A great piece at management-issues.com on why manners matter points out what OUGHT to be the obvious. Almost ALL senior execs and managers (95 percent to be exact) believe that “good manners matter when it comes to advancing a person’s career.”

So why is it that so many younger workers eschew common niceties?

Could it be that their present rudeness is an unintended ripple-effect of an education system that totally misunderstood “self esteem?”

Just a thought, but let me expound.  Jean Twenge, Ph.D., in her book Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled–and More Miserable Than Ever Before, points out that Gen X’ers have amazingly high self-esteem even without having accomplished anything.

I’ve seen plenty of that, and maybe you have, too. In fact, a few years back I came up with a phrase that applies to many Gen X’ers: They want to “start at the top and work their way up.”

As a Boomer, I’ve long held the belief that self-esteem comes from “self-driven achievement.” In other words, Self Esteem emerges within a person as a result of that person accomplishing something worthwhile, not just from the ability to shoot off one’s mouth or cop an attitude.

It would be my guess that pursuing workplace excellence will require some managers to come down a bit hard on some of the entitlement-minded personnel who think they can be rude and disrespectful without it mattering.

The fact is that setting firm and realistic boundaries will not destroy anyone’s self-esteem.

Even more, professionalism and decorum creates an expectation of behavior that’s likely to help Gen X’ers get promoted. And with 95 percent of the decision-makers overseeing who gets promoted believing it matters, Gen X’ers—and any workers, for that matter—would be fools to shun it.

What do YOU think?

Share This

Filed in Work, Management, Teambuilding, Workplace, Corporate Culture