best to achieve a common goal.

It is about the person capable of uniting in the same point the objectives of the company, recognition, and motivation, as well as the effort of the workers. To do this, you must use different skills: be able to motivate and generate a good work environment; facilitate fluid and two-way communication; trust and delegate to the team; be transparent and trustworthy; have the analytical capacity and a broad vision; Be disciplined and creative.

When a leader embodies all these virtues and maintains a healthy work environment, respect is natural for respect to be an inviolable norm. Still, sometimes, given the complexity of human relations, disrespect for superiors can arise, which can upset the status quo of any organization.

respect at work

It is essential to keep in mind that work is considered a factor of well-being for human beings. It is a context in which the individual develops at very different levels (intellectual, social, personal…). That is why companies must pay special attention to the well-being of their workers in the development of their professional activity, and this is where respect at work plays an important role. The Harvard Business Review podcast  dedicates an episode to disrespect at work in which various specialists analyze this threat and how it can affect the company’s well-being:

How we relate defines the value we give to others (and others provide to us). Disrespectful behaviors place us in a dangerous context since they reveal unequal treatment in which the person who suffers disrespect is considered inferior. All this leads to the people’s identities being defined based on this approach, which will give rise to a network of bad relationships and a toxic work environment.

In companies where disrespectful behavior has been detected, a decrease in employee commitment, effort, and creativity is observed. In short, we are talking about reducing the quality of the work of the people immersed in this ecosystem.

A work environment in which workers do not feel valued or well treated nullifies any benefits policy. It does not matter whether the salaries are good or promotion possibilities when the treatment is not good. It is difficult for a person to enjoy their work.

This results in weaker ties with the company and higher dropout rates. Similarly, the recruitment of new candidates can become more complicated when their reputation is identified with a disrespectful professional context.

As we pointed out in the previous point, there is a risk that the lack of professional respect transcends beyond the internal sphere. We are talking about easily contagious dynamics: if person A is disrespectful to person B, likely, person B is also rude to person C. As long as the organization tolerates these attitudes, they will be validating them somehow.

Within their culture, in the form of counter values, this is something that customers will also perceive. When rudeness or discontent is perceived in a company (either towards the client or among its members), the probability of consuming its products or services drops drastically. It does not matter if the client knows the company in-depth or has witnessed a specific behavior. Lack of respect generates rejection towards it.

Ultimately, disrespectful attitudes will threaten the company at different levels. The attacked person is reactive towards his aggressor and the company (since he feels that in some way, he tolerates these attitudes). This can lead to detrimental behaviors to the organization: sabotage, theft, absenteeism…

How to identify a fault to a superior

Taking the workers’ statute as a reference, we can consider lack of respect for superiors’ indiscipline, verbal or physical offenses, and harassment that has a discriminatory background based on racial or ethnic origin, religion or convictions, disability, age, or sexual orientation, in addition to sexual or gender-based harassment.

Faced with this threat, the law protects the company through disciplinary power, which is the formula that will allow it to stop this type of behavior so harmful to its structure. The objective of disciplinary power is to repress behaviors that interfere with any member of the organization (regardless of the rank of each of the people involved). This usually involves sanctions that affect some damage and can consist of reprimands (verbal or written), days of suspension of employment and salary, transfer, disqualification for promotions, and, ultimately, disciplinary dismissal.

In any case, the sanctions must permanently be established based on the workers’ statute. The collective agreement that applies in each particular case and the vacation or rest rights of the worker can never be reduced as a sanctioning measure.

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