Researchers suggest employees should take a cue from Jimmy Fallon’s Thank You Notes segment on The Tonight Show to improve workplace behavior. A recent ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ study suggests employees who keep a gratitude journal exhibit less rude behavior and mistreatment of others in the workplace.

β€œGratitude interventions are exercises designed to increase your focus on the positive things in your life. One intervention involves writing down a list of things you are thankful for each day,” says management Professor Shannon Taylor, who teamed up with fellow management Professor Maureen Ambrose and doctoral student and lead researcher Lauren Locklear for the study. β€œThat simple action can change your outlook, your approach to work, and the way your co-workers see you.”

Lauren Locklear, lead researcher for the study and a doctoral student

Workplace mistreatment is widespread and can cost organizations millions of dollars each year. Bullying, gossip, and exclusion or ostracism have been shown to negatively impact physical health, job performance and job satisfaction. Mistreatment also hurts the bottom line, as it creates costs from productivity loss, employee turnover, and litigation.

 

Shannon Taylor, ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ associate professor of management

β€œWhile organizations spend quite a bit of time and money to improve employee behavior, there are not a lot of known tools available to actually make the needed changes,” Locklear says. β€œWe found the gratitude journal is a simple, inexpensive intervention that can have a significant impact on changing employee behavior for the better.”

For two weeks, study participants spent a few minutes a day jotting down the things, people and events they were grateful for β€” and as a result, their coworkers reported that they engaged in fewer rude, gossiping, and ostracizing behaviors.

Maureen Ambrose,

β€œGratitude exercises are becoming increasingly popular products to improve employee attitudes and well-being, and our study shows managers can also use them to foster more respectful behavior in their teams,” Taylor says.

The study was recently published in the . Locklear studies workplace deviance and mistreatment, as well as interventions in gratitude and mindfulness, and expects to graduate in the spring.

Taylor, who joined ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ in 2012, has a doctorate in organizational behavior from Louisiana State University and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Bradley University. His areas of research include leadership and workplace mistreatment.

Ambrose is the Gordon J. Barnett Professor of Business Ethics at ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ College of Business. Her research interests include organizational fairness, ethics and workplace deviance. Locklear studies workplace deviance and mistreatment, as well as interventions in gratitude and mindfulness, and expects to graduate in the spring.