With the continuing influx of teams in the workplace it is important to understand how incivility affects team success. The purpose of this study was to address this topic by investigating the effects of leader incivility towards team members on team outcomes. The team emergent states of team satisfaction, team cohesion, and team commitment were tested as mediators between team leader incivility and team performance. Additionally, leader sex was examined as a moderator to the incivility emergent states relationship. The current study used a sample of female college basketball teams to test the proposed model. Results revealed that leader incivility had a detrimental effect on team emergent states and subsequently team performance. These findings further the understanding of incivility in a team setting and its effect on team performance.

abstract: This cross-sectional descriptive study was designed to examine critical care registered nurses’ perceptions of nurse-to-nurse incivility and professional comportment, and the extent to which education, nurses’ age, nursing degree, and years of nursing experience is related to their perceptions on these topics. Professional comportment is comprised of nurses’ mutual respect, harmony in beliefs and actions, commitment, and collaboration. Yet, it was unknown whether a relationship existed between a civil or uncivil environment in the nursing profession and nurses’ professional comportment. Correlational analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between perceptions of nurse-nurse incivility and professional comportment, and the relationships between incivility and professional comportment education and perceptions of nurse-nurse incivility and professional comportment. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to identify predictors of perceptions of nurse-nurse incivility and professional comportment. Results indicated statistically significant relationships between perceptions of nurse-nurse incivility and professional comportment, and between professional comportment education and perceptions of professional comportment. Professional comportment education was identified as a statistically significant predictor of increased perceptions of professional comportment. Findings of the current study may assist in establishing more targeted and innovative educational interventions to prevent, or better address, nurse-nurse incivility. Future research should more clearly define professional comportment education, test educational interventions that promote professional comportment in nurses, and further validate the Nurse-Nurse Collaboration Scale as a measure of nurses' professional comportment. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Nursing and Healthcare Innovation 2015

This study examines levels of politeness in real time instructor responses to classroom incivility behaviors. Student participants were randomly assigned to view a video of an instructor responding to either passive or active student incivility behaviors in various ways. The responses were based on politeness theory conceptualizations of avoidance, mid-level politeness, or bald on record responses. A 2 (i.e., passive, active student incivility) x 3 (i.e., avoidance, mid-level, or bald on record instructor response) experimental design formed six conditions. High quality video simulations of a classroom environment, portraying one of the six conditions, were created to specifically address these dimensions. Participants took a web based survey and evaluated the instructor with respect to effectiveness, credibility, and impact on student motivation. Results demonstrate students had most positive responses to bald on record instructor responses to active student incivility. When responding to passive student incivility, a less harsh response (i.e., avoidance, mid-level), while not significantly different from a bald on record response, indicate better outcomes. Therefore, in accordance with politeness theory, instructors should consider the level of imposition created by uncivil student behavior when calibrating responses, as student perceptions can be greatly affected. Theoretical and practical considerations as well as avenues for future research are presented.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this literature review was to examine the most current research regarding effective, evidence-based programs for reducing incivility among the healthcare team, particularly nurses. BACKGROUND: Incivility in the work environment is linked to a variety of negative outcomes, including diminished productivity, impaired judgement, and reduced employee retention. Incivility is especially detrimental to the healthcare team because it is correlated with decreased quality of patient care and increased medical errors. Despite regulations and statements made by the Joint Commission and the American Nurses Association to combat this serious problem, incivility continues to plague healthcare. METHODS: CINAHL and MEDLINE databases were reviewed for interventions to reduce incivility or bullying. Articles that evaluated interventions for practicing nurses were included in the review. RESULTS: The majority of studies evaluated training programs based on cognitive theory or cognitive rehearsal training as an intervention for incivility or bullying. Most studies showed positive correlations between the intervention and reducing incivility or bullying in some areas, however, results were inconsistent, most evidence ranked low and most studies shared sub-optimal quality. CONCLUSION: Most current studies towards reducing incivility in the healthcare team are poorly designed for demonstrating causation. More research is required to examine effective, evidence-based solutions for cultivating civility. Research must distinguish independent variables, incorporate teams instead of individuals, and fit into the structure of the work environment that it is serving.

This dissertation used an experience sampling design to examine effects of experienced workplace incivility from three categories of organizational insiders (coworkers, supervisors, and physicians) and from organizational outsiders (patients and their visitors) on targets' emotions, burnout, physical symptoms, and their own uncivil behaviors toward each of the four groups of people. Data were collected from 75 nurses with each nurse responding to online surveys twice per week for 5 consecutive weeks. Results from hierarchical linear modeling showed that within individuals, negative emotions were positively associated with experienced workplace incivility (overall and source-specific), burnout was positively associated with overall workplace incivility and incivility from coworkers, and that physical symptoms were positively associated with experienced workplace incivility from supervisors. In addition, within individuals overall and source-specific experienced workplace incivility all positively predicted targets' own uncivil behaviors correspondingly. None of the proposed moderating effects of three between-person level personality traits (emotional stability, hostile attribution bias, and emotional competence) were supported, and the only significant moderating effect found was that emotional stability moderated the relationship between experienced workplace incivility from- and targets' own uncivil behaviors toward- supervisors was opposite to the prediction. Further, both violence prevention climate and civility climate showed main effects in negatively predicting participants' own uncivil behaviors, but only violence prevention and two of its dimensions (policies and procedures, and pressure for unsafe practices) buffered some of the negative effects of experienced workplace incivility. In summary, the current study found that within individuals experienced workplace incivility had negative effects on targets' emotions, well-being, and behaviors, and that perceived violence prevention climate buffered some of the negative effects.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between nurse faculty perceptions of role stress and faculty-to-faculty incivility using the stressor-emotion model of counterproductive work behaviors. A convenience sample of 79 nurse faculty from 39 undergraduate nursing programs in Iowa responded to an online survey. The survey consisted of two instruments: Workplace Incivility Civility Scale and Role Strain Scale. Findings revealed 76 participants perceived incivility as a problem and identified stress (n = 64) and demanding workloads (n = 54) as contributing factors. Pearson correlation results revealed a positive relationship between experienced incivility and nurse faculty perceptions of role stress (r = .509, p < .001), role conflict (r = .506, p < .001), role ambiguity (r = .560, p < .001) role overload (r = .298, p < .008). Pearson correlation results further revealed a positive relationship exists between three constructs of role stress (role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload) and each of the three constructs of experienced faculty-to-faculty incivility (hostility towards individuals, self-serving behaviors, and hostility towards work environment). Limitations included a convenience sample limited to undergraduate programs in one state. Future research should replicate this study in larger diverse populations and educational settings. Positive social change includes the recruitment and retention of nurse faculty who can grow and advance in a healthy academic work environment.

Student incivility has become a problem in nursing schools around the country. Researchers have noted that uncivil behavior that goes unaddressed may compromise the educational environment. Nursing faculty have differing standards about uncivil behavior; thus, students experience inconsistencies in approaches to incivility. The purpose of this mixed-methods explanatory study was to explore nursing faculty experiences with, understandings of, and responses to student incivility. The conceptual framework was Clark's continuum of incivility and the conceptual model for fostering civility in nursing education. Descriptive analysis of the level and frequency of uncivil behaviors of nursing faculty members (17 full-time and 15 part-time), as measured by the Incivility in Nursing Education-Revised survey, indicated that faculty most frequently experienced uncivil behaviors at the lower end of the continuum and rarely encountered those at the higher end. A purposeful sample of 12 faculty members (10 full-time and 2 part-time) participated in semistructured interviews, and data were open coded and analyzed thematically. Stress was identified as a contributing factor to student incivility, and faculty responses varied based on the learning environment. Nursing faculty expressed the need for more consistency in responding to student incivility. Based on the research findings, a 3-day professional development workshop on promoting civility in the academic environment was created. By learning practical ways to respond to, and possibly prevent, uncivil behavior in student nurses, workshop participants have the potential to positively affect the lives of future nurses, the health care personnel with whom they will work, and the patients for whom they will care.

This thesis focuses on the problem of incivility within the domains of citizen politics and civil society by exploring the proclivity for popular protest in Jamaica and the intersections between popular citizen protest, civil society and governance in this context. It scrutinizes the tenor of contemporary civilian politics and assesses the consequent impact on the quality of civil society more broadly. The thesis challenges the assumption within accepted definitions of civil society that civic participation is always positive. It does so by examining the manner in which citizens engage collectively to defend their interests and make claims upon the state, as well as the extent to which this model of political participation serves the agenda and promise of civil society. Through an in-depth, country-specific, empirical case study, the thesis examines micro social processes of power at community level to raise questions about who should be represented in civil society and how the voices of the marginalized are to be heard. In this regard, it explores the role of social inequality, feelings of social injustice and political exclusion as contributory factors in the existing tenor of citizen politics in Jamaica. It also examines the challenges facing the contemporary state and the impact of violent protests on state engagement, public action and political performance. The study analyses the lived experiences, observations and perspectives of a wide cross section of Jamaican citizens, gleaned from face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions, as well as a range of secondary material, including audio-visual data, to illuminate this process of struggle and underscore the factors which drive violent protests in this political context. The thesis concludes that maximum disruption, including violence, has not only become the basis of civil protest in Jamaica, but that the varied and contradictory responses of the state bureaucracy and political actors (Members of Parliament, activists, other political iii officials), as well as the mass media, have directly contributed to the style and tenor of protest politics in Jamaica. This state of affairs reduces popular citizen participation over genuine concerns to mob-style incivility and undermines civil society as a source of positive and responsible citizenship. The growing political importance of grassroots-based citizen participation and community building within the context of a global imperative to forge 'democracy from below' lends theoretical and normative credence to emerging concerns about the current character of popular citizen mobilizations and protest. This study thus establishes the basis for a presumption in favour of civility, civil discourse and civil action as fundamental to the construction of civil society. In doing so, it extends current scholarly understandings of civil society to Third World contexts, with a specific emphasis on Jamaica.

The present study examines differences in political perspectives and moral identity as facilitators of retaliation of workplace incivility. It is proposed that following uncivil treatment, emotional appraisals of uncivil treatment will influence targets' retaliatory behavior; individuals who feel angry or demoralized after being treated uncivilly will be more likely to retaliate than individuals who do not negatively appraise incivility. In addition, political affiliation and moral identity are posited as moderators of the relationship between experiencing incivility and emotionally appraising the experience, as well as the relationship between emotional appraisal and retaliation. This study utilized a sample of 355 participants who completed an online survey regarding their experiences with incivility three weeks before and one week after the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Results indicate that Democrats most frequently retaliated against Republicans at high levels of received incivility from Republicans, yet Republicans engaged in the most retaliatory incivility against Democrats at low levels of incivility from Democrats. Furthermore, internalization buffered the likelihood of retaliation, while symbolization enhanced it. In three-way interactions predicting retaliatory incivility, low internalization and high symbolization Democrats most frequently retaliated against Republicans; unexpectedly, high symbolization Democrats also most frequently retaliated against Democrats. Predicting emotional appraisals from received incivility, symbolization enhanced relationships between incivility and appraisals. High internalization Republicans reported the greatest increase in anger when treated uncivilly by Democrats. Predicting retaliation from appraisals, Republicans retaliated against Democrats most frequently when angered or demoralized, but Democrats did not report retaliating against Republicans. Additionally, high symbolization Republicans reported retaliating against other Republicans when angered or demoralized. Results were not completely aligned with past theory and research, but they generally indicate that morality plays a large role in the prediction of emotional appraisals and retaliation in response to uncivil treatment. Furthermore, morality seems to be a more important predictor of retaliation than social identity processes. Finally, it is clear that emotions relate to the receipt and retaliation of incivility, and future research should clarify these relationships. This study contributes to the literature by examining how social issues that are seemingly unrelated to the workplace can negatively affect interpersonal interactions at work.

Student incivility has become a problem in nursing schools around the country. Researchers have noted that uncivil behavior that goes unaddressed may compromise the educational environment. Nursing faculty have differing standards about uncivil behavior; thus, students experience inconsistencies in approaches to incivility. The purpose of this mixed-methods explanatory study was to explore nursing faculty experiences with, understandings of, and responses to student incivility. The conceptual framework was Clark's continuum of incivility and the conceptual model for fostering civility in nursing education. Descriptive analysis of the level and frequency of uncivil behaviors of nursing faculty members (17 full-time and 15 part-time), as measured by the Incivility in Nursing Education-Revised survey, indicated that faculty most frequently experienced uncivil behaviors at the lower end of the continuum and rarely encountered those at the higher end. A purposeful sample of 12 faculty members (10 full-time and 2 part-time) participated in semistructured interviews, and data were open coded and analyzed thematically. Stress was identified as a contributing factor to student incivility, and faculty responses varied based on the learning environment. Nursing faculty expressed the need for more consistency in responding to student incivility. Based on the research findings, a 3-day professional development workshop on promoting civility in the academic environment was created. By learning practical ways to respond to, and possibly prevent, uncivil behavior in student nurses, workshop participants have the potential to positively affect the lives of future nurses, the health care personnel with whom they will work, and the patients for whom they will care.