Boss: "I will have Andy do it if you do not want to.” Me: “You should because I am not going to lie to the customer." Is respect earned or given? I believe that every person deserves it — respect for who we are and our integrity. But in the workplace the concept of respect can be forgotten when money gets in the way. And depending on your company's culture, it does not always seem that is automatically given. I am thinking about writing a blog post about ways that you can build respect at work. When were you disrespected?
Several years ago I worked for a construction firm. After a couple of weeks they began asking me to perform tasks that were morally ambiguous at best. Being still on trial I went along. After a month they dropped all pretenses and began asking me to do tasks that were illegal. I flat out refused and told my supervisor I wasn't hired to break the law, and that I would perform the tasks I was hired to do to the best of my abilities. If that didn't work for them they could fire me and give me my severance pay.
Several years ago I was asked to lie to one of my customers and I refused immediately. Nothing is worth your trust and integrity.
Brian de Haaff I have been fairly luckily as a woman to have avoided sexual harassment. My experiences with disrespect in the workplace have to do with equal pay/generally fair pay, time boundaries, and consistently being asked to take on additional tasks/responsibilities that are not outlined in my job description without additional compensation. Also... micro-management and hirer ups undermining my authority with my team.
Respect is to be heard when you want to do better. Respect means your management wants to help you grow and provide you with the means "the best they can". Respect means to boost ones confidence and not step all over them because you feel powerful. I have experienced disrespect in work place and it hurts like hell. Specially when you don't have anywhere to go. I look forward to reading your blog.
Stuff rolls downhill. If the top echelon is acting in a disrespectful manner to the next level it permeates down, through the entire organization. If it is really toxic, it gets to the point where managers shift the blame, lie and wheedle to stay alive, even when it is their responsibility. This results in high turnover. Turnover results in higher costs to the organization. It is cyclical and expensive. Everyone who stays gets used to 'survival mode', except the smart ones that leave. Sadly, they are the very ones that could bring about the right changes to fix the problem.
Respect always goes together with fairness. In fact, respect is only the 4th level of Maslow (just as an example, any other model can be applied), but fairness covers all levels. Usually, situation in your example contradicts with company's core values (if not - then it's definitely wrong company to work for), so this is a very good excersize to understand who is working for company's long-term goals, and who is living the moment and doesn't think about the future. If it's not fair to the customer (why would he lie anyway?), it's not fair to the company and to each and every employee.
Intresting points. I can give you an interview. Got put out of a job under similar circumstances- for integrity and customer respect on my part but boss was desperate for the money. His appetite didn't like my style
I would say respect and trust go hand in hand. It's better to start a relationship with respect and trust, and then work to maintain it over time with honesty, integrity, reliability, etc. If you start by disrespecting and distrusting people, it's much harder to get to a place of respect and trust, and you may never get there at all. Similarly, repeat bad behavior will erode any respect and trust over time. Good topic!
at work from ~ 1989 to 2000 :-( .... ....private.... > half of my life (not generally)