Managing Hostility In The Workplace

Introduction

The workplace is a melting pot for all sorts of personalities with different backgrounds, education levels, cultural orientation etc., which makes it inevitable for clashes to arise from time to time. While this is expected, having to deal with hostile coworkers can make life at work a miserable and frustrating experience.

Several studies have raised concerns about the increased hostile behaviour experienced at the workplace. These behaviours are expressed in various ways like impoliteness, physical violence, verbal abuse, harsh criticism, non-cooperation among co-workers, hiding information, all of which makes the workplace inhospitable, which can negatively impact on organizational performance (Huchinson & Jackson 2013).²