The "No-Jerk" Rule--A Guide to Hire and Fire By

With the downturned economy, and increasing pressure on companies to not just succeed, but survive, we're seeing the worst in management style surface--pressure on employees to increase productivity, and pick up the slack because of staff reductions--the list goes on. Is this a new phenomenon? No, it's just become more exaggerated now.

Robert Sutton, a respected Stanford University management science and engineering professor, who published, "The No A...H Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't," says in business and sports it is assumed that if you are a big winner, you can get away with being a "jerk." He says jerk bosses and cultures drive good people out. Examples he gives of companies that are the opposite, are Google's zero-jerk policy and business software company, SuccessFactors, instituting a "no jerk" rule, which includes lengthy job interviews and probing questions designed to uncover brow-beating tendencies.

A "jerk" in the workplace is defined as someone who oppresses, humiliates, de-energizes or belittles a subordinate or a colleague. Sutton distinguishes between "temporary jerks," those with the potential to act like jerks, and the "certified jerks," who are routinely nasty and pose the greatest threat to a company's culture. Their dirty tactics include: personal insults, invading one's personal space, uninvited personal contact, threats and intimidation (verbal and nonverbal), sarcastic jokes and teasing, public humiliation, rude interruptions, dirty looks, treating people like they are invisible and two-faced attacks.

Sutton claims this behavior impacts the bottom line through increased turnover, absenteeism, decreased commitment and performance. He says the time spent counseling or appeasing jerks, consoling victimized employees, reorganizing departments or teams and arranging transfers produce significant hidden costs for the company.

Sutton explores ways to implement a "no-jerk" rule and how to survive such an environment. He also warns organizations that such behavior is contagious. Hire a jerk and you will soon have a polluted work environment. Few human resource managers or executives take action to avoid hiring jerks, he claims, or stop them once they reveal their true colors.

The social contract between employees and employer has changed. Generation X and Y employees are not prepared to tolerate jerk-like behavior of nasty bosses and peers, in a way that previous generations have. Today, younger employees will leave a job rather than tolerate an abusive boss or colleague.

The hardest thing for many people to acknowledge is they themselves may be the jerk at work. Sutton worked with Guy Kawasaki of Apple fame to produce an assessment called ARSE. Apparently, more than 80,000 have taken the assessment and 30,000 qualified as office jerk, by their own admission. Imagine if we asked their co-workers?

Here is Sutton's anti-jerk strategy for senior managers:
1. Expose them. Draw attention to behavior that's unacceptable;
2. De-escalate and reeducate. Meet them with calmness and re- educate them about appropriate behavior;
3. Stand up to them. Don't turn the other cheek or avoid their behavior;
4. Hope for the best, but expect the worst. Have your disciplinary plan in place and be prepared to follow it;
5. Develop emotional detachment. Don't let the jerks get to your or push your buttons;
6. Watch the clock. Limit the time you spend with jerks.

The most talented people can determine not only the success of, but the life and death of companies. A positive workplace culture with maximized employee engagement is critical to performance. The presence of jerks in a company can be a powerful negative force, one that senior managers cannot ignore.