Swearing at work boosts team spirit and morale

[Danny Tse]

Go ahead, express yourself....get it off of your chest.....

LONDON (AFP) — Regular swearing at work can help boost team spirit among staff, allowing them to express better their feelings as well as develop social relationships, according to a study by researchers.

Yehuda Baruch, a professor of management at the University of East Anglia, and graduate Stuart Jenkins studied the use of profanity in the workplace and assessed its implications for managers.

They assessed that swearing would become more common as traditional taboos are broken down, but the key appeared to be knowing when such language was appropriate and when to turn to blind eye.

The pair said swearing in front of senior staff or customers should be seriously discouraged or banned, but in other circumstances it helped foster solidarity among employees and express frustration, stress or other feelings.

"Employees use swearing on a continuous basis, but not necessarily in a negative, abusive manner," said Baruch, who works in the university's business school in Norwich.

Banning swear words and reprimanding staff might represent strong leadership, but could remove key links between staff and impact on morale and motivation, he said.

"We hope that this study will serve not only to acknowledge the part that swearing plays in our work and our lives, but also to indicate that leaders sometimes need to 'think differently' and be open to intriguing ideas.

"Managers need to understand how their staff feel about swearing. The challenge is to master the 'art' of knowing when to turn a blind eye to communication that does not meet their own standards."

The study, "Swearing at work and permissive leadership culture: when anti-social becomes social and incivility is acceptable", is published in the latest issue of the Leadership and Organisational Development Journal.

[Shizelbs]

Apparently not true where I work.

[shadowofnight]

Get you fired at a lot of places.....

I was chewing the HR director at my work a new ass for this particular redundant policy misprint in our policy handbook pertaining to a workmans comp issue and SHE told me that she didnt appreciate my use of swearing during our conversation ? I was like WTF did I say ? She said she didnt like the use of my word CRAP ....I mean who thinks the word crap is a swear word ? But I have seen people fired over profanity .....

[Danny Tse]

Hmmm....

Here at my gov't office, I have heard the F-bomb used here a number of times during shouting matches and no one got fired. In fact, one of our ex-Commissioners here dropped several F-bombs during her first "meet-and-greet" with the staff. She even got promoted....she's now Arnold's Chief of Staff!

[avguytx]

Just tell everyone that you have turrets (sp) syndrome or something. I can swear at work and no one cares. Well, ok. I work alone at home unless I'm traveling. :D

[Demiurge]

I probably don't get through a single day without a few eff bombs, emmer effers, and a what the shit.

[Face]

I even get to use the F-bomb when speaking to my clients. :D

[bobman1235]

I probably don't get through a single day without a few eff bombs, emmer effers, and a what the shit.

Don't you own the place? You can get away with anything!

[Kex]

I think this policy is a lot more relaxed in Europe in general, especially "southern" countries like France or Italy. Britain is actually more staid and conservative in this respect in my experience, but here in the U.S. we are far more puritanical than even the British. Just my $0.02! (I would not hire any HR person that gave anyone hassle for using cr@p, BTW: they just don't know enought about human nature and what's important in the workplace to direct HR IMO.)

[Demiurge]

Don't you own the place? You can get away with anything!

I'm the minority share right now, so unfortunately someone can still step on my balls if I got too out of hand. Thankfully he's worse than me when it comes to rattling off a brilliant string of profanity that there's not much I could say to offend. :p

The problem with swearing in the workplace is if it's ever in earshot of a customer, which has happened before when the customer was on the phone and one of the shop guys called him "a total f*king asshole," when he thought he was on hold. That wasn't fun having to explain. :o

[MSALLA]

I have been trying to watch the mini expolsions and verbal outbursts at work but it's not working very well. Some of the "under thinking" office people will be leaving for good in 2 weeks after some adjustments, so things might improve soon.

[Kex]

Hmmm....
... In fact, one of our ex-Commissioners here dropped several F-bombs during her first "meet-and-greet" with the staff. She even got promoted....she's now Arnold's Chief of Staff!
Arnold obviously appreciates poetry!

[petrym]

This story is BS
;)

[steveinaz]

I have to cuss at work, I'm a warehouseman, they expect it.

[jdhdiggs]

Here we have to be so nice to the dumbass clients that it is neccessary to have a cursing fest right after the meeting

Steve: If you ever want to get out of the warehouse and start designing them, telling management what dumasses they are, and don't mind moving East, let me know.

[Demiurge]

Pfft, and give up those govie bennies? heeeeeeellllll no.

[Ron-P]

I love it when the hot chicks at work swear, it's quite sexy.

[Danny Tse]

I love it when the hot chicks at work swear, it's quite sexy.

X2 if they swear at each other

[Polk addict]

My work is school, and that is definetely true!!

[Ron-P]

X2 if they swear at each other
Or me, that's even better.

[wingnut4772]

Just tell everyone that you have turrets (sp) syndrome or something. I can swear at work and no one cares. Well, ok. I work alone at home unless I'm traveling. :D

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[Ron-P]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Polk addict]

What daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ..................

[Danny Tse]

Wow!! What did they blipped out?

[mantis]

Ok I can see where that comes from...

When you get hired to do a job, you are expected to meet certain requirements. You are assigned certain tasks that warrant your paycheck.

Before you start to swear at work, check your self. Do you have a reason to express yourself in this manor? You must be on top of your game first. No holes , nothing. Only then can you stand on any leg and get anywhere .think about this. I see many lazy people crying about how much there job sucks. Well work in general sucks, thats life man. you want to be paid, do your effing job.

I also agree that swearing is a good thing when it's nessary to make a strong point. But again you need to be on your game first.

[steveinaz]

Pfft, and give up those govie bennies? heeeeeeellllll no.

Amen to that brothaaaaaa....:D

[sucks2beme]

Rule 1: Avoid it as much as possible. You can get into a real sticky
mess under current sexual harrassment laws.

I know pop culture embraces it, but many workplaces are cracking down.

When I worked for Digital Equipment, HR Nazi's would come out to inspect the
workplace. No pictures(including family) no Dilbert cartoons, no swearing.
We all had to go through week long training in how not to offend or sexually
harrass anyone. This included not using the term "girls". Seems that they
preferred to be called "Ladies".
The only things hanging on the wall better be a calander or phone list.
This is caused by lawsuits and lawers. The current employer is much better
than DEC was about this. Still better to err on the side of caution.

[Jstas]

Geez!

At my day job I hear swearing all the time. Sometimes I catch myself doing. Try not to but I'm only human.

At my part time job though! Boy! If this article is right then my boss makes that job the happiest job on Earth!

[jdhdiggs]

Rule 1: Avoid it as much as possible. You can get into a real sticky
mess under current sexual harrassment laws.

I know pop culture embraces it, but many workplaces are cracking down.

When I worked for Digital Equipment, HR Nazi's would come out to inspect the
workplace. No pictures(including family) no Dilbert cartoons, no swearing.
We all had to go through week long training in how not to offend or sexually
harrass anyone. This included not using the term "girls". Seems that they
preferred to be called "Ladies".
The only things hanging on the wall better be a calander or phone list.
This is caused by lawsuits and lawers. The current employer is much better
than DEC was about this. Still better to err on the side of caution.

And was your morale raised these rules or decreased? Isn't that the point of the article? ;)

[Face]

I was never a big fan of it in the workplace, but it wasn't too long ago that you could find porn mags in the magazine piles at work. Nude pictures in lockers, etc.. Nothing in public view of course.

[sucks2beme]

And was your morale raised these rules or decreased? Isn't that the point of the article? ;)


No. I was happy to leave. But still, the lesson was learned.
Better safe than sorry. You will do what you are in the habit of doing.
If you're in an office, keep it in check. If you're a Longshoreman, feel
free to express yourself.

[shawn474]

Swear words are just a regular part of the vocabulary where I work. In this setting, the f-bomb, damn, sh*t, and every other colorful expression of pain, anger, atc. is used so liberally that nobody seems to realize that they are swearing. It seems like swear words have evolved to be used as prepositions and conjuctions in a way they were never intended. I often have to conciously tell myself that I'm not at work when I walk in to the house and see my 3 year old so I don't slip one in and have her adopt it into her vocabulary.

Shawn

[sucks2beme]

The old man was something else when he got going.
He would sometimes switch over to Geman when he got
really riled (and he was Irish, WWII is where it came from?).
My mother has never used a curse word in her life.

I try hard NOT to swear. There's got to be a better way to express yourself.
Yet, four years of the U.S.M.C. will leave you with a expanded
vocabulary of not only words, but great ways to combine curses for
that special occasion requiring it's use!

[Silverti]

I noticed over my 15 year career at my old job aka "huge world wide corporation" that as time went on, swearing in conjunction to work talk was picking up more and more as time went on. In fact, if you dropped a few good f bombs on occasion when discussing things, people started being more impressed... maybe its because you are showing more emotion and dedication to the issue/project.

Like "That f'ing server dropped like a turd yesterday but I got it back up fast".

[steveinaz]

My mom & dad cuss like Marines on leave. I love'm.

[steveinaz]

No, seriously though--I only cuss when I'm around old ladies and small children.