Q&A: How to cope with jerks at work

Incendiary co-workers can kill workplace productivity
Thomas Hoffman

December 12, 2006 (Computerworld) -- We've all worked with them at one time or another: people who are disruptive, abusive or otherwise demeaning or mean-spirited. In short, they're jerks. Incendiary co-workers are more than a workplace distraction, however. Indeed, a growing body of research is being conducted in the U.S. and Europe that examines the impact bullies have on productivity and financial performance. Computerworld's Thomas Hoffman spoke yesterday with Robert Sutton, the author of The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, which is scheduled to be published by Warner Business Books on Feb. 22, about his inspiration for the book and some of the lessons that managers can draw from it. For excerpts from that interview visit http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9005880&intsrc=hm_rfavs