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Regularly 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.
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Regularly 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, but in other circumstances it helped foster solidarity among employees and express frustration, stress or other feelings.
Banning swear words and reprimanding staff might represent strong leadership, but could remove key links between staff and impact on morale and motivation, Baruch 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'.
"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.
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(Agencies)
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一项研究表明，员工在工作中常说说粗话有助于促进团队精神，因为这可以使他们更真实地表达情绪及建立社会关系。
东安格利亚大学的管理学教授耶胡达•巴鲁克和研究生斯图亚特•詹金斯共同研究了工作场合的“爆粗”现象，并就管理者应如何处理这一问题提出了建议。
研究人员发现，随着一些传统禁忌被打破，员工在工作中说粗话会越来越普遍。（而对于管理者来说，）关键是要分清员工何时讲这样的话是恰当的，以及在什么情况下可以“充耳不闻”。
两位研究人员称，应禁止员工在高级职员及客户面前说粗话，但在其它情况下，说说粗话有利于促进员工之间的团结与合作，并有助于减轻压力、发泄不满或其它情绪。
巴鲁克说，一些上司禁止员工说粗话或谴责员工说粗话，这可能会显得他的领导能力很“强”，但这样做可能会切断员工之间的重要联系，而且会打击员工的士气及工作积极性。
“我们希望这一研究不仅能让人们认识到讲粗话是我们工作及生活中的一部分，同时也要让领导们意识到有时候需要‘换个角度看问题’。”
“管理者应该了解员工说粗话时的感受。领导们面临的挑战是知道何时对‘不符合标准’的话语充耳不闻，这也是他们需要掌握的一门‘艺术’。”
该项名为“员工爆粗及领导艺术：当爆粗被接受及能带来社会效应时”的研究在《领导艺术及组织发展期刊》最新一期上公布。
（英语点津姗姗编辑）
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