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1 – 10 of over 1000
Article
Publication date: 3 October 2008

James Richards

The purpose of this paper is to re‐map the neglected phenomenon of organisational misbehaviour (misbehaviour) by reflecting the many approaches taken on this emergent field of…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to re‐map the neglected phenomenon of organisational misbehaviour (misbehaviour) by reflecting the many approaches taken on this emergent field of study, and articulate a revised research agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

Both preceding and recent empirical and theoretical research papers are discussed and possible overlap and convergence of findings are examined. The discussions mainly surround studies from industrial sociology and organisational behaviour, yet studies from industrial relations and gender studies are also considered. From the re‐assessment, a revised map and research agenda for misbehaviour is produced.

Findings

More research should be directed towards humour and its uses in contemporary organisations, why managers break the rules, the internet as a tool and framework for defiant activities, informal and hidden employee identities as a framework for self‐organised misbehaviour, functional misbehaviour and informal strategies used by employees to survive work. Further work is required to unify the field and suggestions are made on how this may be achieved.

Research limitations/implications

The paper is based on a re‐assessment of the extant literature and the findings reflect the broadly problematic matter of reconciling incongruous paradigms.

Practical implications

The paper puts forward a revised and updated map of organisational misbehaviour. It also offers insights which managers can use to deal with a broad range of misbehaviour conducted within and outwith the workplace.

Originality/value

The paper provides a new map that goes beyond previous articulations of misbehaviour. The revised research agenda attempts to guide future research on the subject of misbehaviour in a more balanced direction.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 30 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 22 November 2012

Stephen Ackroyd

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to offer a general review of the field of organizational misbehavior and to pose the question: what has happened in this field in the last…

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to offer a general review of the field of organizational misbehavior and to pose the question: what has happened in this field in the last twenty years?

Method – The chapter uses the theoretical framework developed in the book Organizational Misbehavior (1999) as a template and considers a range of developments in organizations and their context together with the findings of much new research into organizational misbehavior.

Findings – Classic forms of misbehavior identified in earlier work (absenteeism, effort limitation, utilitarian sabotage, etc.) are not as significant as they once were because the conditions necessary for the co-production of these forms of misbehavior often no longer apply. It is also proposed, however, that the findings from a great deal of the more recent literature – that there has been a proliferation in the range and types of organizational misbehavior and increase in its subtlety – are not indicative of a decline in the impulse to misbehave nor of the significance of misbehavior more generally. On the contrary, what we see is indicative of a period of widespread behavioral innovation, in which new outlets for the impulse to misbehave are finding expression even against a background of a general shift in the balance of power in favor of the employer. In the longer term there is every reason to expect that new areas of significant contestation will re-emerge, and with this the crystallization of some new and distinctive forms of misbehavior.

Social implications – A clear implication of the analysis is that there is little reason for complacency on the part of managers and management academics that the problem of misbehavior has disappeared.

Value of chapter – Updating the findings in the book Organizational Misbehavior (1999) in light of a range of recent developments in organizations and their context, together with recent research into organizational misbehavior.

Details

Rethinking Misbehavior and Resistance in Organizations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-662-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 September 2022

Sherzodbek Murodilla Ugli Dadaboyev and Yoonjung Baek

Organizational misbehavior (OMB) is a complex phenomenon for researchers and a major issue facing practitioners because of both its copious negative individual and organizational

Abstract

Purpose

Organizational misbehavior (OMB) is a complex phenomenon for researchers and a major issue facing practitioners because of both its copious negative individual and organizational outcomes and its complexity. Researchers and practitioners are increasingly becoming aware of different types of work-related misbehaviors and their significant and costly consequences for both employees and organizations. OMB can take many forms, and a plethora of terms have been introduced to describe those OMBs. This article aims to review the constructs describing workplace misbehaviors in current organizational behavior literature.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a qualitative systematic review to organize OMB-related constructs.

Findings

This paper provides a review of workplace misbehavior constructs and a broader, more organized picture of OMB by developing a hierarchical reflective model. It highlights some challenges that the OMB literature needs to overcome.

Originality/value

Unlike previous review articles that primarily focused on workplace misbehaviors intended to cause harm or damage, this review includes misbehaviors intended to both damage and benefit.

Propósito

el mal comportamiento organizacional (OMB) es un fenómeno complejo para los investigadores y un problema importante que enfrentan los profesionales, debido tanto a sus resultados negativos individuales y organizacionales como a su complejidad. Los investigadores y profesionales son cada vez más conscientes de los diferentes tipos de malas conductas relacionadas con el trabajo y sus consecuencias significativas y costosas tanto para los empleados como para las organizaciones. La OMB puede tomar muchas formas, y se han introducido una gran cantidad de términos para describir esas OMB. Este artículo revisa los constructos que describen los malos comportamientos en el lugar de trabajo en la literatura actual sobre comportamiento organizacional.

Enfoque

los autores utilizaron una revisión sistemática cualitativa para organizar los constructos relacionados con el mal comportamiento organizacional.

Hallazgos

este documento proporciona una revisión de los constructos de mala conducta en el lugar de trabajo y una imagen más amplia y organizada de OMB mediante el desarrollo de un modelo reflexivo jerárquico. Destaca algunos desafíos que la literatura OMB debe superar.

Originalidad

a diferencia de los artículos de revisión anteriores que se centraron en las malas conductas en el lugar de trabajo con la intención de causar daño o perjuicio, esta revisión incluye las malas conductas con la intención tanto de dañar como de beneficiar.

Propósito

o mal comportamento organizacional (OMB) é um fenômeno complexo para os pesquisadores e um problema importante que enfrenta os profissionais, devendo-se tanto aos resultados individuais e organizacionais quanto à sua complexidade. Os pesquisadores e profissionais são cada vez mais conscientes dos diferentes tipos de malas que se relacionam com o trabalho e suas conseqüências significativas e custosas tanto para os empregados para as organizações. La OMB pode tomar muitas formas, e introduz uma grande precisão de termos para descrever como OMB. Este artigo revisa os constructos que descrevem os maus comportamentos no lugar de trabalho na literatura atual sobre o comportamento organizacional.

Enfoque

os autores utilizam uma revisão sistemática de qualificação para organizar os constructos relacionados com o mau comportamento organizacional.

Hallazgos

este documento fornece uma revisão dos construtores de má conduta no lugar de trabalho e uma imagem mais ampliada e organizada de OMB por meio do desarrollo de um modelo reflexivo jerárquico. Destaca alguns desafios que a literatura OMB deve superar.

Originalidade

a diferença dos artigos de revisão anteriores que se centralizaram nas más condutas no lugar de trabalho com a intenção de causar danos ou danos, esta revisão inclui as más condutas com a intenção de danificar como beneficiário.

Book part
Publication date: 22 November 2012

Erik Lundmark and Alf Westelius

Purpose – To explore the links between entrepreneurship and misbehavior.Approach – Conceptual development using cases as illustrative examples.Findings – The chapter finds that…

Abstract

Purpose – To explore the links between entrepreneurship and misbehavior.

Approach – Conceptual development using cases as illustrative examples.

Findings – The chapter finds that there is an overlap between the way misbehavior is defined and the way entrepreneurship is conceptualized in the literature. It also finds previous research, distinguishing between desirable and undesirable misbehavior based on the intentions or the outcomes of behavior, insufficient in relation to entrepreneurship as misbehavior. The reason is that for entrepreneurial ventures, the underlying intentions are often good, but the outcomes often not; and that making assessments of the outcomes of entrepreneurial ventures a priori is notoriously difficult. Assessing misbehavior based only on organizational level evaluations is likewise insufficient in relation to entrepreneurship. The reason for this is that support for the venture may be needed also from actors outside of the organization. Furthermore, what constitutes the organization is not always clear. Therefore, we argue that it is necessary to broaden the view of what institutions determine whether a venture classifies as misbehavior when analyzing entrepreneurship.

Research limitations – The cases used to illustrate the overlap between entrepreneurship and misbehavior are conspicuous and not necessarily representative of entrepreneurship and misbehavior in general.

Originality – This is a first attempt at merging the misbehavior and entrepreneurship literatures, which highlights an important niche with a great promise for future research.

Details

Rethinking Misbehavior and Resistance in Organizations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-662-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 January 2021

Benjamin J. Thomas and Spencer Harris

The status quo for managing deviant workplace behavior is underperforming. The current research offers a new approach for scholars and managers in approaching these misbehaviors

Abstract

Purpose

The status quo for managing deviant workplace behavior is underperforming. The current research offers a new approach for scholars and managers in approaching these misbehaviors. Namely, we outline how system justification theory, which holds that people are motivated to rationalize and justify the systems—including workplaces—to which they belong even when those systems disadvantage them or others, offers value in explaining and addressing the prevalence of such misbehaviors and contemporary failures in managing them.

Design/methodology/approach

This conceptual research explores the situated role of onlookers to patterns of workplace misbehavior, like harassment. We explore existing scholarship on why and how onlookers respond to such actions, including cultural elements, and draw parallels between those accounts and the foundational concepts of system justification theory to demonstrate an unrealized theoretical overlap valuable for its immediate applications in research.

Findings

The current paper establishes clear links between system justification theory and efforts to manage misbehavior, establishing system justifications as freezing forces in the culture of a workplace that must be unfrozen to successfully implement strategies for managing misbehavior. Further, we describe how organizational onlookers to misbehavior are subject to system justifications, which limit prescribed means of stopping these patterns of wrongdoing.

Originality/value

Very limited organizational scholarship has utilized system justification theory, despite calls for such applications. Given the existing shortcomings in scholarship and management approaches to workplace misbehavior, the current research breaks from the status quo and offers an established theory as a new way to approach these misbehaviors.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 50 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 22 November 2012

Gordon Brooks

Purpose – Both misbehavior and commitment in organizations have attracted substantial attention. This chapter reviews the misbehavior and commitment literature to investigate the…

Abstract

Purpose – Both misbehavior and commitment in organizations have attracted substantial attention. This chapter reviews the misbehavior and commitment literature to investigate the implicit negative correlation between these two important organizational phenomena.

Methodology/approach – A four-dimensional typology of counterproductive workplace behaviors (CWBs) is developed from the misbehavior literature, describing individual behaviors in terms of: their target(s), the vehicle for misbehavior, their social acceptability, and their quantity. The typology facilitates characterization of CWBs, and, more generally, comparisons between workplace commitment and the field of misbehavior, comprising the range of CWBs.

Findings – The chapter supports the assumed negative relationship between commitment and misbehavior although the strength of the relationship varies across some of the four dimensions.

Research limitations/implications – The reliance on secondary data limits evaluation of the typology. Further research using primary data is commended.

Practical implications – More insightful audits of organizational misbehavior can be produced to guide interventions. For example, CWBs that are directed at individuals, through a person's work role, and are socially unacceptable will require different interventions to those who are directed at the organization, through extra-role behavior, and are more socially acceptable (e.g., minor thefts).

Social implications – Clarifying the impact of CWBs on commitment and, hence, turnover, etc., highlights the cost of CWBs and may motivate organizations to address CWBs and, thereby, promote healthier workplaces.

Originality/value of chapter – This chapter is novel in developing a more comprehensive typology of CWBs. Describing the various CWBs in a single, comprehensive framework provides additional insight into misbehavior.

Details

Rethinking Misbehavior and Resistance in Organizations
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78052-662-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 July 2013

Lloyd C. Harris and Kate Daunt

In this study the authors aim to explore the impact of customer misbehavior on frontline employees and managers and to elucidate the management tactics and strategies that…

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Abstract

Purpose

In this study the authors aim to explore the impact of customer misbehavior on frontline employees and managers and to elucidate the management tactics and strategies that managers employ in an attempt to minimize the impact of customer misbehavior on the workplace.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a discussion of the research design and methodology employed, the findings of 88 in-depth interviews are presented.

Findings

These data suggest that customer misbehavior impacts on frontline employees, managers, and managerial strategies. Three main effects of customer misbehavior on customer-contact employees are uncovered: physiological, cognitive, and attitudinal. These are connected with four main management challenges: conflicting pressures, recruitment and retention, counseling and motivation, and time expenditure. Finally, data analysis finds evidence of six main ways in which managers attempted to reduce or to alleviate harmful customer misbehavior: selective recruitment, changes to training and induction procedures, enhanced rewards, work-team design, increase counseling, and alterations to the servicescape.

Practical implications

The authors recommend that practitioners undertake a misbehavior audit that explores not only the extent of customer misbehavior but also the mechanisms, systems, and procedures the organization has for identifying, recording, and attempting to minimize the effects of dysfunctional customer behavior.

Originality/value

This study contributes insights into how customer-contact personnel and managers are both affected and cope with customer misbehavior. These insights are helpful for service managers faced with customer misbehavior and academicians interested in how employees respond to contemporary customers.

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 February 2005

James Richards

1262

Abstract

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 27 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 August 2010

David A. Buchanan and John Storey

This paper aims to explore the theoretical and practical management implications of a case involving the falsification of hospital patient waiting lists for elective orthopaedic…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the theoretical and practical management implications of a case involving the falsification of hospital patient waiting lists for elective orthopaedic surgery.

Design/methodology/approach

This case study is based on qualitative schedule‐structured interviews with 20 senior hospital staff (managerial and clinical), including the head of the investigation team, downloads from the hospital website, and internal hospital documentation. Those data were used to construct an event narrative exploring the underlying causes and implications of the incident.

Findings

The blame for misconduct pointed at three surgeons, a senior manager, a general manager, an assistant general manager, one administrative staff member, and several organizational factors. In addition to censuring some of those involved, an investigation recommended changes to training and working practices, policies and procedures, governance arrangements, and organization culture, and led to an external evaluation of the hospital board. However, one year later, another similar incident occurred.

Research limitations/implications

This is a single case, and events are viewed through a management lens, the individuals concerned being protected by research ethics considerations.

Practical implications

By detailing the sequence of events, surrounding conditions, and the reactions of multiple players, this analysis reveals typified responses to incidents of this kind, and the limitations inherent in post‐event investigations. If the benefits derived from national targets are to be realized in a manner which commands support from staff at all levels, then greater attention should be paid by managers and regulators to issues of transparency, responsiveness, and honesty. As core dimensions of good governance, managers must be accountable for helping to meet targets, and also for tracking how targets are met, ensuring that resources are made available, and that problematic issues raised are promptly and effectively addressed.

Originality/value

Studies of organizational misbehaviour are rare in healthcare where the focus often lies with patient deaths and injuries arising from system failures and gross individual misconduct. The analysis in this case explores the organizational conditions that contribute to such incidents.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 24 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 June 2001

Yoav Vardi

1203

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

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