Hostile Work Environment

In a nutshell, a hostile work environment is one in which the employee will not be able to give his best to his job on account of a variety of reasons.

Defining Hostility at the Workplace

A workplace is said to be hostile when its employees don't feel secure with the job or do not enjoy the work that they are doing, due to external pressure from the management or other employees. A hostile workplace is bad for both the employees and the management. The employees suffer as they waste a lot of their productive life in a company which doesn't appreciate what they do and the management suffers because the employees remain unproductive.

Often companies who follow the autocratic leadership style seem to get stuck in the vicious circle of the hostile workplace. There are several schools of thought which believe that coercion is the best way of getting the work done from people. So, they resort to techniques like threatening for resignation and creating an environment with untenable peer pressure. Which leads to lack of motivation in the employee and the verbal abuse in the workplace often take the enjoyment in work away. And an employee who isn't happy with the job or the people around him will never be able to do well. So, the cycle of coercion and under-performance only worsens and creates a hostile work environment.

And then there are incidences of hostility due to employment discrimination created by co-workers by sexual harassment, racial discrimination and so on. Sexual harassment for one is one of the biggest evils rampant in the workplace which is becoming more and more prominent even as racial discrimination in the workplace is on the wane. Dealing with a negative aggressive environment created by employees is comparatively easier than quelling the hostility from the management. Disciplinary action can be taken against the bad elements who are the root cause of all the trouble in the workplace.

How to Deal With Hostility at Work

The first approach is simply positive thinking. Dealing with a coercive leadership is tough, but you have to believe that good performance will improve the animosity surrounding you at the moment. The thing with autocratic leaders is that dishing out a good performance mollifies them and then the work environment will seem a lot less hostile by getting in the good books of the employer. You always have to keep in mind one thing - if you give the employer what he wants (good performance at work) he will certainly not trouble you.

But if he continues to, you have little choice but to take up the second option - quitting. Some employers are simply hard to please and some employees are simply not keen to work in an environment which is hostile. So, rather than being caught up in this mire, it is better to quit and move to better pastures - should they be available to you.

Amongst things which you should NOT do to counter a hostile work environment is collective demonstrations. Many have tried and many have failed to go head on against an autocratic management. It is the very crux of the fact - that they are autocratic which means that they won't budge from their stand. Of course, that is not to say that a mediation won't work, but going all out and fighting against the company most certainly isn't the best way out.

A hostile work environment robs an employee of all his dedication, passion and liking for the task at hand. So, it is also the responsibility of the management to ensure that the workplace remains welcoming and encourages good performance from the employees.