January 15, 2001

In an age in which it is becoming frighteningly more commonplace to see workplace incivility that ranges from rudeness to murder, employers are eager for tools that will assure some harmony among workers.

They are finding ancient as well as modern techniques to curb workers' bad behavior before it turns violent.

Making workers more civil is a tough task, according to experts who are trying to do just that. Part of the problem is that many employees don't see the problem.

Incivility is ``actually considered acceptable behavior in the minds of many people,'' said John Byrnes, founder and president of the Center for Aggression Management in Winter Park, Fla. ``To tell someone that they are being uncivil has no effect on them.''

Interest in stopping workplace violence has increased as the economy has cooled down, according to Peter R. Taffae, president of

e-perils.com, an Internet-based wholesale brokerage that places coverage for workplace violence and other risks. Employees are working long hours and facing financial strains, he explained. ``People are being pushed and pushed to a whole new level and it is building up. I don't want to use cliches, but they crack.''

The problem is serious enough to require more than just asking employees to change their behavior, experts agree. Often employers turn to consultants for techniques that can make the workplace a friendlier place. Tools for achieving that goal range from those with origins clouded in ancient history to others that rely on modern methods of measuring and changing bad behavior.

To help workers understand their personality and prevent uncivil behavior, a consulting firm called Action for Results Inc. is providing employers with an ancient technique that relies on a nine-pointed diagram called the enneagram.

The enneagram's origins remain shrouded in mystery, said Tarja Goodwin, chief executive officer of Woburn, Mass.-based Action for Results. ``There are a few different theories about it,'' she said, but it is believed to have been used by Sufi mystics and picked up by Christians at some point. ``You find Jesuit priests today still studying the enneagram. As it came to the U.S., psychotherapy picked it up and applied it,'' sometime in the 1950s, she noted.

Each of the enneagram's points is marked with a personality type. For example, point one signifies an individual who is a ``perfector,'' with the characteristics of being principled, orderly, controlling and ethical. Point two is a supporter, and is caring, emphatic, self-sacrificing and possessive. Other points represent personalities described as achiever/ motivator, artist, observer, troubleshooter, innovator, leader and facilitator.

``Every point is equal distance to the center of the circle,'' symbolizing equality, said Ms. Goodwin. ``One point is no better than the other.''

Employees are given a test to determine where they fall on the diagram and personality type is identified by that position, she explained. Once employees are tested, Action for Results introduces a curriculum that helps workers and employers use the information.

Once the workforce is character-typed, the information can be used in several ways, Ms. Goodwin explained.

``Part of this is about identifying each individual,'' she said, and understanding ``what happens when they are under stress.'' An individual under stress will move from their identifying enneagram point into another area on the diagram, she explained. By recognizing that they are exhibiting characteristics of another enneagram point, employees can understand that they are under stress and make adjustments before problems occur.

For example, a ``one'' who is normally orderly and detailed becomes rigid and opinionated, Ms. Goodwin said. ``Potentially, they could start micromanaging. If things get worse, they could become emotional and feel powerless and unenthusiastic to make changes.''

The enneagram also helps workers understand how to deal with others who are under stress. ``We know that the last thing you want to do to anyone under stress is become judgmental,'' Ms. Goodwin said. ``We give tips and tools'' to use in dealing with such situations, she added.

Project management also benefits from this method of identifying character types, Ms. Goodwin noted. The enneagram helps project managers understand the personalities on a team and how to involve them in ways that are most productive, depending on their personalities and behaviors.

Conflict resolution is among the most requested uses of the enneagram, Ms. Goodwin said. ``Conflict is a hot topic because there is a lot of stress in organizations. The pressure is on individuals to move faster and faster,'' she noted, and as a predictive tool, the enneagram allows conflicts to be resolved quickly because it indicates when individuals are moving toward negative traits on the diagram. That way, conflicts can be resolved before they become too serious.

Mr. Byrnes of the Center for Aggression Management said that any kind of conflict resolution that does not include some predictive element is doomed to fail. Conflict resolution, by its own definition, presupposes conflict, he pointed out. ``It's already past preventing.''

The center, he said, teaches employers ``how to identify the emergence of aggression'' so that conflict can be avoided.

The tool offered by the center is a 16-hour course on the ``aggression continuum,'' a diagram that helps employers identify the emergence of aggression. ``It's a graphic that demonstrates that aggression is made up of parts,'' Mr. Byrnes explained. Identifying the parts, known as the trigger, escalation and crisis, helps employers recognize and defuse aggressive situations.

``If you wait for conflict, sooner or later you are going to get violence. There's going to be somebody who doesn't communicate verbally, but physically,'' warned Mr. Byrnes.

A tool devised by Envisionworks in Orland Park, Ill., helps employers identify both uncivil and civil behaviors in the workplace. Bad behavior can then be corrected and good behavior can be used to market the company as a pleasant place to work and to retain current employees, according to the program's developers.

Any attempt to make workers more productive is not effective if employees don't get along, said Kevin Schmidt, president of Envisionworks, a company that helps companies identify workplace behavior. ``You have to be civil with each other to begin with.''

Envisionworks recently unveiled its Organizational Civility Index, a tool based on seven years of research, that measures behavior in the workplace. It is based on a confidential survey that takes employees about 20 minutes to complete and pinpoints particular civility problems and the organizational levels where they are occurring within an organization. The ability to identify areas where incivility is taking place is important because senior management often is unaware that problems exist, according to Mr. Schmidt said.

He stressed that Envisionworks is in the business of identifying the behavior. Changing such behavior, however, requires the help of psychological professionals, Mr. Schmidt said. ``We give statistical proof that is hard to ignore,'' he noted. ``There are a lot of professionals out there that can help change behavior.''

Not changing uncivil behavior can be expensive, according to Mr. Schmidt. While violence is a rare occurrence in the workplace, he said, ``incivility happens all the time.'' As a result, affected companies suffer from employee turnover and a lack of productivity. ``In dollar terms, it varies from company to company.''

Mr. Schmidt explained that employers generally don't want to get rid of employees who exhibit uncivil behavior. ``Incivility is like some horrible disease. No one wants to admit that they have uncivil people'' in the workplace, he said. ``But most do. Generally, they are good employees in other respects and they don't want to get rid of them.''

Mr. Taffae pointed out that a handful of U.S. and London market insurers are offering coverage that responds when incivility turns to violence and leads to losses.

``Each has a different approach,'' he said of the insurers. ``A lot of them tie it to the crime and/or kidnap and ransom coverage. I'm not a big advocate of combining it.''

When the workplace violence coverage is combined with others, ``there's an aggregate-limit issue,'' Mr. Taffae noted. And, he said, the risk is ``very different'' from the others. ``I think it should be priced according to the risk and underwritten on a dedicated contract.''

Mr. Taffae said employers considering insurance for workplace violence exposures should consider whether a policy covers various losses. ``Each contract is very different,'' he warned, and while no single policy likely will cover all the bases, there are several things to examine.

Legal liability costs, including any settlement amounts, should be a part of the coverage, Mr. Taffae advised. Business interruption that occurs because of violence, and costs related to ``rehabilitation of the reputation'' of a business that suffers a loss, should be considered as part of the coverage. The insurance can also include death benefits, accidental death and dismemberment payments, coverage for punitive damages, consulting costs and expenses related to counseling services for employees or others affected by the violence. Some contracts also cover the cost of rewards that might be necessary.

Mr. Taffae said the interest in workplace violence coverage has increased along with the number of incidents that have occurred. ``A lot of these products have been out for some time,'' he remarked. But employers have become more likely to buy coverage after incidents like the one last month in which a worker at a computer software company gunned down seven other employees at the company's Massachusetts office.