RE: Profanity in the workplace

[<Brian -dot- Henderson -at- mitchell1 -dot- com>]

I recently read about a study (if I can find it again I'll post a link)
on workplace swearing. The conclusions were counter-intuitively
positive; People who swear get further ahead, and are looked-upon
favorably by their peers. And workplace swearing contributes to
cohesiveness. (I'm going to assume that they're talking about a moderate
amount of bad language. I can't imagine that everybody swearing like a
thirteen-year-old would have the same result).

This reminded me about a study done years ago about humor and
playfulness in the work place. That one too was positive. And I was able
to anecdotally confirm their results: Two years before, I had started
working in a department headed by someone who didn't allow ANY
unnecessary social interaction. All our deadlines got missed. It was
really unpleasant. Six months later, the head retired and the new person
in charge had no problem with people being loose and fun and talkative.
And we never again missed a deadline.

-BrianH.

-----Original Message----- From: Kat Kuvinka

Is it not a big deal in an office environment? Or should we always err
on the side of manners?

My office is multi-cultural. What is more, we are trying to instill Core
Values, which include Integrity, Respect, and People.

However, yesterday I was in a meeting with some managers, and I heard
"GD", which I find really offensive. I made a comment ("please do not
say that") and it was laughed off.

I believe people don't want to have to think about cleaning up their
language. I actually heard someone say, team members that can swear
around each other actually work better together.

Am I being too fussy? I'm no angel, I just think there is a time and
place!

Thanks,
Kat

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